Daily Driver Performance BRZ
 

Hey all, new to the club and been searching the forums for a while. I'm looking to buy a 2015 series blue BRZ if there are any left at a good price and low miles a year or two from now. I think I got a feel for what I really want but wanted your opinions or my wish list below.

Old Wishlist
- Delicious Tuning Edelbrock SC pkg
- Ace A350 headers
- CSG Touring 86 exhaust
- TEIN Flex A suspension or CSG Spec
- CSG Brembos brakes
- Volk ZE40 18x9.5 43 wheels or 18x10 40
- Summer tires (Michelin Pilot Super Sport 265/40ZR18)
- Winter tires (General Grabber Arctic LT LT265/70R18 (LOAD E))
- VIS Racing VRS carbon fiber hood
- Aerocatch hood pins

New wishlist
- Delicious Tuning Edelbrock SC pkg
- Radium Dual Catch Cans
- Jackson Racing Dual Radiator/Oil Cooler
- Ace A350 headers
- CSG Touring 86 exhaust
- TEIN Flex A suspension or CSG Spec
- Volk ZE40 17x9 45 wheels
- Hankook Ventus V12 Evo 2 tires 255/40
- Winter tires: using stock wheels
- MPH Hood
- Aerocatch hood pins

It’s really just up to you and what you want. Mods and upgrades do depend on where you live and what your use for the car is (track, daily driver, drift car). However, I would say to get the car first. Get it and get used to it. I had a lot of plans for my 335i but that changed. Same thing with my BRZ today. All of those mods add up so make sure you know that what you are changing on the car is really useful and truly necessary for the purpose of the car. It is yours anyways. Good luck man and welcome :cheers:

Welcome, that's a nice list.



I'd take a look at the MPH Fabrication hood.


http://www.marshpowerhousefab.com/pr...86-gtspec-hood

Come back in a year or two when you're actually ready to make a purchase.

Buying brembos again? MPSS tires? LoL
Parkhard bro.

The brakes were a recommendation from CSG. I take it, that's over kill. Never know, I may need to drift into a parking spot and it brakes hard.

Good to have goals and wishes. Save up for the car, then you can start saving for your $20k wish list.

Good luck.

OP if you are in need of my used car prices fortune telling services, plz PM me but keep in mind rates are based on the number of months out...24 months is pretty difficult for me to get an accurate divination

I'm in for the long haul with this one. Right now it is a dream. In this dream, I'm looking more for reliability which is why I chose those mods. It's better than spending $65-70K on a new supra that only has 330+ hp. Not even sure if that's whp

Random thoughts:

1) Drive the car stock first. Take it to a track day or autox. They're fun stock.

2) FI on a used motor is always a gamble.

3) Exhaust is subjective. The ACE is a good header, but it's pricey (even considering that you get an OP with it). You can get 95% of the performance for less money if you consider other options.

4) The CSG Brembos are capable, but you probably don't need them unless you're tracking the car and have a decent amount of experience already. There's nothing wrong with them, and if you want them for the cool factor, then okay. But they're not required for street use.

5) I would avoid 18x10 wheels as they're harder to fit on the front and largely unnecessary. In fact, I would stick to 17" wheels generally as they're lighter and the tires are significantly less expensive.

6) MPSS or the PS4S are fine tires, but they're by definition a compromise tire. They're not the fastest on track, and not the most cost-effective for daily. If that's what you want, then great. I used them for a while. But for me it works better to have designated daily tires and separate track tires.

7) Like said above, look into MPH hood over vis

edit: 8) If you want reliability and still plan to go FI, get an oil cooler and some catch cans.

Thank you so much for the input! Driving it stock is the plan for now. I've been doing a lot more research and I'm having an issue with the wheels and exhaust.

I'll stick with 17s since you and a lot more recommend it. The issue I'm running into is how big of a wheel and tire can I get away with if I use the coilovers but do not use camber? 10s and 9s seem to poke especially when using the calculator tool. I'm trying to go as wide as possible without rubbing. It looks like 8.5 might work but I heard they rub on hard turns. I'm also staying square just because I hear it is overall better for the car.

For the exhaust, I'm not sure what would be a good fit with the headers and stay emission compliant. If I can't, I guess I'll have to swap during inspection days.

Saving money is always a good thing and I thank you all again for the advice. Most of my research are recommendation from past post, YouTube, and companies like Delicious Tunning, csg, ft86 speed factory, and fitment. Since I'm in this for the long haul, I'm just trying to plan this out so I can buy part in bulk and as cheap as possible (Black Friday, x-mas, etc).

One last thing I wanted to add. Is the 2015 Series Blue worth getting or would it be better to get a 2013 limited?

