Description

*Pictures are shown with the optional Hyperco Springs*

All Cygnus Performance X-1 coilovers use exactly the same technology that you would find on coilovers costing two or three times as much. At this price point we are the only brand to offer tunable European style digressive valving which provides exceptional ride quality without sacrificing performance. Another thing you will not find on other options in this price range are the extremely high-quality components that we use where it matters. Our pistons are CND’d in Japan rather than hand drilled like most options in this price range which is critical for consistency and ride quality. Our shims which are probably the single most important component on the shock when it comes to ride quality are made by Ohlins in Sweden. Our shafts and radial bearings are both made in Japan from the highest quality steel. The oil used in our shocks is fully synthetic, features an extremely high viscosity index and is either produced in the United States or France depending on the specs you choose. High quality oil is very important for consistency, responsiveness and shock longevity. Our shocks also have a high oil capacity which further improves longevity. You may change your engine oil as often as every 3,000 miles, but shock oil has to last 60,000 miles or more without any significant shearing or degradation. Other options in this price range cut corners with these details. Our coilovers don’t just ride and perform better than anything else in this price range. They also last longer.

Cygnus Performance X-1 Coilovers Feature:

  • Monotube construction for superior performance, durability and a wider range of damping adjustment
  • CNC’d pistons for maximum digression and consistent results every time
  • Exceptionally high quality Swedish Ohlins sourced shims typically only found on shocks costing twice as much
  • Digressive valving which allows the shock to both ride and perform better than traditional linear valving
  • Independent ride height control which does not affect pre-load or travel which makes set up and ride height adjustment an easy process
  • 4 different top hat options unique to these coilovers, all of which feature Koyo Japan radial bearings. You can expect silent operation and either maximum comfort, maximum performance or even adjustable caster depending on your specific needs
  • 100% rebuildable, upgradable and revalvable in the USA quickly and for a reasonable cost
  • Truly Application Specific. Spring rates, valving, shocks, top hats and other critical components that have all been either specifically developed or specifically chosen for your car. This is critical for both performance and ride quality.
  • More Subaru specific R&D than anything else in this price range. We have been testing custom coilover options on these cars since 2006. We have been manufacturing coilovers since 2010. We have been daily driving, tracking and autocrossing these cars for two decades. We also have feedback from thousands of happy customers. We regularly talk to our customers about their experiences with our products both on the street and at the track.
  • Hand built in the USA
  • All shocks are individually dynoed to ensure consistency and performance
  • 100% high viscosity index French or American synthetic oil used in all shocks for durability and longevity
  • Truly Modular. These coilovers can be modified or upgraded anytime in the future. If your needs change and you want a more aggressive or less aggressive setup you can easily swap to any of our top hat options. Our valving will also accommodate a large spring rate swing if you want to change stiffness beyond just adjusting damping. If you ever want a revalve we can essentially convert any of our versions to another version – ie if you buy Comfort and later want to turn your car into a track car we can convert your set into a Motorsport set.
  • An unrivaled 5 year warranty on most components
  • Industry leading tech support both before and after the sale
  • High quality, accurate, linear springs available in rates to suit every need. All of the springs that we sell with our coilovers are either manufactured in the United States or Japan.

op Hats
We offer four distinct top hat options with our Classic Edition. If comfort is your primary concern we highly recommend having us build these with optional genuine Fuji Heavy Industries rubber top hats. These will last for many years without making noise or causing issues. They are a fixed mount, but camber can still be adjusted using the OEM eccentric bolts. A similar option is Whiteline Com-C top hats. These use a slightly stiffer rubber for less strut movement and they are offset for additional positive caster and static negative camber. Whiteline used to be our go-to recommendation, but they began using pretty low quality bearings. We continue to offer this as an option simply because some customers want it, but we no longer recommend this option. By default we offer these coilovers with camber plates. With this option we include a set of Koyo Japan radial bearings which eliminates spring bind and noise. These are a great option for people who want less strut movement and more camber adjustability. We also offer a proprietary camber plate which offers both full camber and caster adjustment. This option is really only necessary if you want to fine tune or add positive caster. For all rear MacPherson strut applications we offer optional camber plates. If you have any questions about these options we are happy to help.

