[kinger]

No no they will improve it no matter what, if you have a 04 and hate the ride these will definitly make you smile. Pinks are not much lower then stock so I would just bolt them on, but if you had lower springs yet, you can modify the strut and koni insert even more and get full length strut travel even if your car is like 1.5" lower the stock! Either way I can't stop driving my car now, with 37,000 miles I just wished I would have done this since day 1.

[na-STi]

So how many 04 owners have done this? Anyone with Pinks and tops do this mod yet? Hopefully somebody in SoCal can give me a ride.

[sebtarta]

[kinger]

Just a update, I have about 2000 miles on the set up now and I got to take them on this stretch of I-90 in SE MN that is pure hell. Before the konis I literally could not reach the radio because I was bouncing so bad, and a few times on a hangover it even got my stomach ailing a little and this was all in the left lane because I coun't even take the right lane! Well after the konis its still rough but not any worse then a normal ocmpat car, my hand is completely steady holding it oout about a 1" from the volume on the radio, NO BOBBLE head, no bone jarring hits, just dampened blows from the canyon they call a road. I'm so in love with my car again, they are worth every penny.

Also just for fun I turned the konis to one full turn from soft (ie right in the middle, 2 turns is full stiff) and it rode just like my stock struts on that same stretch of road, but still no bobble head just harder blows. These are the ticket for daily driven 04's!

[wdb]

Excellent stuff, thanks for the update. You have no idea how jealous this '05 owner is at the moment...

[quikSTi]

Originally Posted by na-STi

So how many 04 owners have done this? Anyone with Pinks and tops do this mod yet? Hopefully somebody in SoCal can give me a ride.

FWIW, I recently replaced my Pinks & tops w/a full custom Ground Control coilover suspension (w/Koni SAs in custom GC housings, GC top mount camber/caster plates). My main goals were (1) major improvement in ride quality on the street (my STi is my daily driver), and (2) improving performance for autocross (STU class). I've been using custom GC coilovers on several BMWs over the past 5 years, including my current track car, a '96 328is, and I've always been very happy with the ride of the Konis, even with very high spring rates. So I wasn't too surprised to find the same on my STi - the Konis make a huge improvement in ride quality. Even with much higher (than stock) spring rates of 380F/340R lb/in, the ride quality is light years better than stock (or Pinks on stock dampers).

BTW, I've been running the Koni dampers on my STi at 1/2 turn from full soft on the street and adjusting them to 1/2 turn from full stiff for autocross. I'm also running big sway bars, front and rear.

[jaydubya]

^^^ Is your car an '04?

[na-STi]

Originally Posted by quikSTi

FWIW, I recently replaced my Pinks & tops w/a full custom Ground Control coilover suspension (w/Koni SAs in custom GC housings, GC top mount camber/caster plates). My main goals were (1) major improvement in ride quality on the street (my STi is my daily driver), and (2) improving performance for autocross (STU class). I've been using custom GC coilovers on several BMWs over the past 5 years, including my current track car, a '96 328is, and I've always been very happy with the ride of the Konis, even with very high spring rates. So I wasn't too surprised to find the same on my STi - the Konis make a huge improvement in ride quality. Even with much higher (than stock) spring rates of 380F/340R lb/in, the ride quality is light years better than stock (or Pinks on stock dampers).

BTW, I've been running the Koni dampers on my STi at 1/2 turn from full soft on the street and adjusting them to 1/2 turn from full stiff for autocross. I'm also running big sway bars, front and rear.

How much did your setup cost you?

[quikSTi]

Originally Posted by jaydubya

^^^ Is your car an '04?

Yes, it's an '04 STi.

[jaydubya]

Originally Posted by quikSTi

Yes, it's an '04 STi.

Cool. Could you give us more details on this:

Koni SAs in custom GC housings

What are Koni SAs? What are the GC housings? Where are these available?

Also wondering whether there are GC housings for the '05+...

Cheers,

Jeff

[quikSTi]

Originally Posted by na-STi

How much did your setup cost you?

Just under $2K, including everything (dampers, housings, springs, and front camber/caster plates) except the rear hats - I re-used a set of Group N hardened rear mounts from my previous set-up. (Of course, that price also does not include the cost of the sway bars.)

