Keltiks Parts Review

[Jesus]

Having passed 170,000kms on the Legacy since ive owned it, ive replaced just about every fluid and serviceable part you can - many times now. Here i want to share the knowledge ive gained so that others may benefit from it. Not really looking for a debate, just sharing what ive found through my own experience and super limited budget spec analysis.

Engine Oil

Castrol Magnatec 10w40 (Blended Mineral?) (Used for 90,000km)

Great product, excellent price point. Left the inside of my engine looking golden and spotless.

No issues with viscosity drop over time, seems to hold up to the full service interval well.

Engine eventually died from out of round/glazed bores. Not blaming the engine oil but i decided to stop using it since.

Castrol Edge 5w30 Semi Synthetic (Used for 20,000km)

Expensive and i failed to see any great improvement over the Magnatec. Probably too thin for most engines with any serious mileage. I found i would get ticky lifters at hot idle so stopped using it.

AC Delco Dexos 1 5w30 Fully Synthetic (Used for 8,000km)

Excellent price point, the best out there for a fully synthetic. Ran it for one period in the wagon but noticed increased oil consumption. Again, probably too thin for the application. Am currently using the diesel spec version in a turbo Volvo and BMW with no problems. Comes in a 5 liter container too which is nice.

Mobil Super S (2000) 10w40 (Used for 35,000km)

This is my current drop of choice. Good price point, great reputation and has cleaned up the inside of my shitty new motor quite well. Gets through the service interval with no problems. No ticks or rattles, tho i do get a bit of drainback out of the lifters towards the end of the 10,000km interval which makes cold starts a bit tappy. Stays quiet when hot.

[Jesus]

Filters

Subaru Genuine Oil Filter H6 (Used for 140,000km)

Excellent quality filter, appears to be well constructed. Larger than the H4 variant, most people will try to sell you an EJ spec filter for this engine but they do specify a different size for whatever reason. Probably due to filtering 6 liters of oil instead of 4. Horrendous price tho, somewhere north of $25 on average.

Repco branded oil filter (Used 10,000km)

Cheapish, didnt look great out of the box. O-ring was held on by a couple of small crimps and fell off with a little prodding. O-ring was also a square edged thicker than normal type. This filter didnt inspire confidence but did its job for one interval.

AC Delco AC07 (Used for 10,000km so far)

Well constructed filter, at $10 its also one of the cheaper ones ive fitted. Only really used it since its what i stock at work. A great saving compared to the genuine article and does the job equally well from what i can see.

Air Filters

Genuine Subaru (Used for 140,000km)

Excellent build quality, its a fiber/cotton type filter with medium depth pleats and a soft black rubber gasket/surround. Fits tightly into the airbox and easily lasts 30,000km before replacement. Cant really blow much dust out of it as everything sticks into the fibres. At $45 its not exactly cheap, but filters very well and even after 100,000km the intake pipework is completely spotless.

Fram filter (Used for 20,000km)

This one had deeper pleats than the factory filter but was a paper element with a perforated steel backing plate. It fitted the airbox well but after 20,000kms was looking quite grimy. It did the job fine but i just had a better feeling using the OEM filter so switched back to it.

[Jesus]

Power Steering Fluid

Caltex ATF Dexron III

Used this for one track day and was not a fan at all. The fluid aerated at high temp on the track and caused my steering wheel to get heavy on corner entry. I changed it out as soon as i got home for something else.

AC Delco ATF Dexron III

This stuff has worked pretty well for me, its very cheap and has lasted 30,000kms of hard driving before looking like it could do with replacement. Its fine but not ideal.

Redline Power Steering Fluid

Have only just put this stuff in but its made the pump slightly quieter. Looks like an excellent fluid so i look forward to seeing how it holds up to more abuse. My pump doesnt have much life left in it so hopefully this will prolong the inevitable rebuild.

[Jesus]

Brake Fluid

Castrol Dot 4

To be avoided. I used this stuff once and managed to get a spongy pedal on the road. It was cheap but really wasnt up for any spirited driving or towing.

Lucas Dot 5.1

This fluid was pretty good. I gave it some serious abuse on the track and it performed well. It was a great cheap price too but came out quite discolored after my track day. I wouldnt really recommend it because the next fluid is just so much better.

