hey guys. i didn't feel like posting this in the wrx performance section.

anyways, i'm starting to order parts for my car. Performance is a + to me. My biggest concern is now practicality. The rex is my daily driver. I have the HKS exhaust on it right now. For the first few days, i hated it with a passion. I was affraid to go above 4K because i thought it was too loud. Now i really like it. The only con i see in it is the drone i get when i'm crusing on the highway. It does sound really good under WOT though. hehe.

i'm about to get an intake (BLITZ SUS) and i'm really affraid that it's going to make my car unbearably loud. I don't drive THAT much. To school and back. 40 miles a day. -come to think of it, it's not that close either. No traffic on the way there, no traffic on the way back. Nothing is really annoying. Will an intake make my car reallly loud? I think my car is prolly as loud as i wanna go... thanks for ANY input.

also, springs. How do people with slammed cars get around town? My buddy's 740iL is slammed and he gets around town fine. But then there are other people who scrape all the time. Do some of you guys just stay away from places with high bumps or steep driveways?

-jeff

 

you dont' need intake


springs will be fine, its hard to Slam your car with springs only

 

most people are gonna tell you not to get an intake...least that's my guess. They reall don't do much.

Spend that money on an up pipe or on your suspension.

Basically you have a loud freaking exhaust with a huge tip. Eventually the police will "probably" give you some trouble...especially if you do up/down pipes.

as for springs.....just like any lowered car...if you go and "slam" your wrx you're gonna have the same and more problems. Slow over speed bumps. Watch pot holes and free way joints. CV boots going out and with the wrx you'll run into diff problems and what not.

what springs are you looking at? If you go to low get some new struts too or you'll be hating life.

 

As everyone has said, don't install an intake. They work best on N.A. cars. On a WRX, the main intake bottleneck is the size of the turbo itself.

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I've never heard of any problems with CV joint failure on lowered WRX's.

I think esp. the front CV joints are just plain weak, I had to have my CV boots replaced like 4 times on my '02 WRX.

Plus, your front CV's will always get more abuse since they have to flex more to let the wheels steer.

Another thing is that the downpipe is really close to the front passenger CV, which can cause heat damage to the boot.

What diff problems are people having from lowering their cars? does this cause the driveshaft to go out of alignment, and cause yoke damage?

Unless you're running different diameter wheels on the front than the rears, the WRX differential shouldn't be damaged by it.

For suspension: Get JDM STi take-off strut & spring combos from Gruppe-S (that is if they fit the wagon)

 

I'm not talking about lowered cars...I'm talking about "slammed" cars. ones that get lowered just way to much. I don't have any specific examples but I remember when researching what set up I wanted to run I came across a few different people running into damage and just premature wear on parts when they lowered over...say like 2.5 inches.

 

+1 for no intake. Just do the silencer mod removal, it's basically the same thing.
For springs, well, some nice ones are the Tein S-Tech. They don't drop the car that much and give you a nice lowered stance. I had no trouble at all with mine when going over speed bumps or potholes. Of course it's all relative to the size of the speed bump/pothole. I barely scraped even coming outta really steep driveways, etc.

 

Hey dahveed, I'm suprised to hear you wnet through CV boots like that, my stock ones lasted over 110,000 miles, in factr they are still intact on the axles I pulled....as a preventative measure ... I figured a set of 10,000 mile old axles are bound to last longer than a set of 110,000 mile old ones.

 

unfortunately the takeoffs at gruppe-s won't fit the wagon without camber issues in the front... plus he won't have the "slammed" look as it doesn't lower by much.

Just my 2 cents
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-skip the intake and do the snorkel removal (it's free)

-spend the money for the intake on an a bigger swaybar

-don't "slam" your car... get something with a mild drop like the new "pink" STI wagon springs

 

EXACTLY....what is on my list to follow my new wheels.

Those springs rip. I'll also be running the new pink rear sway and rear strut bar as well (maybe cusco cf bar on the strut though).

