Coilover/Spring recommendation?
 

I have a 17' BRZ, I am debating if I should go for a coilover or lowering spring.
I dont know too much about suspension ex; dampering etc. but just a basic knowledge.

can anyone recommend a good coilover or lowering spring for a daily driven brz that can be dropped about an inch or two? I live Ontario where snow sometimes gets bad so I was steering more towards coils so i can adjust when winter time comes.

Eibach prokit and TRD springs will drop the car one inch. The eibach sportline will drop it 1.5-2 inches. For adjusting the height on coilovers you need to keep in mind that you’ll likely need an alignment every time you change the height. If you get coilovers that aren’t stainless steel you’ll risk having them seize at your set ride height due to corrosion after a few winters. If you go the coilover route, KW V1 is a good choice if all you want is height adjustment. They’re also stainless steel so they’ll have a better chance surviving our winters.

thanks for the response! i will look into that

Are you looking for these just for looks or performance?

If so, I suggest tracking the car first before spending $$$ on coilovers.

Eibach Pro Kit (TRD springs are made by Eibach) springs are a great way to lower the car and still have a ride that is comfortable.


I have had mine for 70K miles on stock shocks.


From reading threads over the years I have formed this opinion: springs that lower the car more than 1" will degrade the OEM shocks much faster than springs that only lower 1" or less.

I would look at something with front camber adjustability, either top hats, or, slotted.

That way you can dial in your required settings, well, for the front at least.

Camber bolts, whilst limited, may be sufficient though.

You may/will need to look at front links as well.

Some coils come with them, mine did, most don't.

A 2" drop is going to really mess up the suspension geometry, and make the car a pain to drive without snagging on speed bumps, etc. The sweet spot is about a 1" drop on springs or about 1.5" max on coilovers.


If you adjust height between seasons you'll also need an alignment each time you do it. If you're going to that much trouble, you'd be better off just swapping complete spring/shock assemblies for winter/summer.


If you just want a drop, you're far better off with a reasonable lowering spring than coilovers. Cheap coilovers are going to be a compromise in ride quality and performance even compared to stock.


If I were you, I'd just put a mild lowering spring on your stock shocks and then worry about plan B if you absolutely need it in the winter. I've gone through 6 winters with mine, 5 of them lowered, and have only been stuck once. Ironically it was the first winter, in about a foot of new snow.

I’m on 80,000km with the eiback pro kit. It’s a bit bumpy but worth the 300$ price tag I paid

IRT ride height, I've been told 20mm drop, or 350mm from guard to center of the wheel, is the sweet spot for handling with only springs or full coils.

You can of course go lower but thats when issues "apparently" arise.

Me, I'm at 350mm front and rear.

Opinions may vary.

I'm at 25.25" from ground to fender all around on KW V3's and it's working better than stock (or the swift springs I had before the V3's). You can definitely go lower than 20mm on coilovers, but springs the sweet spot is definitely 25mm (1") or less.

im actually considering the eibach pro kit springs.. did you need to install other suspension components? im worried as ppl say springs will blow out stock shocks

I ran the pro kit springs from the day i picked up my brand new 2013 (dealer installed them for me) through to about 60,000kms on OE shocks and they were fine. I tracked it and autoX'd it like that as well. Then I removed the springs went back to OE springs and ran those for autoX for 2 years (another 10,000kms) on the same OE shocks and never an issue.

I did have camber bolts in the front, and I added a front sway bar, but really the bar is not needed unless you want to upgrade the performance (huge) as well.

I have 70K miles on Pro-kit springs and oem shocks. The combo works well together.

By lowering the car on tbe prokit springs, natural camber is added to the rear. IMO it's a good idea to add camber to the front as well. Camber bolts are perfect.

Mild drops won't blow the stock shocks at all. Lowering springs got a bad reputation for one of two reasons:

1) Horrible spring rate to damper matching, too high of rates will definitely kill shocks in a hurry.
2) People putting lowering springs on tired shocks with 100k + miles on them. Most shock manufacturers specify a life of about 50k miles (80k kms) for shocks, so it's not surprising that putting a higher rate spring on a shock with 200k kms on it caused it to fail faster.


I replaced my stock shocks at about 155k kms with KW V3's, they were tired, but not blown. They'd also spent most of their life with Swift Sport springs on them (installed around 50k kms), and lots of hard driving and bad roads.