BC coilovers for the GT4, yes its for the GT4 Options

[yellowchinaman]

Hi guys and dolls.

BC have recently developed some coilovers for the ST205.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BC-Adjustable-Coilov...A1%7C240%3A1318

Normally eveyrone in the UK only buy Tein an TRD coilovers and tent to avoid every other brands when it comes to coilover.
Recently in GBP isnt doing so well and Tein has also anounced a huge price increase hence putting me into the "definately cant afford" status.

Well the new BC coilovers have adopted the idea of using the origional housing of the stock Super strut shocks and changing the inserts like the D2, k-sport and G4's. In a nutshell it's a crap design but BC's inserts are different as they require you to cut the stock shocks down and allowing you to use the full length of the coilover shocks.

Here are some pictures I've been sent and I've been convinced to be the first to try a set in the UK.










Untill now I've not heard of BC before in the UK but after doing some research, I've found that they're pretty good.
So what's everyones opinion with BC around the world on other cars? Has anyone experienced using them before?

Ray

[yellowchinaman]

Well it's been a long wait but its finally all done.
For the past few weeks I had to wait for BC to send me a new set of bottom inserts as I had to result to cutting the old ones off due to a mistake in the instructions being the other way round.

This is going to be a huge update so I'll split it into front and rear starting with the rear setup.





REAR:

The rear coilovers where incredibly easy to install. I had no problems and issues what so ever. It was a simple bolt off and bolt on and the only thing which held me back was my old drop links in which I ended up angle grinding it off and replacing them with new ones.

As you can see in the picture there was no problems with the 2 bolts unlike the older D2's which didn't line up properly.


Do take note that when lining up the top mounts that the pointiest corner (the peak) points outwards. Took me about 15 mins of turning to realise that it wasn't a perfect triangle formation


The drop links fitted perfectly and the brake cable was a diddle to bolt on.


One thing you'll notice immediately (if you haven't changed anything) is once you've put the rear wheel on, you'll realise how short the rear coilovers are compared to normal shocks. The wheel literally sits within the arches when jacked up.

The other thing is how difficult it is to tighten the deepest top mount bolt through the small gap where the strut brace passes through the boot trim.
The reason being is that you now have the adjustable knob sticking up which adjusts the stiffness of the dampers and that gets in the way of using a normal 12mm spanner so I'd recommend ripping out the boot side trims when installing these. It will save you a lot of cursing and hand cuts.

After I lowered the car the rear was sooooooooooooo low it was ridicules. I took it for a test drive still just for a laugh and found that even though it was set that low, I was still able to go over bumps quite comfortably and nothing bottled out.

Then I jacked the car up again to adjust the height based on the test drive.
First off was the ride comfort.
You immediately notice as expected that coilovers would feel stiffer then shocks and springs.
The factory setting is 8 clicks from soft to hard.

After changing the settings about 5 times I decided to set it to the fallowing:

The springs where set for maximum travel so I could use it's full length. Where as I wanted a stiffer rear I still wanted a comfortable ride and a car which can clear urban city speed bumps.
however even though setting the springs to its maximum length the ride height was still too low.
So then I extended the length by unscrewing the coilover out more to extend the length.

I ended up extending it by 3cm making the total gap between the bottom spring ring lock and the bottom ring lock 5cm's apart.

In the manual it says that for a macpherson setup should have a minimum of 80mm's inserted in the bottom end and for a A setup to have 25mm's inserted.
There is more then 25mm left still in the rear bottom legs so I didn't have to worry.
As for the damper setting, I decided to keep it at 18 clicks.





















FRONT:

Firstly i welded the superstrut legs to the inserts using an ARC weld which is IMO one of the toughest weld and ideal for this situation.
Theo only thing is you only get one chance at it and if you don't have it the correct way round or not lined up properly then your only solution is to cut it off entirely like I did before.

Once welded, I sanded off the old rusty surface from the superstrut legs and sprayed it down. When assembled with the coilover it should look like this:


Again notice that its shorter compared to normal shocks and springs like the rear but remember that the springs on the coilovers are stiffer then normal or lowering springs so with the weight of the car on, it doesn't sink as low as normal shocks and springs.


When I disassembled both sides, I took this opportunity to replace my crush tubes to "Mr Barry's up rated crush tubes" from the GT4OC.


Getting these out can be a pain in the arse because the arms are at an angle so getting the bush lined up and straight for the tubes and bolt to be inserted and lined up can be annoying.
So this is how I did it.
Use a jack and jack up the front assembly so that the banana arm is horizontal. That way you just jiggle it a bit ant you can pull out the old tube and inset the new ones easily.


