Recommendations for Suspension Mods
 

Let me preface this post by saying I don't know much about suspensions...

My 2015 BRZ with AT is my daily driver. I'm going to start auto crossing it on the weekends, and need some advice on what mods I should make to my suspension, such as roll bars, coilovers, springs, shocks, etc..

Here's my goal: I'd like a solution that's adjustable, so that I can keep the car raised and the suspension soft (as close to OEM as possible for comfort, and so I can pull into my driveway without scraping the nose), but when I get to the track, I can adjust the "suspension" to lower it and firm it up for performance. I realize having this requirement might mean a compromise in performance. But, I drive my car on the street 99% of the time, so I'm willing to forgo a little performance in that 1% of my driving time in exchange for some comfort in the other 99%.

At present, I'm still running my stock wheels, and will probably continue to do so for awhile. In the future, I will upgrade to larger diameter and width wheels, most likely 18x8.5 minimum. When that day comes, I might continue to use the OEM wheels when autox-ing. I also plan to upgrade the brakes at some point.

Any auto crosser's out there with advice for a Novice?

I have very similar goals to you. I was going to buy the tein street flex and a set of sway bars. However, I ended up going with the hotchkis tvs 1 which is springs and sways for 496 from tire rack. It has a $200 mail in rebate also. For that kind of a deal I couldn't pass it up.
It'll lower you 1" front and rear which shouldn't present any issues with scraping unless you have a ridiculously steep driveway.

Start with that and auto cross a while. Upgrade tires when you're able financially. If you can get new tires now, do it.

Or you can run her stock for a season and see what YOU think needs to be improved. Stiffness, body roll, brakes, ect.

A decent set of brake pads would go a long way as well.

Basically $300 for sways and springs that are designed to work together. Hard to beat.

There is only 1 left BTW

AutoX rules need some attention. That said, get camber bolts and a decent alignment, and go drive it as is. When the stock tires start holding you back, upgrade those.

I don't know of any competitive suspension that will let you adjust ride height like that. Stock with good camber may be faster than an extensively modded car just because of the driver. Also very different classes. One wrong part will put you in aa class you probably will not be competitive in without even more mods.

Track may get you into brake pads/fluid updates sooner than later, but probably not right away.

Any time you raise and lower the car camber and toe will change. I suppose you can have a set-up work for you if you can set the alignment so that it's where you want it at 2 different specific ride heights, but I don't see than happening easily.

I believe the rear will toe in and will have more camber when lowered while the front will toe-out with minimal change to camber specs. Unless you have a way to measure your alignment accurately each time you raise and lower the car, it's going to be hard to do. I think most people will just settle on a ride height and alignment that they find acceptable for both street and track/auto-x and stick with that for cars doing double duty.

Thanks for the info and advice.

Wow. I had no idea that so much would be involved with changing ride height "on the fly". Thanks for the info! Like I said, I know next to nothing about suspensions.

Someone bought that kit

Shocks/dampers are adjusted to spring rate, not ride height. Dampers don't actually control the bumps, the springs control the bumps and the dampers control the springs.

When you lower ride height, spring rate is what needs to change, not damping forces. If you change ride height without changing springs, changing damping forces doesn't make much sense and probably won't help.

#1 - Driver mod (seat time).

If you want to get into actual racing, doing autocross... don't touch a thing. Learn the sport, learn your car. When you can't improve your time any further with the car as is, start making small incremental changes.

At that point, then follow the recommendations of @cjd and do alignment and tires.

The stock car handles very, very well and you would be wise to just go out and learn how to drive it well as it as is.

What autocross class will you run? Spend $40 on the wrong thing and you're outside the class you want to compete in.

I've autocrossed for a year now on the stock suspension, track pads and fluid, good street tires on the stock wheels, got camber plates a few months ago and the car is great.

Get camber bolts (legal for your target class, OEM for SCCA C-Street, whiteline/spc for STX), alignment at a performance shop to maximize camber (-2 is great starting point but unrealistic, you'll likely be between -1.0 to -1.5) and zero the toe out front (I suggest slight toe in rear for street driving although zero toe rear may be a more responsive car to your liking).

Get as much seat time as possible and use up the tires, read read read, and go from there.

:cheers:

Track Threads
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25485
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38926
Autocross Threads
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35855
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25779

FWIW, I'm playing with a ton of ideas on building an STX car, so open choice on suspension components, latest idea is custom valved Bilstein B6's to match a set of racing springs of my choosing. Was toying with the idea of everything from Fortune Auto to Ohlins to Penske, there's no wrong answer, driver skill can put a mediocre car on top or the best car in the middle of the pack.

Yep well said.

Yep, learn to drive the car at the limit stock. Then as you progress (especially with AutoX) you will get an idea of what class you want to build for, etc.

Then you can modify the car to fix what you don't like and stay within the class guidelines.