Body Kit Opinions

[sperry]

I'm trying to figure out what body kit I want to go with. I'll prolly be buying one in the spring... that or coilovers.

Hey Matt, does the Wagon of Fury have a rear underspoiler? And those side skirts are just the stock ones painted right? I like the look of your sides.

I want to do something understated, like the factory STi from Europe. I'm thinking: painted factory side skirts (or the OEM ones, since that's the same thing, and I'll still have the black ones to put on in the winter), and the STi grill (minus the STi badge, I figure if the real STI comes over I don't wanna look like a poseur). I'm not sure if I want a front or rear underspoiler. I was thinking OEM kit stuff, and although it looks dope, and you don't see it that often, it's not very "STi". In fact the real STi has no underspoilers, just the grill and sides.

I reall like the V2 STi spoiler, but it's like $500 unpainted... sounds kinda pricey.

Anyway, what do you guys think?

Here's some pics of the cars I dig:

Liberal Grill, STi V1 lip, ?? sides, ?? rear, WRC style wing:


STi Grill, OEM body kit, WRC style wing:


WRX wheel chair (this is for real!)... Prodrive rims, STi short-shifter, STi spoiler, and NAAWWWZ! (this is not for real... lol):

[khail19]

Confucious once say, "Handling is better than looking." Well it may have been someone else, but that's not the point. The saying holds true for females, cars, and most things in general. Get coilovers. Then you can sell them to me for half price when you get better ones in 6 months.

Khail

[MattR]

hey hey, yeah, i have the rear wagon underspoiler in the back, only because it was the only one availible for the wagon. I'm not that crazy about it. I think the front lip on the top picture is awesome. Not overkill, just super clean looking. But my favorite rear spoiler is the OEM sedan rear piece. it is very subtle. and it looks great with blue. I should've tried to put it on my wagon. Heres what the back of mine looks like

[MattR]

I always thought that the Vers 1 lip on the front would look really good with the Griffin rear piece too. I think Vivid has a pic of the Griffin parts, they're a little bit rice, but there's nothin wrong with a little rice.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by khail19

Confucious once say, "Handling is better than looking." Well it may have been someone else, but that's not the point. The saying holds true for females, cars, and most things in general. Get coilovers. Then you can sell them to me for half price when you get better ones in 6 months.

Khail

Well, with all the Whiteline crap on the car, it handles pretty well already. But coilovers would prolly make my existing setup feel like a pig. I've already narrowed down my suspension choices to either the full STi setup (struts, springs, control arms, etc) or a set of DMS 40s w/ 180 springs. So I know a lot more about what I'd like to do suspension-wise than looks-wise, hence the body kit opinion post.

Speaking of suspension, I'm gonna have to take off my ALK kit, since it's illegal in my autocross class. You wanna buy that? It's the "comfort" 70 duro bushing version that's a little less harsh or the kidneys.

[BOO]

WOW !!! That's an awesome looking kit, Is there a site that I can go to see this? Pricing wise? What type of wheels are they ?? and Do you guys recommend 17's or 18's on a wrx sedan ??
Thanks

[sperry]

Originally Posted by BOO

That's an awesome looking kit, Is there a site that I can go to see this? Pricing wise? What type of wheels are they ?? and Do you guys recommend 17's or 18's on a wrx sedan ??

Those two blus cars are actually fixed up with a variety of parts. The top one has the STi WRX front lip, a Liberal grill, and side skirts from some other kit I don't recognize. The bottom one is the OEM WRX body kit with the STi grill. Both cars have replica WRC wings... I think Oricari (www.cc-b.com) makes one like that.

I think the top picture is one of the nicest WRXs I've ever seen, but it's a little extreme for something I'd drive. I think I might just do the STi grill and painted stock side skirts and be done with "looks" mods.

The 17" vs 18" rim debate is long and continuing... my take is this: 18's look better... that's about it. 17's have less rotational enertia to overcome, weight less, cost less, tires are cheaper, and the extra tire sidewall protects them from potholes better... So, I'd recommend 17's to just about everyone... having said that, I got 18" Rota Sub-Zeros on my car. I went with the 18's after seeing a few pics of the 17" version that looked too small IMO. 17" SubZeros on a lowered car look fine, but at a stock ride height (like my car) I thought they were too small. Plus when I ordered mine, 17's were hard to get (always out of stock), and I got the 18's for only $50 over the price of the 17's... unfortunately my tires were like $20 per tire more (or something)...

If I had to do it over, I'd prolly go with 17's... in fact, I'm prolly going to get some 17x7.5" Rota Attacks for racing... and if I like them, I might just sell my 18's and drive on the Attacks full-time, since the STX autocross class is a street-tire class.

[BOO]

Well Scott,
Atleast that gives me something to work on.. when I get mine ..
Wait !!! did you say you might get rid of the 18's ??? Hmmm well If I can afford to after I get mine, I would love to see them and maybe take them off of your hands
Thanks for making my day once again today(12/29/02) each and everyday I see A WRX ( S ) I drool and become a little Kid Impatiently waiting to open his Birthday gifts .. lol

[JC]

Zerosports, if you are gonna get a kit, might as well go all out. Barring that, I like the liberal lip.

[sperry]

Thanks for the pic JC, I haven't seen the liberal lip before! I've seen the liberal grill and like it... the lips pretty sweet too.

However, I think those big kits are too much for me... I can't see throwing that on my car till I'm pushing out at least 300hp to the wheels... ya know, false advertizing laws and all.. hehe.

[JC]

I dunno, I don't think it looks too crazy...

[sperry]

Is that the ZeroSports Kit? It's not as bad as some of the other ones (C-West), but it's definately enuf that some people would be like, "whoa, what kinda car is that!?"

I want my car to keep it's Subaru/Rally looks... you get a big kit like that on there, and I think it starts to look too much like a Honda with a ton of body parts. Plus, how am I gonna slide around in the snow w/o tearing that off the car?

[JC]

First one is Zerosports, second is Liberal.