Ohlins Road & Track for FRS/BRZ suspension install/review thread

[mav1178]

I picked up a set of the Ohlins R&T coilovers from @Evasive Motorsports a while back, and am finally getting around to installing them on the car.

Will be back with some install pics (hopefully in the next few weeks), but for now just sharing some pics. The kit itself comes unassembled, but it's very easy to install if you know how to put together things on your own.

Note: for anyone interested in these, the instructions are a bit wrong. The front/rear shock body uses a 6mm/5mm hex key to hold the shock shaft in place when tightening the upper nut. The instructions tell you to use a 5mm/4mm front/rear hex key.






Edit: impressions.

The coilovers have approximately 20 clicks of adjustment. 1 being the harshest (full clockwise) and 20 being the softest (full counterclockwise):

Street:

• 10-12 clicks yields the best results for Los Angeles streets. This may be a combination of my tires (Toyo T1 Sport) with the coilovers, but a firmer street setting has better rebound control and ride quality
• Ride quality is phenomenal: the car, aside from sharp angle driveways, doesn't feel lowered or on stiff suspension.
• Dust buildup on threads and springs is about normal. I've taken the wheels off around 6 times in the last 3 months, and really have not had to clean the suspension excessively

Track:

• I've experimented with anywhere from 2-6 clicks on the coilovers, and found (so far) that bumpier tracks do best with around 5 clicks. I have yet to run any super-smooth tracks, but will dial in a stiffer setting on those.
• This is a true "road and track" setup: on the track, I just set the dampening stiffer, set tire pressures, and go. There's minimal dialing in of the suspension, and I can focus more on driving and having fun. Don't get me wrong, lots of adjustment is great, but for those without suspension tuning experience and always asking about what settings to dial in KW V3s at, you'd do better to invest in something single-adjustable like Ohlins.
• No bottoming out issues with the coilovers, even flying over berms at full speed. I have not run them over FIA-spec berms yet, will do that later this year with Laguna Seca or Sears Point.

-alex

[mav1178]

Front stock vs Ohlins:


Rear stock vs Ohlins:


A few areas to note while installing the suspension:

- Surface rust is prominent on exposed bolts and threads, be sure to clean them up to avoid any future problems. One example are the front factory endlinks:


- The front brake line brackets line up in the same fashion as the OE shocks, except there's no threaded hole for the 12mm bolt. Ohlins supplies a 12mm nut for the front brake line (you use this with the OE 12mm bolt), but it's advised to use some type of thread lock to make sure this doesn't come loose.


- The Ohlins front lower bracket has no provision for the ABS sensor line to be bolted to, so it includes a small metal tab for you to secure the ABS sensor line with. After trying out a few configurations, I found that using the bracket (it's bendable) on the rubber portion of the ABS sensor line yields the best slack on both sides of the strut.


Other things to note:
- The rear suspension allows you to lower the car about 1" at most. IMO if you want to lower the car more, or get a bit more adjustment height-wise, get Ohlins with the Stance rear lower control arm.
- The front suspension allows you about 1.5-1.75" of lowering at most.
- Adjusters for the dampening are very easy to reach. Fronts are inverted monotube, so you just have to turn the wheel all the way left to reach the left shock, and vice versa on the right side. Rear shock adjustment can be done inside the trunk once you've trimmed the rear interior trim according to the instructions.

Cascam for Ohlins RT:







Jarrett at @Raceseng decided to make these upper mounts without the spring perch. The Ohlins RT upper perch will be reused.

Install of Raceseng CasCam front upper mounts

I won't detail the @Raceseng CasCam upper mounts in terms of how they are installed, the instructions are pretty clear.

However, a few things to note if you are installing onto Ohlins:

1) It drops the front of the car by approx. 15mm (more than I thought), the front wheel gap went down to about a finger (from almost 2 finger gap with the Ohlins upper mount).
2) It uses a 15mm sleeve insert. The original measurements seem to call for a 14mm sleeve but it doesn't fit. Kudos to Jarrett and his team for getting the proper inserts for me without issue.