 

I would go out on a limb and say that any springs on the stock struts will be a generally crappy ride for a daily driver. I know, I commuted on a setup like that for a while.

Spend $400 more on KYB AGX, or STi takeoffs.

Another vote for skip the intake.

 

I've read on nabisco that the springs may be a bit too stiff for stock struts. I'm going through suspension dilemas now... anyone care to chime in?

https://www.i-club.com/forums/suspension-handling-brakes-195/help-me-choose-suspension-setup-2004-wagon-68984/

 

From talking to some of the distributors and what not I don't think they are gonna be a problem man.

it's .5 inch drop and only 45% stiffer. From talking to people it seems like you'll loose your struts like 10k miles earlier TOPS.

As for handling...of course you'll be better off with a better more suited strut but I think you'll be fine with the stock strut...the 04 struts are a bit stronger than previous years anyways.

I'm a big fan of quality strut/spring combos...

but money wise I think I'm doing just the springs right now.

 

exactly. Springs on stock struts will mostly only lower the car and not give much performance gain. They will make the ride more bouncy since the stock struts arent very stuff. Also don't worry about scraping at all. No spring really drops the car that much and since you don't have a lip you won't have any trouble. Just avoid the obvious steep driveways and you should be fine.

 

wow. that was fast. and good. thanks guys. i posted this in the late morning today.... got back from lunch, did a little work and i already have sooo many replies. awsome. that's why i love the bay area section.

ok. you've convinced me.... 130 bucks for the Blitz SUS was too expensive anyways. It's just a filter...

is the silencer removal just removal of the snorkel? i don't think so. i thought i had to like jak up my car, take out the airbox... bust out the silencer, then put it back together.... sounds like a plan.

I really want to do suspension work. But i'm just concerned that everything i do will make a negligent difference. My buddy keeps telling me.. "jeff save up like 2 grand and get full coils. do it right the first time." I do want to lower my car a bit (maybe an inch all around). and i also want to improve handling(sways... possibly some endlinks). WRXs are pretty fast, i just feel that my car is "wabbly" around turns and on the highway. I keep my tires inflated and everything.

i could spend money on springs shocks etc.... or i could do a coil-over set-up.... what do you think is good for me? i doubt i will get to coils for a couple of years. I was thinking that springs would be able to suffice. Concerns: my dealer will hate me. i don't wanna bust my shocks. if i install one thing that is detrimental too my entire suspension and would require a lot of money to fix, i would rather not get it in the first place. lol. -wow. sounds like i'm not into cars. haha

basically.... no up-pipe/dp for me. What can i do with suspension (easy to install preferably) for a couple hundred bucks? anyone care to help me out?

oh yeh. speaking of STi springs. i was offered front JDM pinks off an STi. He wants to put TEIN S-TECHS in the front ONLY. So i get rear S-tech (for STi) and front JDM pinks.... installed for 250 bucks... any tips on this deal? couple concerns: STi spec, not 2004 wagon spec. also, i'm thinking that i could get new stuff installed for around the same price.


thanks guys!

 

The sti pink wagon springs aren't so stiff that you're gonna get too much bob from the stock struts being over sprung. they aren't that stiff. Now if you go getting something that's 100% stiffer and up then you're looking for trouble.
and everyone I've talked to....dealer wise says that the stock struts would be fine....not gonna die in like 6 months or anything like that...especially the 04's.

But yeah...of course you'll be better off and handle a bit better with better struts. agx's. sti take offs. things like that...all good. Me personally...I honestly don't know what I'll do.

I probably will just do the springs on my stock struts..if I don't like it I'll get some new struts in the spring when I start putting more work into my car. By the time my knee surgery is done and I can drive and what not, I'll be using all my money to prep my car for winter again so bah....it'll work for me.

Hopefully by sept 16th...I'll have the springs in. I'll let everyone know how much my car doesn't bounce when I'm done.