I got it! Drove it home from the Subaru of Santa Cruz dealer yesterday afternoon. It's an '04 Java Black Pearl Impreza WRX Sport Wagon. Here's a shot i took right when i got home. The break in period is going to be torture! I'm supposed to keep it under 4k RPM for the first thousand miles. Luckily i got to drive over the 17 on the way home and put close to a hundred miles on it right off the bat. I've been wanting this sucker for over a year now, so excuse my enthusiasm.

The in dash 6-cd changer is pretty nice... but i can't wait to get the empeg in there. I'm planning out the install now, and i'm pretty set on some Diamond Audio Hex 600s speakers for the fronts. I'm going to do a custom fiberglass enclosure for the boot to hold a sub... either in the spare tire well or on the side... haven't decided yet. Gotta figure out what amps i want still... doing research on that now too.

Well... wish me luck with this puppy... in case you haven't noticed i haven't had much car luck lately.

PS - anyone wanna buy a '99 Honda Civic Si? I give discounts to empeg owners =]

Nice. I've been wanting one for years. Hopefully I'll be in a position to actually get one in the next year or so. It looks like you didn't go with the STi though, how come?

Anyway, just pointing out that I'm jealous.

Congrats, Loren!

OH, it's a wagon, that's right. I didn't really look at the picture hard enough to notice, and I guess I skipped over that in your post. I must not be fully awake yet.

I forgot that you were always talking about getting a wagon. So that would explain why it isn't an STi.

Very nice cars though, all of them.

Nice ride! Now, if only I could find someone in the UK who's willing to sell a new Impreza WRX for 15 thousand pounds. According to Subaru UK the retail price in the UK is nearer 20 thousand.
I'm sure the 1 thousand miles will fly past! Then you'll really be able to rag it!!!!

Looks great. Have fun.

CONGRATS!!!!!

Welcome to the WRX/empeg club!!!

Wanna trade seats?

If you custom a box that will also fit a sedan, let me know and maybe I'll buy one off of you!

(There are several made just for the Subby tirewell and trunk if you havn't found them already I can look them up)

Hey, alright! Welcome to the suby club!

Thanks all. I've been driving all day and loving every second of it. The seats are probably my favorite part so far... i can't wait until i can really rev it to get the feel of the turbo. 800 more miles to go.

They had 3 STI's on the lot... they are all sold way in advance. I think the waiting list at SC Subaru is over 100 people, and they will probably get about 3/month. I was aiming for the STI, but when i really thought about it, i 1) didn't wanna wait, and 2) couldn't drive that car anywhere near it's limits. It would be a waste of 10 grand (they are going for $32k at least) because i don't really plan on using it on the track. Plus i can slap almost all of the STI parts on the WRX wagon (with a few exceptions) as i get better at pushing the limits. I do want to start doing some rally x'ing though... sliding it around a dirt track would be such a blast! 227hp AWD is a lot to handle as it is... i can't imagine 300hp with 300 lbs of torque. Nuts. That said... as soon as i pay it off... engine mods here i come.

So Brad... could you point me to some of the tire well sub boxes you mentioned? I hadn't seen any but a couple of custom jobs. I'm sort of leaning away from the tire well just because i'm going to have the rubber mat back there and i'm thinking that and the well lid would muffle the hell out of the sub.

I'm already getting the stereo components together. Rob V (CruzThs) is giving me an incredible deal on the Diamond Audio Hex 600s's he had in his Range Rover (Tony F.... remember those?).

Do any of you other subie owners post on the NASIOC.com boards? It's ALMOST as good of a community as we have here it seems. I had another decked out wagon owner wave to me on the way home. Feels like family. heheh.

as soon as i pay it off... engine mods here i come.

That's what I said when I got the Viggen, but I still have two years left to pay it off and am already planning mods. ECM reprograming and different exhaust should get me an extra 46HP. Screw the warranty and remaining payments! More speed NOW!

i can't imagine 300hp with 300 lbs of torque

Loser.

Probably ordering it later this week. (Is this what thread hijacking feels like?)

Ditto, welcome to the Soobie club (for Men).

