Swift Springs long term review.
 

So I have had Swift Spec R lowering springs on my car for a year and a half now. I just wanted to do a slightly detailed write up on them over a long period of use. The main reason for this is because I’m about to be switching out my suspension setup and I guess I can say it’s almost for my own reference.

So I am a track junkie but then at the same time my car is used as a daily driver. Now obviously coilovers were an option for me but I was always told that the Swift Spec R springs are a cheaper alternative to coilovers and probably the best springs I can get for what I was looking for.

I will start with the drop height. I have racked up a good number of miles over the year and a half I have owned this car there is absolutely ZERO sag in the spring whatsoever.
It is on the dot down to the millimeter. I measured out at 26” all around from the week after the install. And right now I still have it measured out at 26”. Now the stance is subjective, I would prefer it to be lower, but hey you can't have the best of all worlds. So I would gladly sacrifice the drop height for performance.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1020252.jpg

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1020251.jpg

Now daily driving wise these springs are probably as comfortable as performance lowering springs can be. In fact they are as comfortable as the stock setup. They absorb the inconsistencies on the road extremely well, and they do not bounce or feel floaty at high speeds. Which is a big deal for me because one of the main tracks I go to is Willow Springs International Raceway (the big track) 2.2 miles and only 9 turns. In other words it’s super high speed.

The best performance gains I can reference is my track times. When my car was bone stock I was running consistent 1:44.5xx on big willow. And the very first track day with these springs I decreased my times by a little bit more than 2 seconds at 1:42.2xx. I have always used the Falken RT615 and the springs were my first mod. The car is very well balanced and the springs were a huge improvement in track lap times. The first initial feeling at the time is that the roll was decreased, and the car felt extremely stable and predictable. The car can be very easily controlled with the throttle around a corner. The pitching motions can also be read very easily and the drive is extremely forgiving. The only real negative I can think of when driving on them is that I feel that there is still a bit of body roll that I want to get out of but the shocks handle these springs well, they are most definitely not over sprung even though the rate increase is pretty substantial.. The rebound of the shock is nice and smooth and that is probably what keeps the car so predictable. Even though I feel the body roll I wouldn’t change anything on these springs because I’m sure Swift has done their research to know what the stock shocks can handle.

I rolled over to my friends shop because I was swapping everything out and I decided to put my car up on the corner weight scales. With these lowering springs the cross weights are pretty close to 50% and so I would also have to say a big good job to Swift for balancing out the car so well. Now obviously these numbers can change according to whatever is done to the car.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1020256.jpg

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1020244.jpg

Anyways don’t know if this will help anyone but if anyone has questions let me know.

Oh by the way I am about 180 lbs and it went to about 50.4% with me in the car. I dont have the ability to take a picture and sit in the car at the same time.

a great review thanks! are those the bilstein hd's or the mr bilstein's you've got there? I sold my coilovers recently and picked up the hd/spec r's, just wanted to wait until winter is over to put them on. What suspension setup are you switching to?

Nice! I'm looking into the Spec R's soon. This is really helpful! I'm glad you did it :)

Actually it's the stock shocks from the GSR.

The reason why it looks yellow is prob because what you see there is the bump stops. If you have the MR shocks you should be using the MR Spec R springs. Because the shocks are different Swift made 2 different sets of springs.

I have the stock kyb's too, but I've never noticed any yellow bumpstops. Are you switching to coilovers?

^^^^ Good write-up! Coming from the Honda world where lowering springs are a joke, and the only real option for performance AND lowering is coil-overs, I was very hesitant to give the Spec-R's a shot, BUT.....I couldn't be happier with these springs. I have no intention of changing them out until if/when the car becomes a track only car, they're that good. Big thumbs up to Swift. :thumbup:

Great long term review!

SpecR GSR v. MR is only a slight difference in rear rate. You can run either spring on the MR or HD Bilsteins.

I actually have an email from them before I bought these springs. Here is the info on the differences. there is a picture attached let me upload it onto my photobucket and post it.


Hi Albert.

We really appreciate you looking into our Swift Spec R springs for the Evo. We have put a lot of effort into these springs, and we have received help from the most winning Super Taikyu teams that specializes in EVO’s in Japan to design these springs as well as rigorous track testing, so that we can come out with the most performance oriented product possible. We are extremely confident that you would like them.

As for the differences between the MR(4M017R) and the GSR(4M008R) springs. There is a slight difference between the GSR and the MR spring but it will be noticeable if they are installed. If you were to put an MR spring onto your GSR then the rear end will drop even lower by about 15-20 mill. And vice versa if you were to swap the GSR onto the MR.

When we tested the valving on the both MR and GSR shocks, the main differences were the gas pressures in the Bilstein shock for the MR. It has a fair amount higher pressure, which is like increasing the internal spring rate of the shock. This is why we designed the spring differently for the MR shock. It is not only the spring rates that were modified but the physical construction of the spring as well.

primary rate is as follows.

4M008R 3.50kgf/mm
4M017R 2.73kgf/mm

Most of our technical information is confidential , but here are a few numbers that I can show you.

Many other manufacturer’s have one set of springs for both MR and GSR and so it may seem like the springs can be swapped around but this is incorrect. Believe It or not rake angle dramatically affects the performance of a vehicle. We have come up with our setup through a lot of testing, and trial and error.

This paired with our technology and material used to make our spring, we expect an extremely comfortable ride with a good amount of performance gains.

I have attached pictures of the spring to show you at least the physical differences.

Best Regards,
Sales
Tel: (909)923-9788
Fax: (909)923-9798

Swift Springs
1850 S. Carlos Ave
Ontario, California 91761
www.SwiftSprings.com

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1020260.jpg

"there is about 1cm (0.4") difference.

4M017 is shorter"

Ah, when I started with them at first it was not a height change too. Good to see they went further than first tests (which I have).

Actually I have the dustboot off of the shocks. This is why you can see the bumpstops on my shocks. Right now I am just trying out different setups I will update as things go.

Good Info on these Swift springs. They actually proved a point I was trying to make on here about the MR springs vs the GSR (Base in the USA) springs. I would get into arugements over that all the time. haha. I believe though that the lower ride heighth in the rear on the MR was meant to help with the AYC handleing, but since the USA spec Evo doesn't have AYC I wonder if you put the GSR springs in the MR it would actually be "better". Not sure. Someone would have to test that on a track I suppose.

What was the drop with those springs anyway? How your car sits, it looks stock to me. I never purchased springs for my car because most lower the car too much and with me scraping over every little incline already, I didn't want to make it worse. Just curious on the drop heigth on these springs.

That is a good balance on your car as well, especially for having aftermarket Rims, larger Diameter, and runiing a larger tire package. Quality of parts chosen are showing on the scales..

-1.4 front and -0.8 rear.

I have had USDM MRs on both spring types with no differences in their butt feel. But I have not tested them back to back on similar cars. I ran the GSR SpecRs on custom valved Bilstein HDs.

Attachment 313722Attachment 313723
Swift Spec R MR's w/Bilstein MR struts.

Attachment 313724
Spec R MR's w/Bilstein MR struts, 10k miles and going strong.

This combination actually rides better than stock, and with the front and rear ARB's creates a bullet proof and reliable platform that will handle most users needs.