Suspension swap

[wrxsti03]

Well I decided to swap out the stock suspension of MY06 Hybrid for OEM SI suspensions. Other then the rear springs everything went in real easy.

Just got it done this WE so I'm gonna give it a couple days to settle and see how it rides. Just as a FYI I also have the rear SI swaybar installed as well.

Also thinking on ordering the front bar as well.

[Zeuceone]

the rear is a piece of cake.

[Streethonda06]

what went wrong w/ the rear.. that was the easyest for me

[wrxsti03]

Originally Posted by Streethonda06

what went wrong w/ the rear.. that was the easiest for me

Even after the top A arm and shock was disconnected the lower arm wouldn't drop low enough for the Hybrid spring to pop out. I event took the ABS and brake line mount off and still not low enough. I did'nt want to remove other parts blindly as I wasn't interested in doing so. Maybe the Hybrid spring is taller than the other models not sure ?

I have a electric impact driver... made things go pretty smooth. I'm glad I bought that, its been a savior on many projects !

[Zeuceone]

did you remove the swya link. thats what did it for me.

[wrxsti03]

Originally Posted by Zeuceone

did you remove the swya link. thats what did it for me.

No... maybe that would have helped.

[Streethonda06]

^^ yea u needed to remove that... yup yup... well how do you like the ride now?

[Zeuceone]

Originally Posted by wrxsti03

No... maybe that would have helped.

when i did it it gae me the room to remove the spring.

[wrxsti03]

Well took out the dish plates cleaned em up and went for a test ride. Gotta say the ride seems a lot better. Can feel the road characteristics much more, car doesn't feel like its floating (LOL) and the corners are a breeze, beautiful ! Before I had to slow down on almost ever corner real annoying. Now I can keep higher average speeds into the corners which should help keeping with the flow of traffic as well.

I'm curious how it will affect my MPG... I suspect minimal, but keeping a higher average speed may help.. we'll see.

True test will be Monday when I commute to work and see how it does on the highway. Before the suspension swap it felt wormy floating etc. I suspect it might be the 70 series tires, but be interesting how the SI suspension changes things.

Below are some pics.

You can see a couple more before shots here....
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2481187/1

[exbauer]

when i had my hybrid i inquired with going the hfp route from the ex/lx sedans. i just never did it. but, i am glad to see somebody do it. if i didn't sell my hybrid i would be doing this. good job! please let us know how it performed.

[Horse1200s]

Wow, I was expecting a bigger change in the ride height department. Kinda cool that you can't really tell... Sleeper in the twistys :)

[wrxsti03]

Ok.. so I did my 91 mile round trip commute to work today. The car handled great. The highway was much more confident and the over passes were much more controllable. Theres one over pass which the car leaps as you pass over it and the new suspension defiantly kept the car fit the road. Not to mention the squirle feeling was almost unnoticeable.

So for my MPG... appears to gone up. I'm contributing this to a few factors. in this order, 1) Weather, 2) Cars fully broken in and 3) the new suspension.

Since the good weather approached my MPG shot way up. Its also known after a few thousand miles with the Hybrids your MPG tend to go up slightly. My last factor with the new suspension I'm able to keep my speed up so I don't have to slow down nearly as much coming in to the the corners. I imagen my tires will be suffering.

So with out any intention I hit my HIGHEST MPG to my commute to work. My commute consist of ~40 mile at ~50 MPH and the highway ~50 miles and usally average 70 MPH sometimes hitting 80.

Late Sunday I filled up my car and this evening when I got home below is my MPG pulling in. Usually I'll get ~47mayb 48 and that usually being conscious in my driving. I've never hit 50 MPG especially after a daily commute, sweet !

[exbauer]

that is great to hear. weather is a big factor in the mpg. but, with the car lower there is less wind resistance also. so, that helps. i sure do miss my hybrid with the gas prices lately. i am sure you are glad you got one.

[fiji06si13]

DO you guys see a change in height?

[wrxsti03]

Originally Posted by fiji06si13

DO you guys see a change in height?

If you look at the spring in my picture there is a length difference.

My local dealer indicated the car would drop an inch.

Although I wish I did, I didn't measure the before and after hight. IMO I think it did drop a bit, but cant say for sure.

[fiji06si13]

ah so I see okeedokee!