Suspension advice - New OEM or coilovers?

[Harry123]

Hello everyone and apologies if this has been covered in depth already. 

I am after some advice. A while ago a rear strut failed so rather than replacing one unit I decided to give a set of coilovers a go. 

While this certainly transformed the handling of the car, the set in question (Spax RSX) have always given a very harsh ride. I appreciate there is always a compromise for the performance but for me the knocks and bangs are far OTT for everyday road use. 

I have now decided to take them off and I need to decide whether to buy an OEM kit and go back to original OR (and this is where I hope someone can help) are there other coilover brands for similar OEM money that still provide improved handling without suffering a boneshaking ride. Ideally I'm not looking at spending more than £1000.

As a side note, does anyone know where I could get hold of an OEM kit? I'm not having much luck. 

CAR: 2004 Impreza WRX with PPP (non STI)

Thank you for taking time to read this post, any suggestions welcome. 

Harry

[Status]

My sti blob had bc coilovers when I got it and cannot fault them,only time you notice really is if you hit a pothole so might be worth considering those or look at the damping on wot you already have,I have coilovers and Eibach springs on my Datsun 260Z and I can say the same about those so really best just to miss potholes if poss

[Tidgy]

I've got tein Flex z coilovers on always been really impressed, nice balance of firm but not hash ride.

Coilovers are one of those things that can come in alot of different varieties that give massively varying rides in terms of how harsh.

 

best advice i can give is see if you can find a local owners club and maybe see if you can get a few rides in cars with different setups to get an idea what they are like

[Impreza abuser]

I have HSD Monopro's. If coilovers are set up correctly they will outperform OEM all day long