Hey all,

I have an 02 WRX wagon and I am interested in running some prodrive springs with my stock struts, but I am concerned about a few things.

- Will I need a camber kit to correct the negative camber?
- Will the prodrive springs really kill the ride quality?, I know it says on the prodrive site that these are the springs subaru should have used in the first place, so I am wondering how good it is.
- Does anyone have any pics of their wagon with Prodrives installed?


Any help would be appreciated,

Thanks,

Cam

 

Cam,

I have an '02 wagon with Prodrive springs. I run them with Koni struts. Even on the softest setting (about equal to stock strut) the ride is great. Prodrive springs that are made for the US market will lower the front more than the back. I ended up using camber plates in the front ( used sedan struts, long story) so that raised the front about 1cm. This leveled out the car. Subaru designed the roll centeres so that the back is about 10mm lower than front. IMHO, the car rotates and handles a lot better this way. I heard that if you go for the European destined springs, they maintain the propper ride height ratio, while the USDM go for the "sporty look" and lower the front more. www.spdusa.com is a great source of info. You can call Mike and he can fix you up with the right parts.

Good Luck,

Dmitry

 

Almost forgot:

A set of camber bolts ( tirerack is a good source for those) is helpfull in the rear to fine balance the camber front to back. The stock front adjusters are good for -0.7 to -1.1 give or take a little.

 

Great.

Thank you for the info Dmitry!

I thought maybe I could get away without getting any kind of camber adjustment, again thanks!


Cam

 

Cam, don't look at camber adjustment like you would on a honda. negative camber is your friend, especially on the Impreza. However, extreme lowering is not. The Prodrive springs are a good fast road spring to have, not too low and are a decent spring rate. Ideally they need to be paired to decent dampers like the koni inserts(necessitates gutting your stock struts to insert the koni insert). This whole "do I need a camber kit" nonsense stems from folks who come from the slammed honda world. When you lower a double wishbone suspension you get pronounced negative camber. Awesome for the track. But usually this extreme negative camber comes from slamming the ride to where the wheels are almost tucked. Anyway, in order to preserve one's tires, "camber kits" are used to bring the camber out(more positive camber). Most people using camber kits on hondas do it only for tire wear reasons. Not for any sort of performanc gains.

Anyway, the most negative camber you are going to net from the stock camber bolt is about -1.5. That's a decent amount for fast canyon cruising. Keep your toe at zero and you shouldn't have any tire wear issues, especially if you are a fairly "aggressive'' driver. In order to get more negative camber, if you are tracking the car (not in straight line but autox or road course) then you need to use double camber bolts up front or camber plates up top. The Impreza is camber challenged and front grip is severely compromised because of it.

prodrive springs on 03 wagon

 

I had 50K+ miles on stock struts and springs before I replaced them with prodrive springs and /kyb gr2 struts
Before


After



Comfort is just as good if not better, body roll is almost gone. Im very happy with this combo, cheap too! I also have rs16x7 wheels, 20mm rear sway and whiteline steel endlinks (front and rear) Car handles pretty neutral which is what I was going for.

Only problem is some weird clunks when I hit speed bumps, Ive heard that is common though....

 

clunks are not common when installed correctly. Your setup should be absolutely silent. Perhaps the endlinks aren't greased and are a bit loose. Spring install could also be borked. I've seen that often enough from "professional" shops. Usually its the front upper spring perches being misaligned.

 

Front upper spring perches...is that easy to diagnose? Im not very suspension literate.

 

This post from Peaty should help:





If you reach up inside your fender well you can feel the upper spring perch. Feel around for the holes. The middle hole should point outwards, centered and perpendicular to the strut. Depending on badly its aligned, it can lead to clunking because the spring is all twisted.

 

I have an 02 sedan with Prodrive springs & stock struts, -1.0 camber and 0 toe was my last alignment, tires wear on inside all 4 corners, considering camber bolts at least for the rear. Any suggestions for alignment? I wasn't expecting that much inside wear from a moderate drop, don't want to give up any handling.

 

If you feel the wear is excessive for the time period you are looking at, have your toe checked again. Otherwise, either back your camber off or take more spirited/aggressive drives. There is no magic number for one's alignment. It really depends on how you drive. If you drive aggressively all the time then lots of negative camber will provide even tire wear as well as better handling. However, if you are just cruising most of the time with only one aggressive drive a month then you should look into a milder alignment setting.

 

Hi Arnie... what do you consider a mild alignment setting to reduce inside camber wear?

 

i-max - sorry for the late reply! definitely 0 toe f/r with front camber at only -.5. You won't have the max front grip possible but your inside tire wear won't be much as long as you take the occasional spirited drive every week or so. Most of us who want max grip go to -1.5 up front.

 

for those of you with the prodrive springs, hows the ride? i know they are stiffer and all, but when you hit potholes and bumps, is it bouncier?

 

-.5 Front AND Rear???

I was thinking of -.75 front and -.5 rear to keep some negative camber, but keeping tire wear as even as I can. At this point I have WAY more suspension then engine ~ this is why I am thinking mild numbers?

I can always be more aggressive as my power climbs...