Loren, you'd be surprised how many dealers are "mod friendly" and will let you mod the car w/o voiding your warranty. Ask you local section of NASIOC.com, i-club.com, or clubwrx.net (my new favorite) which dealers are good.

We have a good mod-friendly dealer here so I've already instead a TurboXS MBC (manual boost controller), Prodrive axel-back exhaust, Vishnu Intercool Hoses, Vishnu Underdrive pulley, K&N filter, removed intake resonator, Kartboy short-shift kit, Godspeed Uppipe and Godspeed Downpipe. Because you're in Cali, you'll have to research what mods are going to be CA emissions safe. But freeing up the exhaust (we have 3 cats!) legally and safely raising the boost will give you the most bang for the buck.

PS - Now that I think of it, when NASIOC used to be called "i-club.com", one of the owners posted on this BBS. Do a search and look him up - there are a surprising number of Subby/empeg owners out there (don't forget to see my webpage for Subby boot logos).



Here are my favorite Subby links including some for sound. http://persiconi.com/wrx/subbylinks.html

Welcome to the WRX/empeg owner club loren!

Have fun jamming the empeg in there It's a huge pain in the ass, but my install came out pretty nice.

I'm on nasioc.com just about as much as I'm here. It's a pretty darn good resource

congrats!

Probably ordering it later this week. (Is this what thread hijacking feels like?)

Nice. I bet an STI would still womp that though. heheh

Ditto, welcome to the Soobie club (for Men).

Thanks... i'll be checking out fellow subie installs soon to see what you guys did.

Loren, you'd be surprised how many dealers are "mod friendly" and will let you mod the car w/o voiding your warranty. Ask you local section of NASIOC.com, i-club.com, or clubwrx.net (my new favorite) which dealers are good.

Yeah, i'm not waiting to do mods because i'm worried about the warranty... it's just a cashflow issue. Actually, the one of the main reasons i drove to Santa Cruz Subaru is their mod friendly attitude. They are pretty well known as being one of the best dealers in CA. Their techs frequently post on NASIOC and all mod the hell out of their cars themselves... plus they have a nice little sports shop that sells performance parts.

Damn, looks like you've done a good deal of work to yours! Have you had it dyno'd? I'm probably going to go with all Vishnu parts when i get to it, because they are local and i can just drive over and have them tune and dyno it. I'm gonna order the Kartboy short shifter soon... might be my first mod since it's relatively cheap. I gotta read up on the "free" do it yourself mods too... like the resonator and ground mod stuff. Modding the WRX to any decent level in CA pretty much means breaking emissions laws. AND we have to deal with 91 octane as the highest we can get at the pump.

I'm definitely going to post on NASIOC and I-club to see what other empeggers are around when i get to installing it. Thanks for the links too! I'll check them out tomorrow.

Have fun jamming the empeg in there It's a huge pain in the ass, but my install came out pretty nice.

heheh... yeah, it looks like it's not exactly plug and play. Should be a good first project though.

Probably ordering it later this week.

What the hell are "anti-submarine" seats?!
Thank goodness its a standard option...

Well, you know, Sweden wasa big Nazi port back in WWII, so they're trying to take preventative measures to try to keep an invading navy out again.

No. Wait. That's something I just made up.

Actually, it's a feature of the seats that helps prevent the occupants from sliding out from underneath the seat belts in the event of a crash, an event known as submarining.

in case you haven't noticed i haven't had much car luck lately.

I'm having this really cosmic vibe that your luck has changed in a big way. Congratulations!

We just got back from 2 days of sliding the WRX through gravel and water hazards on this beautiful rally in eastern WA. We placed poorly (we were trying out a different calc software which turned out to be a stinker) but we had a complete blast and I just can't think of a better ride for the sideways stuff. I don't think I would want 300HP in our baby without a roll bar, though! Stock HP is plenty to power out of oopsies but still easy to moderate. For what we do, 300 HP would mostly mean more wheel spin (but I suppose I could try it!).

