Simon C

Found some rims I'd like to buy. They're 17 x 17.5 +38mm offset. Does anyone know if that'll clear my guards without needing to roll them? Planning on mounting 225/45/17 tires.

Great stopping power cold, insane stopping power warmed up. Couldn't get them to fade, even when torturing them during the bedding in process. Pretty dusty. Not consistently noisy at low speeds but the occasional squeak. Recommended.

The car's registered to my house in Auckland, so they can't track the plates to where I'm living in the Hutt. Probably one of the scum who randomly walk past and notice my car going in and out of the driveway from time to time

By and large I've heard that they're comparable to any other brand.

Well, thankfully my STi was at the workshop over Easter having its exhaust modded. Because the garage door was broken into as well, can't help but think they might have been after the car, and resorted to looting the house when they found the garage empty....

Looks like an amateur opportunistic thief just took what he could carry, left behind all my computer gear, big camera, etc. But he did steal off with an old Sony double DIN head unit (which I hated and isn't worth jack) and my Rockford Fosgate Punch 3001 amplifier (the ones with the nice shiny stainless steel covers). So if anyone around Wellington or Hutt gets offered my amp, PM me. Lots of beer for info leading to the thief!

It's not the speed. I couldn't care less if a boy racer wrapped himself around a lamp post at 200kmH. All modern cars are capable of reaching speeds where the driver and vehicle handling will cause a massive crash, the slower ones just take longer to get there. The problem is where they choose to be irresponsible and the manner in which they choose to be irresponsible. Like doing 80kmH down suburban streets, all cars can do 80kmH. All cars can lose traction with enough rough handling, or do donuts or skids or whatever. It's not the car's fault, it's the idiots behind the wheels. Again, I say the answer is to entrap them, and smash them in the pocket in some material way other than a fine.

We have it on the Nissan Silvia forums, it's usually full of crap. There has been discussion amongst the mods from time to time whether or not to remove it.

Is it an entire RA-R system or just the muffler? AFAIK the S20x and RA-R didn't have any other exhaust differences anyway?

We got JDM version all the way up to V10, when we got the 2.5L Aussie tuned one. The grey import Aussie GC8 STis used to detonate all the time with their crappy petrol + high intake temperatures, so the official Aussie 2.0L engines all got detuned to compensate. Hence why the Aussie S15 turbo only makes ~160kw, and their STi V7 was only rated for ~190kw. They've since gotten better octane petrol at their pumps, I believe.

Perhaps they're being lowered too far. Are the suspension arms above ground parallel? If so, that would explain it. Subarus like ride height.

In the US, you can't get your car rego unless you have proof that your insurance is paid up. So what we need is for the current year's rego and WOF stickers to be big, bright, colourful and a different colour from year to year, displayed front and back. That way, if you don't have insurance and therefore no rego (or no WOF because the car is dodgy), the police driving around can quite easily see that you don't have the appropriate coloured sticker, and pull you over. Make non compliance easily visible to the police. No, we can't stop them all. Doesn't mean we shouldn't try harder to get them off the streets. I don't see how crushing cars ends up in more deaths unless the boy racers get crushed inside the cars. Which suits me just fine.

Hang on, is that one of those titanium S20x mufflers?

Just keep hitting them in the pockets. Compulsory third party insurance. Also, change the law so that an offending car car be crushed without needing to identify the driver. That way, plain clothes cops can just take video evidence on cell phone cameras, drop by the next day and tow the car to the crusher. Yes, the boy racers will scream blue murder, but as the public think that boy racers are trash then the uproar will be minimal. Also, give the cops confiscated boy racer cars to entice other boy racers into doing skids, donuts, drags, etc. Entrapment is totally the way to go.

Look at my avatar and guess what my day job is. Clue: the blue thing is a Tardis.

You mean you don't discuss the fees beforehand? *ducks and runs* ;D Anywaaaaay, back on topic.....

Name: Simon Location: Lower Hutt Occupation: Inside you, with a knife Subaru's Owned Before: 1998 V5 STi Type R Subaru's Owned Now: 2002 V7 STi Type RA Spec C Length of Ownership: 4 months Other interesting facts: My digital camera has the most gruesome things you've ever seen. Favorite quote of the week: Human stupidity has no limits in time and space.

Yeah, there are definately shifter bushings available in Nolathane. I've heard they make SFA difference though, although if yours are worn then this may not be the case. I can't say that I've noticed much difference in the few nolathane bushings I've installed, although I don't expect to. Mine were the front and rear swaybar bushings, and the steering rack bushes. That being said, the back end is much more direct and talkative with the pillowball rear lateral and trailing links, so I suspect that using nolathane on those will yield some palpable benefit. The major benefit of going to poly bushings for me has been the front antilift kit, handling benefits aside the bushings they replaced were worn and squeaky. So no more squeaking for me, soooo happy ;D

Heh, trust me, the first thing that my wife noticed was that there was no passenger sun visor, so she couldn't check her makeup in the mirror. She instantly labelled my new ride "what a stupid car!" ;D Females prioritise different things to us guys

I do happen to have the "soft" 17" model. Air con is great for demisting the windscreen, but I use the roof scoop to cool the car. No electric windows. She'll also have to contend with the lack of airbags, lack of a passenger sun visor with a make up mirror, no boot carpets, no stereo, and a measley 50L petrol tank so she'll be filling up more often. If she can put up with all that (and they're not big issues, to be honest), then she'll find the Spec C a rollickingly good drive for the coin.

You're just trying to lure our Subarus into South Auckland so all your bros can go steal our rides, au!

You may find that the Spec C is a bit hardcore for her taste. While I find it perfectly streetable, everyone else who's ridden in mine (back when it was still stock!) found it bumpy and noisy

To be fair, you do have a Spec C which lacks a boot release lever

Oh dear god, don't get a 207GTi. I had a 206 GTi, the engineering was a decade behind anything Japanese, the inside was made of recycled ice cream containers, and reliability was non existent, service costs were exorbitant. It handled pretty average as well, until I replaced the entire suspension with a KoniSport system. The 207GTi has routinely been mauled by reviewers, crap handling and heavy. The only good thing is the engine, which isn't Peugeot's own but rather comes from the current generation Mini Cooper S. I've had a look at a 207GTi, it looked like a 206GTi that had eaten waaay too much cheesecake. Felt a bit more solid, but considering the exterior bulk of the car the interior and boot space was pretty disappointing. Reading the specification sheets and information packs, there has been very little new engineering introduced to rectify the bad points of the 206 (which I have a pretty in depth knowledge of). I was offered a test drive, and I turned it down. Peugeot had the opportunity to make a car on technical par with things like the Ford Focus, Mazda 3 and Mini Cooper, but they spent all the money on stylists and not enough on the engineering IMHO. It's not class leading, and it's an inherent problem with Peugeot's form over function mentality. Buy a 207GTi to look pretty, but not to enjoy it.

Part of the debate of exhaust noise laws is that it's impossible to accurately and objectively measure purely the exhaust noise without the benefit of a completely acoutstically absorbent, isolated chamber. Testing inside would be hopeless, the sound would echo around and greatly increase the apparent volume of the exhaust. Testing outside is better, but unless the world has stopped spinning along with any other sounds nearby, you can't get a 100% accurate reading.