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| Done. Finally. No, it wasn’t lunch time: it was dark outside. Sorry Howard! |
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| Our car after installation. We settled on a ride height approximately 2″ lower in both the front and back. This gave the car a good looking stance, without unecessarily sacrificing ground clearance or suspension geometry. |
So, how does it drive? To start, turn-in is nice and sharp on this car now. No more waiting interminable periods for the car to “take a set” after steering input. Steering feel is lightyears better than before, without any of the harshness and buzzing you get when putting race-ready coilovers with pillowball mounts on your car. While there is some additional noise from the harder components, it is entirely within the realm of reason. Ride quality, while firm, is not harsh or jarring and the handling balance of the car is now fun and tossable, while still retaining mild understeer to keep it street car friendly. The car feels much more stable and predictable on transitions, with none of the squirrelly skittering on mid-turn bumps.
Overall, the ST coilovers gave us a much needed step up from stock, but still compromising ultimate grip for reasonable NVH isolation and compliance, which is perfect for a daily driver. The Whiteline parts add some much needed rigidity to the stock rubber, eliminating some of the wonkiness found in the stock car without needlessly punishing its driver. The best part? We've noticed a 1-2 MPG increase in fuel economy, likely due to the lower ride height, better damper control, and maybe even because we're carrying more speed on the onramps.
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We'll keep track of our fuel economy along the way too as the project progresses.. A trip to get baseline track data is responsible for the first dip in the graph while a nearly all highway mile excursion yielded the 40.4 mpg spike. |
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