Anyone try more than one brand of springs? What did you prefer and why?

[grey fist]

Better is the enemy of good. Currently on Swifts with Bilstein B8s and while they work very well can't help wondering if something else may be better.

Handling with this setup is very neutral and ride is better than stock. The 2 minor issues I have are still a bit more body roll than I would like and apparently because of the Bilstein gas pressure I'm only getting about half the advertised drop.

Am considering trying H&R sports or STs before bailing for coilovers or settling for the Swifts. The H&Rs because although advertised drop is a bit more than I would like, with Bilsteins should be about perfect, spring rate is an unknown but have had good experience with H&Rs in the past. The STs because from published spring rates they are definitely stiffer than the Swifts, 5k vs 4k, but as the Swifts work so well with the Bilsteins would hate to give that up for slight reduction in roll.

 

[kevinatfms]

Front sway bar? Throw the bigger Eibach front bar on it. It will induce some understeer but that can be compensated in other ways(pressures, torsion bar/rear sway bar) if you need more oversteer/rotation.

 

[grey fist]

Yeah, on any other car could just throw on a set of stiffer sways and call it good. But not sure if this is a good option for the ST. First thing I tried was rear Eibach bar with stock springs, could tell it was the right direction as bias was changed to slight over vs stock understeer but it just felt weird. Think it might be the way the Eibach (and most other brands) attach to the rear beam, essentially adding ~15 lbs of unsprung weight. From research only 2 rear bars on the market do it differently, ST and DNA, both offload the weight of the bar to center of the beam. May experiment with this further, but similar results can be achieved with spring rate. Why I chose the Swifts, their published rates are equal front and rear vs most of the other aftermarket options with higher rate at front similar to factory.

 

[green_henry]

I haven't noticed much roll with my Swift/Koni Sport setup. If you want to take a spin, PM me; I'm also in the Bay Area.

 

[FJ16]

I haven't noticed much roll with my Swift/Koni Sport setup. If you want to take a spin, PM me; I'm also in the Bay Area.

What's the drop on the Swifts? I have some B8s laying around and I'm thinking about moving up to 205/50/16s (from 45s) and wondering if I'll rub with my current Mountunes.

 

[green_henry]

What's the drop on the Swifts? I have some B8s laying around and I'm thinking about moving up to 205/50/16s (from 45s) and wondering if I'll rub with my current Mountunes.

The drop is noticeable but very modest. It definitely lowers the center of gravity, but it's not going to look as slammed as the H&Rs would.