S18 RSG

Sorry mate, I completely forgot to reply. Will send you a PM on here immediately. Yes, I got your quote. Don't wanna spend any money until I can get this manifold whistle fixed as I think I've worked out what it is now.

Need a test car Mark? 😉 Mine would be a good car to test it on given that I'm still stock secondary cat. Let me know 😃

Even if it was a big discount. I paid £450 for my custom exhaust which is amazing quality, lifetime warranty, T304 stainless, my own choice of tips etc. However, I'd be willing to give it up as I've been thinking about a slightly louder system and different tailpipes, but not paying £500 for that. Could go back to the original shop and have those changes made for maybe £150.

After buying the Tein coilovers as everyone suggested, as well as sorting out alignment (2deg negative camber front, 1.8deg rear) and getting the dampers tuned to a nice balanced setting (fairly stiff, but still forgiving over bumps) I'm now trying to find the best way to dial out some of the body roll present in the car. I feel like the car grips very well, and the tyres are able to stick to the road when required, however the sensation of cornering is still fairly exaggerated with the body roll. I don't particularly want to stiffen the dampers any more (certainly not for road use anyway) as the ride suffers far more than I gain. What would you guys suggest as the next step? I see there are plenty of options out there, anti roll bars, chassis stiffening kits, body braces and all sorts, but I've read good and bad about most of the options, especially anti roll bars and them being too stiff and causing a loss of traction. Anyone had any good experiences with any particular products that they would recommend?

Judging by the following comment from Lauren, who's probably tried more suspension setups than most people on these cars, I wouldn't go with it personally. And Mike who actually owned the package:

Obviously the final decision is all yours, all I can do is offer an opinion, and one that I'm sure differs from everyone else on this site. My final thought on the matter, as I mentioned earlier, is that most everybody I know who's started with springs and/or any combination of parts that wasn't a set of coilovers, has eventually moved to coilovers, and many of those people, myself included, had initially shared the same or similar views to yourself. You can benefit from our experiences by going straight to where we all ended up without the costly experimentation that led to this decision

I think the reason people enjoy the idea behind the rebuildable units as that they work out better for track cars which aren't daily driven. Track cars take a lot more punishment than DD cars, so I wouldn't be surprised if a track car's suspension would need to be rebuilt in half that distance (10-15k miles wouldn't surprise me). At that rate, it's cheaper to have them rebuilt than have to continually replace parts, and on a car that isn't daily driven, you don't need to worry about being without the car for a while. On the flip side, at £550 (well, significantly less than that after you negotiate our club discount) you could almost drive the car for 2 years, then replace the entire set of coilovers again for a similar price as buying the Flex A's in the first place.

Yeah, you could be right. I know one of them is. If that is the case then disregard that point.

Flex A £876 inc VAT http://www.amber-performance.co.uk/product.php?xProd=25640&xSec=8437 Flex Z £744 inc VAT http://www.amber-performance.co.uk/product.php?xProd=25301&xSec=8437 Street Advance £552 inc VAT http://www.amber-performance.co.uk/product.php?xProd=25302&xSec=8437 Remember, that product page considers the lowest price of their entire range. The GT86 coilovers aren't the cheapest set they make, so the £640 MSRP is likely for a cheaper car. To see GT86 prices, you must use this link if you want to see RRP http://www.tein.co.uk/srch/uk_search.php?maker=TOYOTA&carmodel=86&modelyear=2012.04%2b&item=default

You're correct about the reviews, however what I've found is that most people with bad things to say about the Street Advance are people who've not actually tried them, but have read through the spec sheet and decided to go with the Flex Z. Anyone who's actually tried the Street Advance give positive reviews. The most famous is TJ Hunt. He had the Street Advance coilovers on his BRZ for almost 2 years, and whenever he mentioned them on his Youtube channel he had nothing but good things to say.