After changing the crush tubes, installing the coilovers where again straight forward.
Making sure the top mounts where rotated correctly so that the camber travels horizontally.



At first when installing one side I did notice the drop link didn't line up. It was too short.


But then when I took off the old shocks from the other side and put in the coilover, the drop links became equal on both sides and bolted on fine.


However I did have a problem with the brake hoses.
Neither side lined up perfectly so that I could clip them down. It was either at the wrong angle or welded in the incorrect place.
Warning. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BEND THE BRAKE HOSE TO MAKE IT FIT!!!

This wasn't such a big problem because I simply cable tied it down.


Then I pieced it together and took it for a test drive, came back to set the adjustments.

Just like my initial aim with some comfort and practicality in mind, I set the front accordingly like the rears.
Again with maximum spring travel and making sure there was minimum 80mm within inserted in the bottom ends, the distance between the two ring locks was 30mms.


When fitted it looked like this:


This time the front dampers where set a bit softer then the rear at just 12 clicks from soft to hard.
It was still harder then stock setting and any more made me feel that every speed bump started to feel a bit like a bang.

And this is what the car looks like now with the coilovers on.

Its a little bit higher then my TRD lowering springs but not as high as stock height.

I took the car into alignment and had the front cambers set to 1deg out and rear at 0 for better then stock cornering ability.
On my way, I found myself flying over speed bumps and pot holes without a worry and cornering much harder then I was able to before with KYB shocks and TRD lowering springs.

There was no clunking, banging or any signs of the front end bottling out.
The rear end started to slide out easier when set on hard and I have stock ARB. It did not skip across lanes like the D2's where described. It was actually controllable.
I felt like I have a new car again and when driving, it handled a lot like a go kart around the bends. The feed back and response from the shocks wasn't at all uncomfortable and the car felt very well planted when hammering hard in 3rd gear around the bends at boost.

I never felt that I was able to corner this hard and felt this stable when I had up rated shocks and springs even though when I did change to that previous setup, I was already over the moon.


Overall ratings and thoughts:

First impressions was a lot more impressive then what I had expected. The build quality is of a very high standard and on paper the spec does sound impressive. eg. Bigger girth is always better.
What's involved in the installation can be scary for any amateur home DIY mechanic and is defiantly not for the faint hearted.
However I was expecting a lot worse and through out the process I was constantly praying that the front superstrut wouldn't develop a problem and could deliver usable performance.
Despite the mix up with the instructions and the front brake clips being not so perfect, this entire experience was actually quite enjoyable and very very rewarding.
The BC coilovers are definitely worth the upgrade and dramatically improved the handling of the ST205.
With such limited range of coilovers out there for the ST205, the BC had successfully offered a very competitive yet affordable option.
In fairness, though there are roomers that they're made from the same factories as where the D2, k-sport and G4 coilovers are made, BC are a seperate entity and differs in design and spec compared to those other brands and so I couldn't really place BC at the same level as the other brands but yet I cant class them the same as the leading brands like TRD and Tein.
I have to say that I was a little bit disappointed that BC didn't offer adjustable top mounts for the rear because most GT4 track users would adjust the front and rear camber a bit however I gusee this could easily be resolved by buying adjustable camber bolts for the rear.


My other thoughts are what problems these could develop in future?
The Tein, Cusco and TRD top mounts do corrode a bit when exposed to rain mainly due to the fact that we have a vent directly over it.
Where as these top mounts do look very strong and sturdy, I would have to wait and see what nature will do to them and if it exposes the qualities of the materials used.
Also its just a matter of time untill someone test BC when they're in need for a rebuild. With these being so unique and so exclusive to certain distributers I hope that wouldn't be me anytime in the near future.

At the moment I'm still very happy and excited like I've come out the show room with a new car but time will expose more issues.

Yes I did run into set backs and yes it is much more of a job compared to other coilovers but you cant say you're a faff owner unless you've really faffed about with your four can you?

For around £600-700 for a set of coilovers with superstruts that actually works... BC have really set a new standard for us to all think about.



Special thanks:
Firstly I'd like to thank James at performanceguru.co.nz, not for helping me to be the first to own and try these coilovers but more for the work you've put into helping BC develop these coilovers.
Though performanceguru's exclusivity over these SS coilover didn't last that long from BC, just rem
ember that thre are thousands of us ST205 owners out there, who appreciate your contribution to bring us an affordable option.

Secondly Kev from apexperformance.co.uk who helped me get my message through to BC regarding the dodgy instructions and promptly arranged for a set of replacemnts.

Lastly my mad mechanic Mat who helped me with advice and welded them up for me (twice) and Taras for donating his crappy left over superstrut legs which was lying around in his garage anyway.


Ray aka YCM.