Just bought 06 WRX tr...springs question
 

hey guys i live in reno and just got a new dub. my 01 dodge dakota got totalled out in front of my house by my drunk neighbor so i put the money from that into a downpayment for the dub. anyways i was thinking of putting some prodrive springs on my car. has anyone done a spring install on there cars yet? how hard would this be for me to do? also i think it drops the car like an inch, should this be a problem with the small amount of snow we see here in reno and the drives to northstar for snowboarding? heres pics of my old truck and new car.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...r/IMG_0482.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...r/sideview.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...manunr/wrx.jpg

Very nice........the subaru, sorry about the dodge. Welcome!

Welcome.

Prodrive springs are great performance springs. The drop shouldn't be a problem unless you find some deep chunky snow.

how hard would these be to put on?

Its pretty easy about 3hrs with the right tools!

I have Prodrives on my RS and it has never caused me any problems in the snow. Like qksubi said it's not too difficult. I'm sure you could intice some folks to help you when the time comes with some beer or what not.

Welcome to the board man!

What's up guy. <----noiwontusea?

Welcome! Congrats on the new WRX. :) It's fun car you'll enjoy it. Springs are indeed easy to install. The sti pinks are also good springs.

D- Baby
Wife- What D?
D- Look, it's a 06 with a 2.5 liter engine.
Wife- My Jeep has a 4.7 liter, you can race it.
D- Dear, it's a Jeep. I can't race a Jeep.
Wife- Why not Dale Jarret wants to race the truck. :lol:

Wow...Wrong thread maybe?

What's a "dub"?

http://www.cruzinonchrome.com/dub-esinem-car_large.JPG

Nice TR though. Don't park it on the street unless your neighbor's moved out! :eek:

Nope, it's the correct thread. That's how the conversation went as I showed her the new black 06. I told her that they will be in my class with a bigger engine and it went on from there.

haha i call the wrx a "dub". i was also looking into the tein htechs and the crucials for springs. basically i want to drop it about 1.5" and even out the wheel wells without to bad of a ride. i dont really plan on doing any autox, maybe some drag racing out in fallon but thats about it. but i dont want it to bumpy or to stiff. can anyone recommend any one of these springs?

I believe people around here have gone with the S-Tech springs in the past, but then moved on to coilovers. I'm not sure what the difference is between the S-Techs and H-Techs are... but pictures of the H-Techs look good... not overly low like many of the lowering springs.

Remember that anything lower than 13.5" from hub to fender results in fairly poor front suspension geometry on these cars. Plus on stock struts lowering springs will speed strut wear, and high rates will make the car bouncy. Anything that's close to stock rate and drops the front around 1" while leaving the rear around stock height should be ideal for improving the looks of the car w/o compromising handling.

I moved from coilovers to Prodrive springs and I'm pretty happy with them. Looks and rides much better than stock, and doesn't require Dramamine for daily driving. :P

(arg! no typing in of html tags)
 

STI ride height and suspension stiffness works Fine on snow, assuming you have on some snow tires. Northstar had a good parking lot (in terms of not needing ground clearance) and they plow their parking lots well.

I've gone through upwards 2+ feet of unplowed / untouched snow before in my car . (pretty much up to level with the hood) and didn't have any problems. well besides not seeing shit when you go over 15 mph . :)

I've also had mine stuck in 8" of sierra cement. It all depends on the type of snow. Light dry snow is easy. It's the heavy wet stuff that can make it impossible to move.

alright so i checked out the h-techs, there the ones ill probably get. heres the info on them. spring rate: F 229 R 196, drop F 1.8" R 0.7". what do u guys think? would the ride height be ok for reno? what about the bounciness? i want the feel of the car to be just like stock, just lower. also, can anyone recommend someone to put these in and how much it would cost? i thought about doing it but i dont have a torque wrench and really no clue on how to do it other than the tutorials that are out there.

Boy, a drop that low is not going to feel much like stock. The suspension geometry mentioned above is what creates the majority of the ride issues, such as bounciness. I would guess it's going to bounce a good deal, it all depends on how much of that you can handle.

IMO those sound like they're a little too low... -1"F/-.5"R would be more ideal, but certainly won't look as good. I don't remember the stock rates, so I can't give you an opinion on them... if they're not more than 10-15% stiffer, I'd say you're in the green.

nKoan, what's the drop and % rate increase on your LGT? I'd say your car is just a little too stiff for the stock struts... so that might be a bit of a baseline to compare against, even though you've got different dampers and rear-geometry.

The eibachs I had on were 1"drop front and 0.5" in rear I thought it rode better then stock and looked perfect. eibach still makes a prokit for the 06 I'm guesing.

I should put those back on. meh, winter.

So you aren't selling your car? Still gotta figure out your house situation I suppose huh?

I've heard bad reviews of both the H-Techs and the S-Techs. I feel my Prokit is a little soft although the addition of it and the KYB AGX's made a dramatic improvement over stock. Honestly, for a daily driver, I've heard great things about Prodrives and I really like the way Ed's wagon handles on Crucialracing springs. The crucial springs are progressive, not linear like the Prodrives so they may be more comfortable. Ed's wagon is stiffer than mine, but it still takes bumps very comfortably and he definately has less body roll than me on the Prokit.

The swifts were supposed to be 25mm front, 15mm rear. (~1" front and ~.6" rear), but I think its a little bit more than that. The rates went from 3.5 kg/mm front and 5.5kg/mm rear to 4.25kg/mm front and 6.6 kg/mm rear, so that's a 20% increase in stiffness front and rear. (EDIT: Keep in mind those are Legacy GT stock rates, not the WRX rates)

IMO, looks wise I think its great. Performance wise, I fully agree. A little too stiff on stock struts, and I think a little less drop would also be better. If I was shopping again, I'd be shooting for less drop and less stiffness for the stock setup, or go to aftermarket shocks or coilovers.

what happens when the car hits gravel on the road? Can it react fast enough or will you be in the ditch?

how do you feel about Nitrogen in the tires?