They are actually very good for a stock setup, and I paid about $350 for the lot with about 23,000k's on it. Decent coilovers are much more.
edit: and as the ride is stiff but not bone-jarring no one complains about the ride comfort.
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to increase castor in DC2:
just swap the LHS and RHS upper control arms!
it is free and more reliable than the whiteline crap assed washer method...
Well if screwing with your bump steer is a side effect you're happy with then good work :p
Bump steer is the term given to toe (steering angle) as a function of suspension compression. As you compress or droop the suspension, your toe will change as in all suspension design there are trade-offs limiting perfect control arm placement (space and steering rack location in most of our cars). Most people want to have zero bump steer, which means that steering angle doesn't change as suspension travels.
Standard bump steer is pretty good, not much change from zero, and when it does it tends towards a linear or exponential curve - predictable.
Someone on honda-tech used a bump-steer gauge to test the effects on bump-steer with the control arm swap and the final curve ended up looking like a parabola i.e. it started positive (or negative can't remember) at one end of the the suspension travel, went to back to zero then back out to the same direction again. Many people found this lead to instability when entering high speed braking as the front suspension compressed under the braking load.
If you search honda-tech you'll find the thread.
Also, you may have problems with axels if you add too much castor, but i've seen no evidence so take that as you wish.
I looked closely at how the castor change would affect the other components and by adjusting the top arms the axels aren't affected in any way, but I can see they would be with a castor kit fitted to the lower arm as it would push the slightly forward.
In regards to increased -ve toe (toe out), it helps keep the front on the desired cornering line as the inside wheel will keep pulling into the turn.
yep, it screwed mine up so bad i didnt even notice it :wave:
more castor > mild 'bump steer' effect anyways - even if was noticable (which it is not)
and FWIW - i was taking turn one at wakie at around 170 and braking hard,
same with braking at 180 into turn two at eastern creek? no instability.
maybe it is due to the 12k fr spring rates?
does swapping uca 2 increase castor apply to eks as well?
does the EK ahve UCA's like this:
http://home.exetel.com.au/tinkerbell/DC2frontsussy.jpg
for those who have PM'd me about the benefits of this UCA swap and any noticable bad effects, please read this FAQ on castor:
http://www.whiteline.com.au/default..../faqsusp01.htm
i have had no noticable negative effects, but noticably better cornering ability and directional stability on the race track.
(i must state that i also replaced the OEM bushes with Energy Suspension poly bushes at the same time.)