Which Dampers to get?

[djliquidsteele]

So I know for the purpose I intend with my car, daily driver with some spirited back road driving, that a spring/damper setup is what I want to go with. I know I want a 1.5" drop and as of right now, the Eibach is the only option. Can someone point me in the direction of a decent damper to go with these springs? I am completely unsure of what a typical damper costs, so any guestimations on cost would be awesome too.

Thanks!

[xwd]

There isn't anything yet, my guess is we are probably a little ways out on a shock/strut replacement.

The biggest issue is the front strut requires either a custom housing or insert which fits into the stock strut housing, it takes a bit of development time.

The first option will probably be Koni Sport inserts, which require you hack up your front strut housing.

For the time being your stock shocks should be fine.

[Miniata]

Your basic choices right now are installing aftermarket springs on your stock struts/shocks, or going with a complete coilover setup. No aftermarket struts/shocks are available yet, although it shouldn't be long.

Personally I'm waiting until probably sometime next year to make a decision on whether or not to go with just struts/shocks alone, struts/shocks plus springs, or coilovers, depending on what comes out between now and then. Hopefully Konis will be out in a few more months.

[Matt Andrews]

if you are doing spirited street driving, and just adding mild drop springs, keep the stock dampers. they are pretty good and can take the extra spring rate.

**I missed the amt you are dropping. I have no experience with how much you can drop these cars. With my AST coilovers, I only dropped the car .75", and it looked plenty to me. (pictures in blog below)

[Racecomp Engineering]

The stock dampers are pretty good but a 1.5 inch drop is substantial. You'll get better handling and ride quality from a smaller drop.

- drew

[djliquidsteele]

Then how would you go about reducing wheel gap further. I completely get that dropping it too much may hinder performance slightly, but even with RaceComp Yellows, the wheel gap is still a bit much for me.

The only thing I have come up with is going with like a 255/45/18 tire even though this would be slightly large diameter than stock. Does anyone know if EcuTek can reprogram wheel size?

Thanks for the input so far.

[JoeBoxer]

255/45 is way bigger than stock, 235/40 with a 1" drop should be fine.

[djliquidsteele]

Whoops, my bad. 255/40/18 is still bigger, but seeing as most of our speedometers read 2-3 mph faster than actual, this should only make it 0-1 mph faster than actual.

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by djliquidsteele

Then how would you go about reducing wheel gap further. I completely get that dropping it too much may hinder performance slightly, but even with RaceComp Yellows, the wheel gap is still a bit much for me.

The only thing I have come up with is going with like a 255/45/18 tire even though this would be slightly large diameter than stock. Does anyone know if EcuTek can reprogram wheel size?

Thanks for the input so far.

We make a lowering camber plate...lowers the car an extra 3/8th of an inch up front without sacrificing bump travel. Not cheap, but a high quality and unique part.

- Andrew

[djliquidsteele]

Does that make it an even drop front to rear as far as wheel gap?

[simpleisbest]

I heard the first release of the Koni's may be inserts....

[Turbowned]

Aww muffin, you have to pull apart your strut housings? Tough cookies! Us MR2 guys don't have any other option besides coilovers. I did it and survived, and Koni makes a great product!

[simpleisbest]

LOL! Yeah, things could be worse!

The good news is that supposedly direct replacements should follow.
(Not going to hold my breath, though!)

[xwd]

Originally Posted by simpleisbest

I heard the first release of the Koni's may be inserts....

I think they will always be inserts due to the front strut housing. Koni has had kits for the Imprezas for 10+ years now, always and still inserts. There are great DIY guides on NASIOC for installing them and it can be done with hand tools in less than an hour.

There are some companies like Feal that sell revalved stock shocks which might be an option eventually.