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chrisw
07-02-2004, 10:51 PM
hey all,

just finished installing my new Ohlins this afternoon. I have been tootling around town trying not to trash my tires (alignment is tomorrow morning).

anyhow,

wow.

















































































These struts are everything I expected out of my DMS 50's Street length struts...

I would say these struts are about middle of the road in terms of prices for coilover struts. They are definately worth the extra cost over something like JIC's or the average tein struts that are popular options.

The bouncyness of the ride is gone. The evo is as stable as a BMW, and this is the first time I have had a quite ride since I bought the car.

The install went pretty easy. A little easier than a subaru, but not by much. With the Ohlins, you need to provide your own camber plates for the front. I thought it would not be a big deal, but neither Tein, cusco, nor Zeil had any product in this country as far as I could tell. I have been looking for a couple of weeks now. However, I did have some left over cusco camber plates for the WRX. I had to re-drill the holes for the studs, but it worked out ok. After that little problem, the install for the front struts was straight forward and completed in about 1/2 hour for both struts.

The rear struts were a pain in the arse to remove. If I were to do it again, I would use a spring compressor so you can compress the rear struts enough to remove them. I resorted to a pry bar and brute force. I was not going to be denied...

I had some minor issues setting the spring height, but that was expected since I have Hypercoils springs with custom spring rates, not Ohlin springs normally shipped with the strut. Jason @ Britts (ogvw) warned me ahead of time that this might happen. Having lived with DMS struts for a while, I had no issues with this. I knew I would have to experiment with the ride height (which is why I was tootling around town to let the springs settle) to get the final ride height, I made sure the spring was contacting the upper and lower perches then tightened 1/2 turn.

I can't wait to see what these struts can do...

jbigelow
07-02-2004, 11:15 PM
congratulations on your ohlins set-up.

i need a ride in it!!!!!!!! :D

EvoVIII
07-03-2004, 08:12 AM
umm is there suppose to be pictures?? but ya Congrats :band:

DB8GSR
07-03-2004, 10:39 PM
alright.. ohlins!! cool stuff. What's the spring rate on your setup if you don't mind me asking. Is this something close to Vishnu's one lap setup?

chrisw
07-04-2004, 10:48 AM
I have no idea what vishnu is useing.


My spring rates are my own spec.

halz
07-05-2004, 05:24 PM
What kind of experience did you have with DMS coilovers?

..and how did you decide on your own spring rates? Was Ohlins accomodating with revalving the struts for the other spring rates?

chrisw
07-05-2004, 07:16 PM
What kind of experience did you have with DMS coilovers?

..and how did you decide on your own spring rates? Was Ohlins accomodating with revalving the struts for the other spring rates?

from a PM to zeus asking the same question



I loved them actually... I thought they were the best strut for the money (they were at the time).

Performance wise, these struts are totally bad ass.... They are a no comprimise racing strut.

The problem is, they are racing struts.

For me they were a maintenance nightmare. I was taking them off the car every other month for regular maintenance.

The kid I sold them too (mtb_dude @ nasioc) absolutely loves them. But I also had them serviced by Lachute Subaru before shipping to him. The service included upgrading the struts to the latest spec bushing, and mike?? has had no problems with them.

But now that I have found the Ohlins for just about the same price point, I would recommend the Ohlins. The ride is better, the dampening action is far more precise than in the DMS. My old co-driver in my WRX has commented that the ride with the ohlins is better than DMS. We both suspect thats the difference between between the double progressive springs (DMS) as opposed to the linear spring I use now (hypercoils)

who knows without a shock dyno?

DMS is not a bad strut by any means. I just think with the Ohlins Road and Track strut, you have options for coil overs between $2k - $3k.


as for the custom spring rates, this decision was made in part with recomendations from ogvw. From what I am told these struts do not have to be re-valved for anything that I need them for. If anything, an autocross/drifting setup will run higher spring rates than what you need for a track day.

From my weekend of driving I think I could easily go up in the spring rates by 100lbs and still keep a decent ride on the street.