Suspension

[Flyfish1624]

I've had my FRS about a month and new to the club here. Long story, but I have to replace my shocks. Any suggestions on what to put on?? Looking for something middle of the road and hopefully keep it under $1,000.

[Books]

I'd look at Koni's shocks/struts. The front shocks are inserts so hopefully you still have your old ones.

[Racecomp Engineering]

Your only options right now are stock and Koni (which use an insert for the front and can be a little difficult to install).

Bilstein will have an option very soon.

Are you pairing with stock springs?

- Andy

[Flyfish1624]

I bought this car used from a subaru dealership, it was lowered 2" and has after market coil overs (green). Got the oil changed first thing and the guy that changed my oil said 3 shocks were leaking, then I did notice suspension has progressively gotten worse. Unfortunately not knowing a lot about cars i found this forum and thought I would reach out for some advice, so the answer is no, I do not have the old ones.

[Flyfish1624]

The springs are not stock

[7thgear]

if KYB made any shocks for you then the GR2's are generally decent OEM replacements for low cost.

[Flyfish1624]

Thanks for the info.

I love the car, just some issue's I was not expecting to have to deal with.

Are after market suspension systems always something you have to mess with and replace?

[Stevo22]

You can try and look here Suspension For Sale Forum.

There is a lot of used suspension on there that could be in your range. Also people sell their stock suspension on there pretty cheap. If you don't mind raising the car back up to stock ride height.

[7thgear]

Originally Posted by Flyfish1624

Are after market suspension systems always something you have to mess with and replace?

all suspension systems are something you have to mess with and replace

dampers (shocks) wear out, i'd say your OEM shocks would have had to be replaced every 40-50,000 km anyway

bushings wear out, tie rod ends, ball joints, all these things are consumables and should be replaced at set intervals

no different than after-market

[Racecomp Engineering]

If you want something cheap and fast tomorrow, I bet you could score a complete assembled stock strut + spring + topmounts package from someone that went to coilovers. It will ride and probably handle better than what you have on their now (crappy coilovers).

Since you don't have the stock struts, don't bother with the Konis since you need the stock struts to cut up for the inserts.

Bilsteins are very good. You'll still need springs, top mounts, and a few other bits though, so finding a used stock package for cheap isn't a bad idea to grab all that. Or, we can get all that stuff and get you on some good mild drop performance springs...


- Andy

[Flyfish1624]

I definitely understand about replacing wear items. I just never have replaced shocks on a car with less than 5K miles.

I appreciate the feed back from everyone. Not knowing a lot about cars, I was nervous to post, but y'all made it pretty painless.

next for this car is exhaust and supercharger!!!

[7thgear]

Originally Posted by Flyfish1624

I definitely understand about replacing wear items. I just never have replaced shocks on a car with less than 5K miles.
!

so why are you looking at replacements so early? are your oem's leaking?

[Books]

In that case, I'd go searching around the classified for stock suspension. I'm sure you'll be able to find a good deal there

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by 7thgear

if KYB made any shocks for you then the GR2's are generally decent OEM replacements for low cost.

No KYB shocks for this car yet.

Originally Posted by 7thgear

so why are you looking at replacements so early? are your oem's leaking?

He bought his car used and it came with crappy leaking coilovers.

Originally Posted by Flyfish1624

Thanks for the info.

I love the car, just some issue's I was not expecting to have to deal with.

Are after market suspension systems always something you have to mess with and replace?

No, but there is some crap out there. A good quality system will last as long or longer than OEM. Height adjustable coilovers generally require a little more attention, but only crappy ones will blow and leak like yours did within 5k miles.

- Andy