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It's time for a suspension upgrade.

5K views 23 replies 8 participants last post by  baller_v24 
#1 ·
I decided to get a loan just for the fun of it. Im about to spend about $1000 on my suspension. I decided to go with a somewhat aggressive setup since I do Auto X on occasion. I guess the only thing aggressive is my front swaybar. I decided to go with whiteline and kartboy parts based on the countless reviews I have read and their really good reputation.

Here is the list:

27mm Whiteline Adj. front swaybar
24mm Whiteline Adj. rear swaybar
Kartboy Front and Rear endlinks
Whiteline Steering rack bushings
Whiteline Rear Diff bushings
Kartboy Endlink Spacers (required when using whiteline swaybars with kartboy endlinks)

I should get my money transferred into my account tomorrow so I should be ordering everything then. Im getting a $4000 loan so who knows what else I might get.

Also considering the Stock sub/amp and Kartboy Pitch Stop mount.

Everything minus the sub and Pitch Stop mount is about $705 minus shipping. Let me know your thoughts/opinions/comments.!Thumbs Up:sneaky:
 
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#2 ·
I think your choices on parts are great. I have Whiteline sways and Kartboy Endlinks and I am very satisfied. The only bad part of your plan is the part where you take out a personal loan to buy car parts. :D

Is $705 minus shipping the same thing as $705 plus shipping?
 
#3 ·
Well I got the loan because I want to work on improving my credit since I bought my car cash and haven't had a car payment in almost 2 years. I used my title as collateral. Dont worry I have over $4500 in savings just in case, not to mention i got the debt protection insurance with my loan. It really is just to buy a bunch of goodies and what not oh and books for school, some more in savings and T.V. and who knows what else.

Well im buying the swaybars from CVRmotorsports.com and the rest from fastwrx.com. I know cvrmotorsports will be free shipping. Not sure on shipping from fastwrx.com. Im sure there is a shipping charge. I just added everything in the cart to see total before shipping.
 
#5 ·
I know what you mean about the credit. I just got a new credit card and started charging all of my daily purchases to build up my credit more even though I have $35,000 in my savings account. When I refinanced my house last month the bank gave me copies of the credit reports they pulled on me and a few came back with an "insufficient history for recommendation" message which is weird because I own a house, have school loans, have two car payments, insurance, utilities, etc.

I hope you plan on contacting someone at CVR directly. John quoted me about 17% less than their website prices when I messaged them for a package deal, I also got them to give me free shipping and waive the new york state taxes. I bought Whiteline 22mm F/R adjustable ($170ea) Sways and Kartboy F/R Endlinks ($115ea) for $469 (normal website price $570 + $50 in taxes). That is $150 more in my pocket after purchase. None of the other vendors I contacted quoted below $500. Technically I owe the state $50, we'll see if I remember to claim that on my taxes...

Also, I installed these parts without endlink spacers.
 
#6 ·
Nice visix. I guess I will be making some contacts. I think they are a vendor on nasioc if im not mistaken.

c2bcoolwrx: yea I'm a little skeptical about the 27mm front swaybar as well but There are a ton of people on nasioc and on iwsti with that setup and have nothing but good things to say. I like my suspension all tight and stiff so I'm thinking I'll be ok.

Im going to keep it on the 25mm setting up front for daily driving purposes.

Well the endlink spacers are only $2 and it's to keep the clunking down. Is your front bar a little noisy?
 
#8 ·
The only extra road noise I have noticed is that I get louder than normal suspension clunking when driving on very rough roads or constructions zones with grooved pavement and hard drops. In that situation I'm not really worried about the extra noise. I have no clunking noises during normal or spirited driving on smooth surfaces, I usually listen to talk radio so I can hear the car fairly well. My Endlinks are at an angle though, (I've read this really isn't a big deal) so if that bothers you and you can afford the spacers then by all means pick them up. I don't have anyone looking under my car so there isn't much motivation for me to care what the suspension looks like.

Also, just an FYI, the bolts for the brackets that hold the sways in place were very stuck on my car. The subframe bolts were also very tight. It might save you a lot of time and effort to spray some PB on all the bolts you'll be removing a couple times in the days/hours before you perform the installation. I live in central new york and drive my car all winter so this might be a problem specific to my environment, that said it can't hurt. It took me 5 hours to do my front bar (only sprayed PB about an hour before install). I waited a couple days to do the back and sprayed the bolts twice a day and the whole back installation took me 45 minutes to do by myself.

