It has totally stock suspension... I'll be putting 17" P1's with RE070's on it first but I need sway bars, strut tower braces, springs and struts... I'm looking for best bang for the buck...

 

I have a 98rs and i got it new i've been out of the business of buying anything new for awhile but i got all my stuff from:

www.teaguesauto.com

nice people to deal with and very professional..

 

Bang-for-the-buck means springs (pick 'em- most that you find from Subaru-centric vendors will work great), sway bars (rear first, front if you are inclined), small bits like endlinks, HD mounts, a few bushings here and there, then possibly sturts like AGXs. Strut tower braces don't help a relatively soft suspension as much as a stiffer one, but they help a little and hurt nothing. Cheap ones work as good as name brands, but that didn't stop me from getting a carbon fiber/titanium STi front one and a whiteline rear a while back.

If I was starting over from scratch with a limited budget, I'd get... oh, probably Eibach springs and some AGX, skip the strut braces, and get pretty much all of the Whiteline stuff I currently have, starting with the say bar. Maybe $1200 would buy everything I want.

 

on a budget:
KYB AGX struts
Prodrive, H&R, or Eibach springs
FHI 18mm rear sway bar
WHITELINE hardened sway bar mounts and endlinks
camber bolts

if you've got a little left over:
rear STi top mounts
WHITELINE anti-lift kit

you'll notice a difference

 

I was just looking at the KYB AGX Adjustable ones on ebay for $399...

Springs I'm having a hard time deciding on...

I've got a guy in LA who has a '02 WRX sway bar with the mounts and stuff...

then I need camber bolts...

 

decisions, decisions, decisions... I hate being on a budget

thanks for the suggestions guys!

 

Why just rear tops instead of front? If I could only get one set (which I did ) I'd get fronts for better turn-in. Soft strut tops make the strut valving feel progressive, or more progressive in some cases.

 

not sure. i've always been advised to only get the rears...something to the extent that the fronts are strong enough unless you want to start playing with the camber, castor...

i didn't think i needed to get the top hats until i installed Ver5 struts. the fronts were fine, but the rears 'clunked' like they weren't on straight or something. i had to take everything apart and install the top hats, and everything was fine.

just my experience hope it helps.

 

Best bang for very low budget:

1 replace struts if car has over 60k or feels mushy
2 snag a 18mm rear sway bar from a turbo legacy or air suspension legacy (you can have the 16mm bar i have lying around if you come get it) Stock bar is 13mm
3 polyurethane steering rack bushings

I'm assuming you have a 2.5rs since the gc8 wasn't sold in the us.

 

it wasn't?

 

A GC8 is a 4 door EJ20. GC6/GM6 is the code for the US RS 2.5

 

Thanks for the correction! In that case... WooHoo, just got a GM6!!

er, last week...

*mumbling* and I've been calling it a GC8 for four years now...