RCE Yellows - initial review
 

I'll be straight up about this, this isn't going to be about the ultimate limits of the RCE Yellows. I haven't had the time, literally. I received the springs (thanks Myles!) last Thursday, and spent till 11:30pm putting the fronts in (after work) then till 11:00 on Friday putting in the rears.

http://www.avoturboworld.com/media/rce_001.jpg

http://www.avoturboworld.com/media/rce_002.jpg

Then it was up at 8am to "test" them out by driving to the Inmotion car show and watching the springs settle for the next 12 hours.

http://www.avoturboworld.com/media/rce_003.jpg

http://www.avoturboworld.com/media/rce_004.jpg

From a show perspective, they are not a top performer - they don't give you that perfect stance by dropping it 3" and forcing you to drive over speed bumps at exact angles called out by a spotter (thereby ensuring you always bring a passenger).

It was the next day, at the PNW Megameat that I got to spend some happy time with the springs.

http://www.avoturboworld.com/media/rce_005.jpg

No, I didn't take a lot of pictures of the car, I was spending too much time driving to do that. I didn't measure out the exact drop, others have taken care of that as well. While it doesn't look like much of a height reduction, if you park it next to a standard car, it's pretty obvious. Just shows how high it is normally.

And yes, they handle. I have not had the alignment done, added camber bolts, or done anything else. This is about going from bog standard suspension alignment to bog standard + RCE Yellows. It gives a lot more accurate feedback on what they do and they don't.

They do increase the handling. I found them matched well with the standard dampers, with no bounciness or strange behaviours. In fact, they do remove that slight jiggle that the FR-S has at all times - it makes it feel even lighter than it is because it "bounces" along down the road. It wasn't a bad thing, but it's nice that the car feels even more buttoned down to the road.

Alignment didn't change, for better or for worse. At least not signficantly. It still tracks straight, and goes through corners about the same. Initial turn in is improved though, and the rear slides through the low speed corners more naturally. Overall it rotates better. Higher speed sweepers are well controlled as well, within the limitations of the stock suspension (more on that later). Freeway driving is good as well, though again, with less jounce.

Unfortunately, a good spring setup tends to magnify any other issues with a suspension. One major one is the soft bushings on the lower control arms at the front. I'd not really given them a good hard stare yet, but thrashing around on the RCE's has forced me to give them the evil eye. The car corners hard enough that you start feeling movement at the front that shouldn't be there. It's not just in corners, though, if you start doing some significant speed (lets leave out how significant), you'll start experiencing a sensation similar to an old Z, where it would start lifting at the front and "float" a bit.

At least, that's what the culprit was in those old cars with their aero. The FR-S and BRZ are porn-star endowed in the aero department, which makes it easy to discard that as the issue. No, sadly, it's those bushings again. I'm suspecting that instead, there's enough downforce that it's occasionally getting "pushed" down and squidging around on the bushings.

To wrap it all up, I give the RCE Yellow's a Two Thumbs (and a few random toes) up. I unequivocally endorse them, you really cannot go wrong with these as a quick and easy improvement handling.

Thanks for the good review. Loved the yellow's on my STi, but was skeptical of damaging the cars already great setup from the factory.

Could the improved turn-in be due to toe-out caused by lowering the suspension without re-aligning?

No, to be honest, in terms of alignment it's rather blah, and lowering it didn't do enough to the toe-out to change it that drastically. With the firmer springs in the rear and front, it's just digging in a bit better. I'll be getting an alignment tomorrow (with luck, last minute scheduling is always a nightmare), and I'm sure it'll feel 300% better. Just didn't want to muddy the waters by doing an alignment at the same time as the springs.

Ok - improved bushings w/RCE Yellows will have you laughing like a ape through corners. Can't wait for that alignment shop to open up...

which bushings did you go with?

What he said.

AVO offset lower control arm bushings (front and rear on the front lower control arms). Improved feel and stability in corners tremendously, no more wiggle wobble. Spent the last 1300 miles driving to california on them, was a nice ride all around. Top marks to RCE for the spring settings!

Got a link to the bushings? Do they change camber as well? :)

Interesting...! Never knew about those.

:thumbsup:

Glad you like them Paul! And yes indeed, springs + bushings + good alignment makes SUCH a huge change. It's the easy button IMO for this car for most people. Our vision for a spring package has always been a factory like sport package that just makes the car more exciting and accessible without forcing you to apologize to your passengers for a crummy ride. Just put them on and go have lots of fun.

- Andrew

Kind of like a BRZ S... or an FR-S... S :bellyroll:

Don't forget tires!

BTW I really want to find out what these cars feel like with the RCE springs on.

How much of a negative camber was gained(front and rear) from the drop prior to aligning?