Hey guys… I have a ’06 XI MR that I am looking to upgrade the suspension. I mostly DD the car but I will be doing some autox/ track events this year. Currently the car has stock suspension but I am in the process of upgrading. I am sticking with the stock BBS wheels for now and currently have a set of stock size Dunlop Z1 for tires. From reading plenty of posts about what to get and what not to get I have come up with this plan…

Swift spec-r springs
Stock MR Bilsteins revalved to match swift springs
whiteline front sway bar 26mm
whiteline rear sway bar 24mm
Front roll center kit (not ordered)
If new tires needed…maybe 245/255 instead of 235??
whiteline bump steer corection kit??

For alignment this is what I am thinking:

Toe: zero all around
Camber: front: -1.5 to -2 rear: -1
Caster: not sure about…please give suggestions

Please give some feed back and let me know if this setup sounds good for what ill be doing and please give some advice/suggestions to make better or correct me if im wrong somewhere

Thanks in advance for all the helps guys

 

I think your plan is excellent. Coilovers (Bilstein PSS9's and above) are the best option for a "good" suspension setup, but for a budget setup, daily driven car I think you're right on the money.

Caster - there is no caster adjustment with our cars w/o caster plates. Don't worry about caster.
Toe - 0 toe is a great place to start. for autox, I run a bit more aggressive toe, and less aggressive for the track, but either way, 0/0 is a perfect starting point.

If you ever wanted to upgrade from your shocks/springs, you could easily do so and sell those bilsteins here on EvoM for a good amount.

Regarding sway bars, I'd recommend (personally) leaving them stock for now, and just get used to the car on the springs/struts you have first. Bars are good to get the car fine-tuned for your setup/driving style. I'd do these last.

Finally, if you have 235 width Z1's, that's good enough. Burn through those, and mount up some 245/40 on stock size wheels and you'll be fine. 255 is too wide for the stock wheel width.

These are all comments from my own experience, and to be taken as just that

 

awesome info thanks.....what bout gettin the whiteline roll center kit and bump steer? are both of those needed/suggested?

 

This

 

awesome, ive been looking for this kinda info

 

Very close to what my setup is - works very well!!!

I'd recommend getting the RCK kit for the front while you are messing with front suspension. Bump kit maybe later if you think you needed. If you want to make your setup just a little more flexible, I'd throw in some camber plates so you can change/play with alignment between track & DD as you get better or to prolong tire life.

My setup:
- Swift Spec-R on stock KYB
- Stock swey bars (may get just a rear one later on though)
- RCK kit
- Tein Camber plates mounted rotated to get a little more caster while adding camber.

Street running -1 camber, track -2.2-4 (that is all I can get - may be buying the lower aftermarket camber bolt to try and get more.)
Toe 0 F and R street & track
Caster: maybe .5 to 1 more on track when the camber plate is moved back for camber

 

I don't have any experience with those kits. I did just install an energy suspension master-kit (poly bushings), but I left the whiteline RC/Bump Steer kits out of the equation due to SCCA class rules. I've been club racing for three years now on the stock ball joints/tie rod ends and without the bump-steer kit.

It's possible I don't know what I'm missing out on not running those things, but I don't know that you'd need to jump into those things just yet. The strut/spring combo is a perfect, cost effective way to start climbing the club racing ladder, or for DD's that want to have some fun on the weekends. Stick with that for now, and I think you'll be very happy. Note that I am installing a roll-center correction kit on Deloungedoug's evo this weekend, so i'll post back my comments on whether this kit is worth it (obviously opinion based).

You can check your tie rod ends and ball joints on the end of your A-arms for wear/tear. Since you have a 2006, I would guess that they're in good shape. If they show wear however (torn boot, for example), then a whiteline kit would make a good replacement. Again, personally I'd recommend just leaving those things alone and spend some money on some race tires for those weekend events. If you do some track time, I'd HIGHLY suggest reading the entire "Everything you need to know about brakes" sticky at the top of this page. Brake duct kits FTW!! But that's entirely


For anyone else reading this thread, this guy gets a major for not buying cheap coilovers, but instead buying good shocks/springs to start off on.

Hope this helps! I'm going through the learning phase still too, so again, take my post FWIW!

 

thanks guys for more info....think ill get the RCK and wait in the rear bump steer kit. hope this helped anyone else in this situation

 

pretty much the same (except that I went with GTWORX springs and included PSRS along with hella lot of WL bushings) setup as I can't wait to get with my car - will make the install in April and report on the results as soon as I'll get them. My choice was made after reading extensive amount of reviews here and I'm happy that's not only my impression this is the right way

 

you can fit 255's on your stock wheels...im runnin 255 Z1's on mine right now and i love em no rubbing issues at all

 

Great set-up! The bumpsteer kit IS helpful....makes things just a little more stable on the track under braking. A nice-to-have for sure.

- Andrew

 

Just to clarify,

Yes, they'll 'fit' but you will not be utilizing the entire footprint of the tire, as the shoulders will be too wide for an 8" rim.

It will technically fit fine, with no rubbing, but you're increasing your rotational mass (bad) for no gain in grip by running 255 on an 8" wide wheel.

245/40 is where you want to be for stock wheels for track/daily. Autocross is an entirely different matter.

 

thanks for the great info guys. i think imma run with the spring/shock setup and get the RCk and BSK from whiteline and then look into the sway bars later on after i get used to that.

 

Yep, this is exactly what I was looking at doing too. I think it's a great route to go for me cause I don't like to be too low, but a decent drop would be nice. I also plan to put on 18x9.5 wheels so maybe I won't have to roll too much lol

 

i just didnt want to have to deal with coilover since i dont know much bout them and puttin some good lowering springs in with the revalved shocks will be good enough for me unless i decide to upgrade even further