Always nice to stick to your schedule regardless of what deals may pop up. I understand. Plus it's smart to keep yourself disciplined otherwise the spending can get out of control!!

 

Nice updates John, thanks for taking one for the sedan team regarding the cradle brace, look forward to impressions once you get some serious seat time.

 

Two relatively uncommon mods today, that's for sure.

I know you were waiting to see how this worked out with the cradle braces. I'll swing back around in a few weeks with an update. If there's anything to say then, I suspect it will be minimal... like the FSTB.

Regarding the bushings... how long or how many miles do you usually wait before an alignment after messing around with the suspension? I figure a few hundred miles or two weeks or both. It's not so much the springs themselves that I'm expecting to "settle", it's the bushings and top-seats finding their shape against the springs.

And I very much want them to settle a half inch or so. It looks raised up far more than the 5/8" thickness of the bushings.

 

Nice work, Rochester.

I think for me, the question is going to be, is some increased vibration worth some marginal benefit. The VQ is already kinda vibration'e, so I suspect the answer, for me, is no.

I'm interested in hearing your impressions after some more seat time.

 

I'd give those new rear bushings about 5 days to settle in, should be enough time.

 

I know it's only been two days, and 50 miles or so, but the poke is making me angry, just like when I first installed the rims before dropping on Swifts. Well, not nearly that bad, but enough for me to notice something is wrong.

If this doesn't settle another half-inch, IDK what I'm going to do.



It's the goddamn +42 offset on these 19x10" Vossens. It really, really needs to be somewhere over +45 or more.

The absolute last thing I want to do in order to get the perfect drop with these wheels is to buy coilovers. That's just not in the schedule or the budget for this year or next. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

Another possibility: start over with 3/8" bushings, instead of the 5/8". But IDK if there's enough material there to support shaving it to fit the top seats.

And still another possibility: start over with another pair of 5/8" bushings, but this time notch out space for the spring that tapers flat 180* around the ring. I rather like that idea.

 

or go down to 265's.........

 

At well over $300+ per tire for these PSS... Not likely. At that point, might as well put the money into CO's. Really, i should lay low (no pun) a while longer and see if it settles better.

I'm just ranting.

On the plus side of recent mods, midrange gains are undeniable now. I swear its running better now than when the catback was installed. Really, really enjoying this full FI setup.

 

Yeah, I hear you and understand your concerns but notice I'm not giving you chit unlike a certain someone I know because chit happens.

Nevertheless, it's sort of a compromise either way because you can be somewhat unhappy with the bit of poke you have or deal with the nuisances of coilovers.

I'm glad you are happy with the FI setup as I'm still on the fence.

 

Here's a thought i just woke up with... What if i shaved 1/4" to 3/8" off the flat side of the top seats?

And here's another thought: given the non-integrated nature of our rear spring and shock design, what if i bought a pair of adjustable rear springs? A partial CO... Haha.

Doable?

 

Dang John try not to have a stroke while your venting
Lol I don't think I've ever read a post where you actually lost your cool before. I always figured you as a super chill intellectual that NEVER lost his bearings. It's nice to see you human and not a hyper intelligent modding & review writing machine sent here by Skynet. (Sorry I would've made a better/funnier reference but I just woke up. I like to wake up with my morning coffee and some "New Posts" on myG37.com

 

I didn't lose my cool. It's just how I'm writing and how you're reading it. Honest Injen.

Funny though.

 

Nice work so far.

Just don't dump or break up with us !

 

And you're right... my rants may have been premature. It's actually better today than it's been these last few days. Noticeably better. That's so weird how that works.

I think later this weekend I'll find a nice flat parking lot for pics. The height is looking right, or at least it looked really good to me approaching the car in the LOWES parking lot this afternoon. And yes, there is poke, but I knew going into this that I might have to compromise one against the other.

Also, looking at my extra top-seat, there absolutely is lots of material there available if I want to shave a 1/4". I'm going to keep that idea in my back pocket for a while.

Here's another thought... when I get the car aligned, how much leeway is there to go intentionally out of spec on the camber? Last year the rear camber was -2.1 and -2.2. If raising the rear brings that in, can the alignment tech actually force a -2* camber?

 

In the back they can adjust the camber a bit, so it should be possible to retain a -2, I'm guessing you'll probably be about -1.9 or so w/ the new height.
Glad you're happier w/ it as it's settling out.