01-14-2013, 03:27 PM
sure Adam. ride feedback coming soon, i get the car aligned tomorrow and will be driving it quite a bit after that.
Feal was a no-brainer for me as the price of Tokico D-specs went up last year, and i'm not interested in hacking my struts apart to fit Konis, which don't handle the big hits of rallyx as well anyways. KYG AGX's were on the table too, but again for the price i'd rather have a suspension that's tailored to the spring rates for very little more - that was the key too, i like my rates and ride height so i just needed a strut to match.
i went with Tarmac spec, but conveyed to Feal specifically to valve them for USDM STi rates on a lighter RS chassis since my car is what, 200 or so pounds lighter than the STi they came off of originally? they essentially valved my car as if it was an earlier GC chassis RS. so i don't know if you'd call it custom, but they honored my request. for a specific aftermarket spring though, that will fall into a custom valve job.
i debated the rally spec valving, but after reading feedback from customers and from Feal itself, the real key to the rally valving was that its very similar to tarmac but differs in the rebound when the strut is close to bottoming out, so that the tires stay planted on things like big whoop sections or ruts after the impact. for that reason there is no real handling advantage on dirt compared to the tarmacs unless you're really driving rough courses with bigger hits that will put the travel to the limit. i won't be doing those events anyway, since it leads down the slippery slope towards prepping a street car for real dirt work with a higher ride height, chassis armor, tires to suit, etc. for my purposes of driving 99% on the street, and just recreationally doing rallyx events, tarmac spec will work perfectly fine and i doubt i'll come close to bottoming them out...or at least seeing a handling difference in those instances.
i also opted for the Zerk fittings on the rear shocks so they can be regreased. this will prevent the strut "stiction" issue in the rear from ever rearing its head again. you can install zerks yourself but i felt that i'd rather leave that in the hand of a pro since doing it wrong could damage the internals. the fee is pretty insubstantial.
lastly, keep in mind you'll need to ship them to Kalifornia. i would have been in trouble if i wanted immediate turnaround via their strut core program because '04 STi struts are getting very scarce and they didn't have any in stock. however, for your '06 you don't need to worry about that. so, if you don't want to wait you can always pay more up front and ship your cores back later. Don't forget how much it will cost to ship your struts out there too. I paid too much IMO since i went a little overboard with the box/packing and the dimensions cost me a bit. you mainly want to pad the shafts and top threads, otherwise the struts won't really get beat in shipping too bad since they're thick metal.
oh, and one last thing - i regret not repainting my struts before i put the springs on. i hit the road rash with clear, but i should have sanded/primed and hit them with a high temp paint for another 100k miles of protection.
Feal was a no-brainer for me as the price of Tokico D-specs went up last year, and i'm not interested in hacking my struts apart to fit Konis, which don't handle the big hits of rallyx as well anyways. KYG AGX's were on the table too, but again for the price i'd rather have a suspension that's tailored to the spring rates for very little more - that was the key too, i like my rates and ride height so i just needed a strut to match.
i went with Tarmac spec, but conveyed to Feal specifically to valve them for USDM STi rates on a lighter RS chassis since my car is what, 200 or so pounds lighter than the STi they came off of originally? they essentially valved my car as if it was an earlier GC chassis RS. so i don't know if you'd call it custom, but they honored my request. for a specific aftermarket spring though, that will fall into a custom valve job.
i debated the rally spec valving, but after reading feedback from customers and from Feal itself, the real key to the rally valving was that its very similar to tarmac but differs in the rebound when the strut is close to bottoming out, so that the tires stay planted on things like big whoop sections or ruts after the impact. for that reason there is no real handling advantage on dirt compared to the tarmacs unless you're really driving rough courses with bigger hits that will put the travel to the limit. i won't be doing those events anyway, since it leads down the slippery slope towards prepping a street car for real dirt work with a higher ride height, chassis armor, tires to suit, etc. for my purposes of driving 99% on the street, and just recreationally doing rallyx events, tarmac spec will work perfectly fine and i doubt i'll come close to bottoming them out...or at least seeing a handling difference in those instances.
i also opted for the Zerk fittings on the rear shocks so they can be regreased. this will prevent the strut "stiction" issue in the rear from ever rearing its head again. you can install zerks yourself but i felt that i'd rather leave that in the hand of a pro since doing it wrong could damage the internals. the fee is pretty insubstantial.
lastly, keep in mind you'll need to ship them to Kalifornia. i would have been in trouble if i wanted immediate turnaround via their strut core program because '04 STi struts are getting very scarce and they didn't have any in stock. however, for your '06 you don't need to worry about that. so, if you don't want to wait you can always pay more up front and ship your cores back later. Don't forget how much it will cost to ship your struts out there too. I paid too much IMO since i went a little overboard with the box/packing and the dimensions cost me a bit. you mainly want to pad the shafts and top threads, otherwise the struts won't really get beat in shipping too bad since they're thick metal.
oh, and one last thing - i regret not repainting my struts before i put the springs on. i hit the road rash with clear, but i should have sanded/primed and hit them with a high temp paint for another 100k miles of protection.
2010 Civic Si
2019 4Runner TRD Off-Road
--------------------------
Past: 03 Xterra SE 4x4 | 05 Impreza 2.5RS | 99.5 A4 Quattro 1.8T | 01 Accord EX | 90 Maxima GXE | 96 Explorer XLT
2019 4Runner TRD Off-Road
--------------------------
Past: 03 Xterra SE 4x4 | 05 Impreza 2.5RS | 99.5 A4 Quattro 1.8T | 01 Accord EX | 90 Maxima GXE | 96 Explorer XLT