Forget it... I'm doing springs and shocks... not coilovers...
 

Here's why...

Ultimately I don't need super camber as the car is 90% street and I'd like to get my money out of my tires.
Also, whenever I've had coilovers, I've set them at a given height and left them. This essentially means springs would have been fine. Now that I live in Seattle, we rarely get snow, so I have even less reason to need heigh adjustability.
I do wish to have dampening adjustment tho, so Konis are the only game in town (and a good one at that).

The plan?

-RCE Yellows
-Koni Yellows (lots of yellow)
-OEM Crash/Camber bolts
-An adjustable front sway bar (*edit* *edit* Strano hollow 22mm non-adjustable to start - maybe an adjustable later if its needed, but the strano bar is light and so cheap to boot)


Why only a front sway bar?
This car is light in the ass end (and generally light as well), I don't know why so many spring companies went STIFFER in the rear end. I don't want a stiffer rear on a car that will eventually make more power (possibly turbo charged), nor would I want it with stock power levels. Hitting anything with the rear wheels will likely upset the suspension, and with the car being so tail happy to begin with, it's logical you need some understeer, hence stiffening up the front.

You can do that a few ways...
-Swap Front and Rear springs of many common kits so now you have stiffer front springs
-Run RCEs which are even, and add a sway bar (adjustable if you want any adjustability)
-Get custom springs

I don't want to deal with swapping, I want some adjustability, and I don't want to spend money on custom springs... Hence my decision above.

On to camber...

Lowering the car naturally adds some camber, however a little more will be given with the crash bolts. This should be sufficient for the front of the car based on many others experience here on the forum.
I will decide on dialing in more rear camber with the Whiteline kit if necessary later, but that is likely the only thing I'll add to my set up (if at all)


I'd like to thank @Sam Strano and the guys at @Racecomp Engineering as well for helping me decide on this. I look forward to reporting on how they do on the street.

Good man. Very good man. People buying coilovers are usually hardparkers who just want to slam the car...true enthusiasts spring for high dollar coilovers if they need that kind of valving and adjustability. The layman will be fine with GOOD dampers and springs, like the Koni & RCE combo. Bravo to you, sir, bravo.

I like your analysis that lead to your decision. One factor that I'd like to include would be cost.

How much for the RCE yellow + Koni yellow?

Personally I am waiting for the release of the Eibach Multi-pro R1 which should be around $1500. It is a quality coilover that is still roughly $500 cheaper than lets say KW.

You didn't buy a RWD car to understeer did you? :D

In all seriousness, high quality dampers will allow you to use them with a variety of spring rates, and a properly set up suspension won't get unsettled by hitting something on the road.

I'm glad you found the best setup for you :)

Koni ~$770
RCE Yellow ~$300 with bolts

should be a good setup, i'm waiting on a full replacement Bilstein but similar end goals.

I ordered Yellows from Strano, but RCE is selling a package with these.

Total with crash bolts, RCEs, Konis, and shipping I'll be at $1100.
Most sway bars are under $200, and the rear camber kit is $135 or so. So at WORST it'll cost $1435... Realistically it'll be about $1375-1400.

I prefer it to be more neutral than stock, this should do that quite well :)

What do you define as neutral? Does does one get greyer than grey, if one end is black and the other is white?

This will be the direction I go. Id like if Koni came out with the FSD's for the twins, a simple close to stock set up with the RCE springs would be a money set up.

Are the Koni's out?

Soon. There's currently pre-sales going on.

I'm thinking the same as Seven. Why get coilovers if I want to change ride height once and a set dampening and spring rate is all I want too. I've had Billstein on my Elise and R32 so I think once they come out for the BRZ I think I'll get them as well. Currently I just have the Eibach Pro-kit. The BRZ is more neutral than the FR-S and I don't think I want it even more neutral than it currently is as it would understeer too much in my opinion. I think I'll go with a fixed front bar 20mm whiteline and adjustable 16mm rear, both being 2mm more than stock so not crazy amount more but should give me something to play with since the rear will be adjustable. Plus the back doesn't let loose really unless it's wet or running tires that aren't sticky, like winters or stock tires.

In short, no one will argue the car is "lively" in the rear stock.
Stiffening up the front (more than the rear - as the RCE will stiffen the rear as well) will eliminate that
Many people will define neutral differently. I'm not here to argue semantics.
I would agree. Might be a bit of a wait (if at all)
The worst part about this car is how new it is... Everything is still in development even with how fast manufacturers are moving. I guess I'm spoiled by owning cars that had a large aftermarket already previously.

Have you seen the camber plates we have on our car with the konis and yellows over in our build journal? i think once you see those and I get good pics of them up you'll skip the camber bolts.