Brooko

My first thread hello scooby community!

Having PPP upgrade completed on my 2005 Impreza STI.

Prodrive PDF states that addition of 18inch alloys is recommended!

Is it?

Think that 17inch wheels look neat but would like to know if 18inch wheels
really make a diffirence?? in respect to handling/traction.

Guy at Wilsons Subaru stated that he prefers the 17inch. Unusal that he
did not recommend spending the £1600. An honest salesman?

Any advice would be great

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

Welcome to the mad house
LOL get real Yes prodrive actually do recommned it

Thats more the case, people preferences

with 17" the car can feel a bit more predictable compared to 18"'s

On the same tyre in most cases you would get faster times on 18"s compared to 17"'s but can feel a bit "skitish"

18"s look much better on a newage but will also firm up the ride.

IMHO

Tony

Brooko

Will see if I can pick up some second hand 18inchs and try them
out.

Cheers

jpor

iTrader: (1)

Still running on my stock 17" Gold Alloys on my 03 STi running with PPP. Had the PPP fitted over a year now. Would seriously recommend some decent tyres.

ben44

Honest... Wilsons.... in the same post

Had a tyre wall split and ordered replacements for both front wheels, only 1 tyre arrived so had that fitted and took it for service to Wilsons. Thats about 20 miles away.

Got a phone call telling me I needed 4 new tyres and they could do it for me there and then. Jokers.

They normally send out a customer service questionaire after each service which goes to their office. Strange how I didn't get 1......

Brooko

Being relativley new to Subaru ( previous car Clio V6 ) I was under the
impression that Subaru Dealers were great. Always seemed to get good
reviews in JD Power.

Not that impressed with Wilsons seem that there no top of your Christmas
Card list either Ben!.

Not many Subaru Dealers in London area only went to Wilson's because
I was selling my ClioV6 to someone in Chadwell Heath.

Can anyone recommend a decent dealer where they received good service
in the South East Area.

Bell and Colvill any good?

Brooko

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

Just remember the 2005 onwards STi's wheel PCD is different size 114.3mm ish the previous newage cars were 100mm so won't fit, be careful what you buy

IMHO

Tony

davedipster

17" are fine m8, and the 17" 2005 sti wheels are rather nice anyway.
I've got a 03 sti + ppp with std 17" wheels and re070 tyres and it's a very good combination.

I would save your money for petrol and tyres, but that’s just my opinion.

Dipster

DarrenSTI

iTrader: (3)

Got my car from Wilson's, all was fine, they even paid for a bill a month after I brought the car.

Anyways, Brooko, did you get the PPP fitted as an addition after you brought the car?, if so how much are the PPP's going for now? how does it compare?

Daz.

abc

Welcome to Scoobynet!

There was a discussion of this last year and Mike Wood of Prodrive supplied some useful information. However, it was unclear whether he was recommending 18s for PPPd WRXs or just for PPPd STis, so I posted a reply requesting clarification on this point, and although he replied to other, later questions, he didn't to my question. Read into this what you will!

See here: http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=446220

brindy

Hello there, my wrx has had a ppp since new and has 17"s. Drives and handles just fine,save your money for servicing/ petrol and tyres!

53

iTrader: (41)

18's do give you more out of the PPP at the lower end. Got 225/40/18 Mich PS2's on my03 but on an 05 you could go for 235/40. Much more grippy to make the most of the initial PPP grunt which you presumably bought the PPP for? PLus as already mentioned 17's look a little lost on the new age, 18's with PD springs have a much better arch fill.

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

Personally I these but they are not cheap

Tony

stilover

I've got the 18" PFF7 alloys on my 05 STI PPP, with Michelin PS2's, and can't recommend them enough. The standard Bridgestones are cr@p IMHO, especially in the wet. Under even half throttle the back end would snap out, and the only way to control it was to play around with the A-DCCD.
With the PS2's, I just get total grip in the wet and dry. I now just leave it in Auto mode (unless really pressing on).
I would strongly recommend upgrading to 18" wheels, and the PS2's. I've also got the Prodrive spring kit which helps handling/grip also. In the Spring kit box Prodrive recommend using P'Zero or PS2 tyres.
Car looks miles better on 18" also, plus those standard wheels are a bugger to keep clean

Nich B

W*****s Main Dealer

Take wifeys Impreza GL Sport in for 60k service, they have looked after the car for previous 2 years, and fitted a cambelt at 55K cos we were going away.

So get bill for 60K service that includes cam belt change, wife points out the error and refuses to pay, apparently my wife should have known when booking a 60K service that it included a cam belt!!!

I point out that they know the history of the car because its on their system and surely they mark the car in such a way that such errors dont occur, err no

Service manager tried to hold out for full amount, then wanted half before collapsing to not charging.

Needless to say the customer satisfaction survey was ignored buy W*****s

I wont be going back and now prefer to give SkoobyTec my hard earned wedge, (nicer people, personal service, better coffee, and I even got to watch DVDs last time, whilst waiting for my Stb)

Gregy

Sorry, I know the original thread wasnt about Wilsons, but to add my 2 pennth...
Just had my 40k mile service there and they are offer a very average level of service. Never had a major problem (other than not supplying my PPP cert when they fitted it, and still waiting) but they have never impressed. (does the service lady ever crack her face?)
I received a friendlier and more attentive service from Citroen when I had an £8k car.

GazTheHat

I don't know about yours, but mine tramlined terribly on the 17's. The car would venture off with any dip/break in the tarmac.

I swapped to 18" PFF replicas with Toyo T1-S (£695 - Wheelbase) and the difference was fantastic. Even the wifey praised it. It transformed the drive, less road noise too.

So if only for tramlining, it was well worth it for me. Then there's the lOOks , never was a fan of the gold wheels.

Anger

iTrader: (4)

My car has everything done at Cheam motors and ive never had any probs with them, there a little bit closer then B&C to

jasonius

iTrader: (1)

A couple of points to this reply;

Going up to 18's increases the rolling circumference (more so on the WRX with 215/45's) so effectively increases the gearing (ie makes overall gearing longer/taller). Therefore, theoretically, more suited to the increased torque gained from PPP/Ecutek..; You'll hear a lot of people commenting after having PPP that the car pulls in 3rd like it used to pull in 2nd and 4th like it used to in 3rd, and so on..! (ie better able to cope with higher gearing).

Another thing is weight, or more critically in the case of wheels and tyres unsprung weight..! The newage STI 17" wheel and tyre combo are VERY heavy, much heavier than the WRX combo (even taking into account they're wider..!) Therefore if you choose the right wheel you can gain a good performance increase even when going up to 18's. Something like the Prodrive PDFF7 (?) or OZ super leggs can weight 5kgs or more lighter per wheel..! As it's unsprung weight that equivalent to a weight saving of around 80kgs or an average person..!

Lighter wheels & tyres will improve the handling response albeit at the expense of a little comfort, but who buys a scoob for comfort..?

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