Spring Rates*
We cover a total of 17 different Subaru models, so this section may get a little bit complicated. For our Classic Edition we have carefully selected spring rates for your particular chassis to best suit your needs. For the classic edition we offer comfort rates, classic rates and performance rates. Depending on the chassis classic and comfort can be the same rates. For the 08-19 Impreza, WRX and STi comfort is 7kf 7kr classic is 8kf 8kr and performance is 9kf 9kr. For the 97-07 Impreza, WRX and STi comfort and classic are 7kf 6kr and performance is 8kf 7kr. For the 93-14 Legacy classic and comfort are 7kf 6kr and performance is 8kf 7kr. The comfort rates for the BRZ/FR-S/FT-86 are 6kf 6kr, classic is 6kf 7kr and performance is 7kf 8kr. For the 97-07 Forester classic and comfort rates are 7kf 6kr and performance is 8kf 7kr, the 08-13 Forester classic and comfort rates are 8kf 6kr and performance is 9kf 7kr, the 14-18 Forester comfort rates are 7kf 7kr, classic rates are 8kf 8kr and performance rates are 9kf 9kr and for the 10-19 Outback comfort and classic rates are 7kf 8kr and performance rates are 8kf 7kr.

*Hyperco springs are not metric. They will come in closest imperial rate. 

Long Travel Option
This option will change your ride height range from the standard 0.75″ minimum to 2″ maximum drop to being able to run just slightly higher than stock at max height to a 1″ drop at minimum height. This option is popular with customers who want additional snow clearance. An added benefit of this option is longer stroke shocks. The only downside is not being able to lower the car as aggressively.

We are also one of the only shock manufacturers in the world to offer custom length shocks. If you are looking for a specific, non-standard ride height range please feel free to contact us. We can accommodate most needs whether you are looking for an aggressive drop or to lift your car.

Swift and Hyperco Upgrades
Our default springs are made in the USA. They are high quality and get the job done. We do offer 2 other brands of springs as optional upgrades. Hyperco and Swift springs are regarded as some of the highest quality, most accurate springs in the world. The main thing you are paying for with this upgrade is accuracy. An 8k spring will be very close to exactly 8k. These springs are also very linear which means that they do not deviate much from their intended rate throughout the entire range of compression. They are also lighter, have bigger distances between coils and use a very high grade spring steel. From the driver’s seat this basically means that you will experience both better ride quality and better performance. The default springs are still good quality, so this is not a must have upgrade. It does give you noticeably better results though. This upgrade can be added later, but this requires disassembling the coilovers.

Motorsport front shock upgrade*
This upgrade upgrades the front camber plates from a double bolt to a triple bolt design. It also replaces the single piece lower mount locking collar with a heavy duty cinch bolt self locking collar. This upgrade gives you maximum strength and rigidity which is particularly important on a macpherson strut front shock.

*This upgrade is included by default with the Motorsport Edition

Camber plates loose in box
This option is for customers who opt to have us build classic edition X-1 coilovers with rubber top hats. If you would also like front camber plates loose in the box for potential future use it saves money to buy it as a package. This option is popular if you think you may need camber plates in the future if your needs change. It is also popular if you think you may put things back to stock and sell your coilovers down the road. The next owner may want them.

Remote damper controller
Also known as RDC this option gives you the ability to adjust all four dampers from the driver’s seat with the touch of a button. It features three separate presets. This option can also be retrofitted in the future. This is an excellent upgrade if you often track or autocross your car and want to change settings on the fly.

Rear extenders
Rear extenders extend the rear rebound adjustment which makes it much easier to access on sedans. Without these you have to physically remove the backseat every time you want to adjust damping unless you have the remote damper controller upgrade. This is not a necessary or recommended upgrade on hatchbacks, SUV’s or wagons.

Roll Center Adjustment Kit
If you plan on dropping your car an inch or more we highly recommend adding the optional Super Pro Roll Center Adjustment Kit. This kit consists of extended ball joints and tie rod ends. When these cars are lowered the roll center point gets thrown out of alignment as it relates to the center of mass which results in bumps steer. Bump steer is when the car does not want to track straight. You will notice it following cracks in the road and you will have a serious decrease in straight-line stability. This is a problem with lowering all late model Subarus. The SuperPro Roll Center Adjustment Kit completely solves this issue. It also has the added bonus of replacing the factory ball joints and tie rod ends with heavy duty aftermarket components.

Our European Digressive Monotube Valving
Because our valving is digressive it provides both soft high speed compression and stiff low speed compression. High speed compression is the valving parameter that comes into play during high shock shaft velocity events such as driving over cracks in the road, broken pavement or potholes. When high speed compression is soft the suspension is able to keep the car composed over a bad road which is critically important for both ride quality and performance. Digressive valving also provides stiff low speed compression. Low shock shaft velocity events primarily come into play when you are cornering. Stiff low speed compression means that even though the car is comfortable on a bad road it is also very flat around corners. Because of the high quality components that we use and the monotube technology that our shocks are based on we do not have to compromise between good ride quality and good performance. With Cygnus Performance X-1 coilovers you get the best of both worlds.