Motul RBF600

Yes its more expensive, but go and buy a liter of this stuff and use it from now on. Its brilliant! Holds up to excellent temps on the track and still looks good when you change it out. A fantastic product im happy to recommend.

Motul RBF660

As above, I used it once but probably wont again. For the extra cost, I really didnt get a massive benefit over the 600. For track days, its probably worth it. With a set of Hawk pads and this fluid, i could NOT get the brakes to fade around Manfeild. The entire day was enjoyed with a firm responsive pedal.

[Jesus]

Brake Rotors

TRW Plain

Excellent value for money here. At around $60 each, these are great and have stood up to some serious abuse without any issues. After 50,000kms they are starting to show their age with some very minor surface cracking.

Repco Plain

These rotors lasted one track day before i binned them, I dont know why but it seemed easy to get an uneven pad deposit on them then have shaky brakes. Either way, i used them for about 20,000kms and they took a pretty decent beating from some Bendix metal kings.

Znoelli S12 Slotted

What a great company! Are they still clubsub sponsors? Go and buy some of these if you want some breathtaking stopping power on the track. Good guys to deal with and the rotors appear to be a quality product that can take a lot of punishment. I burned the temperature changing paint off mine and got them blisteringly hot to the point they discolored the paint on my mags. They finally died after about 60,000kms and 5 track days. Surface stress cracks eventually split into decent full radius cracks in 4-5 places both sides of the rotor.

[Jesus]

Brake Pads

Bendix Metal Kings (Older Pad)

Excellent brake performance on the road. These pads werent too dusty and lasted a long time but were utterly brutal on the rotors. Even after one set of these pads, i had a decent lip on the fronts. They were good and its a shame you cant buy them anymore, but its a good endorsement of the bendix brand.

Bendix General CT (1 set used)

Another excellent pad. I currently have a set of these in the front and they had a pretty good lifespan but are kind to the rotors. Dusting is very good and the stopping power on the street is good. They arent really up to any serious hard work so definitely keep them off the track. In heavy towing or very long spirited downhill sections they can get a bit vague.

C-Plus (1 set used)

I really didnt like these pads. I found them to give a soft not very assuring pedal on the road. It doesnt take much heat to see them go off either. Rather dusty and began to squeel. Again, i never skim my rotors so maybe i would have better results if i did. Used once, didnt even get all the way through the pad before i changed them out.

Bendix Ultimates (3 sets used)

An excellent pad. I seem to remember them being cheap for 2pots but more expensive for 4pot calipers. Either way, i think they are great value for the occasional track-day goer. They hold up to high temperature very well on a smooth rotor but seem to have a severe dislike for slots. Mine turned all mushy and started to break apart at high temp on a slotted rotor. A bit squeely on the street so i switched back to my General CT\'s after the last playday.

Ferodo TS2000 (2 sets used)

I cant speak highly enough of this pad. At around $220 its excellent value for money. It gives a great pedal feel on the road but does require a tiny bit of warming up before it will bite in nicely. On the track it can take all the punishment youre likely to give it. Its dusty as all fuck and will barely last 2 track days but it will stop your car with confidence.

Hawk HP (1 set used)

A brilliant pad. I went through a set in one track day with slotted rotors but experienced some of the best braking my car has ever seen. Noisy and terrible when cold, as soon as you get some heat in them these pads are brilliant. Ive no idea what they cost because i got mine 2nd hand, but if they are under $300 for a set, it would be my track pad of choice.

[Jesus]

Clutch

Exedy Heavy Duty

The standard everyone looks to and its a bit shit really. Ive had 2 exedy clutch kits in the car and they really werent that great. In the clutches defense, ive never ever surfaced my flywheel and quite enjoy sidestepping the left pedal. They performed well, never had a slipping issue but really i found the clamping pressure wasnt enough to have serious fun with.

Subaru OEM Twin Turbo plate

For a while I had a genuine Subaru friction plate with a modified pressure plate which had its clamping force uprated. This was a bloody excellent combo which would get all 4 wheels spinning off the line on dry seal with ease. It was a savage clutch that gave your left leg a workout in traffic but still had a nice progressive engagement. It wasnt cheap, but from now on, thats the combo im going to use in any future builds.

