New brakes...and tires, wheels....

[j_garcia]

OK, new toy Old car has 207K mi on it right now and is starting to have those little age related things like electrical switches not working sometimes, doors switches saying the door is still open, etc... The driver's window switch failed, which my shop said is fairly common at this age. The switch alone is $260!! Though mostly minor things, they things that I am getting tired of dealing with none-the-less, so I applied for a pre-approved loan last week and got approved for a good chunk. I ended up buying something for quite a bit less than I qualified for because I wanted to keep the payments down. Picked it up Friday:

I also needed something that isn't black since the area we are moving to is very hot in the summer. This one will be getting the standards: new rims&tires, suspension, exhaust, brakes, etc...

 

[Alex2507]

You didn't want a fofo ???

I've been a fan of the WRX for a long time on account of a couple of articles I read about them in car magazines and their All Wheel Drive thing. How's that interior for leg room? I haven't had the chance to sit in one and I think my fofo might consider it cheating but looking at one on line is still on this side of fidelity.

So let's have the particulars on this regarding year, model, engine size and miles if used.

 

[Chu Gai]

Good reliability.

 

[GO-NAD!]

It looks pretty clean, from the photo. Hope you get many miles of pleasure out of it.

There have been several WRX's raced in the Newfoundland Targa over the last few years and Subaru Canada entered a WRX in 2009, but I'm not sure if they have done so this year. The rally started again this past weekend and you might find footage from onboard cameras on Youtube. Although stage locations can vary from year-to-year, they have gone through my hometown several times.

The WRX was my favourite AWD car until this came along:

http://www.nissanusa.com/gt-r/

What a beast.

Steve Millen modified a GTR to race last year and some of the onboard camera footage will make your sphincter pucker, just a bit. If you are normal, that is.....

 

[gmichael]

Hey, nice! It looks good and should last for many years.

I'm in the same boat you were in. My car has 190k on it and it's got a few things going wrong with it. The windows will go down, but not up. The airbag was replaced last winter and the fracking light is on again.
I looked at about all the cars in my price range last spring. The Subaru Legacy looks like it will be my next car when I finally blow my fuse about this old POS. 30 mpg and 170 hp. The all-wheel drive will sure help. Blue for me too.

Good luck with yours. May you enjoy it for a long time.

 

[its phillip]

Nice. I've always liked subarus.

 

[GO-NAD!]

We rarely get to accumulate that kind of mileage up here. A car will rust away before it's worn out mechanically...

 

[j_garcia]

It is an 04 with 84K on it. One owner, very clean overall and BONE STOCK, which can be difficult to find. Not so much with Subarus, but this one seems well taken care of and only had a few issues with the rear seat that the dealer agreed to take care of. Needs tires NOW, everything else comes as funds permits Will get some decent pics of the interior soon. Busy week. Teaching a class today and tomorrow, so had to study over the weekend and didn't really get to take the car out much

Yes, the California climate is generally good to cars.

 

[majorloser]

I like the license plate. Never heard of that state.

 

[gmichael]

I like the license plate. Never heard of that state.

It’s part of California. Death Valley…

 

[j_garcia]

I like the license plate. Never heard of that state.

I don't have my normal editing tools since my desktop sort of went belly up last week It has a LOT of miles on it as well (it has as registry error and refuses to boot properly, even into safe mode).

 

[chris357]

congrats, an impreza is going to be my next car too. I cant wait to here how you like it over time.

 

[j_garcia]

Haven't posted on this one for a bit, so here's some new stuff:
STI Scoop:

New tires (and a clean set of stock rims with no curb rash all around)

Already dirty Weather Tech moulded mats:

Knob:

Headlights that are not faded:

A few more significant upgrades coming soon. Most of the new parts are in, but not on yet.

I am quite happy with the car so far. It will need a bit of engine tweaking, but that will come later.

 

[highfigh]

I like the license plate. Never heard of that state.

I think that's from Arrrrrkansas.

 

[j_garcia]

Day one:

This morning:

You can see the Lamin-X on the fogs there too. Now that I've got these clean headlights, I will probably get Lamin-X covers for them as well.

One more non-go fast bit (original was completely rusted):

 

[j_garcia]

Now THAT'S a chassis brace

 

[j_garcia]

Now I start getting to the fun stuff I installed this yesterday.
Perrin 22mm adjustable rear sway bar, performance endlinks, and swaybar "stout mounts":

Install went quicker than expected. Everything fit up perfect and is top notch quality. My g/f said it must have been a quality product because I wasn't cussing during the install No penalty in ride quality and a very noticeable improvement in handling. All of the push that the front had with the stock setup is gone. Waiting for my front endlinks to show up. They will go in when I have time.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

I missed this thread...Congrats on the new ride, John.

Any Audio plans?

 

[Alex2507]

That looks real good, John. I've been doing the pre winter maintenance and wax bit to our Y2K fofo and '08 Malibu for the last few days so I'm in the zone for car stuff. Is that anti sway bar and chassis brace an after market replacement of the stock units or strictly add ons and what did it set you back? A hundred bucks got me Moog(?) rear anti sway bar bushings/linkage and front linkage replacements on the fofo. Huge improvement since one of the front linkages was broke and the rear bushings were shot. I know your front and rear upgrades are way more. Just curious how much since I've been lusting after a Subaru for a long time now.

 

[Rickster71]

Very nice John,
have you tried it (the bar) at different settings?