CVR is on Nasioc and they usually return my PMs very quickly even at night and on weekends. Just PM "CVR Motorsports" and tell them the parts you want (you can get part numbers off their website to avoid confusion). They'll make a package specifically for you on their site with your price and send you a link so you can buy through their normal checkout process instead of having to use PayPal like most others.
 
#9 ·
Your list looks good. Stick with the 27mm front bar. The DCCD and a few extra ponies more than fixes the understeer IMHO. WRX guys tend to worry more about it than STi folks.

Yay for a suspension upgrade without lowering springs!
 
#10 ·
Yea I will def use some PB on the bolts. I heard those are the hardest to take off. I do have a cheater bar so it might help. Well I did contact John at CVRmotorsports and he put the endlinks and swaybars together as a package deal and got me $50 off than the cheapest I could find online.

Already ordered. Cant wait to try them out and do a review of the different settings.

PZR 2874. I would rather buy more parts to stiffen up everything than to just do coilovers right now. I probably will do springs as this is still my daily driver and I just think coilovers is over the top for daily driver or 3/4 autocross events a year. I haven't completely ruled them out for future use but as for right now I would rather tighten up other aspects of my suspension/driveline.
 
#12 ·
I understand on the stiffness, but you also have to consider "learning" how to drive your car once you get it all on.

I've always used the rule : Do a piece at a time till you are satisfied

Everyone drives a little different and expects a little more/less.

But, to each their own.... :rocks:
 
#14 ·
Well the fedex guy came today while I was at work and left a note saying that it was the first attempt to deliver it so no parts yet. Even if I get them in a couple of days or so, it might be hard to install them in the near future.

Turns out i broke my ribs. I broke them last sunday while playing sand volleyball by the pool. It had rained all week and the sand got compacted like a real stiff dirt mound and well i did a diving dig to save the ball and crack. It had been painful all week just didnt wanna believe they were broke. I tend to have a somewhat high tolerance for pain which is why i went a whole week without any pain killers or anything. It just got really unbearable today at work and had to leave early to go to the doc.

It's embarrasing it was volleyball and not something manly or something. lol. Anyways I will keep u guys updated as soon as i install them. Definetely dont wanna pay for someone to install them, so I hate to keep you waiting for the review but it might be a while till i can do a review for you guys that are interested.
 
#18 ·
Thanks guys for your support. Im not on a team or anything, lol. We were celebrating a friend's b-day out by the pool and just playing v-ball and what not.

Yea a friend of mine said the same thing.........to tell people it was a barfight. lol.

What sucked is that I kept the ball alive and set it up nicely but one of my teamates hit it out of bounds on our side and it didn't even go over the net. It's all good though, it's not so bad now that I have some pain killers. lol
 
#19 ·
Ok well i got the front and rear sway bars and endlinks installed and i am very happy with the setup. My first impressions of the bars itself was that they were high quality and very heavy. Install was a breeze for the rear and a slight pain for the front. All together it took me about 4 hours for both.

It turns out the front bar is 27 & 29mm settings, not 25mm. I dont mind it at all, I have it on 27mm setting for my daily driving and i'm glad i went with 27mm instead of 24mm because for daily use it's not overkill and doesn't exactly dart left and right like i thought it would. The steering does feel like it's weighted and really inspires a lot of confidence through the twisties based on the few miles that i have driven it. It feels like the car moves as a whole and it feels like everything is connected like it should of been to begin with. Body roll is almost non-existent and so is the understeer. It's so easy to gas through the turns as well. I need to drive it more often as it's a little scarier taking turns because i can take them alot faster with ease. I really need to find the new limits of my car.

The rear is not bad either, I have it set to 22mm and well it's hard to even tell that it's there until you push it through the turns. NVH is slightly increased only by harshness. NO noise or any vibrations. The harshness itself is not even that bad, not enough for me to complain about it but it is slightly noticed on bumpy roads.

Im going to try different settings and post the reviews with different setups as well. It's only been about 20 miles with this setup as i just finished it this morning.

Im going to install the rear diff bushings later on tonight and see how that feels as well. I will do the steering rack bushings probably later down the line in a week or so.

