My car - 03 WRX; Eibach springs; Powerflex rear drop links; Whiteline ALK; Front strut brace (wide type same as Tein performance bar but bought/made by TSL); OEM ARB's

My question - What difference would 22mm ARB's from Whiteline make to my car and why?
And go easy on the why, i aint an expert by any means! LOL.

 

Just my opinion as ever:

22mm on the front, and 24mm on the rear from Whiteline with steel links all round.

This will raise the roll stiffness generally and introduce a rear stiffening on top of that which is a first move to reducing (not removing) the built-in understeer of the Impreza.

The rear 24mm bar has 3 settings, very easy to select on the car (no jacking needed etc) so it is easy to try the 3 different settings and the effect on the car in a given 'favorite' road/bend/track.

The spring rates on your car will possibly be stiffer than stock rates and they will add to the roll stiffness too, so you need to experiment a little.

Many end up with the rear set on the middle holes and that is a nice compromise for all weathers. I race my Impreza on my road settings now I've found the settings that work FOR ME.

Some adore a tail-happy car, others do not (me) as a sideways car on tarmac is not as fast as a neutral one, more driver passenger fun maybe, but speed is what I am after not drama.

Graham.

 

Thanks. I read a few more threads after posting this and have seen your comments on those too. I feel a trip to Powerstation in the New Year then.
After i have had my 70k service, LOL. Jees, 03 car with a 70k service coming up!

 

Hope you get some $$$ for Xmas paressies!

Make sure you talk to Curtis at Powerstation. He has his own phone line now off the switchboard 'menu'.
Please tell him '911' sent you and see if he swears..

 

Speaking as someone who has an 03 WRX I would suggest that 22mm should be plenty hard enough, even on the middle hole. On the hardest hole I swapped ends twice in the wet at Silverstone and I was not snapping the throttle closed or doing anything silly (had instructor sitting next to me at the time). I had the Eibachs, the whiteline ALK and the powerflex D/Ls at the time so it was pretty identical to your own.

I would put in the caveat that both 911 and Curtis know loads more about suspension than me but on this point I do have some personal experience.

PM me your e-mail addy for instructions (with pictures) if you wish.

 

There is one simple fact with modifying a car and that is as you move away from stock you need to tune to suit your own needs.

I tend to modify to push the car to the best performance I can afford for my purpose.
What is right for me just might not be for others.

When tuning the chassis the roll bar adjustment can bring about quite a pronounced change in characteristics that can be blunt.

I hated my Impreza on a hillclimb on the 22/24 hardest hole combo, but it became really good with the 22/24 middle hole. That is just 20mm or so difference on the rear bar's arms with a 1250Kg car sitting on top.

It does not take much to move the balance.

Additionally, my car is hillclimbed, very very similar to a very fast country road/B road run with sharp and swooping bends and radical bursts of accelleration and braking throw-in.

A lap of any big circuit (ie Silverstone or Donnington) will be very different and speeds are much higher and so are the dynamics if the car starts to get away from the driver.
The driver must practice and at times reach the point of loosing it to find that point in dry/wet etc.

All part of the fun!

As I prefixed my notes above: 'Just my opinion as ever'

 

This is purely for road use. I have not yet been on track and if i did i would drive it as it is, if you see what i mean. So yeah a better setup for fast road use is what i am after.
I dont know enough about it, but i have seen and used the Whiteline calculator that shows the increase in body stiffness when swapping arb's and i aint sure if i really need a 24mm bar anywhere.
BUT, like i say, i really know nothing so would need to speak to Curtis, LOL.

 

Curtis is a good move to make.

Remember I'm saying a 22mm + 24 rear. Not stock front and a 24mm rear.

 

I ended up speaking with Curtis at Powerstation regarding the same questions as yourself and he advised me to a 22mm front and rear and the 24's were not required unless 'tracking'.

I am not entirely satisfied with the new ARB's tbh. I don't know wether the front one is fitted correctly, wether I need to just get used to the car or it's the curent weather that isn't helping.

