[iambiggles]

Sorry for the delay, I blame the weather

Pics of my Forester XTen (2005). New suspension from STi (not forester). 2004 struts and springs on the front, 2007 struts and springs on the rear. STi rear anti-roll bar with Whiteline adjustable droplinks.

Standard 16" wheels with 225/55R16 Falkens. Clearances would be the same with 17'2 or 18's (obviously).

All work (excellently) done by James and Goodwood Racing Developments.

He had an FSTi in for a suspension upgrade at the same time, so we compared the ride height. My car was sitting a fair bit lower (3/4" maybe) but no problems at all with clearances (not sure if it'd be OK with much wider tyres, but by the looks of it it would be)

Handling completely transformed - stiff, but not unbearable. i have pretty bad roads on my estate (private/unmaintained roads) and its certainly not unbearable. On the main roads though, its marvelous. Of course simply getting rid of the GeoSqueelers probably helped, but the suspension has made a HUGE difference.

So - this mod thoroughly recomended (if you dont have the money for Tein's - which would have been mine (and James') big money choice). And a huge recomendation for James at GRD. But give the guy a break - he REALLY needs some time off!

 

[NorthDownsScooby]

Looking gooooood :woohoo:

When did you have it done...? (just wondering who's Foz was there at the time)

When you upgrade the rims I now thoroughly recommend the Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas. Having driven with them for a couple of weeks they are deffo top bananas

:Banane35: :Banane29: :Banane28: :banana: :bananapartyhat: :Banane17:

Rich

 

[Swagon]

Nice.
How much did the setup run you?

 

[iambiggles]

@Northdowns:

On the first visit when we did the main part of the work, it was a blue FSTi - this was the one we compared the ride height with - it had fully stock FSTi suspension. The second time (last week) i think your car was there Black FSTi with Teins? and the dead giveaway of a huge sticker with *NorthDownsScooby* written on it? lol

@Swagon

Full cost (supply and fitting) was about £800 including the Whiteline droplink upgrade and full laser geometry setup.

 

[NorthDownsScooby]

@Northdowns:

The second time (last week) i think your car was there Black FSTi with Teins? and the dead giveaway of a huge sticker with *NorthDownsScooby* written on it? lol

Yeah that may have been me then :biggrin:

 

[absubtle]

This is my 05 Limited XT. I am sitting on full 04 STI 'Pink' suspension. STI Pink struts w/ springs. Reused my FXT top hats.
Absubtle
CO

 

[pjlfc]

NDS,

What size tyres did you get?

How accurate are the Vredesteins, speedo wise?

Any noticeable difference in MPG?

Looking to get a set in the stock size over the next month or so,but the Michelins don't seem to wanna wear out!!

Cheers

Pete

 

[NorthDownsScooby]

NDS,

What size tyres did you get?

How accurate are the Vredesteins, speedo wise?

Any noticeable difference in MPG?

Looking to get a set in the stock size over the next month or so,but the Michelins don't seem to wanna wear out!!

Cheers

Pete

225/45/18 - same accuracy (same size) as the Toyos. Camskill £106 each + delivery.

No MPG differences noticed yet - not done enough mileage TBH.

Side wall much stiffer - even on my Tein I used to have a delayed turn-in, but not with these babies. Made me realise how soggy the Toyos were.

 

[karma mechanic]

225/45/18 - same accuracy (same size) as the Toyos. Camskill £106 each + delivery.

No MPG differences noticed yet - not done enough mileage TBH.

Side wall much stiffer - even on my Tein I used to have a delayed turn-in, but not with these babies. Made me realise how soggy the Toyos were.

I don't know about the Toyos, but the Sessantas are noticeably bigger than the RE030's in the same nominal size - I laid the two types on top of each other and the diameter was several mm more. The speedo is closer to being accurate than it was with the RE030's, based on GPS, but then I only had those for 600 miles...

The stiffer sidewalls give a lot more feel of the road, but also transmit more of the roughness on bad surfaces. Much better than being soggy though...

 

[Hol]

The blue car was probably chesters.

I have his old struts ready for the wifes 06xten.

Jimbo fitted coilovers for him, but the original fsti struuts had whiteline springs. So your drop was prob plus 25mm.