Spring/Coilover advice

[canuckbrz]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and very new to the modding/tuning scene as the BRZ is my first own car. I've recently ordered a new set of 18" wheels/tires for the summer and after going through the countless photos/posts, the wheel gap just seems unbearable. I did a bit of research and I hoping I could get a bit of advice. Here's my situation:

Firstly, I want to stress that this is my daily driver and will not be tracking it at all. This change will be purely for aesthetics only and any performance gain will be an extra. My goal is to lower my car approx 1" to get rid of some of the wheel gap, and hopefully not affect the ride quality too much. Here are some questions/issues I have:

1. My car is leased and I presume that changing any component on the car will void the warranty. My understanding is that if I change the suspension, I will only be voiding the warranty on the suspension and not the rest of the car - is that correct? Also, what are the risks of installing springs/coilovers?

2. If I end up getting springs instead of coilovers, I will most likely be installing them on the stock shocks. I've read on here that a 1" drop on won't be too hard on the stock shocks but I have no idea. My lease is for another 3 years and I'm hoping to return everything back to stock if I don't end up buying back the car at the end of the lease. If I want to avoid any issues with the dealership during my lease, would it be better to get springs or coils?

3. Clearly with my lack of knowledge, I won't be the one doing the install of the springs/coils. Which one would be more work? I'm up in Canada so snow is an issue in the winter, however, the BRZ is already pretty low so I'm not sure how much help that extra inch of clearance will be with a significant amount of snow. With the coils, I will have the flexibility to adjust the height if needed.

I'm hoping not to spend too much on this as this is just purely for looks, but I am willing to spend money to get quality parts to ensure nothing breaks/fails after installation. My main concern is to avoid any issues with the dealership (I've already had to bring my car back 3 times for warranty engine work). I've narrowed the choices down to either the Eibach Pro Kit, RCE Yellows or Tein Street Basis coilovers. The coilovers are more than double the price of the Eibachs or RCEs so if they're not really necessary for my purposes, I'd rather stick with the springs only. If there are any other alternatives anyone can suggest, I'll definitely take it into consideration as well.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[OrbitalEllipses]

Originally Posted by canuckbrz

3. Clearly with my lack of knowledge, I won't be the one doing the install of the springs/coils. Which one would be more work? I'm up in Canada so snow is an issue in the winter, however, the BRZ is already pretty low so I'm not sure how much help that extra inch of clearance will be with a significant amount of snow. With the coils, I will have the flexibility to adjust the height if needed.

You will set them once then never change them again. By the time winter rolls around and you want to "raise" the car you'll think to yourself, "it's cold out there...fuck it" and live on your merry days without changing the height.

[Drftfan]

I would do coils. You simply pull the struts out and replace them with coilovers. Then you do the same thing when swapping back.
Swapping springs means you have to disassemble the strut assembly. Then redo it at the end of your lease. More work.

[Laika]

Buy a set of OEM shocks with aftermarket springs on them from a member here when they decide to upgrade to coils. Cheap up front cost, cheap end cost when you need to switch back (to your stock shocks with stock springs still on), and the 1" drop you want. Plus you take less of a hit when you go to sell the stock shocks with aftermarket springs at the end of your lease.

Although, modifying a leased car never made much sense to me.

[TylerLieberman]

Springs. Less money up front and less money lost when you sell the parts at the end of your lease.


Honestly, I wouldn't even touch it. It's a lease, so you don't own the car, nor are your monthly payments getting you closer to owning it. You're going to lose at least 50% of the money you put into parts on this car when you inevitably get rid of it.

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by Drftfan

I would do coils. You simply pull the struts out and replace them with coilovers. Then you do the same thing when swapping back.
Swapping springs means you have to disassemble the strut assembly. Then redo it at the end of your lease. More work.

Swapping springs once the strut/shock is off the car is literally a 5 minute job if you have air tools.

The worst part is getting the shock/strut out of the car if it's been there a few years.

For the OP, one thing to keep in mind is that a lot of coilovers won't bring you back up to stock height, even at their maximum height so don't count on them raising the car back to stock for the winter.

I drove this car through 3 Canadian winters, and the GTI I had before it (which had about the same ground clearance) through 3 Canadian winters without issue at all. Both VW's were about 1.5" lower at the bottom of the front bumper than my FR-S is at stock height, BUT because of the shape of the lip they would plow the snow rather than riding up on top like the FR-S seems to like doing.

[Drftfan]

I just don't like springs. They never gave me what I was looking for.

[m.wood0213]

if you put lowered spring on oem shocks they'll blow quickly. get some good but inexpensive coils for convince, swap when lease is over and resell.. Fortune auto is good and inexpensive.

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by m.wood0213

if you put lowered spring on oem shocks they'll blow quickly. get some good but inexpensive coils for convince, swap when lease is over and resell.. Fortune auto is good and inexpensive.

That's simply not true, and has been proven time and time again.

The reason lowering springs have a bad name on stock shocks is because people put too high of a spring rate on a 10 year old shock that was on it's last leg anyway. Most shock manufacturers suggest shock inspections every year or 12k miles, and replacement every ~50k miles.

Our stock shocks with a mild drop (~1") and reasonable spring rates will last just fine.

[hanabie]

Originally Posted by m.wood0213

if you put lowered spring on oem shocks they'll blow quickly. get some good but inexpensive coils for convince, swap when lease is over and resell.. Fortune auto is good and inexpensive.

oem shocks + rce yellow > cheap coils

Buying cheap coils is just like degrading your system.

[canuckbrz]

Thanks for everyone's help.

When I had originally leased the car, the only modification I was planning to do was tinting the windows. The reason I bought the wheels is because I bought a set of winter tires for the OEM wheels so instead of constantly swaping the rubber off, I decided to keep the winters on the OEM wheels. It's still up in the air whether I'm going to drop the car, but I just wanted some input from others. Lowering the car is extent that I will go in terms of modifying the car, anything else after would purely be cosmetic (ie. changing light bulbs, etc). I guess my main question is - when I replace the springs at the end of the lease, is there any way the dealer know that it had been previously modified, and if so, would they really have an issue with it? At the end of the day, I'll be returning the car how it was when I took possession of it.

I know it doesn't make much economical sense to put money into something I do not own, but I never thought it would be so hard to resist the mod bug when I leased the car. This is my first car, so lesson learned for the future lol.

I'm getting the feel that a good set of springs is the way to go for me. One thing I forgot to mention is that I don't drive the car a ton. I've had the car since October and I've only put just over 6000km (~4000miles) on it. I'm thinking that with the limited driving I do, and the minimal drop I'm planning to do, the stock shocks should last until the end of my lease in 3 years. Let me know if my thinking is wrong.

Thanks again for the help!

[wparsons]

They shouldn't have any issues taking it back as long as the lowering springs aren't garbage, I know people that have returned leased cars with intakes, different exhaust and springs without issue.