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Hello Moderators: I know this is a review, but I think it's beneficial to the road racers. If needed, it can be moved and sorry in advance.
For the past few years I have been racing with Robi-Spec Race KW coilovers. I had always been happy with this suspension setup, but I seemed to plateau at the end of last year. My lap times were consistent but stagnant. My first attempt was to salvage the setup I had by sending out the coilovers to have them rebuilt/reshimmed/revalved and even went up in spring rates. I tested out the new rebuilt KW's in the middle of last season and the car still felt too loose, wouldn’t settle quickly, and had sluggish transitions. A couple of my friends kept telling me to talk with Dave at Stance Suspension. Dave had helped both of them improve lap times. Both were setup with a custom valved/springed pair of Stance 1-way Super Sport + coilovers per Dave’s suggestion. One came from 2-way Robi-Spec Race KW’s and dropped two seconds in his Evo; the other came from 1-way Tein RA coilovers and dropped three seconds in his S2000…… the results seemed promising. I decided that during the off season, I decided to attack my suspension setup.
The first time I met Dave we talked for more than two hours about suspension. From working with grass roots racers to the Cyber Evo race car, I found out that Dave’s Evo knowledge and pedigree was impressive to say the least. He was able to hone in on and diagnose my car’s issues without seeing or even being in the car. He shared how he could correct a lot of these issues and explained that the KW’s, being a twin tube design, are great for the street but weren’t great on a race track. Dave explained that he had a new suspension system finishing development and that this is the path I should take. Now realizing Dave’s vast knowledge and understanding his passion made my decision easy to go with him and Stance Suspension.
I’ve had the privilege to be one of the few drivers to test out the new revamped 3-way Stance Suspension systems. This new XR3 – Reinharte was specifically designed for the competitive road race individuals. Quoting Dave, “This setup was completely redesigned to improve on the previous 3-way system; the new compression valve is more reactive and has excellent control over low speed bleed for dialing in dive, yaw, and transitions. The new high speed valve design allows for less friction keeping oil temps low. Excellent pressure balance throughout the full range of speed means ultra-reactive response and feedback.”
Some of the Stance XR3 key features:
- Hard anodized aluminum threaded body and aluminum locking seats and collars
- Helper springs allowing the shock piston to be place in the optimal position
- Inverted Front suspension which is beneficial for MacPherson Strut setups,
- Front Roller bearing seats for the springs to prevent binding
- Adjustable lower bracket that allow for height adjustment without sacrificing stroke
- Camber plates for the front and top plates in the rear (Some suspension companies don’t even come with these “cough KW cough KW “)
The first time on the track with the new suspension was eye opening. I started off my first test laps with extremely conservative settings. The next session out I increased rebound by two clicks all around and the car immediately stiffed up and felt like a completely new car. I was in disbelief how just two clicks could make such a big difference. The suspension absolutely ate up the rumble strips on the apexes and the car was unfazed. The car could settle quickly and provide incredible steering feedback. The overall demeanor of the car was predictable and inspired confidence to push the limits.
With the XR3 I just set my fastest time at Autobahn South. To put this into perspective, my previous fastest time was 1:36.811 on a 275/35-18 Toyo RA1vand a 1:34.787 on a 275/35-18 Hoosier R6. With the new XR3 and 265/35-18 Maxxis RC1 I ran a time of 1.32.479. I was able to achieve my new best time by more than 4.3 seconds over the previous R compounds and even by 2.3 seconds over a full slick.
I overlaid three of my fastest times by tire using lateral G’s. Orange was on the and Maxxis RC1’s on Stance XR3, blue was the Toyo RA1’s on Robi Race KW, and yellow was on the Hoosier R6’s on Robi Race KW. You can see the suspension on average is generating .1-.2 more G’s. Notice how much quicker the lateral G’s are generated and held along with how quickly the suspension would settle and allow for transition. Keep in mind we are comparing a R compound setup outperforming a slick setup. The car was able to generate more grip since the suspension was allowing the tire to work properly. Also, with the improved steering feedback I could feel the edge of grip quicker and feel the tire limits better.
Robi-Spec Race KW Dyno Chart
Stance XR3 Dyno Chart
Last edited by awdboosted; Jul 21, 2016 at 06:18 PM.
Interesting. Is that a full threaded body? Not a huge fan of everything leaning on Alum threads/Kit shocks but thats me.
I can understand where you're coming from.
In the past Stance has used a full aluminum bodies and has always used aluminum collars. These coils have been FEA tested (aka stress testing) and track tested. Don't forget you also get the extra benefit of the inverted front setup with 45mm inverted hollow steel shaft, opposed to the skinny hollow 22mm shafts that other companies use. The rears are upright, but don't see the loads that the fronts see.
Ohlins uses an aluminum lower bracket and KW uses aluminum and plastic collars. Hell, even OEM uses aluminum control arms. Keep that in mind.
Interesting. Is that a full threaded body? Not a huge fan of everything leaning on Alum threads/Kit shocks but thats me.
I definitely wouldn't worry about that. I wont even bother with the math because with the thread diameter and length of engagement, the pullout force calculation would be in the hundreds of thousands of lbs.
Interesting. Is that a full threaded body? Not a huge fan of everything leaning on Alum threads/Kit shocks but thats me.
This may come across as condescending but it's not I'm actually confused...but how else would you be able to have ride height and spring preload adjustability without a threaded body? Maybe Im missing something here but I thought all adjustable coilovers are like that?
Actually, very few of the high end stuff is adjustable body. Ohlin Flags being one of the few in that 5k range that offered body length adjustment. Shocks like MCS, Moton, JRZ, etc, all are fixed body which IMO don't work unless truly built for a specific ride height.
Not bashing, thats the the way I always saw it, welded mounts specific to that chassis are way stronger and more specifically the shock is built for that chassis. The full threaded bodies are really a 1 size fits all which means you can only change so much. So in Mike's case they took that and then valved it for the spring - but in most of the higher end stuff the piston, fluid, range, all of those details are just a tad more specific to the racing data/way above our pay grade things that get you those tenths. Regardless though I'm stoked you found speed in them.
Not bashing, thats the the way I always saw it, welded mounts specific to that chassis are way stronger and more specifically the shock is built for that chassis. The full threaded bodies are really a 1 size fits all which means you can only change so much. So in Mike's case they took that and then valved it for the spring - but in most of the higher end stuff the piston, fluid, range, all of those details are just a tad more specific to the racing data/way above our pay grade things that get you those tenths. Regardless though I'm stoked you found speed in them.
I didn't think you were bashing. The magic definitely happens on the inside. It does help keep cost down using the threaded bodies on more than one setup, and I'm all about that. I also agree with DallasJ, It's a huge benefit to have adjustable body.
I appreciate it. I'm so happy with this setup. Can't wait to get more seat time. Hot Lanta, here I come.
Ahh duh OK I knew that...see personally I wouldnt want that. Then youre setting ride height with different length springs and crap like that which seems tedious for someone like me. And I can see the benefits of a threaded body in terms of keeping the costs down which as an amateur racer is nice since my pickets aren't exactly in line with pro race teams.
Jul 21, 2016, 05:44 PM
