I just recently bought some Tein S-Tech Springs for my 02 WRX. When i was getting some stuff done to my car, I asked the tech there how much it would be to get them put on. Well he told me that since our cars are rally cars, i should spend the extra money and get coilovers because springs would make the ride a lot worse. So I am posting this thread to see what your guys opinion are on this and if i should keep my springs or just go ahead and sell them and get coilovers? Thanks

 

Coilovers are expencive, at least $1k for ones that are worth a damn. I have H&R springs on mine with 82K miles on the stock struts and my car rides great. I would get coilovers if you are serious with road racing (not street racing) or autox. Even then, a good spring/strut setup will work well too.

 

yea that is what i told him, but he said by the time i invest my money to have them align and put them on, im looking at 350, just for installation!! And i have to get a camber kit which is another 30 right there. So after all said and done i would of put 650 into springs on my car. But if i get coilovers, i can probably install them myself(i dunno) and get it aligned for around 1000 dollars (tein coilovers for 900 shipped on ebaymotors.com). But i dont intend to autox or any of that, just daily driven car.

 

What they ^^^ said. Unless your roadcoursing the car, just get springs.

 

Anybody have S-Tech's and can show me a picture of howmuch it dropped their car on 17's? And if you like the ride?

 

http://public.fotki.com/813STi05/200.../hpim0413.html

Stech's on stock struts, ride is very nice.

 

damn that looks nice, you ahve a very nice car. can anybody tell me a cheap place to have them pu ton and aligned?

 

That makes absolutely no sense. If you buy springs you'll shell out $350 for an install but if you buy coilovers you'll do them yourself? Eh?
A spring install is just as simple as a fullbody coilover install, you've only got an added step of compressing/uncompressing the spring. If you can do one, you can do the other.

As far as what the tech said, bullshit. Sounds like either a miscommunication or a tech that's an idiot. There isn't a single spring for your ride, there are multiple offerings. To say that a spring swap will ride worse than a coilover is asinine because there are a lot of variables relating to each (ie: spring rates, linear or progressive, length of spring, etc).

Going with a coilover option is only going to benefit you if your are looking to corner weight your car, if you want to select a specific set of spring rates, or/and if you want to dial-in your ride height. From the sound of it though, you don't really care about any of these things so a simple spring swap would be your best bet. As for the Tien's you bought, they're not horrible but better offerings are out there. It all depends on your tastes.