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

[j_garcia]

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.

Total was about $400 for the bar, stout mounts, and front and rear endlinks. The bar isn't that expensive, but the endlinks are pretty costly. It would have cost more, but they had a Halloween sale for 17% off

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

I did as they instructed and tried it at the softest setting first and that already removed the majority front end push, but I was hoping for a bit more control so I immediately swapped it to the stiffest setting and that is most likely what I will leave it at. The nice thing is, it only takes a few minutes to get under there to change settings and it doesn't require me to get the jack out. Front endlinks haven't come in yet...and they should have been here by now since these guys are only in Oregon.

 

[j_garcia]

There was a problem so my order wasn't placed for the front endlinks, and for whatever reason, their system didn't trigger anything to indicate that the order was never placed. I called them and they got them to me this week, but I have been busy and haven't had time to install them. I may just wait until I pick up the front bar and do it all at once.

A local guy was offering up his rims for some others + cash. I happened to have the extra set with decent tires that were on there when I bought it so:

17" Prodrive P1s. The plan is to have them bead blasted and repainted or powder coated black or gunmetal in the near future.

 

[Matt34]

On a semi related topic I hope it's more than just speculation that Subaru is in the works to develop a diesel performance STI!

 

[j_garcia]

I haven't heard that, but since they have no hybrids or full electrics in the works that I know of (except for the joint venture with Toyota FT-86 project which is supposed to have a hybrid option?), so I would think they'll need something in the lineup to bring their overall mileage down to meet industry requirements in the next few years. Turbo diesel shouldn't be a problem for them since they do all those big trucks

 

[Matt34]

I haven't heard that, but since they have no hybrids or full electrics in the works that I know of (except for the joint venture with Toyota FT-86 project which is supposed to have a hybrid option?), so I would think they'll need something in the lineup to bring their overall mileage down to meet industry requirements in the next few years. Turbo diesel shouldn't be a problem for them since they do all those big trucks

Yeah, and the fact they already have a 2.0-liter flat four turbodiesel producing 227 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque, mated to a six-speed manual transmission for the regular impreza.

http://wot.motortrend.com/6657245/we-hear/subaru-mulling-over-a-diesel-powered-sti/index.html

 

[j_garcia]

Yeah, and the fact they already have a 2.0-liter flat four turbodiesel producing 227 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque, mated to a six-speed manual transmission for the regular impreza.

Makes sense that it was done for Europe. Those specs are good. The 2.0L gas motor is 227bhp but the torque is up by about 20lb and should still get decent mileage in diesel form - as long as diesel prices don't go crazy like a few years ago. A 2.5L motor would likely have another noticeable bump in torque.

Fresh pic:

I have a bunch of little stuff coming in this week. Lamin-X for the headlights, spline lugs for these rims, possibly a snorkel (resonator) delete...

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

The plan is to have them bead blasted and repainted or powder coated black or gunmetal in the near future.

I almost missed this part and was about to rant how ugly the white rim looks like (kinda reminds me of wheels on carriage)
Immo power-coated black is the way to go ...

snorkel

WTF is snorkel FOR CAR ?? You mean something like this?

 

[dkane360]

WTF is snorkel FOR CAR ?? You mean something like this?

I have a friend back home whos brother bought a ford bronco with a snorkel lol. The snorkel didnt work too well because the floor was all rusted away

 

[j_garcia]

I almost missed this part and was about to rant how ugly the white rim looks like (kinda reminds me of wheels on carriage)
Immo power-coated black is the way to go ...

Black is definitely my preference. The spline security lugs I bought are black also. Haha, they actually do look a bit like wagon wheels...

WTF is snorkel FOR CAR ?? You mean something like this?

LOL. It is commonly referred to as a snorkel for whatever reason, but it is actually the resonator for the air intake. Not sure why people call it that, because it doesn't look like a snorkel The new piece is just an elbow that bypasses it entirely and goes from the inlet duct to the airbox.

 

[j_garcia]

Realized pic was in wrong spot, moved

Just talked to the powder coater. A little more than I expected, but that includes stripping them first and masking the mounting surfaces. He had a number of other rims in there that they had just done and they look great.

 

[j_garcia]

 

[darien87]

Don't ya just love how sexy and shiny the exhaust tips look, then when you get under the car you see how dirty and ugly the actual muffler is?

I just put some new tires on the Stang last weekend. I guess 19" rims are an oddball size, cuz tires are HELLA expensive!!! Wish I would have known that before I bought the rims. I had some Kuhmo Ecsta SPT's that were a pretty decent tire, but I only got about 15,000 miles out of them!!! When I pulled the tires I noticed that 2 of them were completely bald for about 2" on the inside. No wonder I was sliding a bit in the rain.