My only running gear mods so far are rear sway bar, K&N filter and stainless brake lines (and a front skid plate later this month), but I may start thinking about some others for next year. If I could hit 265 HP, I could match race Bitt in the Volvo!

I'm going to glass up a new sub enclosure in July, but I don't think it is what you want. It will fit *inside* my full-size spare (just a single 8" Solobaric), as I need to free up more cargo space and I decided that the mini-spare and that storage tray were not useful.

The various, fractured NASIOCs/I-Clubs are a great resource, albeit with a much lower S/N ratio and some HOW-TO that seems to suffer from lack of critical peer review. Still good, though. Plus, a great place to watch for used gear. I got a set of 4 OE wheels+tires for $250 and just received a glovebox from Montana for $30. Now, if I can only find some 15" Raceline RL-7s!!

Have a blast. Don't test the airbags!

I would tend to stay away from a short shifter. They tend to facilitate syncro wear and arent really needed. You can shift just as fast with a normal stick. Hey its just an opinion though.

What the hell are "anti-submarine" seats?!

I can answer this one since I work in automotive safety & crashworthiness. This is simply a seat designed to keep your butt planted in it during a frontal crash. A "normal" car seat will allow your body to begin slipping forward and under the lap belt from a frontal crash hence the term "submarining". Most seats these days have this aspect built in from the start since it is an easy way to improve frontal crash performance from an occupant standpoint.

i can slap almost all of the STI parts

Let us know when you get that big-ass spoiler and the gold wheels so we can all point and giggle at you.

We just got back from 2 days of sliding the WRX through gravel and water hazards on this beautiful rally in eastern WA

WOW... i want to drive that SO bad. Once i get some skill under my belt i might have to make a drive up there. That looks like an amazing course.

I would tend to stay away from a short shifter. They tend to facilitate syncro wear and arent really needed. You can shift just as fast with a normal stick

I had a short throw on my SI, so i'm just used to the feel of it. This stick feels like it's twice as long... feels funky.

Let us know when you get that big-ass spoiler and the gold wheels so we can all point and giggle at you

haha. no gold wheels for me. And the scoop is already big enough to block a good portion of the road... i can't imagine the STI scoop.

Once i get some skill under my belt i might have to make a drive up there. That looks like an amazing course.

A fair amount of it was pretty sedate with the occasional damp Woo Hoo, but the rallymaster included some wonderful hairpinned uphill sections including the beautiful, perennial Rock Island Grade in Douglas County. Anybody could run this (not much history of lost cars on this one, I don't think) and rides ranged from the swarm of Saab Sonnetts to a Dodge Dakota. We did it on the stock RE-92s (with just one flat from a nail) though I hope to have gravel tires some day soon. Next up (and closer to you) is The Road Not Taken in Oregon in August (for which I am investing in a front skid plate and for which I *really* wish I had some gravel tires -- the RE-92s have like less than zero lateral grip on gravel...)

Oh, I was *gonna* put a STi spoiler on my wagon, but then realized that I wouldn't be able to get into most parking garages (sniff!)

I need to find some good roads to drive down here. There're lots of good ones up in the mountains, but that's hours away.

What have you done to modify your car for rallying? And what do you do about damage?

A link to where you've already told us all that information would be fine.

Ditto that drool. Oh man. I want to do that SO bad i can taste it. So are you doing the whole Pacific Coast Challenge?

Supposedly there are some good runs down in Santa Cruz... i gotta go do some research...

Oh, and Bitt, read up in this thread, he posted what he'd done to his Rex up there. =]

So Loren, how many miles before you can really have some fun? I know I'd be driving to the local corner shop every day just to try and get the miles on it! Are you gonna wait 'till the odometer clicks over to 1k and then boot it?

Loren, during the break-in period, be sure not to spend the whole time at one RPM (like w. cruise control on). This will unevenly breakin your car to that RPM. The important thing is to vary the RPMs, even if you occationally get above 4,000RPM. (The "don't go over 4,000rpm and you'll be fine" thing is not too accurate - at least not as much as with older cars).

marria01, the break-in period is 1000 miles and has caused many WRX owners to seek professional mental help.

