Buddy Club Racing Spec coilovers track and street test
 

I have been curious about how these coilovers would be on track in hopes that other members on here would review/test them at the track before I got a set. Eventually I decided to bite the bullet and get a set and try them out for myself. On paper, they have good specs.

* Single tube design.

* Front pillowball mounts with camber plates which also adjust caster the more negative camber you give it, which is a great idea. Notice how the slots are diagonal.http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l6...d/photo2-5.jpg

*15 way damping adjustment.

* Independently adjustable lower mount, which adjusts ride height without affecting spring pre-load.

*Spring rates are 9kg front and 7kg rear

*In the lower/mid-range of price compared to competition

My friends at Racelineusa.com sold me my set, and even installed them. Installation was very straight forward, and was about a 2 hour affair without rushing it. Big thanks to Elton and crew over there. Don't hesitate to contact them for a set, or other FR-S/BRZ parts, and tell him Mark Hutchinson sent you.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l6...d/photo1-2.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l6...ad/photo-3.jpg
Now the first thing that crossed my mind was "hmm, 9kg and 7kg rear spring rates seem like they'd be a little too stiff and not match the car". I was dead wrong. I can tell Buddy Club did their homework on these instead of rushing them out the door. It makes sense to engineer a product that works instead of something less just to get them to the store shelf earlier. Bravo, Buddy Club.

First impression on the street:
Once installed, we put them on full soft on the damping adjustment to see how they'd feel on the street. They felt very comfortable, very cushy, and comparable to stock suspension. A little too soft for my taste though, so I firmed them up 4 clicks all the way around. It made a significant difference, and it felt much more stable and smoothed out the bumps better. I added yet two more clicks all-around, and it felt perfect on the street. Very composed and smooth even on rough roads, it's no Cadillac ride, but surprisingly good, especially with stiffer springs. The valving feels spot on. On the horrible LA freeways it's still very smooth and comfortable. Of course once in a while you hit a huge bump and you'll definitely feel it more than stock suspension, but it's nothing to cry about. I had a girl in my car too and she didn't even realize that it was different suspension than stock until I told her, as the ride was that good.

Track impression:
I went to Willow Springs International Raceway on Dec 15th at an Extreme Speed track day. The course was Streets of Willow, in clock-wise configuration. Now, I ran this track just three weeks prior, with stock suspension, and 17x9 Enkei RPF1's, Hankook RS3 245/40/17, Project Mu B-Force brake pads, and Motul RBF600 brake fluid as the only mods to the car. I ran a 1:29.6 as my best lap. Conditions were no wind, about 60 degree temps.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l6...d/IMG_4319.jpg

Now with coilovers installed, running the same CW configuration and temps around the same, I ran a 1:27.5 best for the day, that's an over 2 second improvement with the Buddy Club's over stock suspension.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l6...d/IMG_4615.jpg

The car felt much more planted to the road and less "floaty". It eliminated a good amount of understeer as well. On that lap, I was running with my street damping configuration, which was still only 6 clicks. I think if I would have played with the damping some more, I could have dialed out more of the slight understeer that still existed. Corner exits felt much more predictable and quicker. The car rotated very well, and much more controlled. I was thoroughly impressed by the coilovers, especially for the price. If you're looking for a cheaper alternative to KW or other more expensive brands, want to daily drive your car and do the occasional track event, and don't want some cheap bottom of the line coilovers, then I would highly recommend the Buddy Clubs, you won't be disappointed! :D

I could have lowered the car more, but I don't want a "slammed" car for daily driver, and at the track. it will actually decrease your handling, because of suspension geometry issues and pre-loading the swaybars too much once you lower the car past its optimal range.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l6...d/IMG_4620.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l6...d/IMG_4621.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l6...d/IMG_4624.jpg

And finally, a vid of the fastest lap. You can hear me saying "yeah!" at the beginning because I'm having so much damn fun lol :thumbsup: I could've been faster in that lap, but made a minor mistake which caused me to scrub some speed when I got sideways.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ycYqHqg4N0"]Scion FR-S Extreme Speed track event at Streets of Willow Springs 12/15/12 - YouTube[/ame]

Looking good. Nice review as well.

diggin' the 17's on the car too. great review, thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing. Are your wheels +35 or +45?

They are +35

Awesome stuff, glad to hear such good review of Buddy Club products.

Looks good!

Nice review and looks like you were having fun out there! :thumbsup:


BTW, is this the same Mark Slide Squad that had either the blue S13 or the EF?

Thanks Rob! Indeed, this is Mark that had the blue S13 with Silvia face and SR20 back in the late 90's. I'm surprised people still remember! lol

Awesome, and yea I'm old lol. Loved that car, never really knew what a 240 was until I saw your car in SS mag and I think on the old Hybrid board. My EG was pretty close to the same color at the time lol

Haha, I'm old too! I really miss my old blue S13 :( Ah yes, the hybrid board, with FF Squad/Katman and crew, those were the days! haha

Great write up! I love the BC RSDs on my DC5 and you have me about convinced to go with them again on the 86. Good looking lap out there!! :thumbsup:

Give Elton a call at Raceline USA 626-292-7030 and tell them Mark Hutchinson sent you, they have them in stock! :thumbsup:

Why is that RSX so fast on the straights?