RS*R Moto Spec Review

[retrosmiths]

Hey guys, I've had the RS*R Moto Spec coilovers installed for 3 weeks now, so I think it's time for a review. I'll keep this short:

My car is a daily driver, doing 50 miles per day of mixed street and highway. I use it on the track, went 12x last year, planning on doing 8 more this year, but I'm not chasing trophies nor fastest-time-of-the-day's. I just want to go fast and enjoy driving an excellent-handling car.

The stock suspension had been great on both street and track, but I felt it's limits. I started looking for an upgrade and I came up with the following goal: I want to get faster track times without sacrificing street comfort and breaking the bank ($2,000 max).

The RS*R's hit the spot. It's not too expensive ($1,799 MSRP), it's better than the stock suspension (in the track) and it's very comfortable for daily driving (according to existing reviews). It's only 1-way adjustable and comes with only a 2-setting camber plate, but that's fine with me; I don't want to fiddle too much with the settings.

Installation

Installation is, surprisingly, easier than I thought, and this is coming from someone whose most complex projects he's ever done to a car is install an oil cooler and retrofit the headlights. As long as you have the tools and patience, and you follow the instructions carefully (there's a DIY in this forum), then you'll have no problems. I installed it myself, at home with basic garage tools, and it took 5 hours, but I was very anal with it, triple-reading the guide and such. Pretty sure a more competent mechanic can do this in 2.

Throughout the installation process, @Moto-P provided me with quick support. The only real issue I had was the locking collars for the height adjustment aren't tightened from factory, so I had to retighten them and had to made sure the height are the same for both sides using a caliper. This is weird given that when you get a spec'd unit, it's supposed to be pre-set when you receive it.

I also "reversed" the top plate of the front coilovers so that I'll "gain" more negative camber. The information sheet says that it's possible to achieve -1.0 and below. With just my camber bolts and LCA's, I used to have -1.25/-1.5 F/R already, so I know I can push probably up to -3.00.

I gave the coils a week to settle before getting an alignment. I did not push it hard, though, but I felt something different, something about the small bumps on the road being absorbed better, sweeping turns are somewhat easier to achieve without worrying about understeer, etc. It just felt more...planted to the ground, as if it were on rails.

Aligned and Corner-Balanced

Shout out to West End for their amazing work! The car felt even way better than before. If it was already a great-handling car with the stock suspension, these coilovers basically improved that even more. Merging into freeways, switching lanes, turning corners, it's all even easier to do because the handling is just superb. It felt firmer, and as I was saying, more planted to the ground. Driven over minor bumps on the road and I still felt in control of the car; it did not get upset at all.

West End recommended they set it to -2.5 camber for all corners. They also corner-balanced the car to achieve a balanced diagonal weight on the tires.

After Buttonwillow..

I went to Buttonwillow Raceway Park for a casual track day, and even with a passenger on board and no actual desire to compete with my run group's best lap times (I was there to "just drive fast and forget about everything else"), I still managed to beat my previous record by 1.xx second.

Conclusions

These are amazing coilovers that aren't too hard on your wallet. It's comfortable for daily driving, and it's decent for the track. I highly recommend these to those who daily drive their car, wants a bit lower look and a more responsive handling.

[Moto-P]

Glad you found Sports-i to your liking. I've spent a quite a bit of time on the tuning of the shock valving over the Japanese spec ones so that it copes with roads in the USA better.

ON the topic you touched on the coil height not tightly locked at shipping. Most people have a preference on the ride height, and alignment shops will alter it by tiny increments if going on a corner weight scale, so we set them up at factory spec, but only hand-tighten the spring and height seats so that any alternation before install over and beyond factory spec can be changed without too much whacking at the collars to loosen them. It should be tightened once all setup is complete, as per instructions.

Let me know if you have any concerns and I'll be glad to help

[Rookie84]

I was also considering these coilovers down the road when I grow out of the stock suspension(since I just got my BRZ). Thanks for a detailed review. These coilovers look like a great option for the price.

[wootwoot]

Originally Posted by Moto-P

Glad you found Sports-i to your liking. I've spent a quite a bit of time on the tuning of the shock valving over the Japanese spec ones so that it copes with roads in the USA better.

ON the topic you touched on the coil height not tightly locked at shipping. Most people have a preference on the ride height, and alignment shops will alter it by tiny increments if going on a corner weight scale, so we set them up at factory spec, but only hand-tighten the spring and height seats so that any alternation before install over and beyond factory spec can be changed without too much whacking at the collars to loosen them. It should be tightened once all setup is complete, as per instructions.

Let me know if you have any concerns and I'll be glad to help

Are all RSR sport-I sets sold in the USA considered moto-spec? Or do you need to special order moto-spec coils?

[8R6]

i knew it! your car looked lower than before but i wasnt sure if i was just trippin lol. car is lookin good

[Moto-P]

Originally Posted by wootwoot

Are all RSR sport-I sets sold in the USA considered moto-spec? Or do you need to special order moto-spec coils?

Funny you ask. Thanks.