I always thought you didn't have to 'break in' a new car any more. Or is just with the Subaru's that you have to be carefull?

You know, I thought I'd read it, but I didn't think it was within the past month or so, much less earlier today. (Okay, yesterday.)

I think I need to work on something to make the workday pass by faster.

Andy, I think you're right. I guess with the WRX, it's more of a factor because it's a turbo - which means a LOT of heat when the boost kicks in (starting at 3500rpm but more "on" at 4000rpm).

I too have heard that the whole breakin period (except for the turbo factor) being a non-factor with modern engines. It's so hard to know who's right. Dealers have a tendincy to tell you something because it's the same thing they've been saying since they were selling cars in the 80's.

So I guess I'm back pedaling a bit (now thinking that keeping below 4000rpm is important and that the varying of rpm isn't as critical). But the truth is probably it's not the end of the world if you get above 4,000rpm once in a while during breakin and you won't kill the engine if you break-in on the freeway as long as you take a few side streets from time to time.

It's so hard to know who's right. Dealers have a tendincy to tell you something because it's the same thing they've been saying since they were selling cars in the 80's.

Which is why I depend on the owner's manual (written by the mfr rather than the dealer) to tell me how to handle things like the break-in and the oil change interval.

You don't listen to the 30-minute Oil Change place ?? What interest would they have in telling you to change your oil so often??

Are you gonna wait 'till the odometer clicks over to 1k and then boot it?

Heheh... i'll probably kick it in slowly after that... more worried about ME handling the cars power than the whole break in thing. =]

Which is why I depend on the owner's manual

Exactly... it's in the owners manual, so i'm doing it.

I've been sure to vary the rpms... even when i'm highway driving i'll shift all over the place just to keep it from being constant at 4k for long periods.

It is weird though... that the ECU will have been pretty punched into it's learning by the time you can push it over 4k. I'll be resetting it anyhow when i install the empeg (gotta disconnect that battery terminal =]).

You don't listen to the 30-minute Oil Change place ?? What interest would they have in telling you to change your oil so often??

Actually, i've heard arguments against the owners manual oil change periods as well... something to do with the manufacturer being able to advertise longer wear and cheaper cost per mile. At least it's not detrimental to anything but your wallet to change the oil more often than necessary. IIRC the WRX manual says change every 3500. It has a nice maintenence chart in the back i need to copy and post somewhere i'll see it.

I'm going to subscribe to techinfo.subaru.com tonight and download the entire service manual. If you want me to snag anything for ya let me know. =]

You don't listen to the 30-minute Oil Change place ?? What interest would they have in telling you to change your oil so often??

I suppose they'd have about the same amount of interest as, say, a car manufacturer might have in recommending longer oil change intervals..

Ouch, good point. HMMMMM....

Supposedly there are some good runs down in Santa Cruz... i gotta go do some research

I was just on "the 1" this last friday. I've driven a lot of crazy mountain roads but the section of the 1 between San Simeon and Monterey was UNREAL. That road has the tightest curves I've ever driven. I got to drive it in my gf's Integra, too - so that was fun!

- trs

Which is why I depend on the owner's manual (written by the mfr rather than the dealer) to tell me how to handle things like the break-in and the oil change interval.

My Saab's oil change interval in the manual is every 10,000 miles. Even the first change was recommended at 10,000 miles. I think that's nuts. I had the first oil change done at 1,000 miles and have been changing it every 4,000 since then.

That road has the tightest curves I've ever driven

The stretch of Hwy 1 going from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach is incredible as well.

But what i really want to do is some dirt track where i don't have to worry about flying off a cliff into the Pacific... where at worst i might go into a grassy field or something.

But what i really want to do is some dirt track where i don't have to worry about flying off a cliff into the Pacific...

Well, if you do rally racing, they choose the courses so that the cliffside is always on the co-driver's side of the car. So you don't need to worry about that as much.

cliffside is always on the co-driver's side of the car

SHH! I'm having enough trouble keeping Kelly calm when i drive in the city... if she hears that she'll never go on a track with me!