[Jesus]

Battery

Exide

Very disappointed with the Exide product. Ive had 2 batteries from them in my car and noticed an immediate drop in performance after just one flat. They dont seem to tolerate abuse very well. Had one of their extra heavy duty ones in my Jag which refused to start the car one morning. The Exide rep refused to replace it because it was one month outside of the 3 year warranty.

Century/Yuasa

Excellent product. Cant speak highly enough of the company really, they back up their product and so far im impressed with my own batteries. The cranking speed is great and I can leave the stereo on for about 3 hours before it starts to lose its oomph. My old exide was down to about 20mins of stereo before i had to get the jump pack out.

[Jesus]

Shocks/Suspension

Nolathane Bushes

Squeeky and noisy in road applications. Utter shit. I didnt feel an ounce of handling improvement in a Legacy and frankly, if it wasnt for the easy to install - id never buy them again. Rubber/OEM style bushes are where its at for just about all of the applications in the front of a BH. Rear subframe mounts i would look to whiteline.

Whiteline Components

Brilliant. Extremely happy with the quality of product and price point. I now have a set of adjustable arms and rear sway bar from these guys and Autolign are just bloody fantastic. Highly recommend.

Tein Coilovers

Have owned 2 sets of these now. The first set were a higher specced model with adjustable damping. They were fun but even on the softest setting were a bit too stiff for daily driving in comfort. The adjustable damping was very usefull on the rear shocks when towing a load or having the car loaded up. Adjustable damping on the front was worthless. Fully soft all of the time worked best. The pilowball top mounts were knocky and terrible when cold too. Not so bad once warmed up.

My 2nd set of struts are pretty much the cheapest base spec version and they are excellent. Very quiet and comfortable. Highly recommended. Ive also ridden in a BH with Cusco coilovers and they were fucking horribly stiff. Maybe good for a track car, but nobody should build a track car out of a BH.

Bilstein OEM Struts

Excellent ride quality, i got 120,000kms out of my original struts before they were totally 100% screwed. My 2nd set leaked, my 3rd set were great but got swapped out for coilovers so i could get low again. Ive found on the factory struts, its best to run lowering springs on the front ONLY. The rears sag enough to even out the ride with just the fronts lowered. Putting lowering springs in front and rear on a wagon gives it a nasty rake.

[Jesus]

Tyres

So a lot of this wont apply anymore as tyre manufacturers change their stuff every year, but it might help so here goes.

BF Goodrich

Excellent grip in the dry, quiet and performed well in the wet. Soft sidewalls give a quiet and comfortable ride but mean youll probably destroy them on the track like i did. Very expensive to replace too.

Toyo Proxes 4

Utter shit. Dry grip was OK i guess but wet grip wasnt great. The thing that pissed me off most is that after 1 track day, the edges of all the tread blocks sheared off and i lost half of the tyres life in one day. Would not trade again.

Nexen N2000

Great grip dry and pretty good in the wet too. I really enjoyed these tyres and thought they gave excellent value for money. They lasted quite well but once again i destroyed mine on the track

Michelin Pilot Sport

Very very good tyre in the dry, the set i had were a bit age hardened so they didnt perform well in the wet. I gave these tires utter arseholes on the track and they lapped it up no worries. An excellent set of rubber. No idea on the price but i imagine they arent cheap. Very quiet and eventually died from having large lumps of tread ripped off by powersliding around manfeild.

Yokohama A-Drive

Good tires, performed well all round and i felt were good value for money. They didnt give me quite as many K\'s as id like, but they did the job well and overall left me feeling satisfied.

Goodride SV308

Super cheap and cheerful! These are my current shoes and they have lasted very well and taken a lot of abuse. They seem to have a reasonably stiff sidewall and resist rollover on the track. Dry performance is good but wet is a bit average. Im very happy with my purchase, at $120 per corner, they have given me excellent value.

Goodyear Eagle F1

Super soft compound. Unbelievably good grip in the dry, very good in the wet but they were super expensive and didnt last nearly long enough to justify it.

