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In addition to looking amazing and being light weight, the SA15R offers a TREMENDOUS amount of brake clearance. I cannot imagine finding a caliper that did not fit behind this combination. With wheels chosen and winter on the way we knew that our ultra high performance DRY tires would be a serious buzzkill and so those were stored properly in the warm basement until the frozen tundra that is the midwest in January, thaws. In their place we used the Advan S4 all season tire; we have used these before and for an all season tire they are well rounded in all conditions. They do give up performance when compared to a dedicated winter tire, however they are great in the wet and no slouch in dry conditions. They are a good tire to use year round and an even better 3 season tire! We have auto crossed on these tires during the cooler months and in less than dry conditions and they always performed admirably. The sizing on our S4's is 245/40/18 and while they are a slight stretch on our 9.5″ wheels, the larger meats we are planning will need that extra rim width come spring! After mounting and balancing the total wheel and tire combination weighs in at 44.9 lbs.
The fit with the 38mm offset and 245's is very snug. Once we venture to our larger tires we will be rolling fenders and also working to dial in more rear camber for track use. The car sits fairly low and when we dial in the corner weights for track season we expect the car to be raised some. You can also see the Weds alloy valve stems and caps. I would like to deviate from the typical MotoIQ tech and simply ooze over the final product. In short… these wheels are dead sexy. If they weighed 25 lbs I would not care as they simply perfectly match the STi! They have curves in all the right places and while our fitment is certainly functional it is also sure to appeal to the “stance makes em' dance” crowd. I have made no bones about my inner ricer and I will not apologize now, thanks to Weds I don't have to as these wheels have it on ALL fronts.
It's hard to argue with the appearance of these wheels on the GR chassis. Our inner cosmetic junky wants to tint the windows to complete the exterior but meh, that doesn't make the car perform any better and so it will wait! With the rolling stock sorted the STi also needs drastic help in the body roll department. While our M7 coilovers have done a lot to help the car's handling we knew that it was in dire need of sway bars to control body motion with our modest spring rates. Just like in our Autocross BRZ installment, I tend to be a fan of larger bars and slightly softer springs for an all around car and that is what we are using for this project. For our anti-roll bars we turned to the Progress Group to use their adjustable bars and heim joint end links. While the STi does feature a driver controlled center differential (so one can bias more power to the rear) the car could benefit from a larger rear bar to aid rotation, especially in more technical sections of the road and autocross course. Because this is an all around car we wanted to keep things adjustable to suit different conditions and both the bars and end-links permit this.
Here you can compare the OEM rear bar versus the Progress unit. Clearly you can see the size difference but also notice the larger ends with 3 position adjustability, heim joint end links and welded bushing retainers.For the front of the car Progress uses a 22mm two position adjustable cold formed bar to replace the 20mm OEM unit. Progress also supplies polyurethane bushings and new bushing brackets along with the necessary grease with their kits. Optional, (yet necessary in our opinion) is the spherical end link kit that we of course chose to use! This replaces the non-adjustable OEM end links with height adjustable heim joints; this is important as when you change vehicle ride height or bar stiffness you will need to adjust the end link to ensure proper performance. Essentially a sway bar end link should always attach to the suspension points with the vehicle suspension loaded without any binding; this kit ensures that is possible.
Once you remove the OEM undertray and the steering rack support brace/guard the OEM bar is easy to reach. Also take note of the soaked bolts and my propane heater looming in the background. 