CSG and RCE tag-team suspension Q&A thread! Ask us anything!

[Racecomp Engineering]

Softer springs require more preload for a given ride height, which takes up more spring length. But you also need to be sure that you have enough spring travel for the amount of bump travel that you have at your ride height.

And yes, nothing in between 170 and 200 mm from KW springs.

- Andrew

[falcon_wizard]

Good day,

I would appreciate some insight to help to plan the stage of evolution of my brz set-up, based on my specific needs. My turbo 13 BRZ is my all year daily driver including in very snowy canadian winters, however I do use it for about 5 HPDE days a year. As my driving skills progress over the last few years, Next year I plan to replace my aging stock suspension with the RCE Superstreet 1 coilovers, and at the same time move up from my PS4S to Nitto NT01 tires for dry track time. My current alignement has -1.9 neg camber in the front using camber bolts and stock -1.2 neg camber in the back.

With the added stiffness of the RCE SS1 and higher tire grip levels, I was wondering if it would make sense to replace some of the stock bushings for stiffer ones in order to keep a balanced set-up, or if I should stay with stock bushings. I do use my car for long rides so would need to keep it civilized (it’s not a race car) from an NVH standpoint, but would be ok to make some compromises to help the car behave well on track and have a set-up that is well balanced. Also since I do drive in the deep snow in winter my goal is to limit the drop of the SS1 to no more than 1inch from stock.

Any feedback would be appreciated,

Thanks

[Racecomp Engineering]

For your 9 year old daily driver I would definitely inspect your bushings. Even from a non-performance standpoint there is likely some wear and they could be due for replacement.

You can replace with new and fresh OEM or switch to something firmer. I think for your uses new OEM is totally fine. Or add a few easy aftermarket pieces like the rear diff and subframe bushing inserts. Do you have any adjustable arms or plan to add them?

A 1 inch drop is no problem.

- Andrew

[falcon_wizard]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

For your 9 year old daily driver I would definitely inspect your bushings. Even from a non-performance standpoint there is likely some wear and they could be due for replacement.

You can replace with new and fresh OEM or switch to something firmer. I think for your uses new OEM is totally fine. Or add a few easy aftermarket pieces like the rear diff and subframe bushing inserts. Do you have any adjustable arms or plan to add them?

A 1 inch drop is no problem.

- Andrew

Thanks for the quick response,

Indeed, Actually the car is inspected before every hpde event. I failed to mention that the rear diff bushing was due last year and we did replace with an aftermarket insert on top the a new OEM one that made it a bit stiffer but not too much, that worked well. Also Years ago when I went forced induction we added the transmission insert as well, which really help smooth gear change due to the extra torque. I have no plan to add adjustable arms at the moment. Normally when something is due I look for opportunities to upgrade at the same time, or if there is clearly a performance issue I want to fix, and incrementally build things like that. So something I would consider if parts are due to be changed.

The rear subframe bushing appears to be a fairly simple to install, so I’ll dig into that more and look to put that on the candidate list for next season…. Regarding the drop, I saw the instructions and feedback on the SS1 said that the optimum drop was between 1 and 1.5inch, so that’s why I was planning on doing the “minimum optimal” drop, to minimize having the car clearance issues in daily driving. One option could be to rise the suspension for the winter, but I was trying to shoot for a happy medium that would minimize/avoir the need to do two alignments per year, vice one in the spring. Maybe the trade-offs is not worth it however and I’d be better offer with another one in the fall.

[Stang70Fastback]

Here's an interesting one. I tried spreading a tiny bit of silicone grease I had laying around on the coils, but it didn't seem to help any? Not sure why they're sticking, but both fronts are doing it!

EDIT: Someone suggested I flip the springs to place the helper at the bottom. It hadn't occurred to me to flip them... but now that I think about it... I wonder if the lip on the top perch (the silver part from my Raceseng camber plates) is tall enough that it's wedging against the lip on the "mid-perch" that separates the main spring from the helper spring? Maybe under full load the two are wedging inside/outside of each other, and combined with the helper spring, forming a tasty perch lip sammich. Maybe I just need to try shaving down the lip on both pieces slightly. I'll need to take a closer look and see if the two are tall enough to interfere when the helper is fully-compressed.

I suppose flipping the springs around would also have the same effect by separating those two collars so their lips can't interfere at all. Assuming that is indeed the issue.

[Stang70Fastback]

So as a follow-up to my previous post, I tried flipping the springs around, but then observed that the helper spring seat would still interfere with the collar on the BOTTOM of the coilover... and it also placed that seat right at the edge of the shock body, which I wasn't a fan of.

SO, I grapped some HDPE sheets I had lying around, and machined a pair of spacers for each side. Pressed them onto the top hats, and effectively reduced the height of the lip enough to eliminate the interference. Just had to lower my coilovers by the same amount as the thickness of the spacers.

Still not sure why I'm seemingly the only one with this issue, but at least it's resolved! We shall see how the HDPE holds up, but I can always machine more out of ABS or Nylon or even Aluminum if needed.

[Racecomp Engineering]

Sorry missed this...and whoa, never seen that before! Send me a PM with your email.

