Suspension Review: Race Comp Yellow Springs
 

I got the RCE Yellow Springs Starter pack which includes the following hardware

RCE Yellow springs
OEM camber bolt
Whiteline Com C camber/caster top mount
Whiteline rear camber adjustment bushing

I had it installed at Tru-line Bellevue in WA. Byron the owner is a champ, he even leant me his B Series Mazda truck when the car was needed overnight. He also did the alignment, unfortunately no corner balancing as the car setup wont be able to do this. He is a top rated alignment specialist here in WA, and regularly does alignment on high end cars and track use cars.

I had the car setup for 175 lbs driver, for performance street use.

I am doing a driver skills day and autox this weekend, and I will give feedback on the handling past that. For daily driving, the car feels like it was when it was stock, but I dont drive that aggressive on the street.

Waiting for your feedback.

Two degrees difference is caster!! Did they forget to do the caster sweep for the second measurement?

Who is they? Subaru or TruLine? Is this bad or good?

It looks like 6.88 and 6.87 to me.

Phew...

Yup those are the correct numbers.

Sorry guys, I'm looking at it on a PC now and not an Itampon. Agreed. I looked like 8.88 on the passenger side. My bad.

retake pics once its settled

Looks good!

You could have gone with quite a bit more camber up front, but overall your alignment is solid.

- drew

:w00t:

First time I ever took my S to get an alignment at a place a lot of the track guys went to the owner told me to sit in the car while he worked. I was like o_O and told him I didn't have coils. He told me that he was aligning the car with my weight factored in and just thought that was really cool and a nice touch.

By the way, can you please post a side shot in the daylight? You're on 17's, right?

How long does it take for the springs to settle? I'll take some more pics tomorrow

Updated the topic title so that this topic will be the catch-all for all owners of Yellow springs. Thanks for posting up your info!

Here is the day after shot

Started noticing clunking sounds when suspension is compressed over big bumps. Called up RCE and they said something to do with the Whiteline tops and should not be a problem, they will be posting about this shortly.

I'm also going to have the guys over at truline look it over on tuesday to make sure nothing is wrong

What size are your wheels and tires? I have some Tein H Techs waiting to be installed but I'm thinking I want these instead.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10244

Two questions:

- Why didn't you go for more front camber?

- Why the clunking? Your install looks just fine so that worries me. I was hoping that the Com-Cs would be a pretty robust, clunk-free solution.

Oh, and thanks a ton for the excellent post. Looking forward to your driving impressions. :)

on the com-c...question on that. are they rubber based, where the mount sits on the spring? if its solid, it could be the cause of the clunking. I think... Ive had several issues with solid mounts.

The interface between the tophat and the upper spring perch is the same as stock. I think the OP should double-check the top nuts, as mine isn't clunking. Granted it's only been about 75-100 miles.

How many hours did the install take at the shop? Thanks.

yup, Ive had that issue too where the top hat nut is not properly tighten. Could be that then

Update on the Popping Issue: It is more of a popping sound that a clunking sound. This happens when I have the wheels more than 40% turned. It's not loud but is definitely noticable by me. None of the instructors noticed it though when I was driving, or maybe they thought it was a normal sound to hear and never pointed it out.


I just did a Skills Day with the Porsche Club here in Seattle. The car handled even better with the RCE Springs and the alignment.

Slalom: The car felt more settled and was better at keeping the backend in check. It allowed me to go faster through it.

Skid Pad: I was less prone to understeering and oversteering. It needed more gas to get the tail end loose.

Handling Oval: Tires were definitely the weak point as I am still on the Stock Tires. Entering the corners with heavy braking is good, but you still need to feather very lightly the gas as you unwind the corner. Also having too much speed on the turn causes understeer. (This was the case even before the suspension upgrade)

AutoX: People were saying I was staying flatter than the other Stock BRZ doing the course today.

DD Ride Comfort: I did not feel any difference with the Stock Springs


Truline quoted me a price and not by the hour. They did keep the car overnight though.

For the Camber, I'm not the suspension expert, truline are the suspension experts and that is what they said would be reasonable compromise for a DD and AutoX.

Top nuts are secure. The car is handling perfectly so I need to figure out what is causing it. Tuesday will bring answers when I bring the car in

I had my gf turn the wheels for me while I look at it. The popping is coming from the Top Mounts :(

Make sure the springs are properly seated. They definitely shouldn't make any noise.

they look properly seated... i raised the car and turned the steering while the wheels were off the ground and same popping noise.

have you guys heard of the same issues with other installs?

