Atlasm

There are numerous review with install photos for this coil over so I'm not going to do it here. I do want to say the install was very straight forward and I did it myself with basic tools in about 4 hours. I purchased the system from Patrick at Urge racing earlier this year. He was very good to deal with and answered all the questions I had. He even called me while going to a wedding to make sure all my questions were answered. I highly recommend Patrick for anyone looking into purchasing a set of these.

I did my install according to the recommended specs from the manual. The ride was slightly harsher then OEM from the base setting of 10 click from full stiff. I backed the setting to 11 turns F/R from full stiff and this setting was very comfortable for the street. It absorbed bumps better then stock while providing improve stability and response. I was amazed at how noticeable of a difference 1 click has on the feel of the car. I had other coilovers for other cars which needed at lease 5 clicks of the adjustment knob to make any noticeable difference.

This weekend I finally had a chance to test the new set up at Thunderhill raceway in northern California. I have done 5 events on the OEM suspension last year so I have some good data on what that setup is capable of with my driving abilities. My car is pretty much stock with the exception of the following mods.

245 RS3 square
megan racing rollcenter/camber adjuster
eibach front sway bar
carbotech Xp10 Front and XP8 Rear
custom alignment

On the stock suspension with the above mods my personal best is in the mid 2:09 on the bypass layout. I know there guys on this forum capable of much faster times with a similar set up. My time is what I'm capable of while feeling confident behind the wheels. I know I'm no where near the limits of the tires and OEM suspension.

The biggest issue I had with the OEM suspension was the lack of confidence it gave me in high speed turns such as T1 and T8 at Thunderhill. I could not push my self any faster then 80mph apex speed for T1 and 85mph for T8 with out feeling too easy. I think part of the reason is because of the soft springs and rebound damping on the OEM setup which caused a lot of body roll and delay in response from the car.

This past weekend I did the first session on the Ohlins with the recommend 10 clicks from full stiff F/R to get a feel of the new setup. Immediately the car felt much more composed and response was better then the OEM setup. The car was still leaning and rolling a little too much for my liking so I stiffened up the shocks to 8 clicks F/R and it felt much better with this setting.

The biggest difference to me was the car felt more direct and connected to the track. The turn in response was much quicker and the car was more composed in the turns allowing me to push harder without feeling too uncomfortable. I know I'm still not near the limits of the car but with the extra confidents form the new setup I'm able to carry more speed though a few of the turns at TH. My apex speed for T1 improved from 80 Mph to 85MPH and 85mph to 90mph for Turn 8. I also set my new personal best time of 2:08.62 secs. This event was done in near 100 degree heat. My old personal best was set during much cooler weather so I feel there is some room here. I'm also on the same set of RS3s which have 6 track days and are 1 1/2 years old. On top of that my clutch was also slipping really bad at this event. I had to baby every shift to not slip the clutch too much. Given all the circumstances I was still able to beat my own personally best by close to 1 sec. I'm more then happy with the results and can't wait to test my car again with a new clutch, tires and cooler weather.

andrewhake

Great review! I agree with everything you mentioned. Particularly how much a small adjustment can make on these. Awesome that you were able to improve that much in the high temperatures.

Atlasm

Thanks Andrew. I follow your mods and watch your youtube videos all the time It's still mind blowing how fast you were pushing the car with the stock suspension.

Once I get my car sorted out I hope to come hang out with you guys sometime.

andrewhake

Anytime! Hopefully I will make it out to Thunderhill again soon.

thomsbrain

I'm curious, were you on the bump stops or rubbing fender liners at all? I've rubbed fender liners on stock wheels with 12k/10k rates and I have a hard time accepting how low the rates on the DFV are, especially at the rear where I've heard noise that the DFV may already be travel limited. They're still on my list but only if PSI can valve them for 12k/12k or 12k/14k rates.

andrewhake

Driving style will play a part in this too as well as roll center correction. I rub slightly on the inside front actually (similar to pictures of rubbing that Mac has posted), but only in steep downhill hairpins in the mountains and pushing hard. At Thunderhill or Buttonwillow I am not rubbing anywhere even when hitting the curbs hard. My fenders are rolled slightly with trimmed liner in the front. Definitely no rubbing at all in the rear.

I will probably move to 12k/12k rates once mine need a rebuild just because I am interested in trying out different setups. From what I have been told it should be no problem at all to revalve them. Honestly I think you could get away with running 12k/12k without a revalve, but you might be limiting your usable adjustability range slightly.

I think the only situation I have come across that I wish there was more rear travel and I can say for sure that I am on the bumpstops in the rear is one particular high speed bump in the mountains where I can get the rear of the car to hop slightly. Not even through a corner just a big bump on a straight. The car would do this even at stock ride height though. Softening the rear slightly helps, but I would guess something with rear travel like the TTX this could be eliminated.

thomsbrain

Ah, great point about the roll center adjusters. I don't have those yet and so I'm creating more than roll than I would otherwise. Good to know the 10/10 spring rates are working for you!

Atlasm

I installed my Ohlins to the recommended settings from the user manual. Front ends up about 5-8 mm lower then the rear. During my first session at TH with the dampers set to 10 clicks from full stiff I did experience some rubbing in the front. I'm on 245 tires and stock fenders. After that session I inspected the fenders and plastic liners under the fenders and everything looked ok.

I increased the damping to 8 click from full stiff for the next session and only heard a few very minor rubbing sound at the apex of turn 8 where the car gets a bit unsettled from the bump. I'm still not sure where the sound is coming from but the fenders are perfectly fine.

I will probably increase the front end ride height about 5mm for my next outing. I think this will fit my driving style better too since the current setup is a bit too tail happy for my liking.

Atlasm

Have you driven your setup with and without the roll center adjuster? I'm curious to hear if you felt any differences. I have the Megan racing version and have not added the roll center plates at the moment. I'm still looking for a slightly more positive turn in response so in theory adding the plates to increase the front roll centers might help.

andrewhake

No I haven't I had the RCA's installed front and rear when the DFVs were installed. My car has slightly more roll center correction in the rear (12mm) compared to the front (9mm). The idea here being that increasing the rear roll stiffness a little more than the front would help make the car more neutral with the staggered 225/255 tire setup. When I move to a square setup I will likely get use an additional 4mm or 12mm roll center plate in the front.

If I didn't have roll center correction in the rear I would use 12mm of correction in the front. So with the S1 joint (that includes 9mm of correction) I would use the additional 4mm plate that J's offers.