AWR Coilover Install and Review

[Mallard]

Parts Installed: Coilover kit consisting of Bilstein inserts and Eibach ERS springs. (275 lb/in front and 325 lb/in rear)

Vender: AWR Anthony Woodford Racing

Ease of installation: Once I had all the correct parts and had gotten used to taking my suspension apart 5 or 6 times, installation was quite easy. When using this kit on a Mazdaspeed Protg you will need to buy AWRs custom upper strut mounts and adjustable front swaybar endlinks. Without these the kit will not work. These coilovers require use of a spherical bearing at the top of the strut and there is no way to make your stock upper strut mounts work properly. You will experience a lot of binding in your suspension if you attempt to re-use your stock mounts.<O

Installation consisted of:

-Remove stock endlinks
-Unbolt strut from upright
-Unbolt stock upper strut mount
-Remove stock suspension
-Assemble the coilovers and upper strut mounts/camber plates before bolting in the vehicle
-Bolt everything up and check your ride heights and alignment

If no problems are encountered entire installation should only take a few hours. The most time consuming part is setting the ride heights and alignment. You should be setting your ride heights based off your corner weights so either take it to a shop that has scales (unless you have your own) or make sure your ride height difference front to rear is the same as stock.

Problems encountered: I encountered a lot of problems through the process of switching to these coilovers. All of them stemmed from the fact that AWR said I could use my stock upper strut mounts with the kit. I first modified my stock mounts to accept the Bilstein inserts, but that led to TONS of problems. This coilover kit should not be sold without strut mounts as it is impossible to use them without. I will say that AWR has been helpful and they did their best to make everything right with me. They allowed me to borrow parts until my newly machined camber plates were ready and I appreciated that gesture. Hopefully the new parts hold up well to the abuse I give them on the track.

Also, stock MSP rims cannot be used with the kit as the offset is too great. When running this kit you will need rims with about a +45-50 offset or use wheel spacers with longer wheel studs. (longer wheel studs are a must if using spacers!)

The spring rates with this kit are pretty stiff and you will probably be unhappy if youre putting them on your daily driver. However, the car handles very well and is a blast to drive on a race track or autocross.

Pictures below are of the suspension installed and the new camber plates. (These are the first ones that were made)

Links to other threads about my suspension:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111339
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=117340

 

[dmitrik4]

thanks for the writeup...if i were doing coilovers on my Protege, these would be my choice. what was your total $$$ outlay?

keep us posted on how they perform and hold up!

 

[Mallard]

Coilovers: $1395
Front endlinks: $81.99 (They're listed as $6995 on his web site, not sure why they're more...maybe because they were a custom length??)
Rear Adjustable Upper Strut Mounts: $199 or 225 depending on the shaft size of your shocks
Front Upper Strut Mounts: $125 (non-adjustable, not pretty machined aluminum either)

Since I have the first set of front camber plates ever made by AWR they are not listed on his site yet, but I'd expect them to be arund $250ish. Since I had so many problems and my car nearly careened into a ditch AWR and I worked out a deal so I can't tell you exactly how much the fronts and rears will cost.

Also, I spent $20 a piece for Torrington bearings for the tops of my springs in the front. This allows the spring to rotate when I turn the wheen and when they are compressed so they don't bind up and pop. It also makes it easier to turn the spring perch.

So you're looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of $2000 to duplicate my set-up (not including shipping). And that's including longer wheel studs and wheel spacers that are necessary if you want to run stock MSP/MP3 wheels. Also, all the labor was done myself, even alignments.

I had them out at an open track day two weeks ago and they handled very well. I was able to take turns faster then a lot of people there (until my RT-215 Azenis got too hot) even though it was my first time. I didn't have the camber plates on at the time so I was only running about -1 degree of camber (using the $125 plates) and the tires felt warm all over. Although, I could have fried an egg on them so my hand wouldn't be able to tell if the outside was slightly hotter. There isn't much compression with this suspension so you don't have to worry about running a ton of static camber. My instructor asked what my spring rates were and when I told him he said, "What!? I have 700# springs in my 944 and it's not as stiff as this!"

 

[khaosman]

Hmm... you have me intrigued about the corner weights! I'm still toying with the height on my JIC coilovers. Can you elaborate on your pointers? Thanks

 

[Mallard]

Hmm... you have me intrigued about the corner weights! I'm still toying with the height on my JIC coilovers. Can you elaborate on your pointers? Thanks

Well I liked the balance my car had stock. Corner weights with my car in "race trim" (i.e. no spare tire, Rota Slipstreams and my autox Azenis) and 150lbs of weight in the drivers seat were:

LF:876
LR:530
RF:878
RR:621
Giving a crossweight of: 51.5%

Not bad. I was worried about screwing the balance up completely when I was changing ride heights so I decided to set it up with the same corner weights as stock to the best of my ability. I measured the stock ride heights from the bottom lip of my wheel to the fender lip and subtracted the front height from the rear to get my ride height difference. I then set my front ride height where I wanted it and used the ride height difference to set the rear. I haven't had a chance to get on scales yet, but they should be pretty close.

I could stand to go lower in the rear, but I don't want to mess with it without knowing what my corner weights are. Changing settings blindly is never a good idea.

 

[khaosman]

Ah, that makes sense. What was the difference between front and rear ride height, stock? Pretty even I imagine. That number should give me something to aim for when adjusting the heights.

