I was in the market for a coilover system for my 2005 Subaru STi. I did not want a JDM brand due to the stiffness overkill for the crappy roads in Los Angeles. I heard great reviews of the KW variant 3 coilovers from many STI owners so I figured I could not go wrong with getting those. But as I was about to drop my hard earned cash on them, Racecomp Engineering (RCE) announced their coilover made by KW to their specifications.

The features of the Tarmac 2:

• 2-way design with separate compression and rebound adjustments.
• choice of 3 different linear spring rate kits: 500 lbs/400 lbs(9kg/7kg), 400 lbs/350 lbs (7kg/6kg), and 350 lbs/300 lbs (6kg/5kg). spring rate conversion
• stainless steel corrosion resistant coating.
• double locking perches.
• unique paint scheme.
• limited lifetime warranty through KW.
• USA based technical support.
• wide range of spring rates supported without a revalve.

Delivery - Thursday

Finally in February 2007, they arrived.

I had some issues with the packaging. When I picked it up from my mailroom, the entire box was taped up with "Inspected by DHL" tape. There was a hole in the box where the front coilover lower attachment point was. I can only think that DHL opened the box to inspect the coilovers for damage and then taped it back up.

The piggy back reservoirs for the front struts had no protection from the sides of the box. If the box was dropped on its side, damage may of occurred. I inspected the coilover and there were no bends or cracks so I was satisfied at the moment. I was actually surprised that the coilovers were not damaged in some way due to the lack of protection.

Installation - Saturday

The instructions that were included stressed that the coilovers be installed by a professional. Sounds primarily like a disclaimer. If you have a copy of the service manual for your car and have the tools (and know how to use them), the installation should go smoothly.

There is a lot of droop to these coilovers compared to JDM models.

The Tarmac 2 uses linear springs in the rear and therefore required modified Group N mounts. RCE sells these mounts along with their own rear pillowball mount. The Tarmac 2 may work with other brands of camber plates but you may have to check with RCE first. Since I already had Group N mounts, I opted to modify them so they work with the Tarmac 2's. The PDF they sent me on how to do it looked easy enough. I purchased a 4" electric grinder with cutting wheels. My first attempt was pretty sloppy and did not look as clean as the instructions they sent. On the second mount, I cut slots (with the cutting wheel) into the part that needed to be removed and took pliers to fatigue it (work it back and forth) to break free. I did this all around. This looked better than my first mount. I sprayed both of them with black spray paint to cover the raw metal exposed after removing the part.

I reused my PDE adjustable camber plates for the front. I could not use the supplied nylock nut and washer due to the design of the pillowball in the camber plate. There was enough threads on the coilover for the PDE nut to screw on without any problems.

Height adjustments were easy by moving the lower perches. They were made of some kind of plastic and thought they were metal. The set screws on the lower perches were sometimes a pain to access with the allen wrench if the screw was located behind the coilover. The front passenger coilover lower mount hole for the camber bolt was opposite from the stock struts, from the front towards the rear, with the nut on the rear side. This is just a minor detail since camber is still adjustable. The rear struts have the top hole slotted in the lower mounting point. This is to provide rear camber adjustment. I had a Ingalls camber bolt on my stock strut and it had a lot of play when I used it with the Tarmac 2. I wish I had my stock bolts still. After a basic wheel alignment on Sunday, I was ready for a test drive.

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