I suppose they'd have about the same amount of interest as, say, a car manufacturer might have in recommending longer oil change intervals

...a perfect example being the Mazda MX5/Miata/Eunos Roadster. The Mazda recommended oil change interval jumped from 6,000 miles to 9,000 without any change to the engine design.

I think on average mine only gets changed every 15,000 miles or so. Probably not a good idea, but it has survived 115,000 miles over 6 years so far, I haven't killed it yet (though it has been off the road for the last week getting all the hoses and timing belt replaced after some well hidden and old hose let go on me the other day).

Synthetic helps too - less break down of the oil. But that first one at 1000 miles is a good idea - you'll be shocked how many metal shavings are in that first batch of oil.

Mark - good point, I hadn't thought of that.

Yes I change the oil every 3000 miles in my Saturn and 1500 in my Civic Hatch because I dont drive it that much and when I do it spends most of that time above 6000 rpms.

It'd be cool if we knew someone experienced in computer animation so we could get a spinning "Subaru Stars" logo with some lighting effects....

That's very... uh.... subtle of you.

Haha... gimme a model, and i can make it spin, then i'll hand it off to the effects guy for the sparkles. =]

I need to find some good roads [....] There're lots of good ones up in the mountains, but that's hours away.

We're really lucky here with the mountains being pretty jammed up against the coast (I think it took us like 1:15 to get to our start Saturday AM). Oregon, Washington and British Columbia are also lucky to have a whole lot of "middle of nowhere" such as when you get over to the east side of the mountains in WA/OR or almost *anywhere* up in BC.

What have you done to modify your car for rallying? And what do you do about damage?

As it stands, we have neither the gobs of cash or reflexes needed for stage rallying, so what we do are TSD (Time-Speed-Distance) rallys, where things like roll bars are not required and you stand a good chance of getting the car home in one piece (it doesn't always work out that way).

TSDs are run on public roads at legal speeds (more or less) so that insurance coverage is still in force. And TSDs come in different flavors, from "trap" rallies on pavement where the trick is to interpret and follow instructions correctly, to pavement touring rallies where precision is more of a factor, to gravel TSDs where maintaining a seemingly reasonable speed through twists and turns becomes the issue. The latter is what we've gotten most interested in, so-called "brisk" gravel rallies (in BC, these are generally Brisk++)

So the only damage to the car so far are some minor scrapes on the front spoiler lip and a fair size ding on the bar that holds the right lower control arm (where last November at the Totem Rally in BC I managed to drop the car at about 45 MPH on a fairly big boulder that was hiding in a fairly large slushed-over water hazard).

For many pavement rallies you need no equipment. Some touring rallies conduct basic safety inspections to comply with their club's insurance requirements.

For the many gravel rallies that require them I added:
- 10BC fire extinguisher (they usually spec 5BC or better)
- first aid kit
- tow strap
- reflective triangles (flares typically prohibited)

I should actually keep better track of all this, but things I have added or modifications I have made so far include:

- 4-position AGU fuse block for stereo, ham radio, rally comuter and driving lights.
- Littlite map light
- Hella FF1000 lights on a one-off light bar (something like this pretty much required for gravel night events, and I may add a 3rd FF1000)
- Alfa Club rally clock/odo
- Goodridge stainless brake lines and Super Blue brake fluid
- Slightly upgraded fog light bulbs (85W Yellorstars) and a relay to cut out DRLs if just fogs are turned on
- Kenwood D700A dual-band ham radio
- entrenching tool
- avalanche shovel
- foam pads (for kneeling/crawling on)
- torque wrench with wheel lug socket
- permanent mount recharging Maglite
- full-size spare
- 5 studded Nokian Hakka 1s on OE wheels for winter
- louder horns (Hella Supertones)
- rear diff skid plate (factory option)
- Alfa magnetic sensor on rear axle
- VSS sensor tap (at tranny)
- Empeg

Before The Road Not Taken, I'm adding a front skid plate (from Primitive) and a better back-up light tied in with the driving lights. After our attempt to use a piece of laptop-based rally computer software on No Alibi, I may bite the bullet and finally get a Timewise 798A. I bought a second glovebox from a wreck so I could hack that up into a permanent mount (bonus points for the WRX's easily removable glovebox).