Gonna get my RCE springs installed this Wednesday. Looking forward to it...hope the popping sound isn't an issue.

BTW, i'm in Seattle for PAX... :)

While someone turns the wheel, check to make sure the nuts in the tophats are turning. Also, again while someone is turning the wheel, look at the upper spring perches and see if they are turning also.

Since this is now a catch-all for the RCE Yellows and "Starter Kit", I'll post these here also:

We have been gifted with lots of rain and clouds for this week, so I snapped a couple quick (and very dirty) comparison pictures.

The lighting is different, the angles aren't quite the same, etc. etc. But:

Before:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7265/7...0bc2fe0e_c.jpg

After:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8296/7...2d582c30_c.jpg


Before:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7276/7...5cf022a1_c.jpg

After:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8437/7...46ce7e61_c.jpg

Looks-wise, the car is right where it should have come from the factory. The fender gaps are even and the car has a nice look. The fenders are just cut way too high on this car to get a really low look without compromising handling. So an even cut around the tires is a good way to go.

I've driven about 100 miles or so on the new suspension and it's very good. Even with my lack of much more negative camber in the rear, the car handles very well and very precisely. The "eager puppy" nature of the car has been toned a bit. It's like the puppy has gone to obedience school. Still eager to please, but buckles-down and does what's asked without excess enthusiasm.

Has it lost it's fun? Not at all. I can chuck it into corners just like before, but there's less "iffy-ness" and more positive grip. This I think comes from the better alignment and from springs better matched to the stickier tires I'm running.

The ride is noticeably firmer, especially in the rear. With the added spring rates the spring frequencies have gone up, which means the car pitches a bit more quickly over bumps which adds to the "sports suspension" feel. Harshness hasn't gone up appreciably at all. Bumps are felt all the same and maybe a bit more, but the dampers continue to round them off like stock so there isn't that sharp spike of a hit you'd get from a more aggressively compression-damped car. Essentially, you get a firmer suspension for only a fraction of the increase in roughness.

Turn-in is improved. I think part of that is the firmer rubber of the Whiteline tophat, and part is the increase in caster. The rear doesn't feel much firmer laterally that I can tell so far. But this kit only does the upper bushings, I'm still on the stock lower link. No NVH increase that I can tell.

Now, unfortunately, the next AutoX in my area is in October. So I won't have a good 10/10ths feel of this new setup for a while. Hopefully before then I can get the rear camber dialed in the way I want it.

I'm hearing the same popping. checked everything, springs are seated, nuts are secure. Even brought it back to the shop, they said everything looks good shouldn't have any problems. But that sound is annoying, guess i'll just have to get used to it.
did about 200 miles already. Its such a different car compared to stock. Very happy with the setup.

I'm assuming you have the top mounts too? Anybody having noise with just the springs?

I have top mounts and springs, no noise. A popping noise when turning the wheel usually means the upper spring perch is not moving with the wheels.

Did you install the springs yourself? Was their any extra lubrication needed?

Do you get the popping when you turn the wheels?

Had the car on jack stands, wheels off, popping is there when i turn the wheel. everything is moving as its suppose to. While driving, only when theres a bump in the middle of the turn. Sometimes when theres a big bump while going strait i hear a pop.

Popping is coming from the top mounts forsure. Maybe cause the top mounts are still new? Can it be maybe the top nut is over tighten?

I did all 4 struts myself. There is no added lubrication needed. After building the strut assembly, the tophat should spin freely with no resistance. I could literally spin the offset Com-C tophat by just wobbling the strut.

The only time I've heard popping noises from front struts was from two issues:

1. The camber plate I was using had corroded and the spherical bearing was binding, keeping the upper spring perch from moving. This is why I wanted to know if the nut up top was moving or not; in case the tophats were defective and the bearings were binding.

2. Someone installed the upper perches without the conical washer between the perch and tophat. But for the BRZ/FR-S Subaru had a moment of inspiration and welded this washer to the perch so it can't be forgotten.

But either way, the popping noise came from the spring winding up and then suddenly releasing to re-settle. So I think somehow your upper perch is binding up.

By the topnut moving does it need to move the same amount as I turn the wheel or just a little bit of movement. Also is the movement rotational or just slight movement.

Thanks for helping me trouble shoot eh

Did your shop use an impact to tighten it? The struts can be rebuilt with just hand-tools.

The top nut should rotate the same rate as your wheels. There should be no resistance at all. If it isn't rotating or not rotating with your wheels, then the tophat is binding up and your upper spring perch is not rotating the same amount as your spring. That would cause the spring to pop.

Also, make sure there is rubber between the spring and the upper perch.