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Old 04-22-2021, 07:57 PM   #1
cueball89
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Chapter/Region: Tri-State
Location: NY
Question Koni inserts and 2011 Sti springs 2015 Impreza

Cross posting this from the Impreza forum section. I think a different crowd will see this.

8610-1453 insert in a 2015-2016 Impreza housing. Koni only lists the insert as fitting Impreza's up to 2014. Anyone see any issues with the koni insert in the 15-16 OEM housing? I don't foresee any issues but could be missing something.

Donor strut part number.

I was not able to find any confirmed information on the strut mount to spring perch distance, ~4.75". Just like the narrow body wrx.

My on car measurements were incorrect, OEM strut has ~4.75" of travel.

Gutted shock showing how far down the nubs on the koni insert go. The inside diameter of the strut body after the step is ~45.66mm.

Koni insert in 2015-2016 Impreza housing. 2011 Sti spring.

Finger tight assembly with 2011 Sti spring and insert fully seated. Yes, I know I'm missing the washer and spacer cup at the bottom of the strut.


Koni insert has ~6.75" inches of travel. The strut body length of the OEM strut and the OEM strut + koni insert is roughly the same at ~13.25". I dont think the increased travel of the insert will cause any issues. The koni insert compresses fully into its body.
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Last edited by cueball89; 05-07-2021 at 08:23 PM.
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Old 05-07-2021, 09:33 PM   #2
cueball89
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I installed the front struts and 2011 Sti front springs on my car last week. I couldn't install the rears as Koni did not include the spring perches with the rear struts. After 3 days Tirerack finally sorted it out and had Koni send me the rear spring perches.

I tried to figure out if the rear 2011 Sti springs would fit properly on the wrx Koni's. It was mixed, most said it wouldn't work. I starting thinking about all sorts of ways I could make a spacer to capture the spring should it be too short. I had a couple of ideas but decided to bolt it together and see what it looked like.

The rear spring is not fully captured when assembled and not on the car by 1/4-3/8ths of an inch. When installed on my car the rear spring is captured under full droop, on jackstands.
2011 Sti spring left, 2015 Impreza wagon spring right.

2011 Sti rear spring length

2015 Impreza wagon spring length

2015 Impreza wagon rear strut

Wrx koni strut, 8010-1055

2015 Impreza Sport Koni inserts 8610-1453, 8010-1055 and 2011 Sti springs



Ride heights, center of the wheel to fender arch. I didn't mark in my notes for the stock measurement where I measured on the rear wheel arch. With the Sti spring I measured to the exterior wheel arch. The rear fender lip curls in and drops down at an angle. I may have originally measured to this fender lip for the stock measurements but cannot remember. The rear ride heights may have actually gone down and not up if this is the case. Looking at stock pictures of my car the rear looks slightly higher than with the Sti springs.

Stock 11 Sti springs
LF 14 3/4" 14 9/16"
RF 15" 14 5/8"
LR 14 3/8" 14 1/2"
RR 14" 14 1/2"


REVIEW:
Other suspension setups I have experience with:
Stock 2003 WRX wagon
Stock 2007 WRX sedan
Stock 2016 BRZ
2003 WRX koni's, RCE wagon springs, drex spacers, TIC bushings, sti control arms
2003 WRX koni's, sti takeoff springs, drex spacers, TIC bushings, sti control arms
2007 WRX kybs GR2's and sti takeoff springs
2016 BRZ with RCE SS coilovers, 6kg/mm and 7kg/mm springs


I also installed a set of SPC camber bolts up front, I should be sitting around -2 degrees of camber up front. The setup is fantastic. The car actually feels like it wants to turn and will dive into a corner. There's a great bump up in spring rates and the ride heights are near stock, there is suspension travel with this setup. The ride is very comfortable, quite soft on full soft given the step up in spring rate. This is not what I was going for, I wanted a sportier more controlled ride. I turned the Koni's up 1 turn from full soft front and rear and the body motions started to get tightened down. I turned them up another 1/4 turn and stopped there. The ride is controlled and firm at 1.25 turns from full soft, but not uncomfortable. It's a little busier than 1 turn from full soft. I haven't gone any further than 1.25 turns from full soft yet.

I hope this helps out others. Koni doesn't list fitment for the 15 and 16 Impreza. The rear 2011 Sti spring allegedly didn't work on WRX Koni's either.

Last edited by cueball89; 05-07-2021 at 09:41 PM.
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Old 05-11-2021, 01:06 AM   #3
speedyHAM
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Vehicle:
1996 Gutted, built
XP class Impreza L

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Looks great. I have run Koni inserts for years and LOVE them. Their ability to be rebuilt and tuned to match a specific spring rate and corner weight is excellent.
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