Product reviews

[STeveD]

They say that the sign of when a boy reaches adulthood is when he realizes that his father isn’t an idiot, and that he was right all of those years. Until that rather late date in my life, if I didn’t make the mistakes first hand, I didn’t learn at all. Somewhere between 18 and 21 years of experience, I gradually acquired the wisdom to learn from other people’s mistakes first rather than only from my own.

So in the spirit of saving other people grief, money, giving insight, or giving them a shortcut to something they might be looking for… I’ll share some recent experiences. Due to individual tastes, and different car setups, these things might not be right for you. But here are some observations of things that I’ve tried lately that worked and didn't work. Feel free to jump in…


Stromung catless 3” TBE Single Tip with separate Vibrant Racing SS high flow metal core cat (4.5/5)

What I wanted: An unrestricted exhaust with enough flow for an upgraded turbo that’s quiet enough to not attract attention from the police when just tooling around town. I also wanted to pass emissions, and a setup that can stand up to 1 minute antilag sessions during AutoX in the future.

Exhaust details: All SS from DP to tip. Divorced wastegate, 3” unrestricted to the muffler which is actually a 2-7/8” ID briefly to the resonated tip. Muffler uses the same fiber sound dampening as Borla. Beautiful bends, welds, solid construction. No additional O2 bung for tuning.

What to ask about when buying a TBE: Even though they call them 3” TBE’s, some manufacturers (such as Cobb and others) actually taper to 2.5” at the end of the DP, and start at 2.5” in the midpipe. No problem for a Stage 2 setup, but it would be an issue if you might want to go Stage 4 one day. An O2 bung at the top of the DP is nice for tuning. A mechanical CEL fix is nice if you’re not going to tune. With ECUTEK, you can just ignore the rear O2 sensor so it’s not necessary.

The reality: It has a really nice exhaust note at idle, and doesn’t really get that loud at higher RPM’s. Not as nice as Daniel's Prodrive, but that was only available in 2.5". :-( Exhaust note in the cabin is worse than outside the car, but that’s why I have an upgraded stereo. The exhaust is now louder than the intake noise and it helps me rev-match with a full face helmet on. I’m making more HP than I expected, police aren’t pulling me over, and I’m passing emissions!! Everything I wanted. (Not a 5/5 due to the amount of cabin noise versus exterior noise at sub 2500 RPM’s.)

Vendor / Installer experience: Bought from Sam at turbometrics dot com with the usual excellent experience and low import cost. Stromung shipped him a dual tip at first, which delayed things to me, but Sam caught their mistake before sending it across the border. Installed by Fourstar with the usual flawless experience. Yes, you probably pay more than at Zoro muffler, but you don’t have to worry about a thing, or babysit them to make sure it’s done better than you would have wanted. Modification to stock DP support and heat shield because of the wider divorced setup? No problem. They TIG welded the Cat into the midpipe.

What would I do differently? I didn’t like the idea of a cat in the DP to give the future upgraded turbo as much lack of restriction to spool as possible. But, that’s the only place that many manufacturers offer in their “catted” systems, so that’s why I bought an aftermarket cat to install in the midpipe. There wasn’t much room under the car to do so, and between duty on the special order and labour to install, I paid double the price difference of what it would have cost versus getting the catted DP from the Turbometrics. In retrospect, I probably should have just gone with Stromung’s catted TBE and saved the cost and hassle for what might be a 2 to 4 hp difference.

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Whiteline Group 4 coilovers (5/5 stars for street, 3/5 for competition, 2/5 for factory support):

What I wanted: A streetable competition setup with adjustable height and valving. Read streetable.

Whiteline details: 5kg/mm front with 2kg/mm helper srping, 4kg/mm rear with 1kg/mm helper spring. (25% stiffer than stock STi front, 15% stiffer than stock STi rear.) Rear struts have a unique top valve extender to come beyond the rear seat so you can easily and cleanly adjust valving from the stop.

The reality: Wow, I never knew a sporty car could have a street ride like that! SO much smoother yet controlled than stock, it was incredible. It taught me the meaning of good valving. Love the rear valve extenders. The 15 “clicks” of adjustability are very difficult to feel… I can only sense real “clicks” on one of my four struts. The “click’s” on the other three are actually just vague spots that are difficult to feel sometimes. I had to note a starting and finishing position and count turns to be sure that I had adjusted the rears correctly. The spring rates would be adequate for street tire use in competition, or the occasional track day, but my body roll was excessive for competition with 710’s or really just any R-Comp.

Vendor / Installer: Tony Kloosterman. Again, an error upstream meant that I received the wrong struts the first time, but Tony’s support was infallible and got me the right set in the best time he could. His installation was top notch and fast. His support was immediate and thorough, from inquiries through to today as I continue to work with the suspension. Best price for Whiteline’s.
What would I do differently: My driving style, setup, and seriousness of competition means that I didn’t have stiff enough springs to control my body roll. Whiteline factory support when I talked to them about different springs, although fast, was vague and not so helpful in the end. I got the impression that they didn't want to commit to trying to help me in case I didn't like the changed spring rates. The new 7kg/6kg stiffer springs that I bought with Whiteline’s non-commital comments were too short for the internal bump stops and fell off the top hats at full extension, risking some serious damage and requiring me to guide the springs onto the hats every time I lower the car from the jack. It’s fixable with a second tender spring and a different top hat, but I just wish their suspension engineer would have mentioned this when I discussed this with them and I probably would have absorbed the cost of shipping and sent everything to them for proper setup.

