My '09 Factory JCW has the stock suspension. I want a setup that gives me a complete system without much fuss or going broke in the process. I don't plan on tracking the car so coil overs are a bit much. I want to do springs/dampers/sways and I can get the JCW setup for around $1k. The H&R touring cup kit plus front and rear sway bars would run me +/-$1200. I wish I could get a 1" drop instead of the .4" or 1.4" because I never know where the Army will send me and what roads/weather I'll come across.

Opinions?

 

TSW springs, IE camber plates, and MAYBE add a rear sway later. You'll have all the handling you want

Not too much of a drop but you'll get over it. The car handles amazingly now.

 

My biggest thing is that I'm not a fan of mixing and matching. I had a bad experience with doing just that on another car. I want to reduce the wheel gap, flatten out the corners, and have the car feel more balanced. I don't know if the H&R cup kit and the sways are matched as well as the JCW setup. I wouldn't be too put off by a different spring on the JCW kit to get the lowering I want. I want parts that compliment each other and perform well. I like the idea of all JCW parts, but if the performance and quality of a complete H&R setup is superior, I may go that route.

 

I don't see why you need to get rid of your new shocks if the springs are properly designed to match them, and I see absolutely no reason to change your swaybars. If you're still fixed on either JCW or cup kit, I think out of the two the cup kit is the way to go. Get some adjustable endlinks so you can set preload correctly and leave the OEM sways. No reason to change them. Also think about front camber plates, they help a ton.

 

I want to maintain stock wheel travel if possible. I don't want to bang off the bump stops all the time. If the H&R cup kit struts are designed to allow this then I'm sold. I get that TSW's are designed for the stock strut valving, but they lower the car enough to limit travel (although not nearly as much as just H&R springs).

 

bump?

 

If wanting a lower stance for the car where not a desire, I would say go for the JCW setup for sure; it's designed from the factory to work with the cars geometry, travel, weight, blah, blah, blah. However, since you want a lower stance then what that of the JCW will give you, then it looks like the H&R is the winner. With that being said, the H&R is more then a 1 inch drop, so you either need to be okay with that, or go to a coil-over setup. I know that you said you aren't going to track the car, but I don't understand why you think coil-overs would be to much; they allow you to get the drop that you are looking for, and offer a fair amount of an upgrade to the handling of the vehicle.

Let's face it, going with either of the two you mentioned means you're upgrading to a better, performance oriented suspension, which is unneeded if you're not going to track the car. But, like myself, I'm sure you still want an aggressive street setup, and the look of having it sit a bit lower.

Mike

 

Coming from being in the car audio industry for so long, you said one of the things I laugh at most. "I don't like mixing and matching"..... well some companies do different things better or worse, or even some that are cheaper but perfectly compatible.

For instance, IE makes fixed camber mounts, I don't think anyone else does. A little extra front camber without any fuss of adjusting is a great thing, why avoid them because the NAME on your strut or spring doesn't match it???

H&R makes some decent suspension components, as does Koni, as does Eibach or KW etc. Why limit yourself to a full setup of matching a name rather than maximizing performance to cost? I really don't understand that logic.

I've worked with a lot of high end foreign car audio brands and I can say a brand that specializes in something usually does it better than a brand that does everything. I would never put Kenwood speakers in a car when dollar for dollar, Rainbow makes them better, but I'd put a Kenwood Excelon head unit in anyone's car.


If I were in the market to revamp the suspension, I'd have Koni yellow struts, Eibach pro-kit springs or similar for their moderate drop and increased performance, IE camber plates in the front and an upgraded rear sway bar that may or may not be from a matching brand to the rest of the components. I can't fathom why someone would ever think that combination would do anything but work perfectly?