Hey fellow subbies :)
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From: Orinda/Palo Alto/Los Altos
Car Info: Subaru STi Sedan '13
Sounds like I'll be going with springs and shocks then for my next upgrade. I'll be doing some research and will post about what I think I want to finally go with and look for suggestions
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Welcome to the club! I would recommend trying sway bars before doing springs and shocks. Sways really help these cars out without sacrificing ride quality.
Thanks
-- Ed
Thanks
-- Ed
Don't know where you go for alignments, but most places charge additional if you have camber plates on the car.
Oh, and to the OP, here's the thread where a whole bunch of info and bickering was posted about suspension between shock/spring vs coilovers.
https://www.i-club.com/forums/bay-ar...dealer-248060/
I agree.
Sounds great. When the time comes, Ill help provide more input.
I agree with this also. It says you drive a '12 Impreza, so the shocks should still be new. The sways are new too, but they are also thin. I would upgrade those along with endlinks (it will be cheaper than springs and shocks) and then proceed to springs and shocks afterwards.
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From: Knee deep in beer. subabrew crew, ca.
Car Info: MY04 aspen wrx wagon.
All very true. If he can't return it without a loss, then yeah, use it. 30 whp.... probably not from a stock wrx though, right?
All suspension wears out, regardless of coilover or shocks/springs. Actually, I believe that a quality shock/spring combo will last longer than 90% of the coilovers out there. There was a huge thread with a lot of debate about which way to go. IMHO, get Koni Yellow (sport) shocks. They have a lifetime warranty on it, and if the shocks blow, they'll replace them for free. They have an advance replacement, where they'll ship you new ones and you return old ones for a refundable 50% retail cost deposit. Longevity? One of my Konis just blew, about 9 years of wear, 100k miles on it.
All suspension wears out, regardless of coilover or shocks/springs. Actually, I believe that a quality shock/spring combo will last longer than 90% of the coilovers out there. There was a huge thread with a lot of debate about which way to go. IMHO, get Koni Yellow (sport) shocks. They have a lifetime warranty on it, and if the shocks blow, they'll replace them for free. They have an advance replacement, where they'll ship you new ones and you return old ones for a refundable 50% retail cost deposit. Longevity? One of my Konis just blew, about 9 years of wear, 100k miles on it.
And I'm with you on struts. I've done my suspension like 5 times. I should have just done Koni Yellows from the get go and been don with it. If I redo my suspension again I'm gonna do whatver I can to get yellows.
And springs... huge fan of swift and RCE.
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From: Orinda/Palo Alto/Los Altos
Car Info: Subaru STi Sedan '13
Well would it be worth to do sway bars first with new shocks? My main concern with suspensions is that I hear some people have to replace their shocks at 4,000 miles once they installed the sway bars. I saw white line sway bars but what makes them different from any other? Is there a a company to go to?
General Pimpin'
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From: Knee deep in beer. subabrew crew, ca.
Car Info: MY04 aspen wrx wagon.
Well would it be worth to do sway bars first with new shocks? My main concern with suspensions is that I hear some people have to replace their shocks at 4,000 miles once they installed the sway bars. I saw white line sway bars but what makes them different from any other? Is there a a company to go to?
Right now on my car...
Rear sway bar
Front sway bar
Front end links
Rear end links
Rear sway bar mounts
Steering rack bushings
And I've got a couple other bushing sets from them ready to go on.
Whiteline rips.
As for wear. Anytime you stiffen anything up or change anything you're likely to increase wear. That's the fun part of modifying any car. LOL!
But yes you'll see HUGE improvement with a quality sway bar and endlink set up... even on stock springs and struts.
But just for vanity reasons... LOL... I always go struts/springs first. You get looks and performance gains from it. Then sways/endlinks.
As for wear on coil overs vs. strut set ups.... coil overs need to be rebuilt to... the cheap ones sometimes can't be rebuilt or are pointless to rebuild. So if you go coil over go big or go home. I'm a fan of quality struts and springs.
Koni Swift is gonna run you about $1000 out of the gate. For that price bracket you're looking at the low end of coil overs or the medium end but used. Unless you're into the flush/stance scene, plan on track time or live in the city but drive in the snow all winter... coil overs are pointless.
If you want to talk suspension on your car my advice would be to shoot a PM over to Huck.
He's doing pretty well in auto cross right now and I think he's running a lot of whiteline. He'd probably have some input on camber settings too..
But yeah... if you were to get a new alignment and sway bars even on your stock struts you'd notice a MASSIVE difference.
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Sounds like I need to do some research these next couple days and figure out which garage I want to install all the goodies I will have 
Thank you everyone for the warm welcome, if I find any meets in my area or areas close I hope to meet 
Thank you everyone for the warm welcome, if I find any meets in my area or areas close I hope to meet
Well would it be worth to do sway bars first with new shocks? My main concern with suspensions is that I hear some people have to replace their shocks at 4,000 miles once they installed the sway bars. I saw white line sway bars but what makes them different from any other? Is there a a company to go to?