[Joker]

holy cow guess who was bored! O for awesome writeup with real world experiance

[sobanoodle]

Thanks for the write-up - really good, helpful info!

[RAYDEO]

nice one!

[QRAF]

thanks for the read for us bored at work

[Kiwi_Fozze]

i\'ll concur on the pilot sport\'s, i\'m running pilot sport 3\'s, FANTASTIC tyre.

also, the bendix ultimate pads are VERY dusty.

[Johnnynz]

 jesus said:

Shocks/Suspension

Nolathane Bushes

Squeeky and noisy in road applications. Utter s***. I didnt feel an ounce of handling improvement in a Legacy and frankly, if it wasnt for the easy to install - id never buy them again. Rubber/OEM style bushes are where its at for just about all of the applications in the front of a BH. Rear subframe mounts i would look to whiteline.

Whiteline Components

Brilliant. Extremely happy with the quality of product and price point. I now have a set of adjustable arms and rear sway bar from these guys and Autolign are just bloody fantastic. Highly recommend.

Tein Coilovers

Have owned 2 sets of these now. The first set were a higher specced model with adjustable damping. They were fun but even on the softest setting were a bit too stiff for daily driving in comfort. The adjustable damping was very usefull on the rear shocks when towing a load or having the car loaded up. Adjustable damping on the front was worthless. Fully soft all of the time worked best. The pilowball top mounts were knocky and terrible when cold too. Not so bad once warmed up.

My 2nd set of struts are pretty much the cheapest base spec version and they are excellent. Very quiet and comfortable. Highly recommended. Ive also ridden in a BH with Cusco coilovers and they were bothering horribly stiff. Maybe good for a track car, but nobody should build a track car out of a BH.

Bilstein OEM Struts

Excellent ride quality, i got 120,000kms out of my original struts before they were totally 100% screwed. My 2nd set leaked, my 3rd set were great but got swapped out for coilovers so i could get low again. Ive found on the factory struts, its best to run lowering springs on the front ONLY. The rears sag enough to even out the ride with just the fronts lowered. Putting lowering springs in front and rear on a wagon gives it a nasty rake.

What setup were you running that day we went out to Jareds? I was mighty impressed with the way the wagon handled the throwing about it got. There was a couple of those corners I don\'t think the WRX would have taken without being an understeering pig.

[Jesus]

Was probably my first set of Teins. Its even betterer now.

[loner]

 jesus said:

Shocks/Suspension

Nolathane Bushes

Squeeky and noisy in road applications. Utter s***. I didnt feel an ounce of handling improvement in a Legacy and frankly, if it wasnt for the easy to install - id never buy them again. Rubber/OEM style bushes are where its at for just about all of the applications in the front of a BH. Rear subframe mounts i would look to whiteline.

Whiteline Components

Brilliant. Extremely happy with the quality of product and price point. I now have a set of adjustable arms and rear sway bar from these guys and Autolign are just bloody fantastic. Highly recommend.

Same thing exactly from what I have seen... how were yours different?

[B4 I was 250T]

Would you recommend only using lowering springs on the front of BE5 Sedan with Bilsteins as well or just the wagon? Cheers

Edited August 5, 2014 by B4 I was 250T

[Joker]

Big old bump for this thread

it currently lives in the "General section"

and might be hard to find

where is the best place for this?

We are looking to tidy up & simplify the forum structure a heap before 'we' look at upgrading things and I seriously dont know the best place / topic / area for this beast of a post

Jared

[Joker]

also

 "jakesae" said:

pro tip TRD brake fluid is the same as motul rbf600 but cheaper

Edited June 15, 2016 by Joker

[GC8E2DD]

Yes, you can get it delivered straight to your doorstep via Manukau Toyota on Trademe.

[1randomkiwi]

Love how relevant this is currently. Cheers.

[Firenza]

On 6/15/2016 at 0:19 PM, Joker said:

also

also........

 

both motul and TRD fluids are made by Orthene Chemicals in the UK, which is also the same supplier that BNT has!

 

If you get a bottle of BNTs Racing DOT4 and compare it has essentailly the same ratings and temps as the Motul RBF600 (BNT = dry boiling point 315deg, MOTUL = dry boiling point 312deg)