The name "Moto-Spec" or "Club4AG Spec" which refer to the same thing, is applicable to a single and specific RSR Sports-i standard setup. It came from internal use code name for a 8 month R&D to test rigorously, the Sports-i for the USA market.
The Japanese specs are tuned for Japanese roads which are glass smooth on both public roads and race tracks.

RSR wanted to re-tune the FRS for the USA roads, as well as local grassroots tracks, which are far more treacherous and filled with undulations, potholes, pits, grooves, and shoddy leveling machines. So what I did was to retune the valving carefully to retain the nice handling qualities, capacity to use what we call "summer performance" sports radials of around 2000 TW UTQG tires which are popular in grassroots track days in the USA, and still be comfortable in daily use.


So yes, ALL of the USA Sold Sports-i is "moto spec" lol.

The recently introduced Sports-i Club Racer has a different valving, and higher spring rate for racing with higher grip than 200 TW UTQG tires, and for more dedicated track car roles... That's also something I worked on as well, for a different target goals. But it isn't one better than the other, as both systems are carefully designed to match how you use the car, and exists only because we know that there isn't one perfect setting for anything, but it is nice to focus on a target use, and do it so it works well for the user.

[whataboutbob]

And the Sports-i Club Racers are working nicely so far for me, thanks Moto.

[wootwoot]

What dampening settings do you suggest for street use? I thought I read 4 clicks from full soft....

[retrosmiths]

Originally Posted by Moto-P

ON the topic you touched on the coil height not tightly locked at shipping. Most people have a preference on the ride height, and alignment shops will alter it by tiny increments if going on a corner weight scale, so we set them up at factory spec, but only hand-tighten the spring and height seats so that any alternation before install over and beyond factory spec can be changed without too much whacking at the collars to loosen them. It should be tightened once all setup is complete, as per instructions.

Got it. It wasn't a very big deal as corner balancing also included ride height adjustment, so West End took care of that. I just had to make sure they were tight first when they were installed, per instructions.

Originally Posted by BRGT86

i knew it! your car looked lower than before but i wasnt sure if i was just trippin lol. car is lookin good

Haha, thanks!

Originally Posted by wootwoot

What dampening settings do you suggest for street use? I thought I read 4 clicks from full soft....

I'm on full soft right now, but that's because I haven't had the time to experiment with different settings. Full soft is very comfortable on the street.

[ryoma]

I'm on the line between the RSR i-sports and the DSG FA 500's. Need to do some more research before locking in to buying. they're both around the same price too

[Moto-P]

Originally Posted by wootwoot

What dampening settings do you suggest for street use? I thought I read 4 clicks from full soft....

The Sports-i for regular highway use can be set from full soft to about 1/2 way up the adjustment settings. I generally like to keep things comfy and near full soft or 0-4 clicks up on front and 0-2 clicks up rear still tends to retain good balance while staying compliant over bumpy surfaces of LA.

As for specific setup in motorsport use, the settings will vary on the tires being used (including the sizes, compound, pressures, and adhesion levels for the venue and conditions), and ride height set, as well as your driving preference. For general setup, you can start with 50% damping on your shocks, and in most cases it is somewhere near this unless you are using super high grip R compound tires, or negotiating a particularly fast raceway where you want stability more than agility, in which case you can opt to over-damp the springs by going higher...

Remember to turn all the way up clockwise till it stops, then click your way back each time you make an adjustment. It is good for the screw mechanism of the valve as well as click-stop bearings to rotate it, and a good habit so you are absolutely sure you have the right setting and starting point of measurement is consistent. For the FRS unit, 36 clicks back front is full soft, and for the rear 24 clicks back to full soft.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by ryoma

I'm on the line between the RSR i-sports and the DSG FA 500's. Need to do some more research before locking in to buying. they're both around the same price too

Between the two? RSR.

[wootwoot]

Some conflicting views about these coils can be found here if interested. Page two.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...=1#post2226739

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by Moto-P

The Sports-i for regular highway use can be set from full soft to about 1/2 way up the adjustment settings. I generally like to keep things comfy and near full soft or 0-4 clicks up on front and 0-2 clicks up rear still tends to retain good balance while staying compliant over bumpy surfaces of LA.

As for specific setup in motorsport use, the settings will vary on the tires being used (including the sizes, compound, pressures, and adhesion levels for the venue and conditions), and ride height set, as well as your driving preference. For general setup, you can start with 50% damping on your shocks, and in most cases it is somewhere near this unless you are using super high grip R compound tires, or negotiating a particularly fast raceway where you want stability more than agility, in which case you can opt to over-damp the springs by going higher...

Remember to turn all the way up clockwise till it stops, then click your way back each time you make an adjustment. It is good for the screw mechanism of the valve as well as click-stop bearings to rotate it, and a good habit so you are absolutely sure you have the right setting and starting point of measurement is consistent. For the FRS unit, 36 clicks back front is full soft, and for the rear 24 clicks back to full soft.

you mention the fr-s unit, is there a BRZ version of the sports I? because i thought it wouldn't matter. i got the fr-s version.