retrosmiths Senior Member

Join Date: May 2013 Drives: Scion FR-S Whiteout Location: Hollywood, CA Posts: 962 Thanks: 297 Thanked 241 Times in 137 Posts Mentioned: 22 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)

RS*R Moto Spec Review



My car is a daily driver, doing 50 miles per day of mixed street and highway. I use it on the track, went 12x last year, planning on doing 8 more this year, but I'm not chasing trophies nor fastest-time-of-the-day's. I just want to go fast and enjoy driving an excellent-handling car.



The stock suspension had been great on both street and track, but I felt it's limits. I started looking for an upgrade and I came up with the following goal: I want to get faster track times without sacrificing street comfort and breaking the bank ($2,000 max).



The RS*R's hit the spot. It's not too expensive ($1,799 MSRP), it's better than the stock suspension (in the track) and it's very comfortable for daily driving (according to existing reviews). It's only 1-way adjustable and comes with only a 2-setting camber plate, but that's fine with me; I don't want to fiddle too much with the settings.



Installation



Installation is, surprisingly, easier than I thought, and this is coming from someone whose most complex projects he's ever done to a car is install an oil cooler and retrofit the headlights. As long as you have the tools and patience, and you follow the instructions carefully (there's a DIY in this forum), then you'll have no problems. I installed it myself, at home with basic garage tools, and it took 5 hours, but I was very anal with it, triple-reading the guide and such. Pretty sure a more competent mechanic can do this in 2.



Throughout the installation process, @ Moto-P provided me with quick support. The only real issue I had was the locking collars for the height adjustment aren't tightened from factory, so I had to retighten them and had to made sure the height are the same for both sides using a caliper. This is weird given that when you get a spec'd unit, it's supposed to be pre-set when you receive it.



I also "reversed" the top plate of the front coilovers so that I'll "gain" more negative camber. The information sheet says that it's possible to achieve -1.0 and below. With just my camber bolts and LCA's, I used to have -1.25/-1.5 F/R already, so I know I can push probably up to -3.00.



I gave the coils a week to settle before getting an alignment. I did not push it hard, though, but I felt something different, something about the small bumps on the road being absorbed better, sweeping turns are somewhat easier to achieve without worrying about understeer, etc. It just felt more...planted to the ground, as if it were on rails.



Aligned and Corner-Balanced



Shout out to



West End recommended they set it to -2.5 camber for all corners. They also corner-balanced the car to achieve a balanced diagonal weight on the tires.



After Buttonwillow..



I went to Buttonwillow Raceway Park for a casual track day, and even with a passenger on board and no actual desire to compete with my run group's best lap times (I was there to "just drive fast and forget about everything else"), I still managed to beat my previous record by 1.xx second.



Conclusions



These are amazing coilovers that aren't too hard on your wallet. It's comfortable for daily driving, and it's decent for the track. I highly recommend these to those who daily drive their car, wants a bit lower look and a more responsive handling. Hey guys, I've had the RS*R Moto Spec coilovers installed for 3 weeks now, so I think it's time for a review. I'll keep this short:My car is a daily driver, doing 50 miles per day of mixed street and highway. I use it on the track, went 12x last year, planning on doing 8 more this year, but I'm not chasing trophies nor fastest-time-of-the-day's. I just want to go fast and enjoy driving an excellent-handling car.The stock suspension had been great on both street and track, but I felt it's limits. I started looking for an upgrade and I came up with the following goal:The RS*R's hit the spot. It's not too expensive ($1,799 MSRP), it's better than the stock suspension (in the track) and it's very comfortable for daily driving (according to existing reviews). It's only 1-way adjustable and comes with only a 2-setting camber plate, but that's fine with me; I don't want to fiddle too much with the settings.Installation is, surprisingly, easier than I thought, and this is coming from someone whose most complex projects he's ever done to a car is install an oil cooler and retrofit the headlights. As long as you have the tools and patience, and you follow the instructions carefully (there's a DIY in this forum), then you'll have no problems. I installed it myself, at home with basic garage tools, and it took 5 hours, but I was very anal with it, triple-reading the guide and such. Pretty sure a more competent mechanic can do this in 2.Throughout the installation process, @provided me with quick support. The only real issue I had was the locking collars for the height adjustment aren't tightened from factory, so I had to retighten them and had to made sure the height are the same for both sides using a caliper. This is weird given that when you get a spec'd unit, it's supposed to be pre-set when you receive it.I also "reversed" the top plate of the front coilovers so that I'll "gain" more negative camber. The information sheet says that it's possible to achieve -1.0 and below. With just my camber bolts and LCA's, I used to have -1.25/-1.5 F/R already, so I know I can push probably up to -3.00.I gave the coils a week to settle before getting an alignment. I did not push it hard, though, but I felt something different, something about the small bumps on the road being absorbed better, sweeping turns are somewhat easier to achieve without worrying about understeer, etc. It just felt more...planted to the ground, as if it were on rails.Shout out to West End for their amazing work! The car felt even way better than before. If it was already a great-handling car with the stock suspension, these coilovers basically improved that even more. Merging into freeways, switching lanes, turning corners, it's all even easier to do because the handling is just superb. It felt firmer, and as I was saying, more planted to the ground. Driven over minor bumps on the road and I still felt in control of the car; it did not get upset at all.West End recommended they set it to -2.5 camber for all corners. They also corner-balanced the car to achieve a balanced diagonal weight on the tires.I went to Buttonwillow Raceway Park for a casual track day, and even with a passenger on board and no actual desire to compete with my run group's best lap times (I was there to "just drive fast and forget about everything else"), I still managed to beat my previous record by 1.xx second.These are amazing coilovers that aren't too hard on your wallet. It's comfortable for daily driving, and it's decent for the track. I highly recommend these to those who daily drive their car, wants a bit lower look and a more responsive handling.

2013 Scion FR-S __________________