Well, I just bought Hotbits, so that’s what I’d do differently. But I still love these coilovers on the street, for light competition, and sport driving over frost heaved or gravel roads. If no one offers me reasonable money for them, I’m going to enjoy them as my winter suspension.

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Hotbits Single Adjustable, external canister, adjustable height coilovers (4.9/5):

Disclaimer: I’ve only had these coilovers for 3 days, so it’s far too early to give a full analysis, really. This was an emotional purchase after the frustration with the new Whiteline springs and my botched install of the rear struts, but one I felt I had to make to prepare in time for the Solosprint series. Don’t tell my wife I did this…

What I wanted: Read Whiteline section above for performance needs. I wanted to go double-adjustable, but he didn’t have them in stock, I was in a hurry to get ready for St. Eustache, and the clearout price on last year’s single adjustables was undeniably good.

Details: Custom 7kg/mm front rate with 6kg/mm rear. 2kg/mm helper springs. Custom bump stops to keep the shortened springs loaded. Rear struts are top adjustable without an extender to go above the seat. This will have to be fixed.

The reality: Wow! Okay, the full soft valving is not as soft as the Whiteline, but it IS streetable. You definitely feel the pavement cracks and moon-like surface of the highway service roads in Montreal, but I still have teeth. A driver will accept the ride as “not bad” but a passenger might not. Better than stock ride. Body roll was well controlled in the 4th gear turns at the St. Eustache Autodrome, and the valving was soft enough to keep me planted and confident when others with stiff setups were complaining about losing traction and control over the rough parts of the track. I’ve got some groans out of the front right springs, which I’ll look at on Friday.

Vendor/Installer experience: I came to Peter Reilly with what I wanted discussed it with him, and gave him a deadline. Only after he provided me with some free labour, many Emails and literally hours of discussion, and made the tight deadline I gave him, did he ask me for payment. Perfect guy to deal with and I’m thrilled to have such experienced support here locally. (Brampton) Install by Fourstar, whose deadline was a short-notice surprise and incredibly short. Again it was flawless and on time.

What would I do differently: Not much! I’ll have a chat with Peter when I have a moment back in town to discuss making Whiteline-style rear valve extenders for those of us who still have rear seats installed. When they eventually are in need of care, during his extremely cheap $75 a corner rebuilds, I’ll probably have him soften the valving a bit.

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Exedy Stage 1 Racing Clutch with custom lightened stock flywheel: (4.5/5):

Disclaimer: I’m still getting used to this clutch after putting ~500 street km, 2000 highway km, and 250 competition km, so this would be an initial impression only. I honestly don’t think it’s even broken in yet!!

What I wanted: Now, it’s no secret that I’m not the best at launching my car, but the reality is that the stock STi clutch won’t handle AutoX after you’ve gone to a stage 1 ECUTEK and added 40ft-lbs of torque at the wheels (+17%). Talking with Daikin/Exedy, their OEM clutches are designed with only 10% extra clamping capacity than the torque of the stock motor. Perhaps part of the problem is in the design of the OEM unit… Fourstar has seen many Subaru OEM 6 speed clutches come off with only wear on the outside of the clutch disc. I had tons of material left, and the flywheel looked great, but the pressure plate didn’t push the full surface of the clutch disc against the friction surface.

I needed something that would handle up to 350ft-lbs at the wheels for my future goals, and didn’t have enough money left in my budget for the Exedy Twin-Plate stage 3. I didn’t want to go Bully Kevlar because Kevlar has the reputation for never coming back to 100% grip after you overheat it. (Did I mention that I’m not that great at launching my car?)

Details: An organic, full-face, sprung clutch that comes with a bearing and HD pressure plate. Fourstar used their preferred machine shop to lighten and balance a spare OEM flywheel from 22.5 to 16.5lbs.

The Reality: The first time that I pressed the clutch pedal, I thought “WOAH! I guess the wife can’t drive the car anymore”, but it only took me a day to get used to that. But oh my god does it grip hard when it comes on. I’m used to it now, but I still chatter when backing up the driveway over the 2” hump into the narrow garage. You can get it going from slow RPM with more feedback than OEM, or from slipping at 1500… it doesn’t mind either. The lightened flywheel means that I can’t accelerate firmly from 1500rpm in 5th gear anymore. Although I can cruise below 2000rpm, I have to downshift or cruise at above 2000rpm in the higher gears to accelerate away. Did the lightened flywheel make a difference in dyno hp numbers or spool? Can’t tell since we did the turbo inlet hose and TBE at the same time, but she does spool earlier and faster than before, and we did hit higher peak hp numbers than we were expecting. I had some brief surging while crawling along in a traffic jam, but the ECU seemed to figure it out after a bit and it disappeared. Definitely a streetable clutch with far more grip, exactly as sold to me!

