Subaru ROOKIE

[Xxyion]

Originally Posted by BRZParee2019

Hello all,


I am completely new to the Subaru world and just got my first BRZ the other day which is the limited, performance package trim. I've been browsing around some threads and have read some of the basic information but if anybody can spare a few wise recommendations. Feel free to help out with anything that comes to mind if you have the time.


Goals (nothing too severe)
-Suspension (What's best for just street driving? I've read Eibach is great. Coilovers for a lower look?)
-I.E.H (What all is of quality and reputation, HP gains? *California Resident*)
-Supercharger (A few years later, I'd like to try F.I. What is reputable?)


Thanks for all of your input.


-Paris

Hey Man,

Welcome to the community and also from a fellow Californian.

If you are going to keep the car relatively stock with just some minor mods to enhance the experience I have a few suggestions as thats exactly where my car is at right now.

Coilovers: Coilovers over springs in my opinion. For a few reasons. With springs, if your suspension goes out for any reason, now you have to either buy OEM suspension and you wont be able to drive your car until you receive and install. With Coils, you at least can save your spare stock suspension in case the coils ever go out or get damaged and that way you are back out on the rod with a damn good suspension setup.

For Coils I recommend ST Coils or the more expensive variant VW K3s. Both are amazing and the ride is pretty smooth for being lower. You also get some customizable adjustments with the KWs.

IEH: If you are worried about being CARB legal I'd say stay stock from front pipe forward and just get a nice cutback exhaust. For any sort of HP gains I highly recommend running E85 with either a Flexfuel Kit or an Openflash tablet.

If you dont care about CARB, run catless headers, paired with E85 you can make around an extra 30-40ish horsepower.

Forced Induction: For Superchargers there are some good options, Jackson Racing, Edelbrock, Harrop, are all on the top end of the list, make good power and are reliable. The best part is that the first two are CARB legal and the last one is in the process of being CARB legal.


Join the NorCal 86 and Sac86 facebook groups if you havnt already. Lots of good people with good info to help you out.

[bcj]

I've found the stock configuration works fine for me.
I like N/A. It goes around corners adequately.
It's not a low optioned parts bin price leader for the brand/brands.

[BRZParee2019]

Originally Posted by NCtoBRZ

I can’t wait for this hideous, handling and ride quality ruining, chassis scraping “hellaflush” trend to end

To the OP, learn to drive the car and decide as your skills improve if and what you really need to “upgrade”. As mentioned, the performance package suspension is pretty well sorted for a good balance of handling and every day street use.

Thanks for the input. I will def. keep that in mind.

[BRZParee2019]

Originally Posted by HKz

besides the aesthetics of a lowered car, the suspension really depends on how much you care for a stiffer ride & less ground clearance...the most basic suspension for the twins will satisfy most people for DD duty if you don't care about the fender/wheel gap ^^ I like the stock low grip & resistance tire for street use...makes the car feel livelier and you get very good MPG especially on the highway..

OP doesn't have any goals set, just asking about reliable power and a supercharger...sounds like he doesn't know what he wants or he wants power without working for it. Driver mod until you can drive 10/10 on some twisties

After reading some replies and posts, my goals for right now are just looks since I reside in California. I am looking for some reputable suspension that can give the car a good look and still provide a quality drive. I'm also looking to see which wheel sizes I can comfortably go up to without any issues. Someone recommended me that I can go up to 18x9.5 in the rear and a bit smaller in the front.


Internal mods will have to wait since everything will have to be legal in California. I will have to do research on that and see what all replies and posts I can gather information from.

[BRZParee2019]

Originally Posted by bcj

I've found the stock configuration works fine for me.
I like N/A. It goes around corners adequately.
It's not a low optioned parts bin price leader for the brand/brands.

Yeah man, I'm def. staying N/A for quite awhile.

[BRZParee2019]

Originally Posted by Xxyion

Hey Man,

Welcome to the community and also from a fellow Californian.

If you are going to keep the car relatively stock with just some minor mods to enhance the experience I have a few suggestions as thats exactly where my car is at right now.

Coilovers: Coilovers over springs in my opinion. For a few reasons. With springs, if your suspension goes out for any reason, now you have to either buy OEM suspension and you wont be able to drive your car until you receive and install. With Coils, you at least can save your spare stock suspension in case the coils ever go out or get damaged and that way you are back out on the rod with a damn good suspension setup.

For Coils I recommend ST Coils or the more expensive variant VW K3s. Both are amazing and the ride is pretty smooth for being lower. You also get some customizable adjustments with the KWs.

IEH: If you are worried about being CARB legal I'd say stay stock from front pipe forward and just get a nice cutback exhaust. For any sort of HP gains I highly recommend running E85 with either a Flexfuel Kit or an Openflash tablet.

If you dont care about CARB, run catless headers, paired with E85 you can make around an extra 30-40ish horsepower.

Forced Induction: For Superchargers there are some good options, Jackson Racing, Edelbrock, Harrop, are all on the top end of the list, make good power and are reliable. The best part is that the first two are CARB legal and the last one is in the process of being CARB legal.


Join the NorCal 86 and Sac86 facebook groups if you havnt already. Lots of good people with good info to help you out.

Thanks for the great input man! Yeah, I'm def. focused on improving the cars looks for now. Lowered suspension first and then work my way up to tinting the windows and maybe adding a sound system. I will have to do some research on what exhaust systems I can legally get since we're in CA. But yeah, an exhaust system and E-85 sounds just about enough of what I'd like as far as performance goals. I don't have any goals to get over 300hp at the wheels. I think 280 or even 250 is good enough. We'll see as time progresses.

