Toyota GR86, 86, FR-S and Subaru BRZ Forum & Owners Community - FT86CLUB - Stance Super Sport coilover install/review

I've only had my car 2 weeks, but as far as I'm concerned that's two weeks too long to be riding around on stock suspension... It's not that the car didn't ride fantastic from the factory, because it did, but I can't stand the look of wheelgap.

A few days after I picked my BRZ up I started researching coilovers. I've owned lots of different coilovers in the past, Ground control, Tein, and H&R. And I've driven/rode in lots of friend's cars with Megan, KW, Bilstein, Moton, Fortune, etc. As of lately though, my last few cars I've run Stance GR+ or Stance Super Sports on, and loved them, as seen here:

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Prior to using Stance coilovers on these cars, I was a huge supporter of Tein Monoflex coilovers because they rode great, and handled even better. The downside was that they didn't ever go as low as I wanted without getting rid of some of the preload on the springs, which in turn ruined the ride and the handling that I loved them for... This was one of the biggest things that got me interested in Stance coilovers, everyone that I knew who had used them said they went LOW and retained a good ride... And it turned out they did. It also didn't hurt that Stance is a company that is local to me, which meant that their already great customer service would be even better since I could deal with them face to face.

So when the time came to pull the trigger on coilovers for this car, the Stance Super Sports were at the top of my list. I would have loved some KW v3's, but the cost was out of my budget, and the car is just my daily driver/occasional drift car, so I wanted something that would improve handling, let me slam the car, and keep the ride as close to stock as possible. There were other options that were cheaper, and other options that may have looked as good on paper for the same money, but past experiece, and my trust for Stance to both make and stand behind a quality product meant that they were getting return business from me... It also doesn't hurt that they had them in stock, and I went to pick them up in person instead of having to deal with some shady 3rd party business and wait for shipping.

As for the coilovers themselves, their rates are 6K front and 6K rear, 15-way dampening adjustable, inverted monotube, adjustable camber plates, and they come with adjustable swaybar endlinks to avoid binding once the car is lowered.

So, on with the install:

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BRZ Stance Coilover Install by AJ Gillett, on Flickr

The stock rear suspension was a piece of cake to remove on this car for anyone that's done coilovers before. One bolt on the bottom, two up top, and once everything is unbolted you either have to unbolt the control arm or have someone of a decent weight stand on the hub to get the stock suspension free. There is one piece of very important information that I wish I had known ahead of time though. On the drivers side of the trunk there's a trunk pop button on the liner that needs to be unplugged in order to peel the liner away enough to get to the suspension bolts. If you unplug this, DO NOT CLOSE YOUR TRUNK. I lucked out that I had the taillights out of the car to paint them, because I closed the trunk, and could not get it to open until I reached in the tail light hole and pulled the emergency release.

Stock parts coming out:

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BRZ Stance Coilover Install by AJ Gillett, on Flickr

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BRZ Stance Coilover Install by AJ Gillett, on Flickr

The two side by side:

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BRZ Stance Coilover Install by AJ Gillett, on Flickr

That's with the coilover at max low by adjusting the lower mount, but with a good amount of preload on the spring. I could probably reduce the preload a bit without drooping the springs and get the car to sit lower still.

And the coilovers are in just as easy as they came out, just slip them in, tighten three bolts, and you're done:

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BRZ Stance Coilover Install by AJ Gillett, on Flickr

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BRZ Stance Coilover Install by AJ Gillett, on Flickr

The front was a little bit trickier, but still a very straightforward removal/install. Three nuts on the strut towers, two attaching the coilover to the knuckle, a swaybar endlink, and a series of bolts and clips attaching brake lines and wiring to the coilover. I was warned by the guys at Stance that the clips would be somewhat annoying to remove in one piece, but even that didn't prove to be too much hassle.

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BRZ Stance Coilover Install by AJ Gillett, on Flickr

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BRZ Stance Coilover Install by AJ Gillett, on Flickr

Here are the front coilovers with the adjustable swaybar endlinks. I opted to not put these all the way down since I wanted to avoid rubbing with the tire size I currently have.

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BRZ Stance Coilover Install by AJ Gillett, on Flickr

Installing the fronts went as seemlessly as the factory stuff came out. At this height it was a two man job to get the knuckle to line up with the coilovers. All of the holes for the bolts and clips lined up perfectly, and popped right in. The swaybar endlinks left me scratching my head for a minute. They were both set to the same length, but once the endlink was installed on one side, the other wouldn't line up. We realized that there was load on the sway bar, and we had to jack up the opposite side up to get the holes to line up... And just like that, the job was done. I was really impressed with the ease that everything fit back together in front even with the coilovers this low. I figured at a certain height things may start to not line up so good, but I guess they planned for people like me.

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BRZ Stance Coilover Install by AJ Gillett, on Flickr

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BRZ Stance Coilover Install by AJ Gillett, on Flickr

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BRZ Stance Coilover Install by AJ Gillett, on Flickr

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BRZ Stance Coilover Install by AJ Gillett, on Flickr

Complete!

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BRZ Stance Coilover Install by AJ Gillett, on Flickr

Having been driving on these for the last couple days, I couldn't be happier. More than anything I'm blown away by the ride, especially at this height. It rides about as good as stock over normal bumps and such, over really big bumps you can feel that it's more firm, but it is by no means going to shatter your hip like some coilovers I've driven on. Handling feels great from what I've felt so far, but I also have a wheel/tire change to take into account, so I can't be sure how much the coilovers are doing, and how much the bigger tires are doing. Regardless, the car feels much more flat around turns, and much more planted with quick direction changes. It seems very ideal for someone like me that just wants to street drive with occasional track days... They may not be the ultimate performer, but not everyone wants that. What's important is that no one attribute of the car's suspension has been comprimized in order to make another better. They feel awesome, they seem to handle great, and they go nice and low.