AST Suspension 5100 coilover review
 

Hi everybody! I have been lurking around the forum ever since I purchased my 2013 FRS but have never really had anything productive to say until now. I have been doing a lot of research on coilovers setups and there always seemed to be a consensus, KW. I am not really someone to do something that everyone else is doing so naturally I went with AST 5100s instead. So hear is my review.

Vehicle Setup
Camber: F -2, R -1.75
Toe: F 1/16 out, R 1/8 in
Caster: F max, R max
Hotchkis Sway Bars F/R

Daily Driveability
My car is a daily driver/ weekend warrior setup and the 5100s are absolutely amazing for that purpose. The valving can get nice and soft for the street from a turn of a knob and actually ride better than my old oem shocks with hotchkis lowering springs. Properly setup, they will not rattle your car and yourself apart going down the highway. Even my girlfriend said what did you do to the car, it rides a lot better. Overall, extremely happy with the daily driveability of these more track day oriented coilovers.

Track
Lets get this out of the way now, these coilovers are amazing for the track. These coilovers use a 285 lbs/in spring rate all the way around, which really helped balance out the chassis. i'm not going to go into chassis tuning and how wheel rate, and motion ratio affects the handling of a car. If you want to really learn chassis setup read every single article on this website http://http://www.motoiq.com/Magazin...-your-Toe.aspx.
To make this as simple as possible, the motion ratio of the BRZ/FRS is about 1 in the front and about .75 in the rear. The wheel rate (actual spring rate) in the front is 285 lbs/in and 214 lbs/in in the rear. The GT86 chassis is a front engine rear drive sports car, it will naturally oversteer. A stiffer spring rate in the front than the back will help counteract oversteer. With the chassis being more neutral, the car was a dream to drive. I could get on the throttle much earlier than normal and I could even stabilize the car on corner exit with throttle modulation which I could not do with the Hotchkis handling package. The dampening is spot on, you can make them do almost anything you want. they can get nice and soft for a place like Mid-Ohio or get nice and stiff for a place like Watkins Glen with a brand new surface. At Watkins Glen alone, I picked up over 2 seconds on my lap time because of these coilovers. Every time you turn the adjustment dial you can feel the difference unlike some of the cheaper options. Overall, the chassis balance and adjust ability these give you is phenomenal.

Overall I give these coilovers a definite buy if you are serious about buying a high quality coilover that is capable of not beating you up on the street while still giving you a phenomenal track day suspension setup. I am extremely happy with my decision to go for the 5100s over the KW equivalent.



Now for the bad news. 2 days ago I was driving home from work and I started to smell something burning. I drove a few more miles and smoke started to come out of the dash. I pulled over as quickly as I could. I try to get as much out of the car as possible. within 5 minutes the car was engulfed in flames. I lost my FRS to a stupid dash fire. Hopefully the insurance company will allow me to take all of my aftermarket parts off before they scrap it.

I was really happy up until that last paragraph. 😨 I'm sorry for your loss.

That springs rate is right were I would expect it to be for a good fast road & track setup.

But that last bit suck, sorry to hear that.
Any reason for the dash fire?

Jerrick

Toyota is investigating. It is too soon to really know yet. Thankfully my insurance company did let me salvage as much as I could out of the car. I was in the process of stripping all the aftermarket parts off of it to buy a new 2017 BRZ too.

What is your wheel and tire set up?

I was running 17x8 RPF1s with Ad08r tires. Great tire by the way.

I'm currently running the AST 5200s and love them. They see mostly autox but I did take them on COTA recently and could tell the improvement from my previous setup.

Good to hear the AST 5100s did well for you. Sad to hear about the dash fire :cry:.

Hi there,

Got a few noob questions for you:
1) Were you using stock top hats or aftermarket top hats?
2) Did you use any camber bolts or reuse factory bolts?

I just ordered a set of AST5100 and I am aiming for - 2deg front camber only.

Thanks!

Reviving this thread for a question.

I’m sending a set of AST 5100 for rebuild. It has the option of Double Digressive Pistons. What are the benefits of this option? How will it affect comfort in street/daily application? or in track application? I got them from a friend but needs rebuilding since one shocks is leaking. It is an opportunity I saw that can help me learn more about suspension when I move on from the stocks. Car is a daily, occasional canyon drives, 1-2 track at this time and soon will see more track days later. Suggestions and information will be appreciated!

Choice of tires will be a GTRadial SX2 in stock wheels then move to a 17x9 size of wheel but same type of tires.

How’s the set of AST treating you?

I have the now defunct Whiteline Max-G coilovers which are AST 5100s. These types of questions would be best answered by the company rebuilding and revalving as they'll have the best insight into what you are asking. A very basic explanation is dual digressive pistons will change the shock valving/dyno plot such that the blow off is more steep. This should translate into a shock that handles bumps better and rides more smoothly on the street. For a daily driver you are gaining comfort over bumps. AST parts are NOT cheap but if money isn't an issue, and you feel like getting the shocks set up with gucci parts, go for it.

Wait...the Whiteline coilovers are no longer being made? Weren't they just released about a year ago? Maybe two? Do you have any idea why?

I haven't had a chance to drive the car much as I was waiting for my friend's shop / Cosworth to tune my car. Will keep you posted by end of May.

PM me if you want the details. In short, the program was not as successful as they hoped. It is not like they are anything special, they ship with the same rates as the 5100 single adjustable. The only difference is the color of the springs and adjustment knobs. It is a shame they didn't make a few improvements to the shock when they did the private label. The AST 5100 is a few little tweaks away from being pretty kick ass. I was working in a shop at the time I got mine so I was able to make everything right.