- Andrew

[2.slowbrz]

So. Much. Reading LOL
I think i have a goal in mind here but some insight could be helpful
Use - weekend driving, sometimes the odd service call lol and amateur track use 3-6 times a year, hopefully more.
Currently set up - stock car(2015) and Oem tires(2014), pads and fluid are toast, tires are feeling like hockey pucks.
Brake fluid, pads/rotors and tires all needed.
Since new tires are needed, i figure this is the time to look into upgrading to build around the new tires.

The end goal in a few years or so is ideally to run 200 TW 245s on 17x9s with something along the lines of the CSG spec Tien flex A or RCE super street 1 and the supporting suspension components.

What’s the most efficient way to build to that from stock, without ruining the car and buying parts twice? If even possible I suppose

could I get away with 17x9s with a 245section and less aggressive 300 TW tire, alignment, crash bolts, and LCAs without messing up the grip and suspension balance?

Or best to stick stock tire size, 200 tw, alignment -2to-2.25F and -1.7to-2.0R, crash bolts, LCAs until the dampers are affordable to do all at once?

[Evil Rocky]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

Sorry missed this...and whoa, never seen that before! Send me a PM with your email.

- Andrew

So can you post what was resolution to this? I would like your coilovers, but I want to make sure maybe that was a one off on something like that

[Westen86]

Originally Posted by 2.slowbrz

So. Much. Reading LOL
I think i have a goal in mind here but some insight could be helpful
Use - weekend driving, sometimes the odd service call lol and amateur track use 3-6 times a year, hopefully more.
Currently set up - stock car(2015) and Oem tires(2014), pads and fluid are toast, tires are feeling like hockey pucks.
Brake fluid, pads/rotors and tires all needed.
Since new tires are needed, i figure this is the time to look into upgrading to build around the new tires.

The end goal in a few years or so is ideally to run 200 TW 245s on 17x9s with something along the lines of the CSG spec Tien flex A or RCE super street 1 and the supporting suspension components.

What’s the most efficient way to build to that from stock, without ruining the car and buying parts twice? If even possible I suppose

could I get away with 17x9s with a 245section and less aggressive 300 TW tire, alignment, crash bolts, and LCAs without messing up the grip and suspension balance?

Or best to stick stock tire size, 200 tw, alignment -2to-2.25F and -1.7to-2.0R, crash bolts, LCAs until the dampers are affordable to do all at once?

Get a set of coils and LCAs. They dont go bad sitting on a shelf or on the floor. THEN buy wheels. Then buy tires. Put on all at once.

As for the maintenance stuff, do that first as the budget allows. Find a set of daily tires for the stock rims and replace your brakes.

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by Evil Rocky

So can you post what was resolution to this? I would like your coilovers, but I want to make sure maybe that was a one off on something like that

This was a case where the fit between raceseng camber plate perches and our springs is very tight, and in this instance tight enough that the spring was getting wedged up in there.

- Andrew

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by 2.slowbrz

So. Much. Reading LOL
I think i have a goal in mind here but some insight could be helpful
Use - weekend driving, sometimes the odd service call lol and amateur track use 3-6 times a year, hopefully more.
Currently set up - stock car(2015) and Oem tires(2014), pads and fluid are toast, tires are feeling like hockey pucks.
Brake fluid, pads/rotors and tires all needed.
Since new tires are needed, i figure this is the time to look into upgrading to build around the new tires.

The end goal in a few years or so is ideally to run 200 TW 245s on 17x9s with something along the lines of the CSG spec Tien flex A or RCE super street 1 and the supporting suspension components.

What’s the most efficient way to build to that from stock, without ruining the car and buying parts twice? If even possible I suppose

could I get away with 17x9s with a 245section and less aggressive 300 TW tire, alignment, crash bolts, and LCAs without messing up the grip and suspension balance?

Or best to stick stock tire size, 200 tw, alignment -2to-2.25F and -1.7to-2.0R, crash bolts, LCAs until the dampers are affordable to do all at once?

Depends imo on condition of current suspension and chassis parts. Sounds like you have a few things to go through and check, do that first and a set of drivable street tires. Then see if budget allows for freshening up and purchase of replacement suspension.

- Andrew

[teppey]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

That would not work for me either.

- Andrew

Any info about Ohlins R&T suspension travel?

[RM_2]

Hi everyone. I have a 2016 BRZ (32k miles) that I started tracking this year, and I'm in need of some advice. Current suspension is stock aside from camber bolts up front. I seem to have made a mistake putting Falken RT615K+ on the car for track duty because high speed corners introduce a lot of body roll. I didn't have that much of an issue on old BFG UHPs at Putnam Park...At Mid Ohio (club layout with the chicane before the Keyhole), the body roll wasn't confidence inspiring and made me lift more than I probably needed to. I don't commute, so when I do drive, it is for fun or for a quick errand. I won't drive this car in the winter. I'm looking for something that isn't going to need endless tweaking but can handle track duty and a backroad drive. Roads around me are decent but occasionally bumpy enough to upset the car if I'm pushing too hard.

Here are the options I'm thinking about:
1. Lowering springs on stock struts and mounts (RCE Yellow?).
2. RCE Yellow + Bilstein B6 + Pedders top mounts (almost decent coilover money)
3. RCE Superstreet or something along those lines.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on what I should do at this point. I have one more track day planned for September. Next year I plan to do at least 5 track days. Thanks, y'all!

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