Loren: So are you doing the whole Pacific Coast Challenge?

Well, we were going to go up to Coast-to-Coast on Vancouver Island, but we decided that there were too many other things to attend to. After No Alibi, I don't think we have to worry about a trophy anyhow (but that's not why we do it anyhow). So we'll just do TRNT, Night on Bald Mountain, Totem, and then the Winter Alcan in February (with maybe some Friday nioghters thrown in).

Oh, links! For TSD things, these are pretty good: Left, Right, Online! and Rally Central . I have to say that the Carolinas don't appear to have many rally links. Cherokee Trails Pro Rally a popular event up the road in Tennessee, but a search on "rally TSD Raleigh Carolinas" hasn't shown much yet, and the SCCA links for their TSD division shows mostly events in Virginia. This outfit says they do rallies, but their calendar doesn't show any. More research!

May be a special case, but with TVRs it is critical to have the full run in period, the the engine is retuned, the grade of oil completely changed and various physical tweaks are made.

Heh - I sooo want one!

I always thought you didn't have to 'break in' a new car any more. Or is just with the Subaru's that you have to be carefull?

No, it's in all the VW/Audi/Porsche training manuals to go over the break in period with the customer as well.

Sucks the joy out of getting a new car every 3 or 4 weeks. I only get to enjoy them for a very short period of time.

In reply to:

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Haha... gimme a model, and i can make it spin, then i'll hand it off to the effects guy for the sparkles. =]

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Is the attached worth doing? (not the same file as the image below)

it doesn't always work out that way

Ouch. Is that you?

a search on "rally TSD Raleigh Carolinas" hasn't shown much

Dude, I'm in the middle of NASCAR country down here. (The first syllable is pronounced as ``mace'' with an `n' instead of an `m', BTW.) If they could figure out a way to drive 500 miles without any turns at all, they'd do it. (Only two of the thirty-two tracks listed on the NASCAR web site are road courses, and they, from what people tell me, are generally ignored. Many of the drivers apparently don't even try on them.) I think the chances of me finding a rally group are slim. I'd be happy to find a few roads that are curvy to have fun driving down by myself. Actually, I'd be more interested in road courses anyway, but, then again, you say that you do that. Maybe I'll look into it.

And, as far as damage, I figured you were generally careful enough not to destroy your car. I was more curious about aesthetic damage, especially from the gravel.

Ouch. Is that you?

No, thankfully. That was Car 10, we were "Car" 12 (with the tow strap...that had no hope). Would you believe the WRX was a total? That's what happens when you park on top of a stump at 35.

Dude, I'm in the middle of NASCAR country down here.

Don't I know it. And my sympathies! My sister used to live in Newbern and all I remember is straight roads. You might have to find an autocross for some curves. Looked like THCC had some of that.

Actually, I'd be more interested in road courses anyway

one link I found was the local Porsche club. If they have track days, it isn't uncommon for marque clubs to let other makes in to pay the bills, so I might hunt around for local BMW, Alfa, or other clubs.

And, as far as damage, I figured you were generally careful enough not to destroy your car. I was more curious about aesthetic damage, especially from the gravel.

Oh, yeah, some other mods I forgot:

- 3M headlight protectors
- home-made Lexan fog light covers
- OE Impreza mud flaps (had to hack the fronts for the WRX, but worked OK)

These last have worked really well so far. I have been monitoring for paint chips along the sides near the wheels, and was ready to install bigger, uglier flaps if needed, but it looks good so far (and we have thrown up a lot of gravel).

and have been changing it every 4,000 since then

A compromise I have been experimenting with is to change the oil filter at 2500 miles, and the oil and filter at 5000 miles. Even at 5000 miles my oil still looks pretty clean when I change it.

tanstaafl.

Anyone want a set of 17" Rota Subzeros in Steal Grey wrapped in Yokahamas? I just found I ordered the wrong wheels (want Silver SubZeros) but they are already paid for...