For anyone considering the same type set-up, I highly recommend the GC custom coilover suspension (w/Konis) for the ride and overall build quality, but you should aware of an 'issue' with GC's custom built strut housings for WRX & STi. None of the tabs they weld onto the strut housings for the brake lines and ABS sensor wires fit the OEM lines exactly right - you have to bend each of the GC tabs one way or another and use your own (smaller diameter) mounting bolts up front to get the lines fitting right. Of course, bending the tabs makes the shiny new red paint crack, which I wasn't real happy about after spending $2K. It would have been no extra work for GC to get it right by welding the tabs at the correct angles and using the correct geometry for the tabs to properly fit the OEM lines without requiring this type of 'ghetto engineering'. Based on prior experience w/custom strut housings from GC (for BMW's), I expected perfection and am a little disappointed the housings fell a bit short of my expectations.

For this reason alone, if I had to do it over again, I'd reconsider saving several hundred dollars by buying a set of used late model WRX struts to gut for the strut housings. I originally avoided doing this because I wasn't real comfortable dealing with trying to cleanly grind off the lower spring perches from WRX strut housings - the result would have probably looked a little rough.

I discussed the problems w/the welded tabs at length with Mark at GC, so he is aware, and I would expect them to be corrected on future custom GC WRX/STi housings.

[quikSTi]

Originally Posted by jaydubya

What are Koni SAs?

Koni Single Adjustable dampers, also know as Koni 'yellows', as Koni paints these dampers yellow. The rebound damping is adjustable from soft to very firm via a small tab at the top of each damper, compression damping is not adjustable. (Koni DA's, or 'Double Adjustables', have separately adjustable compression and rebound damping and are significantly more expensive.)

Originally Posted by jaydubya

What are the GC housings?

Strut housings that are custom built by Ground Control (http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/index.php). Strut housings are basically the steel shell that holds the guts of a conventional strut and bolts to the backside of the wheel hub (at the strut's lower mounting location). Koni strut dampers for many applications (including WRX) are 'inserts', which require the OEM strut to be 'gutted' as the OEM housing must be re-used. The Koni damper is literally 'inserted' into the OEM housing. Since STi's use an inverted strut design, which is extremely uncommon, inserts are not available, so for an STi you have to use the (conventional, or non-inverted) housings from a WRX (non-STi) with Koni inserts for a WRX. This requires, at minimum, cutting the top of the OEM WRX housings. In the case of converting to coilovers, it's also much better-looking (and more accessible for ride height adjustments) to cut off the lower spring perch, since the OEM size springs will no longer be used. Ground control offers custom built housings to fit WRX, which are built to fit Koni inserts directly (no cutting involved).

Originally Posted by jaydubya

Where are these available?

Ground Control (530) 677-8600, ask for Mark, he's the STi expert, owns an '04 himself with the same set-up as he sold me.

Originally Posted by jaydubya

Also wondering whether there are GC housings for the '05+...

There certainly should be, but you'd have to call GC to find out for sure.

[jaydubya]

^^^ Thanks a bunch! I'll check with them.

Jeff

[kinger]

Wow good info! On the stock strut cutting it took me all of 5 mins a strut with a dremel and a sanding bit to make them look perfectely round and smooth. Just add some paint or powder coat and your all set, they look mint.

[quikSTi]

Originally Posted by kinger

On the stock strut cutting it took me all of 5 mins a strut with a dremel and a sanding bit to make them look perfectely round and smooth. Just add some paint or powder coat and your all set, they look mint.

Since you're running stock springs, you only cut off the tops of the OEM strut housings - piece of cake.

The nasty part of converting WRX strut housings is if you switch to height adjustable (coilover) springs, then you're dealing with cutting the lower spring perch off the OEM strut housing - this requires basically cutting a round hole in a steel plate (the perch) all the way around and as close as possible to the strut housing tube, then grinding off whatever perch material is left over after the cutting operation. You can choose not to do this nasty operation by leaving the lower spring perch intact, but then it's nearly impossible to adjust the ride height due to inability to access the adjuster as it's blocked by the lower spring perch.