I found it difficult to find any reviews or real information about these springs before deciding to pull the trigger and purchase them, so I figured I'd make this for the next person who may be interested in them.
To put in perspective what my goals were with this mod, I wanted something really subtle with a bit stiffer spring to take up the overdamped feel of the car. I was debating between these and the STi pink springs, but opted for these because I just couldn't get over the fact that I didn't know what the rates were for the pinks.
These were installed on stock shocks and I went ahead and put some SPC camber bolts on at the same time. No proper alignment yet, just maxed the camber (probably have some good toe in now....
)
So I
seriously over thought the rates I went with for this mod. RSR down springs come in two flavors, FR-S spec and BRZ spec. Which did I go with? Well...both. I've summarized the RSR spring rates with the OEM rates below.
I ended up buying both the BRZ and the FRS springs (for 8 in total) and used the front springs from the BRZ and the rears from the FR-S to essentially make GT86 springs but about 35% stiffer. I did this because the out of the box BRZ rates seemed too understeer-y, but I still wanted to tame the oversteer a bit in the car.
Handling
So this is a bit of a wash review, because the rates are different than what 99% of people would even consider buying and I did the camber bolts at the same time. But, even with that, I can say that the handling is noticeably better. It's not 'whole new car' levels of change, but the oversteer's been somewhat tamed although that's definitely still the dominant handling trait.
Also, the car rides better. I still feel...each...and...every...bump on the road, but they're not so jarring for sure. They are now soaked up a lot better.
Drop
So this is where it gets a bit weird
I was debating if the half inch drop would be enough for the sake of looks, and ended up making this picture to make my decision.
So I figured half inch would be enough to look good. Subtle but to the trained eye noticeable. Well, here's my before and after.
Before
After
So the drop is a bit heavy on the subtle side. I don't think even the best trained eye would catch it though.
The car currently compares super closely to what RSR advertised, so there's no issue there I suppose. However, comparing my stock picture (and others I have) to stock pictures of other stock toyobarus it seems mine was a bit lower than normal already. Maybe it settled in the intervening 10k miles?
So I guess the sum of that is that I'm a bit underwhelmed by the drop, but then again I got springs advertised to be between 10-15mm of drop, so I couldn't have expected much. It looks as advertised, so there's that.
Overall
This definitely fits into the OEM+ category, and if that's what you're going for (like me) then they're definitely worth it IMO, especially as they're only $182 from race consulting agency. I like the fact that my suspension geometry remains essentially stock and the I don't have to worry about the long term reliability of related parts due to the lowering (been there done that).
That said though, I recommend two things.
First, while I'm glad I have the mixed rates for the whole 'gee-whiz' factor, I'd recommend not to be silly like me and just go with one of the standard rates to save yourself money. Odds are 99% of us (including me) couldn't tell any difference between what I installed and either of the other two options. If you're leaning that way, consider spending the extra hundred on a set of STi pinks, the one picture I've seen of them actually seems to have a touch more drop to it.
Second, I'd recommend comparing your car in its current state to the RS*R marketing picture before purchase if you want to make sure this mod is worth if for you in terms of drop.