Ohlins R&T on the street?
 

I'm looking into picking up some Ohlins as I've read (here) that they ride smoother/better than the stock suspension on the street. Can anyone who actually runs these please chime in? I'm not interested in track performance as much as street performance/smoothness. Yes, I'll take the car to the track but I'm actually pretty certain it's going to handle great already in stock form.

Please tell me they suck ... my wallet thanks you in advance.

From my time as a passenger in the car they are great on the street. Build quality on the Ohlins is exceptional. @Rosaki

I had V3s and now Robi spec V3s. The Ohlins are smoother than my Robis, but V3s are more stock like. Most of it has to do with spring rate, V3s 4kg/5kg, Ohlins 6kg, Robi 7kg/8kg

@cactus thanks. So I take it the Ohlins ride rougher than stock?

The correct term would be firmer. I don't think they'll be rougher, but it will definitely be a firmer ride.

Your ride quality will be greatly determined by the tires you run, surprisingly... but at the end of the day, here's what you need to ask yourself:

- What is "quality" worth to you, in terms of dollars?
- Will you know how to set up your suspension for max performance on the street? In this context, "performance" means great handling and a firm (but better) ride than stock, but a lot of people don't even know what a good suspension feels like.
- Will you tune your own suspension? Or will someone else?
- Why are you lowering?
- Are you willing to rebuild the shocks every 2 years or so?

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48679

For 99% of the guys out there, they are better off w/ aftermarket shocks + stock springs for better suspension performance. But a lot of people mistake "better" with "more money", which is sometimes true.

-alex

$3K is reasonable to me.
I can set up my own suspension.
I will tune and install it myself.
I don't really want to lower the car but want better ride quality. A slight drop for looks is cool, though.
Don't really want to rebuild shocks every 2 years but it's a possibility.

I'm purely going after better, smoother, less bumpy ride quality. I already have a car that is pretty hardcore that I take to the track (964).

If youre interested in the Ohlins, I would also look at AST as well, they make some nice singles. MCS makes comparable stuff to the Ohlins R&T.

You can accomplish the same with high quality aftermarket shocks... but the point of coilovers is the ability to adjust and corner balance, etc.

The "smoother/less bumpy" part will be largely determined by tire sidewall stiffness (for smaller imperfections in the road) and by the spring rate of the suspension (for larger bumps). The shock itself will dampen out the roughness, but the initial "bump" is from those two things up there.

If you are not in a hurry and can wait, we have our 86 Cup event Sat 5/23 at Laguna Seca, you are welcome to come by and sit in my car and feel how the Ohlins feel. I'm no suspension expert, but I have no problem driving my BRZ to Alaska and back tomorrow if I needed to.

-alex

Alex, thanks. I will take you up on that offer.

A little development at home after I posted this thread, I was stupid enough to discuss with my wife that I'm considering Ohlins. Needless to say, she was against it. Here were her reasons.

-3K is a lot of money for something that isn't broken (but it ISSS!!!!!)
-every car you get you change the suspension and eventually it's too hard to ride on the street.
-you're thrifty on everything else but spend on your cars.
-I thought you wanted that blue Porsche for $85k.

That last line was the clincher. I agreed, I want the GT4... So I backed off the Ohlins discussion. Just $82K more. Now taking donations.

Ha, ha - the new Cayman GT4 is awesome.

It sounds like you've made up your mind, but I was getting ready to jump in to ask you a few questions, because some of the things you said were similar to the mental gymnastics I've been going through. I definitely want to be able to slightly (3/4") lower my FR-S and corner balance it, but I also want better damping and wheel control with a more refined ride - and I, too, have determined that the Öhlins Road & Track is my preferred way to get there. One question I have for you is: How many miles are on your FR-S/BRZ? I ask because my car was far stiffer over sharp edged bumps when new, but after about 1,500 miles it became much more supple (although it still seems over-damped to me). If your car is still new, it will settle down shortly.

Good luck with the Porsche and, either way, you have to admit the chassis tuning on the FR-S/BRZ is pretty damn good when you consider the price paid.

Ohlins ride different than stock. For me it is better overall...it's something I'm more comfortable with driving day to day. 95% of the time it's better than stock, and the other 5% is not a big difference. That's a pretty big net win for me. Even over the awful roads downtown here they always pass my own personal tests for ride quality.

- Andrew

In my opinion you should try swapping out the springs first. The stock springs are too soft for such heavy stock wheels/tires. Firmer springs in the 6k - 7k range will actually ride better because the wheels won't wag the car as much. If the wheels move up and down too much, they shake the whole car. The rear sway bar can be removed without sacrificing stability, and will yield a better ride without it. Coilovers with threaded mounts are best, I think, because they can be raised/lowered without changing the spring preload, and if they have adjustable dampening, all the better.

So... 20.1 lb OEM wheel is far from heavy. Most aftermarket wheels in 17x7 are around there. +/- 0.5 lbs. Lightest I've found is Kosei K4R at 14 lbs. My Enkei RPF1's are pretty strong for 15 lbs. Highly recommended.

Secondly, Ohlins coilovers ARE 6k/6k. It's a great choice for OP, who needed to know if they sucked. Verily, I proclaim from the mountain top...

THEY DO NOT SUCK! PREPARE THY WALLET!

Are you still pushing that nonsense? Do you still firmly believe that you clearly know better than all the suspension engineers in Toyota and Subaru and all the aftermarket companies that build products for our cars?