Ordering some stuffz
 

Ok tomorrow morning I am ordering the cusco engine/tranny combo and since im starting to replace all that stuff I would like some input. I have been shopping gruppe mostly and I have seen so many different suspension/bushing parts and each say that they stiffen or improve handling. What I would like to know (from those who have it on their car or have done it) is which of those should I purchase and which are not to be considered. I am asking locally because I might be able to get a ride in one of these equiped cars. 90% daily driver but that doesnt really matter because i only drive it 40% of the time. And if you wanna flame about searching feel free as long as you post a link:cool:

Parts in Question:
Whiteline Anti Lift Kit
Steering Rack Bushings
Rear Subframe Lock Kit
STI trailing Arms
Lateral Link Set
Finally... Rear and or Front Endlinks (to pillowball or not to pillowball)

Whiteline Anti Lift Kit: Great, but illegal in all but prepared and Mod Autocross classes. So bad if you want to autocross.

Steering Rack Bushings: Great stuff. Senor cheap bastard says get the blue/purple ones for $5 or more less than the whiteline

Rear Subframe Lock Kit: Harsh feel and noise I think. Same as ALK as far as autocross classing. If you want to, you can do the urethane bushings for the front of the rear diff brackets. A few of us have those. But they also add noise.

STI trailing Arms: Not sure they add much value.

Lateral Link Set: Best way to give you rear track and camber adjustment if you need it.

Finally... Rear and or Front Endlinks (to pillowball or not to pillowball): Yes, and spherical bearing. Best rears IMHO are: http://www.poltec.us/products/subaru...s/1a-df001.htm

thanks Dean, where did you find blue/purple steering rack bushings? I am looking right now so if I find it I will say so.

FWIW we used to sell those as well but the blue superpro one's are not made of the same quality material as the Whiteline ones.

Shameless plug on my end is that we have everything you requested instock other than the laterial links which are 3 days out. :D

Mike

Have you done springs yet? Springs and wheels/tires first!

Keep in mind that upgrading suspension linkage (trailing arms, lateral, etc.) usually means stiffer bushings, and that means harsher ride. Not nice for daily driving, but tolerable if you actually race alot. Swaybar endlinks are fine, though.

The rear subframe lock would be a bad choice for a daily driver IMO.

And as for the anti-lift kit, I'd been thinking about this as well, but I'd like to be able to actually compete in an autox class instead of just delaying the 45 second Modified cars.

Good advice in this thread so far. Here's my 2 cents:

ALK: is a no-no... at least if you ever think for a microsecond you'll be on an autocross course in the future. It also adds *very* noticeable NVH. I know, I've got an ALK with the *comfort* bushings in my garage (shameless plug: if you do want one, I'll sell it for like $50, it was on my car only long enough for me to find out it puts me in Modified :mad: ). An alternative are the Whiteline autocross legal offset bushings. Same polyurethane material as the ALK, nearly the same geometry benefits, no offset bracket = SM legal. If reuses your factory brackets, which makes the install a bit more involved, but it's cheaper, and works great (it what's on my car).

Steering rack bushings: awesome mod... kind of a PITA to install if you've never done it before, but really crisps up the steering, especially on a well tracked car that's beat the OEM rubber bushings to hell.

Rear subframe lockers: don't bother unless it's a dedicated track car. The handing gain vs. NVH is bad if you drive on the street... they put every bit of noise from the rear end into the back seats.

Trailing arms: the only real benefit are the better bushings... for the cost, there are *tons* of other mods out there. I've done nearly everything there is to do on my track car, and I have the stock trailing arms.

Lateral Links: Like Dean said, they rock... but again, they're one of those things that 99% of people could just get some camber bolts and be just as happy. Unless you're okay with lots more noise, and really need the adjustability to get wide rubber to squeeze under the rear-end... probably not worth the money.

Endlinks: I like the spherical bearings... much crisper turn in. And really the added noise comes from the swaybar bushings, not the endlinks. The only thing to think about is: endlinks are an intentional point of failure. If you beef them up, then when something breaks when you hit that pothole, it's not a $40 endlink, it's a $200 swaybar and mount, or a $400 lateral link, or something... they're great, but going for a massive dogbone of billet aluminum isn't necessarily the best thing for an otherwise stock car.

Sounds like a lot of good stuff in this post. I have the ALK, steering rack bushings, rear subframe lock bolts, front and rear sway bars and new end links. I would suggest that you start off with a good set of coil overs first (if you dont already have them). I honestly didnt really notice any noise difference with the rear subframe bolts (they only cost about 40 bucks, so eh...). But i have solid top hats on my Flexs so my wrx already has alot of noise from the rear suspension. Although i dont have the trailing arms or lateral links, i do know that they are pretty pricy and probably the cost vs. benifit wouldnt be worth it, but if you have money to burn on suspension then i would go for it....trust me ive seen a car with full tein trailing arms and lateral links and it is 'bling bling' for sure. I drive my wrx as my daily driver, i can say that the ride isnt the smoothest, but it's not bad at all (at least i dont think). my s2000 kicks my butt way more on a long drive than the wrx does. Just my experience with that stuff.
ryan

As far as the rear subframe bolts, their real value is in aligning your rear subframe, so they are worth installing, getting aligned after your spring/coilover install, then removing. Most Subaru rear subframes aren't perfectly installed from what I've seen. My RS was off by about 1/4".

Thanks everyone for all the great info. This is exactly what I was looking for.

FWIW PM me a good bundle price for the parts I PMed you and my business is yours.

Your not the only one who can be shameless:D

Somebody un-stupid me please....NVH? Noise vs. Handling? Non vaginal harpoon?....

Noise, Vibration, Harshness

Good guess though.