Omsin

The V11 facelift Spec C is a great car to drive. I even drove one with HKS coilovers and it was fantastic. Guess it depends on the setup overall. @Niran what width and offset are your wheels? Going beyond factory specs usually has a negative impact on straight line stability and cornering as the axis moves further out due wider and lower offset wheels?

When you have firmer coilovers the sway bar becomes ineffective. It’s the body roll / weight transfer that activates / builds up resistance in the sway bar and engages the link to the other wheel so to speak I would run my car on the softer settings if I had better dampers (reacts poorly over bumps) as the car really hooks on tight corners with the upgraded sway bars.

You all know that its just garage door sealer trim lmao

It’s really slow and annoying, it’s like trying to fold bedsheets 😂 what you have to think about is once you decide which edge you’re sticking down first how the rest of the vinyl is going to bunch up or stretch. You can practise on simple shapes and see how it reacts, using a heat gun is key

I wrapped the gear shifter surround to match the stereo surround, much better than the factory grey / silver trim. All I need now is a new headunit which isn’t silver and sticks out so much

There's someone in Hamilton who can tune subi's!?

Don’t get whiteline bushes, go for superpro or Group N (factory Subaru bushes with hardened rubber made for rally spec cars). Whiteline is ok but you’ll probably have less trouble if you go for the other two.

Yes never go SOFT, but in comparison to track setups it’s good to be near factory settings for the road. For example, on some bikes you can adjust the preload on the rear shock on a sports bike, setting this one thing too hard means there is very little give and the force will go through the bike and not the shock and either give you a good jolt and wobble the bike or cause the tyre to break traction. Too soft and you pogo or there’s moments where there’s very little weight on the rear wheel I have both coilovers and upgraded sways. Halfway through changing out bushes and also ticked off quite a bit of chassis bracing on my car 😁. My experience so far -stiff sway bars on stock suspension -one position softer on sway bars with stiffer coilovers

Riding sports bikes I can definitely say it’s better to be soft than too hard. Any little bump would upset the bike. Struts are supposed to absorb bumps in the road. The thing upgraded coilovers are supposed to offer is improved rebound and compression (individually adjustable that is) while not getting too hot or aerating the shock fluid.

Independent roll control at each corner by using coilovers doesn’t address the other issue which occurs during hard cornering, that is the wheel itself trying to roll under itself from lateral force and creating less than ideal wheel alignment. Sway bars help keep the wheel in place while also limiting body roll, the drawback with this is that you lose wheel independence and whatever happens to one wheel more or less happens to the other to some degree. I can’t remember clearly but I recall an episode of Top gear or the Grand tour where they were driving a new Mclaren at the time and one of the key features was independent wheel control ? They attributed this to the tremendous handling ability of the car, each wheel was completely independent (power delivery, movement etc?) edit: 4 wheel independent steering

The track is usually nice a smooth, no pot holes, dips etc - good scenario for suspension, no sudden change in force i.e hitting a pot hole or one wheel getting stuck in a groove and pulling the car in a different direction causing random movement in the arms etc) Road: all sorts of s*** surfaces, suspension components are being pushed and pulled in all sorts of directions - in this situation I would not want soft bushes allowing multiple components to move around at weird angles. A car can be made to go straight really well. A car can be made to corner really well. Doing both is hard and where compromise is needed (or a big wallet and R&D team) Sway bars are good on a level road, going over bumps can cause the car to act very squirmy - but generally an upgraded sway bar makes the car feel more solid. Bushes if they are too soft and have a lot of play can mean that the alignment can changes a few degrees under force. I experienced first hand when I was working on my car. I took the rear coilovers off the rear control arm to make adjustments to my sway bar etc, to get them back in I had to push the tyres in/out to get the bolts to line back up, and it was amazing to see how much the tyre would flex on certain angles as i pushed it (soft control arm / toe bushes). Bushes are generally there to isolate vibration and provide cushioning so the ride is improved. You don't want movement in these places, but for the general public you don't want noise and vibration on a road car. Coilovers have their place when they are designed well and tested.

Wrapped the headunit surround. Not sure if I like it, might remove and spray paint black instead

How would you tell when the sway bar bushes fail? Have you got their endlinks too?

What about SuperPro suspension bushings etc @Niran I sold the Whiteline ALK I had bought and I was just about to order the SuperPro version, if they can get a really good deal on the Superpro stuff I would actually be interested in buying the whole replacement arms through PBMS instead 😁

Quote for both? 😁😁😁

Anyone else skim read this and think it said flatmates wanted?

Depends on the final price but here’s my list: Invidia Downpipe Catted Divorced Wastegate w/ 2 Bungs MODEL # INVHS08SW1DOC Invidia Uppipe MODEL # INVHS02SW1UPP Invidia 3in Downpipe to 2.5in Exhaust Adapter MODEL # INVHS02SWIAPD Could also need a 3 port boost control solenoid ( I’ve only found Grimmspeed tho) and a silicone turbo inlet hose. Can PBMS also do a super special price for tuning (reflash 2011 WRX ecu) after ordering said parts in the group buy? 😁😁😁

Might need to refill the NOS bottles before anything happens

Push and hold them maybe? I’ve had something similar in the past and they ended up being lights in the front footwell. I’ve done something similar for reversing camera (was easier to tap into a constant 12v than to muck around with soldering into the reverse light). The one by ignition could be to kill the key in ignition beep when you have the door open? The other could possibly be to override traction control properly (handy when you’re off-road) They definitely aren’t factory switches, I’d assume they are either internal or external lights somewhere. I don’t know about you but I’d enjoy trying to find out what they do, nice little Easter egg you have to find haha

Could you upload a photo of the cable / leak?

RTV sealant? Get the goo in between each wire

It’s pretty much the same as the branded stuff, the only difference is in the accuracy of measurements and quality control. I wouldn’t pay trademe prices if I was going to take a shot with them, I’d buy it straight from the source, jump on www.aliexpress.com and have a look around. Pay attention to the star ratings and usually the item with the most orders is the best deal

Word of advice, everything sold on trademe that isn’t a brand is literally s*** imported from China via dropshipping octane booster has a habit of fouling spark plugs long term, it theoretically works with any gas and off the top of my head can make it as high as 100 octane but usually the equivalent of 98 octane I think. Better than using 91 or 95 on its own if you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere

Pitch stop is a good one to do, but it doesn’t need to be anything fancy to get the job done, the nzkw ones would definitely work. The only thing with upgraded pitch stop bars is that they can make a lot more noise and vibration come through into the cabin - I took my solid bar off due to this. also in regards to an AA inspection, I wouldn’t waste your money. You can take it to a Subaru specialist who will do a pre purchase inspection and a proper compression test as part of the inspection (AA only does a computer based test which doesn’t measure each cylinder with a Psi reading). Where abouts are you based?

Heres my thread here with the mods I’ve started with: -Rear sway bar upgrade on its own is a great start, ideally front and rear if you can part with the extra money. -Short shifter and shifter bushings, the one underneath the car is the one that needs attention, then I’d also upgrade the transmission mount and cross member pads. -Front lower control arm bushes, rear trailing arm bushes -Rear subframe bushes and diff bushes -Rear strut bar might be a good idea for a wagon, it helped a little bit in my sedan. Those mods are the cheaper ones which you’ll notice the best improvement with, after that you’re talking a bit of money for exhaust and tune for more power