 

Hmm bob, seems to me that is a big change then! Did you get your allignment done at the same time or just change your arb's? I shall have to 'force' myself to go out and do some spirited driving to see what i actually dislike about my current setup. LOL.
I have never been convinced about my cars handling tbh. BUT i have more doubts about my driving ability so that would be the first thing to change maybe!

 

on my 04 sti i have the 22 front & 22 rear on the hardest setting.

 

same here on my 03sti front 22mm rear soft setting 24mm on hard best drive since my mk2 escort

 

bonzee hits it right on the head!

Make these changes, be it 22/22 or 22/24 and then start tuning to suit your own liking.
Are you sure you want to mod the handling at all?

I had a UK turbo as a Company Car in 1999 after a 325 BMW Estate.
The whole car was weird I felt till after a good 6 months. The only mods were Prodrive 17's and the loverly Bridgstone SO2 pp's.

I was hillclimbing my modified 911 also, and when that became too slow I bought an Sti V3 to race.
Every time I modified the chassis on the Sti it improved my times but i had to re-adjust to the drive on the track. On the road it became less of an all rounder the way the UK turbo was.
It is now a great track/road car (note the order I wrote that) but for a road only quick car, the stock Sti system is great but I would still add 22/22 +ALK which were my first mods on my car for racing after the 911.

The Impreza with all the tricks is 5 seconds faster than the 911 with only 50 bhp/tonne difference in power (911 is lower @ 230 bhp/tonne) on a given 50 second hillclimb.
Neither car is particularly nice on the road, but **** hot on the track.

Be sure you know what you want of the car.

 

Hi !
MaDass I "stalked" 911's comments for a while.... decided I liked std STI suspension, but wanted less understeer.

So I got an ALK front and rear adjustable bars and drop-links....
NOT ALL AT ONCE !

First did the rear and WOW ! car sits flatter in corners, turns in better and understeers gone ! Best value mod I've made to the car, even on it's own.
On hardest setting, rear slides when provoked, RWD style lots of fun !

Second ALK and front bar, do it all at once to save labour charges....
Just more grip all round, front is on hardest, and is a bit "harsh" over bumps, but the grip is astounding, rear doesn't slide anymore as the front is working harder... Also put road legal "slicks" on and OMG So much grip it's

Still needs geometry setting up, but need Cusco trailling arms first !

DunxC

 

Well, thanks again guys
Some very informative and sound advice there.
For me i think it will have to be the 22mm front and rear arb's and a 'proper' geo' setup again. Jees i have wasted some money on geo' adjustments over the years. Twice at TSL and once with API, now i am going Powerstation, LOL. Well, after i have seen RCM and Bob Rawle i am! What a January i have to look forward to, i cannae wait.

 

LOL!

You are done for my friend!

Start saving for AST's, top mounts, urethane bushes, quick rack (absolutly fab mod) rear diff lock, wide track rear arms and a few other bits....

Note the use of 'road legal slicks'. Tyre choice is just so important.

Ha! Done for.

Happy new year and 'tight lines' through the bendy bits!
DropShots.com

 

The quick rack is already on! LOL, that was one of the API bits

 

Mine came from David as well...

Dangerous to go to API sometimes, not even my wife can fend him off!

Happy New Year!

 

Would suggest 24mm rear ARB,
standard-ish on soft...
up-rated on medium....
stiff as hell onhard... Oh leave it there anyway (wa hay !)

DunxC

 

OH craps, I will be visiting there in next few months, hope I dont get the spending bug because I've got nowt left to spend...sell the house, sell the kids (if I have any, not sure), sell the dog...They top quality on work? I like a clean and professional garage.

 

Swiss:
You are safe with David, just his justification for another mod makes such good sense you can end up adding it to the list!

 

Well done Moderators!
Thanks.
911.

 

I'm running my 03sti with std springs and wheels, with just a 22mm whiteline rear arb and droplinks on the middle setting. Fitting the whiteline arb really stiffend up the rear and reduced the understeer greatly.
This is such a simple diy mod that gives good results, I'm keeping the std sti springs on cos it's so good as is!

dipster

 

Check out post 14 of mine for the next step !
LOL

DunxC