There are only 2 major differences between the Street Advance and Flex Z. Then one or two minor differences which would make very little difference to any normal person. The Flex Z have camber adjustable top mounts, something which can be achieved with a £20 set of camber bolts. The Flex Z are rebuildable. The downside of this is that when they do fail, you need to send the dampers off for 3-4 weeks for them to be rebuilt by Tein, and you're therefore without any suspension for that time. Also, the cost of rebuilding is only slightly cheaper than buying new dampers, which is what you'd have to do when the dampers fail on the Street Advance. The reason for the cheaper sale price, is during manufacturing they don't have to manufacture seals to allow the dampers to be taken apart and rebuilt. The Street Advance dampers are a sealed unit. Some may say that's an advantage as there's less chance of leaks through failed seals. It's also worth noting that Tein suggest a rebuild every 35k miles. Some people may not even do 35k miles throughout their ownership. If you plan to, that's worth taking into account. All the information above is either from the Tein website or quoted from Tein representatives when talking about these products.

Certainly a better investment than springs on stock dampers, yes. Springs are fine if you only care about lowering your car and making it handle slightly better. Coilovers give you those same benefits, with added benefits of being able to adjust the ride height as you see fit, adjust damping for different roads, and having a comfortable ride, even more so than stock. People on this forum will tell you the Street Advanced are not good, which is why I'm glad I got to you first. Unlike most, I've actally owned both the Street Advance and Tein Flex Z. I found so little difference that I stuck with the cheaper option. The more expensive Flex A coilovers with the hydraulic bump stop are almost certainly better, but they're also 50% more expensive and nearly £900.

Welcome to the club. Your "plans" will change very quickly. Judging by how much you modified your last car, you're clearly not one to shy away from a modification or two, so I'm sure you'll be eating away at the bank balance shortly

I made the same argument about not getting the benefit of the coilovers, but I was completely wrong. The unwritten benefit of coilovers vs springs is that you have damping that's well matched to your spring rate, which results in a more comfortable ride. The stock dampers were designed for use with the stock springs, so going to a shorter, stiffer spring (which most, if not all lowering springs will be) means you will have a mismatch in that department. You will always have a more bouncy, harsher ride than stock. You can get around this problem by matching your new springs with new dampers, but that's another £500 on top of the springs. That's why going to coilovers is the better idea. It's not just the benefit of having adjustable ride height and damping (in most cases), but having a more compliant ride also. And remember, even the lowest spec Tein coilovers (which are less than £600) are still very good. Adjustable damping, adjustable ride height, and a far better ride than stock from my experience, and you'll find that opinion wherever you look.

If you're asking the question based on changing the top mount of the stock strut, and going with lowering springs, I would suggest that you'll end up spending 75% of what you would spend on coilovers going down that route, so I'd possibly suggest saving a little more for coilovers. But, to answer your question, I would imagine the TRD parts would do the job well, but they do tend to be a lot more expensive than good quality aftermarket bits. In theory, the benefit of changing top mounts is much the same as changing bushes. Stock bushes, much like the stock top mount, will be rubber and have a fair amount of play, which can result in some sloppiness to the steering. Changing to a more solid bushing, or a more solid top mount, reduces that sloppiness and improves steering feel. The added benefit with some top mounts is you can also get camber adjustment, but I'm not sure if the TRD mounts have that. But, to go back to the original point I made, if you're considering lowering, coilovers are probably your best bet. I was adamant about doing springs and shocks originally, despite everyone telling me to go coilovers. I had springs for a few days before swapping to coilovers and I know others have done the same. Save yourself the hassle

The EL manifolds, to me, make the car sound like any other 4 cylinder, and with a raspy exhaust, it can sound like you're the local chav with a dustbin for an exhaust on his Vauxhall Corsa. Admittedly some sound nice, but it's a fine line. Some people may be of the opinion that the Subaru burble is quite chavvy, and I get that, but at least it gives the car character. Most car enthusiasts know the Subaru sound, so when they see that sound being made by a small sports car, it's funny to see the reactions. That was my main reason for UEL, character.

