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

[j_garcia]

A little DIY with the new brake rotors before they went on. LOTS of people complained about the Brembo blanks rusting right away (they are cast iron after all, that's what iron does ), so I painted mine. $6 in caliper paint and about 1hr of masking and painting; 3 coats :

The Stoptech pads are pretty freaking amazing for street pads. Easily the best I've owned. I had Hawk HPS before and I wasn't happy with their initial bite, even though once warmed up they felt great. On cooler mornings, I don't want to have to warm them up for them to grab just to drive in traffic. These Stoptechs mentioned specifically that their street compound was designed to give good initial bite but also grab harder when warmed up and do they ever. They have the same level of grab under hard braking that the Hawks did, but also have excellent pedal feel on initial low speed braking. Very pleased, especially with them being $20 less than the Hawks.

 

[j_garcia]

 

[j_garcia]

3" Borla "Hush" cat back

It has a deep throaty tone, but it drones a bit at freeway speeds. One day after installation I took it on a 3hr drive up to my other house and I'm already used to it though. Definitely notice the improvement with the turbo at the top end too.

 

[Rickster71]

You sir, are too fast and too furious. Just sayin.
Borla makes some nice stuff. I put one on a Nissan 240-SX I had some years back.
I ended up putting Dyna-mat in the hatch area to help deaden some of the resonance you mentioned.

 

[stratman]

You sir, are too fast and too furious. Just sayin.
Borla makes some nice stuff. I put one on a Nissan 240-SX I had some years back.
I ended up putting Dyna-mat in the hatch area to help deaden some of the resonance you mentioned.

The dreaded drone!...

 

[j_garcia]

Added: bugs, dirt, miles

Pup being a ham too:

 

[j_garcia]

Haven't done much to the car lately, since the timing belt needed to be done. That wasn't cheap Traded a guy for a beat up pillarless grille that I cleaned up and repainted though:

Have been working on getting the rest of my marker lights converted to LED, but not having much luck with it. I worked with the LED company and I think we figured it out though, but waiting for the new bulbs. These looked cool, but kept blowing fuses:

 

[deedubb]

Cool thread. My love of cars comes before my love of audio. Unfortunately, both can be a black hole of a money pit and I've dumped more money in cars and mods than I care to think about, but it's an addiction that has no cure. Just got a box full of carbon fiber bits today, and my wallet is definitely a lot lighter now!

 

[j_garcia]

I wanted to use my fogs with the winter weather (normally have the STI covers on), so I painted my originals. I never liked the way they looked originally, which is why I switched to the STI style covers and the shop kind of messed them up when they repainted my bumper (was free, so didn't complain). I partially masked them for a different look:

Original:

Now:

 

[lsiberian]

Gotta cut through that fog.

 

[j_garcia]

There isn't too much fog here in the south bay of the SF Bay Area, but up north where I was at the time, we get major tule fog this time of year.

 

[j_garcia]

FINALLY got my oil pressure gauge installed.

 

[GoFastr]

Looks good! Almost 80lbs. of oil pressure at just over 1000 RPM is great.

 

[j_garcia]

Sorry, pic not so clear. I think it is almost 90. Fluctuates between 85-90 under normal load, which the shop says is what it should be on this car. Not bad for boosted @ 106K mi

Unfortunately, it is in the shop today with a cracked wastegate line. Minor, but still frustrating.

 

[j_garcia]

Got a deal on sways, so ended up switching out the previous rear and added the front, Anti-Lift Kit and poly steering rack bushings. BIG difference.

 

[j_garcia]

The other car got new shoes

Got a good deal on them. Off of one of these:

 

[GoFastr]

Way to go. Looking good! repped.

 

[Matt34]

Nice.

Just helped my buddy over here order a 2012 WRX STI from his dealership back in Albuquerque.

 

[j_garcia]

Just helped my buddy over here order a 2012 WRX STI from his dealership back in Albuquerque.

Cool. Solid car and has a nice, mean look to it. The only thing is, they are coming out with the all new model next year, built on a whole new platform separate from the Impreza. Should be interesting. I wouldn't buy most cars in the first year they came out though, so maybe it is better that he is getting what should be the last year of the current model.

 

[j_garcia]