I was going to get a set of Goodyear Eagles,

but the guy at America's Tire gave me a set of Continental Extreme DWS because they have a 50,000 mile warranty.

The DWS's aren't a very sexy looking tire, but they have surprisingly good wet grip and are very quiet. I'll check out how well they do in dry when the weather dries out. One weird thing though, the DWS has a higher sidewall than my Kuhmo's did. They're about a 1/2" taller. Not a huge deal and makes for a bit of a smoother ride, but shouldn't tires that are the same size be exactly the same?

 

[j_garcia]

Bridgestones for me for the most part. The rims on the car came with Falkens and they are very decent, but similar to all other Falkens I've driven on - they feel like they don't quite have it takes when I am pushing them to the limit. I feel like I have to dial it back compared to the last 5 sets of Bridgestones I've had. I asked Tire Rack about a few different choices and the guy said stick with the Bridgestones.

My stock rims have brand new RE760s on them and I will be swapping back to those while the rims are getting powder coated, after which I will be putting a set of 760s on these The 760s are REALLY good in the wet and very good in the dry - my favorite from them was the S-02.

If yours are wearing on the inside, you need a camber kit or maybe just an alignment. Negative camber is great for handling, but not for tire life The only downside to AWD is tires - if one goes bad and they have so many miles on them, you can't replace just 1 or 2...or you risk damaging the differentials.

I had Continental Sport Contacts before on the Bimmer and they were pretty decent. Not something I would buy again though.

The only Goodyears I like are the GS-Ds The new D2s look good.

That is an OEM Subaru STI exhaust. Got it cheap used because the guy upgraded. Bolted right on. Full cat-back and larger than the WRX stock exhaust, but I didn't install the mid-pipe yet because I need a new donut gasket at the cat. Not the exhaust I wanted, but will tide me over until I can allocate the funds to the Borla Hush (3") cat back.

 

[j_garcia]

"SUBARU" emblems removed:

 

[j_garcia]

Dropped car off this weekend. I knew the car had been touched up, but the entire front bumper started to bubble and peel. I questioned the dealer's service manager and he said he wasn't aware the car had been painted, but when I dropped it off I ran into my salesperson and he said they were probably the ones who did it. I was pretty pissed, and I told him if they are having the same painter do it and they do it wrong again, that I would have my shop repaint it and I would send them the bill. This is an example of about a 2" section where the paint literally just flaked off:

A few other additions:
STI fog covers:

Perrin intercooler hose kit - made a very noticeable improvement.

 

[highfigh]

Dropped car off this weekend. I knew the car had been touched up, but the entire front bumper started to bubble and peel. I questioned the dealer's service manager and he said he wasn't aware the car had been painted, but when I dropped it off I ran into my salesperson and he said they were probably the ones who did it. I was pretty pissed, and I told him if they are having the same painter do it and they do it wrong again, that I would have my shop repaint it and I would send them the bill. This is an example of about a 2" section where the paint literally just flaked off:

I really like silver but it's the paint color with the least pigment and UV protection. I have a Chevy pickup with silver sides and I'm thinking of using Duct Tape to peel the paint, to make it easier to re-coat. I have blasted a lot of the silver off with my garden hose and it's not hooked up to a pressure washer. I have heard about 5 different reasons why it flakes off but regardless, it's a PITA.

 

[j_garcia]

Silver is the thinnest and physically lightest color for cars I have read, and that likely has something to do with it, but a good coat of quality wax over a good condition clear coat should keep it looking good for a long time. The paint on the rest of the car is in excellent condition comparatively; aside from the usual nicks on the hood, the paint on the metal has no flaking.

In this case, they just did a crappy job when they resprayed the bumper and/or forgot to put the flex agent in the paint. No flex agent on a poly bumper means the plastic will shrink/expand and the paint will peel.

 

[Warpdrv]

What year is that truck - highfigh...?

There have been alot of car companies that had their fair share of years with bad paint adhesion...

Ford and chevy stand out in my mind but toyota wasn't immune either...



I like grey's and silvers in my car color, but owning a carwash - I love it when people buy black and white... they both get the dirtiest quickest...
Job Security !!!!

 

[j_garcia]

Black/dark is the worst, but I still prefer them. One of the best looking colors with a good polish/wax, but it is absolutely the hardest to keep clean. With wax, I found that white could be kept looking cleaner longer than black (I went from a white car to a black one), but white still shows dirt pretty easily. My body shop also said white is the hardest color to color match once it reaches a few years of age. Since I am moving somewhere where the summer is pretty darn hot, I wanted a lighter color car, so when I was looking it was pretty much silver or white and this is the one I found.

 

[j_garcia]

Repainted