Ok so i looked up this topic on the threads but it came up as coilovers, i was wondering if stock struts and springs from a r56 would work on an r53 if i change the top hats and get some adjustable camber plates... thanks

 

ok so i actually did this i will post pics soon on how i accomplished this and how the car currently sits

 

heres the car jacked up and the struts/springs taken off



here are the front struts the ones you really have to change. you need to hammer off the perches. when i mean hammer i mean lightly hit them off haha



here are the rear struts big difference and yes my old ones are really bad i pressed them down both at the same time and needless to say my old ones took about 1 day to come fully back up >.>




remember that you need the old perches from the r53 strut on the r56 strut heres what it looks like without the r56 strut



and heres what it looks like compressed and screwed on. i ended up getting hotchkiss adj. camber plates and i love them. but the fronts are a little higher because of this. i will be uploading pics of this later. ALSO REMEMBER to copy how the old perch is facing on the old strut. i made this mistake and had to take it out compress and move the perch around. a real pain.

 

so i ended up changing my sway bar links and wanted to change my bushings as well but you have to drop the whole sub frame so im saving that for another time

Here are the new moog sway bar links in box




here they are next to the old ones to see the difference. you can order them from any advanced auto parts store they are 35 i believe each. great upgrade if you dont want to go with the adjustables

 

Question for ya-

What benefit is there of running R56 struts/shocks. Are those Tein springs too?


Just curious what the benefit of this swap was as well as how much you paid for an R56 suspension. Thanks!

 

I bought them here on NAM and they were the JCW shocks with low miles, mine were completley blown and i got them for 350 so in comparison for a new set i saved alot and they are HR springs

 

Any more detailed pics on the conversion? Are all the other mounts identical for both gens? Any difference on strut & ride heights? I'm expecting the R56 struts to be much softer....guessed right?

 

the only difference between r56 struts and r53 are in the front, and it is the perches if you pop those out and use r53 perches and top hats your good, now the rear if your going to do lowering springs which i did the diameter in the r56 is wider then the r53 just slightly i was afraid my springs would not sit but they did after installing them in my car and riding around. Yes the ride is soo much better alot stiffer too, but i guess thats because they are the jcw sport struts. i will be posting pics of the ride height soon.