Installation onto Ohlins:





Remove the Ohlins uppers. Pretty straightforward...


The lower spring perch needs to be loosened. More on this later:


There is a difference in the collar height that sits on top of the spring perch, the Ohlins is much thicker versus what the Raceseng one is. First picture is Ohlins, second is Raceseng:




If you look closely, the Raceseng collar is less than half the height of the Ohlins collar.

To set the proper spring height/preload (if any), loosen the lower collar and make sure the top perch is all the way down on the shock body.


I used both the collar + the supplied pillowball shock nut to hold down the top perch:


Next, rotate the lower spring perch so you get the proper spring preload:


The rest is pretty straightforward... install the plates onto the car, install coilovers, etc etc.

The car now sits approx 1 finger lower if measured by wheel gap, around 15mm.



-alex

[armythug]

Nice

[mfbmike]

god they look so pretty

[7thgear]

god, they look so fragile

how would they hold up in the winter time?

are they even designed for prolonged exposure to the elements without cleaning? Maybe put on a ruber-condom type thing on the fronts for harsh winters?




yes i winter drive my car, cuz i'm a badass.

[utekineir]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

god, they look so fragile

how would they hold up in the winter time?

are they even designed for prolonged exposure to the elements without cleaning? Maybe put on a ruber-condom type thing on the fronts for harsh winters?




yes i winter drive my car, cuz i'm a badass.

switch to stock or rub it all down in grease i guess.

that or winterbeater


seems like most of the people that buy and post about all the fun stuff live in ca, fl or the southwest.


http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=2330815 one persons attempt

[7thgear]

Hmm, not bad.

Give something for the wife to do.

[OICU812]

How much are you lowering?? From memory manual said 15mm ft and 20mm back of done by their specs but unclear if that's the limit or if one could go 25mm all way around? Are yours the 6K square spring set?

Very interested to hear your thoughts I've heard these are very street comfy.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by OICU812

How much are you lowering?? From memory manual said 15mm ft and 20mm back of done by their specs but unclear if that's the limit or if one could go 25mm all way around? Are yours the 6K square spring set?

Very interested to hear your thoughts I've heard these are very street comfy.

The Ohlins instruction/manual states 20mm front 15mm rear, I'm dropping it to around 25mm front and rear. I'll also play with the height settings once they're on the car, but it seems that if you're not preloading the springs, rear adjustment maxes out at around 30mm of lowering. The fronts can go up to ~35mm or so, will confirm later.
And yes, mine's the default 6k spring set.

One thing's for sure: if you want to slam your car this is not the coilover for you.

-alex

[whataboutbob]

Jelly. These are SO on my wish list.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by whataboutbob

Jelly. These are SO on my wish list.

haha... who knows, maybe I'll get sick of them after a couple of months and you can buy them for cheaper.

-alex

[OICU812]

Originally Posted by mav1178

The Ohlins instruction/manual states 20mm front 15mm rear, I'm dropping it to around 25mm front and rear. I'll also play with the height settings once they're on the car, but it seems that if you're not preloading the springs, rear adjustment maxes out at around 30mm of lowering. The fronts can go up to ~35mm or so, will confirm later.
And yes, mine's the default 6k sprint set.

One thing's for sure: if you want to slam your car this is not the coilover for you.

-alex

Ok that's actually good to hear. Slam nope not interested either but a solid 25mm -30mils that's still a nice drop if one can retain full comfort they're known for. I for one look forward to your final height and thoughts!!

What wheels and tires you running with these? Curious....

[mav1178]

Work VS-XX
18x9" +34 18x9.5" +39

Toyo T1 Sport
245/35-18
255/35-18

Track wheels TBD but most likely Enkei, Wed Sports, or Gram Lights.

-alex

[OICU812]

Very nice !