KW Rear Top Hat Question
 

I'm having trouble finding aftermarket top hats for my rear KW V3's, any suggestions?

You can contact @robispec to get his rear top hats that add 2" shock travel.

Raceseng offers a set as well in 2" added travel, and will have a 1" version soon:
http://www.raceseng.com/shock-top-20...r-s-subaru-brz

You could always use the OEM top.

^I wonder with those shock-travel-extending rear tops if people might run into coil bind at certain ride heights or if they'd need to get shorter springs. Hmmm.

I used STi Group-N rear mounts. Got mine from RCE.

Should I just buy an OEM top? I don't want any added travel.

How are they working for you? I see you said "used" so are you not using them anymore?

They don't affect ride height or spring length, they just let the shock shaft extend higher through the mount so that you're not going to bottom out the shock given the same amount of bump travel. They only way you'll get coil bind is if the shock is currently bottoming out fully (horrible for the shock).

Not saying you won't be fine with the stock upper mount, but why wouldn't you want an extra inch or two of bump travel without giving up anything but a bit of droop travel (which there is quite a bit of already)?

"Used" as in installed and happy and not as in past-tense as opposed to "had" or "used to have". They work fine, no noises and no issues.

Well the shock "bottoms out" when it gets a bit into the bumpstop. Probably most everyone will bottom a shock out whenever they get in the car to go for a ride. The idea is that the bumpstop will hit it's near-infinite rate before the spring compresses beyond it's rated travel (which is still usually far less than the travel to get to block length). If the bumpstop is moved up 2 inches, you run into the possibility of the bump limiter to be the spring at block length instead of the bump stop.

Not saying this is the case, just pointing out that it's probably worth looking into. Especially for people who might be running coilovers at the higher end of their rated ride heights.

By bottom out the shock I meant the shock itself bottoming out internally, not the whole assembly hitting the external bump stop (the one on the shaft). Bottoming out the shock internally is very bad for it, hitting the external bump stop is totally fine for the shock.

What do you recommend? I am also curious as well.

For me personally, I'd want to add back travel for however much it was lowered over the coilover at the highest setting.

ie: if max height = 1/2" lower than stock and you're running it 1.5" lower than stock I'd want the 1" upper mount to gain back the extra inch of lowering.

i'm using 2011 STi rear top hats with my Kw's.

What benefit do I get to have a higher travel? and which one do you think would be best for occasional track use and mostly daily driving? Also, I dont want to drop the car too low. PD: I am running on KW's. Thank you beforehand.

If you're only going about 1-1.25" lower, I probably wouldn't bother with top mounts that give more travel. If you're going to lower much beyond that, I would consider them.

Yeah I am doing minimal drop with coilovers. Do you know what is the stock measurement from the fender to the center of the wheel? Thank you!!

Nope, not sure.

i know i'm resurrecting this thread, but i'm curious about the STI top hats / group N top hats.
So is 2011-14 the correct year range for STI top hats group n or stock that will fit KWs on a BRZ/FRS? I don't need camber adjustment, mainly just want to use other fixed hats so that when spring comes back around, I can simply take out the stock shocks and install the pre-set KWs without dealing with compressing the springs n such.

Thanks!

like i said, i have GR sti rear topmast so yes those will fit, i also have Group N fronts on my AST's but i don't know if they are STI specific or not or just a BRZ one.

Is there a disadvantage in having too much shock travel? Im installing kw v3 coilovers and is wondering how much more shock travel do i need. Planning to install stance lca too.

It's a trade off... using the upper mounts that give more travel costs you droop travel. If you're not lowered a lot you might be better off with a stock upper mount.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Subaru-20370...-/321544662597 this will match for the rear?

With our Tarmac 2s lowered less than an inch from stock, we're not even seeing 1.5" of droop travel on track. Like @wparsons said, we've got plenty of droop travel.

Here's a graph of wheel travel over a lap:

http://i.imgur.com/a5FA5V8.jpg

Yeah, I don't think you really need say a 2 inch lowering rear top mount unless you're absolutely slamming the car. Some droop travel is nice to have.

If we did a rear mount we might have a 0.5 inch lowering option in addition to a no-change. Just for other options out there. But those are not at the top of our list at the moment.

- Andrew

LOVE seeing this Jake !

So I've said it many times to people on the phone but never on these forums.

Travel is important. A lot of the cheap coilovers have very little droop and bump travel. Even the Ohlins , (IMO) are travel challenged and dont offer much lowering as a result. But our T2's and the KW V3's have a LOT of droop AND bump travel. The need for extreme lowering mounts is just NOT necessary ( if you have KW's or our version). And to be clear...this is for functional lowering. If you plan to slam your car then sure extreme lowering mounts are great and do give back what you take away by lowering 1.5 or more.

The notion of gaining some bump travel started for Subies back around 2003 when the GD Impreza was released and the inverted front shocks once lowered 1inch were essentially on the bump stops at static ride height. Our lowering plates then offered 3/8th lowering so it was getting things back in the right direction. The use of shorter bump stops ( by 20mm ) also helped.

Hope that helps to clarify for some.

Myles