I can honestly say that many of
the other coilover kits I've driven on are completely over damped,
entirely over sprung - which resulted in a hopping feeling - Meaning
a skipping-jarring and bouncing down the road. Inverted struts have
the tendency to "jiggle" - for lack of a better word. You will feel
some bouncing, jarring feedback - especially prominent with those
kits which feature higher spring rates. Also I should note that
inverted coilover designs (such as my 50mm DMS on my race
car) will need rebuilding, sometimes as often as once per year - an
added expense to your suspension investment.
While I use DMS 50mm's for my
rally car, I really hated them in my street car.
( To be fair: My DMS were rally-valved
- spring rates of 225front / 180 rear)
The Design is good... but not Great,
not Perfect... I want more
Day after day of bobble-head like
skipping down the road - makes for a horribly uncomfortable ride. I
love my DMS off road on my rally car - but they're DESIGNED
primarily for off road use, and are not extremely compliant on the
street. The entire design (inverted) leads to less compliancy and
more harshness (jiggling again) even on smooth pavement @ highway
speeds.
Same basic rules of suspension
dynamics apply as well to any inverted design... such as the STi or
KYB/AGX struts. While fairly smooth at higher speeds, I've found
these strut/spring combo's to be completely lacking at regular
street / city speeds - especially here in Seattle, which is pothole
heaven!! Thus the need for that performance suspension to be
compliable at low speeds on rough terrain.
The most frustrating thing about
the short stroke inverted design (strut / spring) is full
compression.
Imagine being on the track, or
on the street: mid corner, cornering HARD, outside suspension/wheels
are fully loaded with the weight of the car when... BAM! there's a
bump....! With a short-stroke inverted suspension, the car will be
completely unsettled, bumped OFF of that bump - as there is no
further travel left. Arrgghh!
After trying a few different
suspensions, I put the stock Subaru 2.5RS suspension back in place,
and waited patiently for something to come along that would suit MY
wants, MY needs.... and 24mos later, here we are!
**many thanks to
my pal Mike for helping me get these suckers installed!!!**
