Motovicity's Ticket To Ride Scion FR-S Update- Eibach Pro Street-S Coilovers
By Mike Kojima
When we last left off, we had just gotten a load of AEM stuff for the Motovicity Ticket To Ride Scion FR-S. For this week we will be looking into the suspension, mainly some sweet street coilovers from Eibach.
Eibach's new Pro Street-S coilovers are meant for durable daily driving use on the street. They are a monotube, gas charged damper with an all weather, durable stainless steel body. It is great to see this sort of quality on a basic street coilover.
The Eibach Pro Street-S is a ride height adjustable coilover that can be set from 0.8″ to 3″ lower than stock. The Pro Street-S coilover has a short body so the car can be lowered without losing much bump travel which is essential for good handling. With adjustable spring perches, the car can also be adjusted for equal cross weights so the car's balance will be consistent in both right and left turns. One of the biggest problems with daily driven coilovers is the spring seat corroding and seizing to the shock body. With its stainless steel body this is not very likely to happen on the Pro Street -S. The stainless body has nicely done TIG welds for strength.
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The shock shaft and the upper spring perch are designed to work with the stock upper spring mount or camber plates.
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The Eibach Pro Street-S uses Eibach's race springs for the main and helper spring. A helper spring is different than a tender spring as it is not designed to give a progressive rate. The helper spring is a low rate spring whose job is to take up the slack when the suspension goes into droop. The helper prevents the main spring from falling out of place and helps reduce clanking noises when the main spring is unloaded. It easily squishes flat and does not change the main spring rate when loaded.
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The ProStreet -S uses soft microcellular Urethane or MCU for bump stops. These are the best bump stops because they are progressive and touching then under cornering will not drastically upset the handling balance like a hard bumpstop can. The also provide softer more progressive bottoming.
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The Pro Street-S rear shock is a pretty interesting design. Monotube shocks usually have a floating piston keeping the pressurized gas separate from the fluid in the shock. The gas is important because it compresses and make room for the fluid displaced by the shock shaft. If it wasn't for the gas the shock would simply hydraulically lock up. On an FR-S the rear shock is so short that there is no room for the gas chamber in the main shock tube so it must be put in this remote reservoir. The remote reservoir helps keep the monotube short. |