I'm in Wales, but have family up in Doncaster and would be OK without the car for a week. Problem is, I have a custom exhaust already, and I certainly don't have £500 to spare to replace it :/

If you want quiet, I believe Black and Brown switches are the ones to go for. Red can also be quiet, but depends on the actuation force. A light switch may mean you're hitting the bottom limit of the switch as you type, which can be loud even on the linear switches (red and black), but moreso on red from my experience. Brown switches, to me, are the most similar to my favourite, which is blue. I love the tactile feedback a blue/brown mechanical switch gives you, as linear switches can too often feel like a well engineered membrane keyboard. The downside with blue switches are the volume. They are extremely loud, however with a decent set of o-rings, they're about right for me now (loud enough to be heard with headphones on, but still not too loud that I keep my house awake typing at night). Brown switches are basically non-clicky versions of the blue, so would be ideal if I was going for a quieter setup. As far as makes go, Qpad, Ducky and all the slightly less "mainstream" brands are great, because they're mostly companies specialising in mechanical keyboards. I personally have a Razer Blackwidow Ultimate, because like you I wanted blue LEDs, but also a black body and blue switches. I also managed to find it on sale in Currys at £65 (down from the normal price at the time of £130). I bought it nearly 2 years ago, and it's still going strong. Never had even the slightest issue with it. Turn it on, it works every single time. Other mainstream brands to consider are Steelseries, Thermaltake (TT eSports they may be called now) and Corsair. Not got any experience with others, but those have all been good to me.

It's even worse when you already own most of it. Steam Summer sales always killed me, so I bought basically every item on sale last year. Instant regret, but at least I now longer have to spend money.

Anyone have a good source for getting hold of a pre-painted TRD (or replica) rear spoiler? Fensport sell it for around £300 painted, but then various eBay sellers and Fensport themselves, sell the replica, unpainted, for around £100-120. There must be someone around who sells a pre-painted replica for around the cost of having an unpainted one sprayed (£200 ish). Just really can't be bothered with having to get it sprayed myself. Had too many bad experiences with the local body shops around here. Failing that, if there are any other lip style spoilers you guys know of that come prepainted at a decent price, let me know. I'm open to suggestion, just really feel like a change is needed in that department.

Well listen, I'm not gonna continue to argue over the theory. That previous post was basically entirely written by a senior colleague of mine with a mechanical engineering degree, and there's still opposition against his point so there's little point in me adding to it. Let's just agree to disagree on the theory. You feel benefits one way, I feel benefits the other way, let's just be happy that we're both individually happy 😃

Actually, logic suggests that a heavier wheel requires more energy to be lifted off the ground, meaning a heavier wheel is kept in contact with the ground more of the time as it's less likely to lift over small bumps, whereas a lighter wheel requires less energy to lift, and therefore a small bump can lift the wheel easier. This means that even quite small bumps can unsettle the suspension with light wheels, and require the suspension to work harder to keep the wheels in contact with the ground. I see where your logic is taking you (spring can compress and decompress easier, and therefore faster, because it has to shift less weight), but remember, a coil spring is always compressed. If you hold a spring from the top, compress it, and put a small weight at the bottom, it will decompress at a certain rate. Increasing the weight at the bottom encourages the spring to decompress more quickly, as it decompresses downwards, and the gravity acting upon the heavier object pulls the spring down more quickly. Not saying this is massively relevant in terms of a car, but just explaining the theory.

As I've mentioned before, I, multiple others, and various lightweight wheel tests in magazines over the years have found the opposite, that heavier wheels have provided a more compliant ride. I gave an explanation of potential reasons behind this in another thread, but point being, I don't think it can be used as a definitive positive when people experience different results.

Really glad people are preaching what I have been for a long time. Far too many people are being told that they need lightweight wheels, and it's limiting people's originality with the car. I've always told people the first consideration when buying wheels is design. Decide on design first, then shop around to see what options there are in your budget. You then decide on colour and size, then when you've narrowed it down to a shortlist of what you want, you pick the lightest ones. So many people are being told that they need to search by weight first, and that's just so wrong. In the real world, when 99.99% of driving is done on a public road at normal speeds, weight of wheel means about as much as what you had for breakfast that morning. Scrap all of the above if you're building a track car, or if you really REALLY care about getting approval from a handful of people for how light your wheels are 😃

Stock offset is around 45 I believe. A 35 offset wheel of the same width would be 10mm further out. An 8 inch wide wheel (one inch wider than stock) with 45 offset would be half an inch further out (offset is the same, so half the width of the wheel comes out, half goes in). You can safely go up to 9.5 inches wide, with as low as a 30 offset without worries, however, if you have stock suspension the limit will be much lower due to the inside of the wheel hitting the strut. I think 8.5 inches wide is about the limit with stock offset. Lower offset helps greatly in that situation. Hope that helps.