The front strut is now ready to be bolted to the spindle.The rear seat has to be removed to get to the upper strut mount bolts.Howard removes the rear strut to spindle bolts.With the strut out, Howard uses an air impact to remove the top bolt. This needs to be done with extreme care because it is under spring tension. It is best to get out of the way and let the spring move the strut. Since these have lowering springs that have way less preload than stock, it isn’t so bad but for stock springs, a spring compressor is the best way to go.Using ST’s spring seat adaptor, the stock upper mounts are installed on the ST rear struts.In a side by side comparison, the bodies of the ST rear struts are only slightly shorter than stock but they extend below the mounting ears so they are effectively shorter. This way the car can be set at a lower ride height but still maintain a decent amount of wheel travel.
It looks like they discontinued the 27mm adjustable bars for this chassis which is a shame because they work pretty well on big tired and R compound cars. They currently offer 22mm and 24mm adjustable and non-adjustable varients.
I did some checking and the 27mm bar is still offered for the STI. I can’t think why this would not fit on the base WRX. The part numbers are BSF36XXZ and BSR37XXZ.
Super excited to see where this goes! I understand that ST suspension is designed and manufactured by KW, but was there any reason other than cost to go with this over KW? Also, I remember there being mentions of some power adders in the future. Are you guys cooking up something to deal with the not so torque friendly 5-speed or swapping out to the 6-speed?
We decided to try the ST coilovers because we wanted to see how well they worked for a value-priced coilover set and we are pretty impressed. We are going to try to work with the 5 speed at first but are also mulling over the 6-speed swap at a later time.
Any thoughts on upgrading to STi front control arms for improved castor? I’ve done this upgrade on my car (2005 saab 92x) when I refreshed the bushings and it made a great deal of difference. Went from 3.5 degrees of castor to 5.25.
I believe the Spec C front lower control arms provide 5 degrees of caster, as well as JDM 2004-2006 or 2007 STi’s provide that same degree. I’m not sure how much caster increase the USDM STi’s would give me. Also, I believe SuperPro makes a control arm/Anti-lift kit combo that adds caster as well, but I’m not sure by how much.
USDM 04/05 LCAs provide 5 degrees of castor (What I have on my car). Anything newer is 3.5. I don’t know much about the JDM arms.
I’m not sure if the 06 WRX & STi LCAs are the same or just provide the same castor, but when the WRX switched over from steel to aluminum (in sedan form at least), that’s when the STi lost castor as well.
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“the largest anti-swaybar option from Whiteline – their 24mm diameter ”
Did they discontinue the BSF36XXZ and BSR36XXZ?
It looks like they discontinued the 27mm adjustable bars for this chassis which is a shame because they work pretty well on big tired and R compound cars. They currently offer 22mm and 24mm adjustable and non-adjustable varients.
I did some checking and the 27mm bar is still offered for the STI. I can’t think why this would not fit on the base WRX. The part numbers are BSF36XXZ and BSR37XXZ.
Super excited to see where this goes! I understand that ST suspension is designed and manufactured by KW, but was there any reason other than cost to go with this over KW? Also, I remember there being mentions of some power adders in the future. Are you guys cooking up something to deal with the not so torque friendly 5-speed or swapping out to the 6-speed?
We decided to try the ST coilovers because we wanted to see how well they worked for a value-priced coilover set and we are pretty impressed. We are going to try to work with the 5 speed at first but are also mulling over the 6-speed swap at a later time.
Any thoughts on upgrading to STi front control arms for improved castor? I’ve done this upgrade on my car (2005 saab 92x) when I refreshed the bushings and it made a great deal of difference. Went from 3.5 degrees of castor to 5.25.
I believe the Spec C front lower control arms provide 5 degrees of caster, as well as JDM 2004-2006 or 2007 STi’s provide that same degree. I’m not sure how much caster increase the USDM STi’s would give me. Also, I believe SuperPro makes a control arm/Anti-lift kit combo that adds caster as well, but I’m not sure by how much.
SuperPro adds one degree of positive caster.
USDM 04/05 LCAs provide 5 degrees of castor (What I have on my car). Anything newer is 3.5. I don’t know much about the JDM arms.
I’m not sure if the 06 WRX & STi LCAs are the same or just provide the same castor, but when the WRX switched over from steel to aluminum (in sedan form at least), that’s when the STi lost castor as well.
Project STI Second gen has 6 degrees of positive caster and that seems to work pretty well.
Will this setup also work on a 2007 Subaru Impreza 2.5i wagon?