First set of Buddy Club Racing Spec coilovers!

[jdmitr]

Hey all. We have the first official set of Buddy Club Racing spec coilovers in the country for the BRZ/FRS. Today we are test fitting them and doing some testing with setup and function.

First impressions on the product:
I have dealt with Buddy Club products for a long time so I expected them to be the same good quality as the rest of their products. Trying to stay very unbiased for the sake of this write-up I can honestly say that Buddy Club didnt rush anything. I have dealt with a lot of different brands of coilovers and the quality of the Buddy Clubs is very good. Right out of the box there was nothing that I could see under par.

Fronts:
All of the mounting for brake lines and ABS sensors were in the proper locations on the front coilovers. The fronts have the upper camber plates and they are slightly off center pointing toward the fire wall (similar to the whiteline front mounts). So adjusting negative camber will adjust caster at the same time. With leaving the camber plates at "0" (in the middle) they are centered like the oem mount. We left them at "0". The upper bolt hole on the spindle mount is not oblong. If you use the OEM shouldered bolt you will be fine but you can use the none shouldered bolt (like the bottom bolt) and get maybe another -.25 to -.5 degrees camber out of just swapping the upper bolt without modding the upper hole. We will have it on the alignment rack asap and we will post the exact spec since we left the shouldered bolt in.

Rears:
The rears are very straight forward and were very simple to install.


The full set out of the box...


Removing the KW's to install the Buddy Club's...


Comparing the fronts


Front Racing specs installed...the fronts are inverted so the adjuster is on the bottom...


Rear coilover comparison...


Rear upper mount with the adjuster on top...




On the car:
This is the height I will be running on my BRZ for daily driving. At this setup the Buddy Club's are about the same height as I had the KW's in the front but the rear is a little lower. However the KW's were as low as I felt comfortable going without sacrificing performance and to be honest if it was to go to the track then it would probably come up a little to optimize travel since the spring rates would be a bit soft for me on the track.

So far I have not had much time to test the Buddy Clubs but my first impressions are that they are noticeably stiffer then the KW's (of course the spring rates are a bit higher).

**More to come**

[xwd]

There was another thread about these a few posts down...

Doesn't look like much travel like most of the other JDM coilovers. Are the spring rates still 9K/7K?

[Mark Slide Squad]

Originally Posted by jdmitr

Hey all. We have the first official set of Buddy Club Racing spec coilovers in the country for the BRZ/FRS. Today we are test fitting them and doing some testing. We will keep this updated.

There are some others before you that already had them, but haven't given a review yet. I started a thread about it last week. Please post in there to give your feedback!
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18878

[jdmitr]

I know you did but check Buddy Club's facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/buddyclubusa Everyone else prob had them on order but Buddy Club didnt release them so they prob said they had them.

[AAI motorsports]

Originally Posted by Mark Slide Squad

There are some others before you that already had them, but haven't given a review yet. I started a thread about it last week. Please post in there to give your feedback!
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18878

Jdmitr is in fact the first person in the Continental U.S. to have received the BuddyClub Racing Spec Damper kit for FRS/BRZ/FT86.

[gmookher]

details on materials and construction?

[jdmitr]

Originally Posted by gmookher

details on materials and construction?

Posted up info and pics....more to come.

[speargunsandracecars]

You switched from KWs to Buddy Clubs? Why the downgrade?

[86design]

are you wheels 19"?

[wcbjr]

Wheels are massive.....

But, hey, thanks for the pics and the info!

[jdmitr]

Originally Posted by 86design

are you wheels 19"?

Yes they are.

[jdmitr]

Originally Posted by wcbjr

Wheels are massive.....

But, hey, thanks for the pics and the info!

Your welcome....pics dont do the wheels justice. For the track I will be running smaller wheels but for the street I will be running the 19's. They are pretty much the same weight as stock btw.

[Mark Slide Squad]

Any updates? How do they feel on the street? Done any track or spirited driving yet? Impressions?

[jdmitr]

Originally Posted by Mark Slide Squad

Any updates? How do they feel on the street? Done any track or spirited driving yet? Impressions?

I will be doing some more testing this weekend. As for "spirited driving" so far I prefer the Buddy Clubs. They are definitely a lot stiffer. The car handles like it is on rails literally. If someone was to buy these just on the premise of lowering the car and just daily driving it with no concern for the true performance of them then they may think they are a little too stiff for daily driving. However I have no issues with them as I prefer stiffer. Our roads here arent the best but they arent the worst either. I have yet to experience any "oh sh*t" scenarios when hitting anything rough as they seem to handle most anything well with no harsh jarring. Buddy club didnt intend for these to be a pure street coilover anyway hence the "Racing Spec".

I will be posting more soon....