krimez

I bought a 2002 subaru impreza wrx and it has either the Sustec Pro S-S or the Sustec Pro S-S Type II. I got my car from the dealership and had no clue these were even on my car till I was told by a friend. I am new to car mods and had a few questions. I really hope you can answer for me or guide me to someone who can.

1) Is there any quick way I can find out whitch model they are?
2) They are very firm and they make a bumping noise, recentaly they have started making a clanking noise kinda sounds like metal when goingover bumps large and small. This really worries me are there any parts that should be looked at for this problem? None of the local mechanics seem to know.
3) All the mechanics say they need a special tool to adjust the coilovers, is there any place I can buy this tool?
4) I would realy like to adjust these coilovers to make my car ride as smooth as possable but I have no instructions, Is there any sort of manuel or tips you can give me?
5) How can I tell if these coilovers are blown?

Thanks for any help you can give me, I feel these are somewhat unsafe in their current state and I want to make them shine and function how they were designed to.

Adrian

Imprezer

iTrader: (9)

I may be able to help you out here.

1. There are 2 main Tanabe coilover types. Pro S-S and Pro S-OC. S-S are orange and S-OC are blue. S-S are adjustable and S-OC are fixed. I am referring to damping. Both S-S and S-OC come in regular or Type II. The only difference is, the regular ones have helper springs and shorter main spring. Type II have no helper spring and longer main spring. Thats the only difference. From my experience, the non-helper spring ones tend to make less noise, while it would make sense to be otherwise. Pretty much most of the newer higher end coilovers do not use helper springs these days anyways. Plus, it is better to have a longer main spring anyways. This should help you ID the coilovers. There is also the "seven" model of Tanabe, but those are red and very new. So I doubt you have those.

2. That could be caused by a number of reasons. Best thing is to jacv up the car and inspect everything and make sure everything is copacitic. All bolts tight, spring sits right and if you have the helper spring ones, make sure that the plastic spacer between the helper and the main spring is there. Also make sure the dust boot is ok and there is no junk stuck in the spring. You can do it yourself, or bring it to pretty much any shop.

3. The only special tool you need are the spanner wrenches. They allow you to adjust the height of the car. You can use ones from pretty much any coilovers or order the Tanabe ones through one of their dealers. They are probably about $30 or so.

4. The front shocks are adjustable on the top with a small screw driver. The rear ones have a **** on the bottom side of the shock. That will be the case if you in fact have S-S and not S-OC. The higher the setting the stiffer the ride. I recommend using setting 2 or 3 for the street. To make ride better, you can also get different springs (different rate). I found that Tanabe "stock" springs are a bit too soft for the shock and tent to make your car a bit bouncy. I recommend 10kg/mm front and 8kg/mm rear springs for Tanabes.

5. I doubt they are blown. But you can tell if that is so, if you are "riding" on springs. In other words you have no dampening. You can will bounce uncontrollably and make lots of noise.

Hope this help. Feel free to ask any more questions here.

qingshan

iTrader: (1)

Imprezer

good answer - I'd say your mana runneth over

ryankk49

iTrader: (2)

i just found this thread...i just bought a wrx with Tanabe Pro S-0C regular's on it. the rear right rattles like crazy and rides pretty crappy compared to the other ones. do you think it's a blown strut? if so about how much do they cost? thanks.

qjumpr

chances are your springs are too soft for the car. The Tanabe S-OC coil overs have 4kg in the rear and 6kg in the front. I got some and they bottomed out constantly, so I bought 8kg rears and it improved things a lot. They are very easy to put in and you don't need a spanner if you jack up the car and take the pressure for the spring just wind them up and down by hand. You will want to make sure everything is seated well and the noise will all but go away. Tanabe has great products if its set up right.

ryankk49

iTrader: (2)

where did you by the 8kg's from? because yeah i notice my rears bottom out a lot.