What would I do differently: It was the right clutch/flywheel combo, at the right price, at the right time. Although okay on the street, there was no way that my old clutch was going to help me through another regional AutoX. Only after my install did Fourstar find a new supplier from England of Twin Plate clutches that is MUCH cheaper than Exedy. But, at rebuild time, you can practically buy a new Twin Plate for the price of the discs, so might as well replace the whole unit.

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Mother’s Power Ball Polisher (5/5) with Orange Blast rim cleaner (5/5):

What I wanted: ANYTHING to make brake dust cleaning easier and faster. Mother's Power Ball Polisher (http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortments/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=140847439 6669473&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474396670271&bmUID=1145562780562&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524443281650&assortment=primary&fromSearch=true) and Orange Blast (http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortments/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=140847439 6670120&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524443251557&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474396670271&bmUID=1145562907396&assortment=primary&fromSearch=true)
Product Details: The Mother’s Power Ball Polisher is a bunch of flexible folded foam leaves that has a drill fitting. Stick it into a cordless drill and away you go!

The Reality: BBS rims are nice, but washing OEM pad dust from ten (10) spokes with indents and curves is something only very boring people would love. Getting in there with some wheel brushes means you bang the head against other spokes. The Power Ball is all soft surfaces though and gets between spokes with ease! Makes quick work of any wheel. Just watch around your valves… if you have chrome valve caps the power ball might bend them over and scratch the paint. Plastic or short low-profile valves shouldn’t be a problem. I bought a separate cheap JobMate cordless drill for $30 or so just for doing this since the ball wasn’t intended for WASHING your wheels. i.e.: sticking it in a bucket of soapy water, some of which run back into the drill. Spray the drill chuck out with WD-40 when you’re done and your drill should be fine. The Orange Blast cleaner seems a little milder than Eagle 1 and other brands, yet gets the job done really well, especially on grease and tar. Also great for de-carbonizing the tail pipe.

What I would do differently: Nothing! An excellent combo for wheel washing that cuts the time and effort by 75%.

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Snap-On Double-Thick Latex gloves (5/5) Medi-touch Vinyl Gloves (3.5/5) Medi-Touch Latex gloves (1/5):

What I wanted: My clients were and wife were starting to observe the amount of tire dust, oil, and chassis grime that just wouldn’t wash off my hands anymore. Needed to keep them a little cleaner.

Product Details: The blue Snap-On gloves are long enough to pull over your pit suit sleeves and fit tight. They have powder to help you pull them on the first time. The Medy-Touch gloves come just past the base of the palm, a little loose.

The Reality: Okay, the Medi-Touch latex gloves tear the instant you touch metal. Don’t even think about it for automotive use. The vinyl gloves are thicker and last a fair bit! It will get you through tire work or an oil change no problem. If one tears, no big deal, they’re cheap, put another one on. The Snap-On’s are the Cadillac of gloves. Durable, and I found that they offered better grip than my skin. If you have a strut changeover, engine or suspension work to do, these gloves will last through it, and probably into the next job as well. Let the sweat dry out of them, turn ‘em inside out, and go at it again.

What I would do differently: I still prefer the vinyl gloves for the small jobs because I have no qualms about throwing them away when I’m done, or if they’re too oily for grip. I’ll keep those and the Snap-On’s in the garage.

[STeveD]

Note: After you go to Stage 2 power mods with stock mounts and bushings, things in your drivetrain can start to clunk under hard accel / decel and lateral transitions. I'm doing most of my bushing upgrades piece by piece, so I'll review them.

Whiteline ALK (4/5):

What I wwanted: Something to help me accelerate out of corners better and keep the -3.5 deg of camber from pushing the nose left and right under heavy acceleration.

Product Details: The Whiteline ALK is a new rear mount for your front control arms that gives you an extra +0.5 deg caster and changes the suspension geometry. It is available in three degrees of bushing hardness: Comfort, Road, Race. (I chose the middle.)

Whiteline White Paper (http://www.whiteline.com.au/articles/Effect%20of%20WL%20ALK_b.pdf)

Whiteline article (http://www.whiteline.com.au/articles/wrx_handlingtest_a.htm)

The Reality: The product did just what it said it would... improved my straight line acceleration (front tires had better grip, not fighting eachother) and I was able to get on the power better coming out of corners.

Unfortunately, yes, I get more dive, squat, and roll than I see in photos of STi's without ALK's. One step forward, two steps back. ;-)

One good thing: There was NO increase in NVH as some FAQ's suggested there might be.

What I would do differently: I'll be ordering the race bushing for the rear to stiffen things up a little more for better turn-in consistency. Also, do some investigation before purchase as to what an ALK might conflict with. e.g.: Perrin's early STi versions of their PSRS (ALK) wouldn't work with their own upgraded front sway bar. So think of where you want to go with your whole front suspension before purchase.