I was able to pickup a set of coilovers from AST-USA recently and finally got them corner balanced and aligned. I went with AST because they are local to me and I had the opportunity to ride in the Vorshlag prepped Evo X with AST coilovers. Granted when I got a ride along it had 5200's, but I was still really impressed with the shocks.

I ended up buy through PTP another local raceshop for less than MSRP and had them talk to Terry Fair and Brian about the setup they ran after extensive testing. I ended up going with 700/800 lb/in springs which equal out to about 12.5/14.5 kg/mm. When I first heard the suggestion, I was a little apprehensive on rates these high, but I was assured that the shocks would make the ride liveable on the street and awesome on the track. There was a whole mess regarding getting them built and sent out which I will not go into, but in AST's defense, they were in the middle of moving to a larger facility.

When I first picked them up, PTP had already assembled them for me. They looked awesome, and felt really solid. I opted for the Vorshlag camber plates as well. The only negative I can think of is that AST does not drill the front mounts for the plastic abs sensor bracket. There is a stud and nut for the brake lines. The springs on the coilovers are made by swift, so there is quality there.

Install is straight forward. There are a thousand walk throughs on coilover installs so I wont go into that. I had eibach prokits on the car before, so I set the ride height just slightly higher. Measurement from ground to fender lip is 25 5/8 inches in the front and 26 inches in the rear.It should settle to be a little higher than the prokit. I always thought the prokit was a touch low and on stock struts it felt as though I was riding on the bump stops, even with the stock bump stops cut. You will need to order the adjustment extenders if you plan to change the settings on the rear struts at all. There is just no room to reach them. Luckily I have a friend who recieved a set for free, so I was able to throw those on.

The rears have helper springs but the fronts do not. At the ride height I set, with the suspension at full droop there is a 3-4 inch gap between the front spring and the perch. It doesn't cause a problem, just looks funny.

Ride is pretty awesome. I have ridden in Evo's with KW V3, Stance and Fortune Autos. My personal opinion is that the AST when adjusted have a greater change than the other cars I havew ridden in. If I put the AST's on full hard, the car rides like a tank. It is completely flat when turning, but rides like a tank. At full soft, the car is smoother than the Bilstein/Prokit setup. It is really a shocking difference, I wouldn't expect to feel a difference with one click, but with these you really can. I have not had a chance to setup them up using vorshlags guide, but I will be doing that next week in hopes of getting it dialed in for my PCA DE day.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/palhan/4991004937/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/palhan/4991613554/

 

Good choice. I want some 4200's. I'm glad to hear that its still drivable with 700 and 800 springs. I guess I'll have to call them to see what my options and pricing are on 4200's since Vorshlag's website only shows the 5100's and up.

I'm thinking 600 and 700lbs/in for me. What do you think?

 

We shipped out almost 10 sets, i know a couple people have put them on. I'll try and get them to post some more feedback. Most of our guys had lower spring rates but a few went pretty aggressive.

- andrew

 

If Jimm ever puts his on I will get to test them for myself to see how they compare to my Ohlins.

 

nice looking stuff , you got a pretty circuit race oriented spring rates though.
AST is awesome. I'll try to make one more race this year and i will put pictures and some feed back on them. But i have a 5300.

 

Krisiun...you going to be at PlanoEvo's on Sunday? I'd like a ride

 

I have my set of AST4100's on as well. I didn't write up a full review yet as I have only had them on for a few days and I don't know what to compare them too on the X. Unlike Rob I DO have helper springs for the front as well as the rear. Also, I went with the rear shock mounts from AST.

I will say that the car handles amazingly on the street, even compared to my old Evo 9 with KW's. Since I have not had them on long I have not had a chance to play around with the adjustments. I have them set at 6 clicks from full soft as recommended by GTWorx.

 

I have installed 5200s - they seem really well made, but I will only review after I hit the track.

I have the rear shock mounts - they are noisy. Par for the course?

I will say this though: I had e-mailed AST USA and requested for individual shock dyno plots (at least to check left and right match!). They said yes, but I never got them.

I waited 8+ months for these to arrive - I will give them a fair trial.

 

I f you talk about me, i do have helper springs on my set up. Front and rear. Also mine is a 5300 not the 4100.

front










rear:









but you are right , the KW is not even close to my new set up. I had the KW V3 this one is just better dd or track.

Besides you cant do this with the KW V3 , granted it is not made for that, but it can happen on public streets, and the out come is just a disaster, Im a living proof for that; i did do that with KW...

 

No I have to work, but I will be out at the Cobb dyno day if I get a new tire in on time. Had 26 miles on my new street tires and got a nail..in the sidewall.

 

Thats funny, I have minse set the same for regular street driving now. I need to get out to the track so I can dial them in though.

 

Oops, sorry about that. You are right, I was comparing my setup to krisiun's.

 

no need it, i thought i'm more important. LOL
my mistake