After a month of waiting for them to be built and shipped, they are finally in my car! VAC Motorsports ordered, installed, and set this bad boy up with Ground Control race camber plates, poly rear shock mounts, aluminum lower rear shock mounts, and Eibach main and helper springs. Special thanks to Mike Malloy, Klevis, and Mourad! I basically told them what I would use the car for, and they did the rest. The car handles nothing short of stellar right now.
After a bit more seat time:
I'm glad I waited to get the right stuff. Patches of rough road where the stock suspension would easily get unsettled and feel 'floaty' are now dealt with in a controlled manner and I feel absolutely glued to the road surface. I find myself turning, braking, and accelerating without thinking twice about any of it. All the forward dive and rearward squat is gone which has made driving so much more pleasant for me. There is also very little roll even with stock sway bars. Another thing I am seeing the benefit of are the race style camber plates. These make the steering so direct, and it's worth the slight increase in road noise in the car. I currently have the JRZs set to 11/22 clicks all around (the adjustements do both rebound and compression). I will probably turn these down to 10 or 9 but for now, 11 seems okay. That is my review as of now. I don't want to get too specific because there is only so much that can be described in words. I end up at the KOP meets and the West Chester Cars and Coffee so if anyone is interested in how it drives I'll gladly give you a ride.
**********EDIT: I didn't even know I had these installed until I looked under my car one day, and when I put my winter wheels on tonight, I decided to take a picture. Notice how/what the bottom of the damper mounts to, it's called a 'clevis' mount if I'm correct. Basically it's a mount that allows you to use a rod end damper like those needed for the E9x M3. This type of mount makes the connection point completely rigid which is ideal for race applications. Considering JRZ only produces dampers with racing in mind, all their dampers are rod end style. I believe with this mount you can use any M3 damper in the rear.
I've also had the height adjusted since the install. It's pretty low, but I really love the way it sits. I've never rubbed in any situation, you name it! I do scrape my front bumper on my driveway entry/exit though so I've just started parking on the street lol.
As for adjustments, I've gone from 5 or 6 all the way up to max. I'm settled in right now at 9 or 10 in the front. Adjustments are so easy since they're singles, you really can't get it wrong. Performance is good regardless; you'll notice more roll on the lower settings and less when you go higher.
On the track (NJMP Lightning) I was running them at around 20 clicks in front, 11 in rear. It was my very first time out and what I really enjoyed was hitting those curbs on the inside of the turns, with a good damper you can, and it doesn't upset the car. It was great, but I instantly regretted not getting the subframe mounts done, I was bouncing up and down pretty bad in the turns especially in the light bulb. RSFM are an absolute must for the track.
So all in all, afters a few thousand miles with these on, I'm still pleased with the purchase. I'm being honest when I say I have nothing bad to say about them. My brother has the RS Pro (double adjustable and external reservoirs) in his 335 and we both feel that the RS1, even though it costs less than half that of the RS Pro, still delivers very close performance. Damping characteristics are very similar. Now, normally I would recomend the RS1, BUT you should
absolutely wait for the new version of it, the RS 'ONE'. The release date is some time in 2015 according to their Facebook picture at the PRI show. It will be even more track focused from what I understand.
Anyways,
Enjoy!
Previous pictures: