Soon after purchasing the Subie I read up on all the common upgrades and things to do for cheap. Of course it being a Subaru nothing for the car is cheap and almost everything is a massive upgrade in relation to my stock N/A car. Engine upgrades, as I’ve said before are totally out of the question because messing with it will throw my drivetrain out of wack and of course void that lovely warranty we put on the car. So, for now at least, suspension and wheels are about all that will ever be upgraded on this car. After deciding on a solid bar (San Marcos roads = ROUGH) this takes the Cobb bars out of the picture. This leaves me with a nice range of manufacturers as every single bar, including the OEM WRX bar, is considerably larger than my stock 13mm “wire” thats currently on the car.
For now I just want to upgrade the rear bar. Mostly because of compatability issues later on should I decide to upgrade the exhaust/headers. The WRX front bars are straight as where my N/A front bars need a bend for the downpipe. Both the N/A and WRX rear bars are the same so I don’t have to worry about compatibility issues.
Below are the costs for a solid 22mm rear swaybar with bushings, endlinks, and mounting brackets: (all prices are retail before tax or shipping)
Whiteline – $457.01 <—LOL
22mm Rear bar – $193.35, mounting brackets – $131.96, heavy duty endlinks – $131.70
Perrin – $359.98
22mm Rear bar w/brackets – $219.99, heavy duty endlinks – $139.99
Rallitek – $399.99 (Includes front bar and links as well)
22mm Front AND Rear bars, brackets, bushings, endlinks – full kit – $399.99
According to the people who own these bars from several forums I have gotten the gist that many people have gotten the Whiteline or Cusco bars first then later upgraded to the Perrin ones later. Perrin makes a high quality bar like Whiteline and is more expensive upfront. However Whiteline does not include the brackets or other mounting equipment with the bar other than the poly bushings, Perrin includes the upgraded brackets with the bar. I have been told its more economical to simply put someones used WRX 16mm bar on my car, but if I’m goign to spend time and money on an upgrade by golly I’m spending time and money on an upgrade. 13mm to a used 16mm? No thanks. If I go with the Perrin 22mm I’ll never have to upgrade it ever again… period. Even if I won the lottery and swapped every other part on the car. The problem with going with the cheaper Rallitek bars are that if I ever want to upgrade my exhaust and headers I might run into clearance issues, meaning I’d be throwing out the front bars so might as well just go with the high end rear and never have to worry about it ever again.
I think I’ve made up my mind for the Subie’s mods upgrades. ^_^ So yeah… birthday…anniversary…hehehhe.
Stage 1: Axillary Audio 150$
The stock speakers work great and so does the cd player, however one of the things we were looking into with new cars before we got the Impreza was aux ports/usb connections for digital media. This is a newer Alpine deck that has usb and aux in the front, with my current setup the second DIN area is empty and is perfect for holding an ipod/iphone/several hard drives.
Stage 2: Cobb Rear Swaybar $185
Hollow, so their lighter than the solid bars. Folks said they were good. Can’t use front bars because all front bars were made for turbo cars. Stock swaybar is 13mm, this one is 25mm. This basically allows you to turn a lot sharper than you can with the stock setup.
Stage 3: Cobb Lightweight Crank Pully 135$
The biggest issue everyone has with the stock Impreza is the lack of hard pulling torq. According to several people who have installed these you get a small gain in “pull” when you use these lighter pulleys, about a 4lb difference in weight. (note: this wont be upgraded until belt replacements @ 50k miles)
Stage 4: (updated) Springs/suspension $234
USDM SPT “Pinks” on stock struts:
My suspension is in great condition at the moment, if I were to upgrade it before it goes i’d add these. (JDM Pinks were made specifically for the STI and are not compatible with wrx or stock struts) I know 200 seems like alot for just springs but once those and the struts go out it will be over $1500 to get a full set of good coilovers and I if the struts crap out on me I can alwasy have the springs put on a new set of OEM struts for even cheaper.
Because wordpress HATES hulu and NBC hates youtube you’ll have to view this video by clickin’ this here link: GILLY
Corey came into town this weekend. My plates came in Saturday, I installed them while Cody and Corey ate lunch at tha inlaws house. After lunch Cody and Corey went to check out Dodge Challengers because their crazy. I stayed at Cody’s moms so Isaac could take a nap and I could wash and wax muh car:
It now shines like justice:
When we got home I added my AustinTuners decal just above the stock AWD sticker:
Now to keep it this way for one week, lol!
