Ohlins Road & Track for FRS/BRZ suspension install/review thread

[nikitopo]

Originally Posted by Scracho

Parts are in... Stay tuned!

Nice ξ

[Scracho]

Installed and driven on for nearly a week... Going to track this weekend!

[Trefoil]

Originally Posted by wparsons

The shaft is stepped, and it's possible to get it hung up on the first step instead of fully seating.

If it's a light clunk, it could be the spherical bearing in the upper mount, or also an end link.

If the spherical bearing is out, is it as simple as getting a replacement from Ohlins? I have a light clunk over uneven roads from the front suspension.

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by Scracho

Installed and driven on for nearly a week... Going to track this weekend!

What event are you going to? If it's the OTA school, I'll be there instructing. Asphalt FRS with bronze (or brake dust color...) RPF1's.

Originally Posted by Trefoil

If the spherical bearing is out, is it as simple as getting a replacement from Ohlins? I have a light clunk over uneven roads from the front suspension.

Not sure, you'd have to contact them. They don't include the upper mounts with the newer coilover kits so it's possible they don't make them anymore at all.

[Scracho]

Originally Posted by wparsons

What event are you going to? If it's the OTA school, I'll be there instructing. Asphalt FRS with bronze (or brake dust color...) RPF1's.

Yes, OTA School at DDT See you there!

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by Scracho

Yes, OTA School at DDT See you there!

Change of plans... was up most of the night with the flu, tapping out of tomorrow


Hope it's a great time for you!

[Trefoil]

Originally Posted by wparsons

Not sure, you'd have to contact them. They don't include the upper mounts with the newer coilover kits so it's possible they don't make them anymore at all.

Oh jeeze... I remember them once saying they can still rebuild my set, but how long that will take while i'm without suspension on the car makes it seem like I should buy a second set of coils from another mfg to drive on while they're in for service.

[Sleepless]

Originally Posted by Trefoil

If the spherical bearing is out, is it as simple as getting a replacement from Ohlins? I have a light clunk over uneven roads from the front suspension.

Did you try tightening the nut at the top mount? Mine has come loose twice in 3 years.

[ajc209]

Originally Posted by Sleepless

Did you try tightening the nut at the top mount? Mine has come loose twice in 3 years.

Loctite!

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[Scracho]

Ohlins is one of the worlds leading dampener companies making race suspension for custom race applications including F1, LeMans, Touring Car and even MotoGP to name a few.

A number of years ago they made their products available to the general public, offering an affordable yet robust and quality product.

The single adjustment design removes the guess work and allows the user to focus on the driving rather than playing with separate adjustments.

For the FT86 chassis their initial offering was the SUS MI20 kit that included 6K/6K springs and front camber plates and rear top mounts and retailed for around $3300USD. Story goes that one of the top engineers in Sweden drove this kit and "hated it"! Thought the ride was too harsh for street use...

Ummm... I thought this was a "Road and TRACK" coilover?

So in efforts to not only reduce cost to be more competitive in a sea of options, Ohlins also reduced the stiffness by changing the spring rates to 4K/3K and removed the once included front camber plates and rear top mounts. This not only made the kit less track oriented but meant you would now have to buy your own camber plates and rear top mounts for the enthusiast who was serious about adjustment. This kit is known as the SUS MP20

Much debate and discussion has gone on over the forums whether this kit is the same just with softer springs and no more top plates AND did Ohlins really changed the valving to accommodate the softer spring as well.

After a quick email to Ohlins I discovered that their kits will allow for a 35% stiffer spring over and above their included option. Also in speaking with another retailer they mentioned that Ohlins will now be supplying this kit with the end users choice in spring rate, which is consistent to their new literature for the SUS MP21 which was quietly introduced this year.

https://world.ohlins.com/app/uploads/...

All of this suggests to me that running a higher spring rate is possible and you may loose the range of adjustment with adjustability but can be done.

Back in my AutoX days in my EG/EK Civic the ideal setup at the time was a adjustable Koni Yellow dampener paired up with Ground Control sleeve coil-over kit. We would often go from 300LBS to 450-500LBS springs in this setup without ever touching the valving in the Koni dampener. So why couldn't this apply to the Ohlins? Well it can

In speaking with another well known suspension guru in the Subaru community who sells their own branded coilovers made by another well known German dampener company, who to his credit was trying to sell me on their product but was very helpful and knowledgeable in this field told me it will work, might not be ideal or perfect and I will lose fine tuning in the adjustment range where "one click" doesn't feel any different. Ohlins also said essentially the same thing.

So, I quickly contacted Eibach Canada and ordered 400LBS/425LBS (7K/7.5K) springs and much to my expectations... They work, brilliantly I might add.

Stay tuned to my review video coming soon!

Check out my assembly video

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iclVpnAWwgU[/ame]

[ajc209]

I will reiterate one last time. I wasn't talking to a tech or Ohlins USA that had nothing to do with the development of the kits for our car, I was talking to the product manager here in europe who developed both kits.

They didn't change the valaving or shim stake. They are identical with softer springs.

There is approx 300% low speed damping range from soft to hard so lots of headroom. More than 30%....

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[Scracho]

Originally Posted by ajc209

I will reiterate one last time. I wasn't talking to a tech or Ohlins USA that had nothing to do with the development of the kits for our car, I was talking to the product manager here in europe who developed both kits.

They didn't change the valaving or shim stake. They are identical with softer springs.

There is approx 300% low speed damping range from soft to hard so lots of headroom. More than 30%....

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

I can confirm that it is very evident as my car feels very good

[Sleepless]

I'm on 450# springs and love it. Mine is a 99% track car but the 450# works fine on our nice roads too. The most impressive thing is how the Ohlin's soak up small high speed bumps.

Installing a set on my new ND Miata this week Love these dampers!

[Racecomp Engineering]

Ohlins =

We have a set on our shop 2018 STI at the moment. Myles always ends up with them on his car at some point....

And we may do a custom set of these "new" Ohlins for a local BRZ guy at 5k/5k rates.

- Andrew