Eibach Multi-Pro R2 Coilover Review

[donutfilling]

Introduction
First off, I had 2 problems with the FR-S.
1. I wanted to lower it.
2. I really wanted camber adjustment.

I decided to go with coilovers after doing a lot of research because I wanted the ability to corner weight the car, and I wanted a larger adjustment range than what camber bolts offer. Also, having adjustable dampening with the turn of a knob would be great since my car is a dual duty street/track car.

I wanted a relatively high end damper as everyone says the valving on good dampers makes the ride still very comfortable on the street despite having higher spring rates. Something livable/comfortable on the street while still really capable on the track for a long time. Being on a relatively decent budget as a student, I decided to go with the Eibach Multi-Pro R2.

The Eibach seemed like amazing quality for their price and really stood out from any of the cheaper coilovers I researched on. One other great factor is knowing that Eibach is here in SoCal where I am so if I ever needed help on the coilovers, they would be a short drive away. I have also taken a factory tour before and it really is all made here in the USA and hand assembled.

Unboxing/Install
So I decided to order them and here they arrived!


The coilovers inside were packaged very nicely and everything was well padded and protected.


Everything inside is already preassembled and ready to install.


Look how beautiful these are... how can you resist those external reservoirs?!


Where the reservoirs are located inside the engine bay:




They came with an instruction manual that guides you through a step by step installation for those that want to intall them yourselves. Every step includes pictures of the actual installation on the FR-S so you know they really spent their time on the R&D for this vehicle and didn't just reuse a completely generic design.

Before:


After: (I decided to drop it 1'' both front and rear)




Street Driving Impressions
I went with the off-the-shell spring rates because I felt it would be a good place to start. I plan on upgrading the springs in the future once I get more seat time and the car gets modded even more. The valving on them can support I believe over 12k or something like that so it would be a cheap and easy swap in the future.

One problem I had with the stock FR-S suspension is that I felt they were really harsh over speed bumps. I was expecting the same or a little harsher from the R2's but to my surprise It felt like they were actually BETTER than stock over speed bumps. It really absorbs the bump better and when you land back down that "jolt" of harshness is a lot less.

When driving on the freeway, which is where I do most of my driving, it felt as comfortable as stock and it actually absorbed the impact from the road reflectors even better. No complaints on the highway at all, more or equally as comfortable with no added noise.

While just doing slightly quick turns on the street, there was already noticeably less body roll. The turn in also felt sharper and the steering response seemed to be better due to these two. More on how the handling is after I get back from the track next weekend!

Now, there are a few downfalls to having such a performance oriented coilover. While at medium and high speeds things feel great, it is a little more jarring when driving slow such as driving around a parking lot. This maybe contradictory to how it feels better over speed bumps but I think the feel has to do with the sound. The coils come with pillowball spherical mounts so they're bound to make some noise. I was also told before that the external reservoirs may make a light noise over bumps. Consistant rough parking lot driving is really where the coilovers made the most noise and felt harshest.

Note, this is having settings at 4 clicks all around for both compression and rebound, so it probably feels a lot better if i dialed it down a bit. I only drove on lowest settings for a very brief amount of time and from what I remember it was more comfortable and had less noise.

Overall I'm very happy with the results so far and if the noise really bothered someone they could always swap in a rubber top hat and then it should really feel and sound like stock if not better.

Track review postponed for a good while.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by donutfilling

I was expecting the same or a little harsher from the R2's but to my surprise It felt like they were actually BETTER than stock over speed bumps. It really absorbs the bump better and when you land back down that "jolt" of harshness is a lot less.

This is the part that everyone seems to ignore about the better coilovers out there! Firsthand experience is the best way to notice it

Looking forward to your track review!

[JoeBoxer]

Nice review, i should have a lot of these going out to customers very soon since they are finally shipping.

[donutfilling]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

This is the part that everyone seems to ignore about the better coilovers out there! Firsthand experience is the best way to notice it

Looking forward to your track review!

Looking forward to it myself!

It'd be interesting to compare them to a set of SRC!

[Hanakuso]

Thanks for the review. Btw where did you install the remote reservoirs? I'm looking forward to receiving mine.

Down the road I might want to go with higher spring rates as well. Iirc, the three most popular would be Eibach, Hyperco, and Swift. Just finding a catalog of all them are hard tho.

[donutfilling]

Originally Posted by Hanakuso

Thanks for the review. Btw where did you install the remote reservoirs? I'm looking forward to receiving mine.

Down the road I might want to go with higher spring rates as well. Iirc, the three most popular would be Eibach, Hyperco, and Swift. Just finding a catalog of all them are hard tho.

The rear reservoirs are attached to the coils so you don't need to worry about them. The fronts actually come with a bracket to mount in the engine bay and also have instructions on exactly and where to do it. I'll snap some pictures today and post it later tonight.

[Hanakuso]

Originally Posted by donutfilling

The rear reservoirs are attached to the coils so you don't need to worry about them. The fronts actually come with a bracket to mount in the engine bay and also have instructions on exactly and where to do it. I'll snap some pictures today and post it later tonight.

I'm guessing the recommended place for the front mounts are the 2 strut bars? It looks the most convenient and easiest to install there, but i'm just hoping the engine doesn't heat them up.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by Hanakuso

I'm guessing the recommended place for the front mounts are the 2 strut bars? It looks the most convenient and easiest to install there, but i'm just hoping the engine doesn't heat them up.

Yes. There are pics of it on here already, I have some in my email too if people need to see it before the OP can snap a pic.

[swift996]

I can't wait to get mine in! Thanks for the review.

BTW - You mentioned you lowered it 1" around. How much did you have to adjust them? I want to do about the same.

[Corner3garage]

Sick suspension! I love multi adjustable suspension with remote/piggyback reservoirs!

[cnk]

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...ghlight=eibach

shows the remote reservoir installed.

[Racecomp Engineering]

Do you have a pic of the front strut mounted on the car with the wheel off? (not the reservoir).

- Andy

[donutfilling]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

Do you have a pic of the front strut mounted on the car with the wheel off? (not the reservoir).

- Andy

I actually don't :[ but I can get a pic of that too if you want.

[Racecomp Engineering]

No worries, if it's convenient then go for it but don't sweat it. Just trying to get an idea of how much bump travel they have at that ride height.

- Andy