[HKz]

Originally Posted by BRZParee2019

After reading some replies and posts, my goals for right now are just looks since I reside in California. I am looking for some reputable suspension that can give the car a good look and still provide a quality drive. I'm also looking to see which wheel sizes I can comfortably go up to without any issues. Someone recommended me that I can go up to 18x9.5 in the rear and a bit smaller in the front.


Internal mods will have to wait since everything will have to be legal in California. I will have to do research on that and see what all replies and posts I can gather information from.

bigger & wider wheels will almost always make the twins feel more sluggish and hurt your ride quality. Unless you're pushing a good bit of power over stock, 17 x 7 has been proven as the best...staggered is a bit unnecessary..

[Leonardo]

Originally Posted by BRZParee2019

After reading some replies and posts, my goals for right now are just looks since I reside in California. I am looking for some reputable suspension that can give the car a good look and still provide a quality drive. I'm also looking to see which wheel sizes I can comfortably go up to without any issues. Someone recommended me that I can go up to 18x9.5 in the rear and a bit smaller in the front.


Internal mods will have to wait since everything will have to be legal in California. I will have to do research on that and see what all replies and posts I can gather information from.

My$0.02

So, I had 4 square setups then 2 staggered. Now Finally back to square. Even though you can stagger, and the car drives good, square IS better. I regret going staggered now.

Learning experiences..

Anyway, if you do stagger: The closer to square the better, IMO. Meaning, a 215 / 255 stagger (like my s2k) will not drive as good as a 225/245 stagger.

[Xxyion]

Originally Posted by BRZParee2019

Thanks for the great input man! Yeah, I'm def. focused on improving the cars looks for now. Lowered suspension first and then work my way up to tinting the windows and maybe adding a sound system. I will have to do some research on what exhaust systems I can legally get since we're in CA. But yeah, an exhaust system and E-85 sounds just about enough of what I'd like as far as performance goals. I don't have any goals to get over 300hp at the wheels. I think 280 or even 250 is good enough. We'll see as time progresses.

Being where you are most exhaust systems (as long as everything else is stock) should be under the CA legal dB limit (95db).

As far as your power goals, you WILL have to go forced induction in order to hit 250 to the wheels. Even with every single bolt on and e85 add-on that you put on the car will net you maybe 215 to the wheels at most. I used to have the Edelbrock Supercharger (CARB legal) and on 91 I was hitting 250 to the wheels.

Also for wheels and tires, honestly dont go staggered unless you know exactly why you want it. Going staggered will induce some understeer, which for this car is weird as the whole point of this car is to have controllable oversteer. Now if you do it for looks I cant stop you there, however all my friends who went with a staggered setup eventually switched to a square setup.

As far as sizes go, honestly a lot will depend on the wheel you get. While the general rule of thumb is that the larger the wheel the slightly more sluggish the car will feel, if you get a wheel thats lighter than stock but still 18x9.5, the car will feel roughly the same. I myself really like 17" wheels so I run 17x9 wheels on 235/45/17 tires

[BRZParee2019]

Originally Posted by Xxyion

Being where you are most exhaust systems (as long as everything else is stock) should be under the CA legal dB limit (95db).

As far as your power goals, you WILL have to go forced induction in order to hit 250 to the wheels. Even with every single bolt on and e85 add-on that you put on the car will net you maybe 215 to the wheels at most. I used to have the Edelbrock Supercharger (CARB legal) and on 91 I was hitting 250 to the wheels.

Also for wheels and tires, honestly dont go staggered unless you know exactly why you want it. Going staggered will induce some understeer, which for this car is weird as the whole point of this car is to have controllable oversteer. Now if you do it for looks I cant stop you there, however all my friends who went with a staggered setup eventually switched to a square setup.

As far as sizes go, honestly a lot will depend on the wheel you get. While the general rule of thumb is that the larger the wheel the slightly more sluggish the car will feel, if you get a wheel thats lighter than stock but still 18x9.5, the car will feel roughly the same. I myself really like 17" wheels so I run 17x9 wheels on 235/45/17 tires

Thanks for the advice. I don't think I am gonna go for the staggered look. I just want the vehicle lower than it currently is stock with some nice wheels. Power will slowly happen after I do some more research. Most likely I'll just get an I/E as the first power gains.

[Xxyion]

Originally Posted by BRZParee2019

Thanks for the advice. I don't think I am gonna go for the staggered look. I just want the vehicle lower than it currently is stock with some nice wheels. Power will slowly happen after I do some more research. Most likely I'll just get an I/E as the first power gains.

Dont bother with an Intake. The stock one is actually the best one for our NA setup and even with a tune the most you'll see is a 1-2 hp gain. Unless you like intake sounds then by all means intake away =D

[Decep]

For street driving, stock suspension is best imo. Especially when you have the performance package which has some pretty decent dampers. Unless your roads are nice and smooth anyway. Otherwise the shocks have to work harder and you will be skipping around on bumps more and getting launched out of your seat on big dips (been there done that).

For looks, definitely lower an inch or so if you want though. Car looks a lot better and there's something to be said for the feel of being dwarfed by corollas etc

[GrantedTaken]

First thing you should do is spend a year or two learning how to drive.
Once you do that, you will see that you need no mods at all.

People who just don't get it. This thread is for you!
https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=130121

[BRZParee2019]

Originally Posted by GrantedTaken

First thing you should do is spend a year or two learning how to drive.
Once you do that, you will see that you need no mods at all.

People who just don't get it. This thread is for you!
https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=130121

I used to own an Evo VIII and a 2016 Miata Club Sport. I think I have a pretty dam good idea of what I need and want.