I also got the stock sub/amp and installed it myself and is a simple install and has a nice sound improvement over stock. It's not trunk license plate rattling loud either.

I think i will also get the kartboy pitch stop mount as well since im already liking the effects suspension upgrades. I might as well improve my drivetrain feel as well.

Anyways I will keep u posted on the rear diff bushings and when i try different settings on my adjustable sways.
 
#20 ·
Sounds good! Yeah, the main thing about sways and endlinks is the feedback. They don't actually help an experienced driver much but for a novice, they give much more direct feedback on the dynamics of the car. I remember I was able to break myself of abrupt steering adjustments almost entirely after getting sways. You learn you can turn more by turning more gradually since you can feel it car slam on the endlinks more clearly if you do it wrong.
 
#21 ·
Well its been a few more days driving like with the 27mm front and 22mm rear setting and although a nice improvement. It does feel like the rear needs to be stiffer. Almost like it's not enough as compared to how tight it feels up front. I will probably try the 24mm setting in the rear tomorrow as well. And ill go ahead and install the rear diff bushings.

I also just ordered the Kartboy pitch stop mount and I cant wait till it gets here. Im really looking forward to the nice improvement it will provide.
 
#22 ·
So I got the kartboy pitch stop mount and its definetely a really nice improvement. The quality is great and i really like the forged design with it. It was a pretty simple install as well.

I did notice that the engine does not rock as much upon startup. I dont know if its in my head but it does seem like throttle response is increased. I didn't really notice any NVH really. There is less engine movement and it really feels like the engine stays more planted, like it should be.

I also finally installed my rear diff bushings and it was a breeze to install as well. It really does stiffen up the rear alot. No more of that famous subaru clunking. It kinda feels like i adjusted my rear sway bar to a stiffer setting although it doesn't actually increase cornering, atleast it doesnt feel like it.. It's just alot stiffer and gives you better road feel. Cheap and well worth it.


So now all i have left to do is to install my steering rack bushings. Ive looked at several online instructions, and i must admit, im feeling like a wuss to take them on. I need to just quit being a little girl and go for it. Has anybody else done them and have any pointers and/or suggestions?

Suggestions/comments/complaints/questions are all welcomed.

thanks
 
#23 ·
Would you have bought the sway bars if you like to do some offroad/Rally X? Just asking because I know the rear sway is weak (and after hearing I looked at it and saw how lame the stock sway and end links are... pretty sad) and needs an upgrade, but I want to keep height on my ride while maintaining stiffness so I don't bottom out of drops and such. Are coil overs the only answer? I just don't know which thread to jump in, so I looked at this one, sorry, lol! Sounds like you're ripping around well with the Whiteline set up Baller, just need to adjust the rear to match the front stiffness eh? I'm thinking of the anti lift replacement bushings (PSRS from Perrin since I'm a Perrin whore >;D) and some frame supports prior to upgrading the shocks/struts&springs. Any ideas on not street racing suspension set ups that are street funcional but can handle rough roads?
 
#24 ·
If i was into the offroad/rally x thing I would definetely still have bought the sway bars. If you are worrying about bottoming out then keep the stock height and get a real stiff sway bar set up like I did. I wanted to keep the stock height myself b/c I dont want to drive like a sick-ly lowered honda all the time so that's why i didn't get springs and not enough money for coilovers.

On a sidenote........I just adjusted my swaybars to the stiffest settings and it is unbelievably crazy. It is set at 29mm front and 26mm rear. You can really feel the harshness on this on the street. I went out on a local twistie road and i was just shocked and stunned at what my car can do.

I can gas hard through 90 degree turns with so much confidence. It feels alot more neutral with this setup with more confidence due to the increased grip on the front. I can really use the rear to push the car through the turn as well. Upon exiting a corner there is no lift at all, instead it feels like the car digs and tucks itself into the turn. I actually feel like im done with any more suspension mods. It really improved the lateral grip and is just really amazing at it's limit.

Everyone needs to get sway bars..........i take that back. Get some STIFF ass sway bars. By far my favorite mod and favorite setting.

The bumps kinda suck now and it is a bit more rough but I really like it. It feels like I'm in a track-prepped car.

My car is now ready for my next auto-X, which is next sunday. Can't wait to see how it does on the track.
 
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