Yesterday was my second autocross, and it was a ton of fun. I started getting pretty consistent times towards the end. I let another driver take a run and he managed to do ~.5s better. That was his first time in my car and he shifted into second on the straight, then had trouble getting back into first on the final turn. That shows me I have quite a bit of driver improvement I can do. Learning how to set up my car is another thing I can always learn more about. Especially with the amount of adjustability on the AWR 21.5 bar and endlinks, plus the coilovers!

 

[Mallard]

On my MSP the rear was 1/4" higher in the rear. Since you have a wagon your corner weights will be quite different so the same may not be the best for you. It's best to get it on scales and set it up properly.

Don't worry about changing a bunch of things on your car yet to try and get faster. Concentrate on driving better. Once you shift to second gear leave it there and focus on staying close to the cones and driving good lines. That will be worth much more time in the end. Get a good basic setting done on your suspension and leave it like that. Don't play with it between runs or events unless something is seriously wrong.

 

[khaosman]

Thanks for the advice. I just played with my tire pressures this time, I raised them up to ~40psi in the front and 35 in the rear.

I haven't had the time yet to do a good write-up, but here are the pictures and a video of two runs at the last event:
http://www.khaosman.com/gallery/aug05

Back to your regularly scheduled thread

 

[low_psi]

Excellent info. Can you PM me the bearing specs you used for the top mounts. I have good luck just greasing mine, but it gets messy. Also, do you have any pics of the front camber plates? I'm currently designing some for myself and I want to make sure I'm heading in the right direction, cause I AWR made them correctly

 

[Mallard]

The front camber pics are the 2nd pic posted. That's all I took. I didn't take any before assembly.

I got my bearings from here --> http://www.traxxion.com/store/detail.asp?product_id=TBK
My springs a 2.5" so that's what I ordered. Make sure they know it's for a car set-up so they include 2 steel shims. Also, be advised that running these on a daily driver will require regular maintenance to keep them free of dirt, unless you have some way of sealing them from the outside. I toyed with the idea of making a neoprene sleeve to fit over my coilover to sheild it from dirt.

 

[dmitrik4]

did you measure your stock ride height difference from side-to-side? i don't know if there is a difference, but it would definitely affect the cross weight.

 

[Mallard]

did you measure your stock ride height difference from side-to-side? i don't know if there is a difference, but it would definitely affect the cross weight.

Yes, I did all 4 corners. There was a small variation, but it wasn't much. I even out out the sides when I set the ride heights so yes, my corner weights may not be exactly what they originally were. But the difference was so small that it is close and it's easier for me to keep track of ride heights in my head. haha

 

[tekkie]

looks good, where did you get the car corner weighted at?

 

[dmitrik4]

Yes, I did all 4 corners. There was a small variation, but it wasn't much. I even out out the sides when I set the ride heights so yes, my corner weights may not be exactly what they originally were. But the difference was so small that it is close and it's easier for me to keep track of ride heights in my head. haha

just asking.

 

[Mallard]

looks good, where did you get the car corner weighted at?

Luckly a friend of mine works on a race team that does circle track stuff at Dixie Motor Speedway in Flint. He let me bring my car in and use his scales. When everything is complete and I'm ready for a precision alignment and corner weight I will either go to ATI in Wixom or to a guy in Waterford that autocrosses nationally and offers up his equipment and services at an hourly rate.

 

[Saban]

Nice review Mallard...

Any new noises, like clunking, popping, etc...from the AWR coilovers?

About the spacers and longer studs:

So If get like a 5mm spacer and longer studs, the stock wheels will work fine (No rubbing)

But if I put on a different set of rims with a lower offset (+48 for example) I would first take off the spacer and then it would be fine, right?

Won't the longer studs stick out of the lugnut holes on a set of +48/+45 rims?

Just wondering...

 

[Mallard]

Nice review Mallard...

Any new noises, like clunking, popping, etc...from the AWR coilovers?

About the spacers and longer studs:

So If get like a 5mm spacer and longer studs, the stock wheels will work fine (No rubbing)

But if I put on a different set of rims with a lower offset (+48 for example) I would first take off the spacer and then it would be fine, right?

Won't the longer studs stick out of the lugnut holes on a set of +48/+45 rims?

Just wondering...

No new noises so far, but I don't have many miles on the set up. I also have the Delsing Rear Sway Bar Brackets and Bushings a.k.a. 'klunk fix' so I didn't have much of any suspension noise before the swap.

5mm spacers with stock wheels will probably work, but I have not tried yet. My Rota Slipstreams are +45 and there's still a little room left. Longer studs will stick out of the lugnut holes farter if you use a different offset wheel, but with a different offset wheel you won't need long studs and spacers. You need to have a minimum number of turns on your lugnuts and that's not possible with a wheel spacer on the stock wheels. If you plan on switching wheels back and fourth you should use open ended lug nuts so you know you're tightened down on the wheel instead of the closed side of the nut.

I'll be putting some miles on it this weekend, along with an autocross where probably 4 different people will be driving the car and giving me their impressions.

 

[tekkie]

autox this weekend? where?

 

[Mallard]

autox this weekend? where?

It's a local autox through my former school (Kettering University). I still have friends back there that are organizing it and I'm helping them out. Can you say infinate number of runs for me? haha

It's at Birch Run Expo Center, but I'm not sure if anyone outside of the school will be able to attend. There was talk of a small fee for non-students in order to get attendance up and cover costs. I'll find out.

 

[tekkie]

yeah for sure, I would be in I need the practice