Newbie

Hello everyone I just got into the Subi game and purchased my first 2007 Sti. I love the car but have a couple of modifications I would like to make over time and some questions.

- Looking for a new suspension... I would like the car to sit just a bit lower without losing any of the handling, any suggestions?

- I have also started getting a pretty heavy vibration / shaking when going through corners,
(usually starts at about 50-60 mph and over ) haven't taken the vehicle into the dealer yet trying to figure out what may be wrong and get some kind of estimate as to what I may pay to get the car back up to snuff. Not sure if its bad bearings or just tire weights. Any ideas?

Thank you in advance for any answers to my questions and help.... I greatly appreciate it

-Michael

Welcome to IGOTASTI!!!!!

Show us some pics of the ride!!!

How many miles on the chassis that youre starting to have issues with the suspension?

92k

Welcome to the team [MENTION=4315]GraphiteKnight[/MENTION].

Does it shake if you hit the brakes at all?

Could be as simple as an alignment. Does your wheel shake or just feel vibration in the car? Does it shake when you brake? (haha that rhymes) How are the meat on the tires? (be sure to check the inside of the tires too, all around) Bent control arm? Do the bushings look dried out? Does it shutter regardless which way you turn or is predominant on one side?

GraphiteKnight said:

Hello everyone I just got into the Subi game and purchased my first 2007 Sti. I love the car but have a couple of modifications I would like to make over time and some questions.

- Looking for a new suspension... I would like the car to sit just a bit lower without losing any of the handling, any suggestions?

- I have also started getting a pretty heavy vibration / shaking when going through corners,
(usually starts at about 50-60 mph and over ) haven't taken the vehicle into the dealer yet trying to figure out what may be wrong and get some kind of estimate as to what I may pay to get the car back up to snuff. Not sure if its bad bearings or just tire weights. Any ideas?

Thank you in advance for any answers to my questions and help.... I greatly appreciate it

-Michael

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1. A great suspension makes all the difference in the world. The first two considerations are:

Q: What will you use the car for? Whether it's strictly a daily driver, a weekend track car or a little bit of both, will help you decide what route to go with suspension.

Q: How much money are you willing to spend on suspension mods? This will be a huge deciding factor.

-Sway bars make a big difference in handling. I personally feel that you get the most performance out of sway bars when you also install new sway bar mounts (though some will argue that point with me) and endlinks. Urethane bushings to replace the factory rubber ones are also recommended.

-Going too low ruins the performance of the vehicle. One way to help keep the suspension in the correct geometry after lowering is the addition of a "roll center adjustment" kit. Whiteline makes a good one.

-Personally, I prefer shocks and springs, but many people have great performing coilovers as well.

2. I'd check the tread depth and tire pressure on all tires. If everything is normal, have the wheels/tires rebalanced. If this doesn't help, have the alignment checked. I'd think that if the wheel bearings were going bad, you'd be able to hear them. Do you know what they sound like? Have you noticed any strange noises?

to me almost sounds like you had a bad tire if it only happens in corners, could be many other things. but do a visual inspection of your tires. see any bulges or anything out of the ordinary???

also as far as suspension here are two companies i really like. of course there are others brands (i have had BC, Tien and a few others) but these are by far the best two

Two companies i fell in love with.
Fortune Auto. these are probably the cheapest coil overs i have seen for what you get. They are built top notch for the money and the customer service is great (according to my friend) i don't have these on my personal car but i have checked them out in person and even got to try the car out. they handle great and the ride is soft.

I myself run KW clubsports. these are a bit on the expensive side but i don't have a single bad thing to say about these. they are soft for DD but aggressive when you hit a turn.


you will notice a huge difference in sway bars and end links. stock suspension even

ej25subie05 said:

to me almost sounds like you had a bad tire if it only happens in corners, could be many other things. but do a visual inspection of your tires. see any bulges or anything out of the ordinary???

also as far as suspension here are two companies i really like. of course there are others brands (i have had BC, Tien and a few others) but these are by far the best two

Two companies i fell in love with.
Fortune Auto. these are probably the cheapest coil overs i have seen for what you get. They are built top notch for the money and the customer service is great (according to my friend) i don't have these on my personal car but i have checked them out in person and even got to try the car out. they handle great and the ride is soft.

I myself run KW clubsports. these are a bit on the expensive side but i don't have a single bad thing to say about these. they are soft for DD but aggressive when you hit a turn.


you will notice a huge difference in sway bars and end links. stock suspension even

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Good Info!

Great info guys I really appreciate it.

As far as noise goes, it almost sounds like a knocking. I notice it most when I am backing out of a parking spot and have to cut the wheel. I'll be taking it into the service department today to get checked out, I'll update you all when I get back.

For suspension I want something that is going to perform well under mild track use but not take away from my daily commute. Would like it to sit a little lower, give it that aggressive look.