The difference is larger and will vary depending on the end link and sway mount brackets and bushings though, so make sure you go with quality options. Some have issues fitting with whiteline end links, so they use kart boy endlinks along with whiteline sway bars. Do research on this from testimonies of other consumers who have gone with a similar set up you would like to achieve. There are many designs in end links and brackets. Being a brand ***** will not guarantee the best performance either, be open with opens and go with that is best suited for your car and driving style.
General Pimpin'
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From: Knee deep in beer. subabrew crew, ca.
Car Info: MY04 aspen wrx wagon.
I'd highly advise going out to the wednesday night meet in fremont/warm springs.
it's reasonably close and it's active. There are some very cool guys there and Jamison has a similar car so he might have some good input.
That's probably my favorite active meet right now. I even drive out to it every now and again... which means me getting home around 2am and waking up at 6:45 with my 3 year old...
it's reasonably close and it's active. There are some very cool guys there and Jamison has a similar car so he might have some good input.
That's probably my favorite active meet right now. I even drive out to it every now and again... which means me getting home around 2am and waking up at 6:45 with my 3 year old...
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From: 631 Railroad Ave. Fairfield, CA
Car Info: A Laptop
Well would it be worth to do sway bars first with new shocks? My main concern with suspensions is that I hear some people have to replace their shocks at 4,000 miles once they installed the sway bars. I saw white line sway bars but what makes them different from any other? Is there a a company to go to?
For sways and endlinks, Whiteline is the way to go and you want their ball joint type endlinks that use a bearing system that closely resembles the OEM endlinks.
For struts/springs, RCE has a nice spring/strut combo using Bilsteins that works very well. We've installed quite a few of these and everyone has been very happy with them.
Thanks
-- Ed
General Pimpin'
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Joined: May 2003
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From: Knee deep in beer. subabrew crew, ca.
Car Info: MY04 aspen wrx wagon.
There are plenty of sway bar companies, the main difference is whether they are hollow or solid bars. Other than that, honestly there isn't too much difference in strength and quality control among most major brands.
The difference is larger and will vary depending on the end link and sway mount brackets and bushings though, so make sure you go with quality options. Some have issues fitting with whiteline end links, so they use kart boy endlinks along with whiteline sway bars. Do research on this from testimonies of other consumers who have gone with a similar set up you would like to achieve. There are many designs in end links and brackets. Being a brand ***** will not guarantee the best performance either, be open with opens and go with that is best suited for your car and driving style.
The difference is larger and will vary depending on the end link and sway mount brackets and bushings though, so make sure you go with quality options. Some have issues fitting with whiteline end links, so they use kart boy endlinks along with whiteline sway bars. Do research on this from testimonies of other consumers who have gone with a similar set up you would like to achieve. There are many designs in end links and brackets. Being a brand ***** will not guarantee the best performance either, be open with opens and go with that is best suited for your car and driving style.
I agree to a point. I'd advise picking a shop and picking a company. I don't like mismatching.
I'll never buy another kartboy part in my life and more than likely I won't buy another perrin part either.
As for R/D and fitment... I don't agree. Some companies do a lot.. some do none. I know for a fact that Perrin did very little on their new endlinks.
But agree... look at folks with the same make and model as you.
One company might make killer stuff for 02-07 but may not be super up on the newer models. And some might make crap for 02-07 but be dialed on the newer cars.
But yeah... quite a few good companies out there. Tough to weed through the opinions to the facts. That's why I say find someone with the same car. Search out a few folks and try to talk to them direct.
Reading opinions online can be dangerous. Good place to start though. You see 50 people hating on one part... avoid it.
General Pimpin'
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Joined: May 2003
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From: Knee deep in beer. subabrew crew, ca.
Car Info: MY04 aspen wrx wagon.
Sway bars won't wear out your shocks faster, but lowering springs will. If you're set on doing springs and want to be sure that your struts will last, upgrade those as well.
For sways and endlinks, Whiteline is the way to go and you want their ball joint type endlinks that use a bearing system that closely resembles the OEM endlinks.
For struts/springs, RCE has a nice spring/strut combo using Bilsteins that works very well. We've installed quite a few of these and everyone has been very happy with them.
Thanks
-- Ed
For sways and endlinks, Whiteline is the way to go and you want their ball joint type endlinks that use a bearing system that closely resembles the OEM endlinks.
For struts/springs, RCE has a nice spring/strut combo using Bilsteins that works very well. We've installed quite a few of these and everyone has been very happy with them.
Thanks
-- Ed
Holy Crap people....
This guy right here agrees with ED!
your intake is fine. I am running the same setup. What onemanarmy was talking about was mostly for the older subarus and not the GR's. if you can id say make the drive up to LIC.