The best support in the business
We sell pretty much every coilover brand out there and there is a big problem with many of them which is not offering proper post sales support. Even some of the brands that have very good warranties on paper cannot make good on these warranty without very long lead times. If you damage a single shock and you need components quickly with most coilover brands that is not an option. With our coilovers all of the components are typically on the shelf ready to go in the United States when you need them. X-1 coilovers offer some of the best longevity of any shock set for these cars at any price point, but when it comes time for a rebuild this can be done quickly and inexpensively in the United States which unfortunately is not the case with most coilovers for these cars. At Cygnus Performance we have always prided ourselves on providing the best post-sale support in the business. We don’t disappear once we have your money. We will be here after the sale to ensure that your coilovers get set up properly, you are happy with the results and all of your questions are answered. You are always welcome to call, email or contact us on social media. This is true on the day the coilover show up, and it is also true years after you purchase them. Many thousands of happy customers will attest to this if you Google our name. You will read nothing but positive reviews. Spending as much time as required with each customer may not be the most efficient way of doing things in 2019, but it’s the best way and we don’t plan on changing. The truth is we enjoy talking about suspension for these cars. This job is our passion and has been our passion since 2006. If you are at the track or at autocross and you require assistance or if your set up leaves anything to be desired we are here to talk about alignment specs, tire pressure, damping settings, supporting mods and anything else that you may need assistance with.

A Better Value
All of this may sound too good to be true, but there is a reason that we are able able to provide so much value at a reasonable price point. When you buy our product you are buying it directly from us, so there are zero middlemen. This is not common with coilovers. Usually the manufacturer sells to a distributor who then sells to a shop who then sells to you – or with very high-end built to order European coilovers they have facilities and employees spread across multiple continents which is also not as efficient as building and supporting coilovers directly in the United States. We also rely entirely on word-of-mouth advertising. We spend nothing at all on advertising. Less overhead and less middlemen means more value. We focus all of our R&D and time on one thing which is offering the best possible suspension and suspension support for Subarus. We don’t try to be the biggest vendor. We don’t try to have the largest catalog. We don’t try to sell products for every car under the sun. We are heavily focused on one primary objective which is getting you more for your money with Subaru suspension than anyone else.

The History of Cygnus Performance X-1 Coilovers – Why building something that is truly application specific matters
At Cygnus Performance Subaru suspension has been our primary focus since 2006. We have been selling high end digressive monotube European custom coilovers solutions for many years. These high-dollar European options are an excellent choice if money is no object. They give you night and day better performance than stock while maintaining excellent ride quality, but for many customers it is not practical to spend several thousand dollars on coilovers. Unfortunately most of the lower-cost coilover options use harsh valving that is not application-specific, cheap pillow ball top hats that can creak and make noise, low-quality springs with very little consistency and poor ride quality and short travel shocks that are also not application-specific. The European (and private labeled) coilovers at lower price points are often twintube and some of them even use plastic spring perches. At the entry level price point corners are always cut in all the wrong places. We wanted to fix this. We wanted to offer customers coilovers that were designed similarly to high-quality European options that also used similar high-quality components and we wanted to do this for a fraction of the price. This was a tall order, but with Cygnus Performance X-1 Digressive Monotube Coilovers we have achieved everything that we set out to accomplish.

In 2010 we began work on our own coilovers. To develop these coilovers we worked with our long time suspension partner Fortune Auto North America. We work with over 30 different shock manufacturers. We chose to work with Fortune Auto for several reasons. They offer better US based support than any other coilover manufacturer at any price point. With any kind of shock absorber good post sales support directly from the manufacturer is extremely important. Not all customers consider this when they are deciding what coilovers to purchase. Our coilovers can be rebuilt and upgraded quickly in the United States, and it can be done by the guys who built them in the first place. Fortune Auto has four roehrig shock dynos which both gave us the ability do all of the required R&D and to ensure that every single shock we sell is tested and perfect. They also had a lot of experience working with monotube digressive shocks which is the best possible shock technology for these cars. Our basic goal here was to offer coilovers that used the latest and greatest technology, had a valving profile similar to the high-end European models we sell for thousands more and also to allow customers to select from multiple different top hat options so that these would be modular and perfectly fit their needs. One other critically important goal was that these were not a throwaway shock like many are at this price point. They had to be serviceable and rebuildable quickly and for a reasonable price in the United States. When you buy X-1 coilovers you never have to buy them again. The results of all of this are a $1350 coilover set that gives you very similar results to coilovers costing twice their price.