Okay, maybe I'll get more response at nasioc.com :P Wish me luck w. this. Feel like a doof agreeing to the wrong color thinking it was another.

Magically turn them into Steel Grey Battles and you have a deal! I was thinking about the Subzeroes... but i'm not a fan of the polished lip.

That sucks... I bet Rota would take them back and trade them out if you payed the shipping.

I've seriously gotta start figuring out what rims i want. i REALLY love the OZ Racing F1 Cups... but alas it doesn't look like they'll fit the WRX (unless anyone knows how to make a 35mm offset into a 48mm offset). I'd kill for those rims. Soooo nice. I'm definitely going for some anthracite / steel greys, whatever they end up being.

Feel like a doof agreeing to the wrong color thinking it was another.



Magic word: KRYLON

tanstaafl.

Well, you can get wheel paint. I don't know if the ones being looked at are painted or if they're colored some other way, but it should be feasible.

See this article on repairing a barked wheel. I can't see a reason you couldn't apply that to the whole wheel. You would have to be careful about all those drips, runs, and errors.

Don't forget the clearcoat, though.

The weirdest thing happened... a local guy on the Subby boards had nearly the exact opposite problem! He has the identicle wheels I want and I have what he wants. His have a few months of miles on them though. So we are going to meet in person and see if we can work something out.

I also want to see these things on the car. And Loren, that'd be my one advice to you - go to a Subby meet and see wheels in person. Some look great in photos and like junk in person (or more likely the opposite). Also, your new body style might work better with differant wheels than the body style I have (which also comprises 80% of the photos out there.)

On the subject of "Wheels, me want!", can everyone (whether you own a WRX or not!!) e-mail Rota and ask 'em to *pleeese* make a knock-off of the discontinued Raceline RL-7? In 15"? For Jim? Pleeeese???

And I'd get some silver Rota Attacks in 17" if I was feeling.....employed!

I just spent a few weeks dealing with getting replacements for the rims I had on my Jetta and I thought I'd point out a site I used to find the ones I ended up getting. I don't know what their selection is like for rims that fit the Subaru's, but they seem to have a fairly wide varity. Anyway, just thought I'd point it out.

And Loren, that'd be my one advice to you - go to a Subby meet and see wheels in person

That's actually a great idea... i'm gonna do that before i drop the $$.

Thanks for the link Donato!

So... as i mentioned before, seriously, IS there a way to make a 35mm offset into a 48mm offset? Some sort of spacer?

They do make spacers. They're called just that. But first you have to know if it's a positive or negative offset. I never can remember which way is which, but one's got the bolt plane (or whatever it's called) closer to the outside of the wheel and one's got it closer to the inside. If it's closer to the outside, and the wheel is of a lower offset, you can't get a spacer because you'd need to remove material, not add it. It's not clear which way you're going, though.

Also, I'm not sure that spacers are street legal.

So if i need a +48 to +53 mm offset for the WRX, and the F1's are 35mm offset... i'm thorougly confused. ah well.

Okay. IIR my directions C:

Your car wants a +50mm wheel. This means that the bolt plane for the wheel needs to be 50mm to the outside of the center of the wheel. The wheel you want has the bolt plane 35mm to the outside from the center of the wheel. In order to get it to line up with what the WRX wants, you have to get the bolt plane to be another 15mm further to the outside, which means you'd have to grind material off of the wheel, which means it ain't gonna happen.

If you had a wheel that was at +60mm, then you could buy a 10mm spacer to get it back to +50mm and you'd be good.

Tirerack has some info about offset. Maybe their picture will help explain it better.

And don't forget about bolt patterns.

Loren, spacers are usually used to make a cheap wheel fit or a "bling bling"wheel fit. The F1's (I agree they are sexy as hell) are too good of a wheel to do this to. The spacer will make them unsafe for performance driving - which is what those wheels are all about.

I like the OZ Supperleggra (sp?) a lot too - see them in person.

Speaking of "seeing them in person" I got my wheels and they are growing on me. I'll post a pic tomorrow if the weather's good. My buddy has the silver ones, so I'll park both side by side and post a poll :P.