I love the way this guys car sits. This is a list of what he is using but I haven't heard any kind of reviews on it. Thoughts? I am willing to spend the money but I only want to do it once so it has to be the right fit
Suspension:
Tein Flex coilovers
Tein EDFC
Cobb 24mm rear sway bar
Kartboy rear end links
Cusco rear strut bar
Cusco lower H brace
Cusco front strut bar
Cusco rear V-brace
Ingalls camber bolts (rear)

almost any coil over will get you low, but not many will give you what your looking for. and the tien is one of those i feel won't meet your purpose. i hated mine and i had the super streets.
Look into the fortune auto coil overs. they may be exactly what you are looking for.

here is how mine sits and a note that is about the lowest the front will go. (reason for lowering is to get the helper springs to soften it up for dd driving) it only takes a few minutes per section to lower or raise it. very quick with these coil overs.


here are the suspension mods i have done. one that made a huge difference was my M-1 front tubular subframe. really want a tubular front crossmember and tubular rear subframe because of how sweet the front subframe was.

SUSPENSION & CHASIS*Whiteline rear strut bar
*KW Clubsport Coilovers
*Whiteline 26mm Adjustable Front Sway Bar
*Cobb Adjustable Rear Sway Bar
*Whiteline Rear Toe Lock Kit
*Whiteline Front & Rear Endlinks
*Whiteline Race Anti-Lift Kit
*Whiteline Steering Rack Bushings
*Cobb Tuning Billet Adjustable Rear sway bar Mounts
*Cusco Rear Camber Plates
*DMS Front Camber Plates
*M-1 Tubular Race Under Body Brace

if you are willing to do it once and right here is a short list. you decide on the brand from research to fit your need.

*front and rear sway bars.
*endlinks i run whiteline in all 4 corners.
*ALK or known as a psrs kit (i run whitelines but perrins may be a bit better)
*strut bars are not known to do much until you start doing some high speed cornering (look into a rear trunk cage or x or v brace as you mentioned) i just started looking into them and they seem to do a lot
*you will need some sort of camber adjustment. i run DMS front top hats they have camber and caster. rears look into adjustable lateral links or top hats (i went with cuscos camber plates)
*coilovers are better imo as they have a lot more adjustments than struts. i gave you my top two favorite so far but please don't go off what i said you may have something else in mind than what i wanted.

thats just to get you started. tires and wheels play a major role as well. I'm sure there is a thread on this forum covering suspension i just havnt seen it.

@ej25subie05 Love that pic in the gas station!

A good spring/strut for a DD in a lot of cases can be better than a coilover.

Look at Bilstein for the struts.
Look at Feal for revalving factory struts.
Look at koni for inserts.
Swift, Racecomp, eibach and maybe H&R for springs.
GTWorx/Bilstein, by Racecomp, are supposed to be a badass strut/spring combo.

Spamby said:

A good spring/strut for a DD in a lot of cases can be better than a coilover.

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Hell YES! :bow:

Just ask [MENTION=3416]WRB_STi[/MENTION] and [MENTION=1172]Alin[/MENTION] how my suspension feels. They've both ridden in the Batmobile.

Tokico D-spec adjustable gas shocks and RCE 'Yellow' lowering springs.

capaz04 said:

@ej25subie05 Love that pic in the gas station!

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thanks, gotta love those $1 per gallon gas prices back then...

ej25subie05 That is exactly what I'm looking for as far as the stance goes.... Do you get any track use out of it?
And how much did the whole set up run you?

On a side note I just got back from the subaru dealership and found out that the knocking noise was because of the LSD. Apparently the used dealer that I got it from did some half hearted work on the car.
So far the car is acting ok since leaving subaru. Met a nice gentleman there that wrote up a list of other things that may start to go in the future just as a heads up. Told me to look into a
aftermarket brake kit (HAWK) instead of purchasing the brembos through the dealership because they are a rip off. Any thoughts on that?
I owned a honda before this and put a ton of money into it and it turned out to be a waste. I don't want to make the same mistake on my hawkeye.
Thanks again for the input.

Hawk are a decent pad on a street setup with a good price point.
Brembo pads and such can be sourced cheaper on the net.
Others to consider:
EBC
Pagid
Ferodo
Project Mu
SSBC
DBA

Don't discount the cheaper rotors like Centric. They are fine for street use and can save you a ton of money.
Stay away from track pads for the street as they won't perform well. They require a lot of heat for them to work properly.

GraphiteKnight said:

ej25subie05That is exactly what I'm looking for as far as the stance goes.... Do you get any track use out of it?
And how much did the whole set up run you?

Click to expand...

i don't get any track use out of it yet. but thats what it was built for but also street able. i have plans to go to the track once i find a good one. did find a nice bmw test track where I'm moving too. so hopefully ill get to break in my suspension with some nice cornering

i would rather not say what it ran me on here, but its not cheap. look up the coil overs themselves you'll see what I'm talking about haha. the 2nd most expensive piece was the m-1 subframe which i got lucky on. i can't find them for sale any where...

for now since you need to do some maintaince to your car keep your mod list small. i would honestly start with sway bars and end links. then move on to a drop, wheels etc.

also seen you need a LSD i know a guy that i have dwelt with a lot from ohio that can get you a 2nd hand lsd in perfect working order for fairly cheap for your car (fairly cheap as in he won't sell you crap and won't charge a lot compared to others)
. (i myself have sold them for 400-450$) if needed contact me via pm and ill ask him for ya or give you his number.