You should check out this thread for your wheel and tire setup this should give you some ideas. http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41083

Also, yes if you can find a 2015 Series.Blue or even a 2016 model go for it. They dont seem to have all the issues that the early 2013-14 models- just to avoid any headaches.

265/40/18 is wrong. 265/35/18 works.

Your winter tires are also wrong. I'd sugest stock size tires for winter. The wider the tire, the less pressure you have per square inch. This makes "cutting" through snow or rain puddles harder and hydroplaning easier.

You can fit 9.5 wide and 265 tires without camber, so long as you have coils. But if you want meaty, I would suggest 17x9 with +35 to +45 offset, 245 or 255/40/17 tires, and -2.5* front camber. My track wheels are 17x9 +38 with 255s, and I run -3.5* camber. See pic at bottom for fitment (although those are 17x9 +35).

Not sure how your state does things, but in Texas, you can pass inspection so long as you have a tune. They only check OBD2, and so long as the computer says everything's fine, you pass.

Any 2015 is preferable to a 2013, as they made slight valvetrain changes in late 2014. 2015+ motors are slightly more reliable. Whether the series.blue is worthwhile is purely subjective. I have one, but I lost my front lip and replaced the painted calipers, so I've given up some of the uniqueness. Also, the frameless rear view mirror tends to have issues with delamination.


https://i.imgur.com/wyBWGTA.jpg

@Vital, thank you for that. Gave me a new outlook on camber.
@Leonard, thank you. I plan on sticking with stock for winter.
@kch, thank you again. I may stick with 8.5 or 9s depending on selection.

I just picked up my 2015 Series.Blue and I love it. It took me a while to hunt one down and when I did I had to have it shipped. 100% worth it. Due to it being a more "rare" car, it may hold it's value a little bit more possibly. The STI lip kit real ads a great look to the car and the blue accented interior is sharp. I am surprised that the car gets more attention than I was expecting. I get a lot of lookers and people asking me about the car. Car people and non car people. But as others stated, any 2015 will be better than a 2013. The 2013's are known to have some problems due to them being the first year and even had a big recall recently.

If you have any questions regarding the Series.Blue or any tips on how to hunt one down, feel free to ask. :D

I am not sure about this color, but all car makers have similar colors and I hated it. It's purely my personal preference though.

Made some updates to the wishlist with the recomendations given by everyone. I'm still researching if I need a front pipe/mid pipe with this setup, and what type of winter tires to use on the stock wheels. I'll update once I get an idea. I hope this helps other newbs like myself that wishes to invest time and money into this car. All this research is to build a fast but reliable setup without messing with the engine internals. I know if I want to max hp past 350, I'll need a built engine or swap it out completely. Thank you all again for the links and advice on what to do.

Edit: I forgot to ask if anyone knew if it would be a bad idea to do multiple tunes. I was thinking about breaking up the upgrades into different stages. Delicious Tunning offers different tunes. I was thinking about doing one of each tune I think I would need over time. I'm not sure if that would mess up the cars response or if each tune wipes out the other.

The car only runs one tune at a time.

Ah, makes sense.

Also, looks like the exhaust comes with a mid pipe. I would just need to replace the frontpipe. I'm looking at the JDL Ultraquiet frontpipe. Looks like that would suit what I'm looking for.

If you are serious - my Series.Blue has about 1,700 miles. Brand new car thats always garaged plus has Subaru extended warranty.
Here is youtube video when I first got it.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEBobwprGtA[/ame]

1700 miles on a 2015?

Have you ever driven it?

Unfortunately not a lot of time to drive it.
- take subway to work most of the time
- 2 small kids under 5 so not lot of free time on weekends
- plus i have 2 other cars

Are you sure 265/35/18 doesn't rub? I have 255/40/17 RSRs that run wide on mine, and I definitely rub the bumper tab.

Oh right, that rear bumper tab. Mine has been gone for so long that I forgot about it :lol:

haha mine too. I'm trying to figure out if I want to get 255/35/18 RSRs or 245s.

Rubbing bumper tab depends on wheel specs as much as tire width (and brand). I had 255/35/18 MPSSs on 18x9.5 +42 and had zero rubbing. 1.5* camber up front and near 2* out back, from what I remember.

I sold my BRZ so I can’t provide any recent specifics, but know that trimming the tab isn’t difficult and fitting 265s at 9.5 wide and +40 is relatively easy.

PS i’m selling a ton of BRZ parts so hit me up if you want a list :p #shameless

Can confirm. The tab trims itself :lol:

ECUtek can have multiple maps on one "tune," theoretically allowing for different modification configurations. But it's not a great idea, as each map wouldn't really be optimized unless you went through and tuned each configuration.

Yeah, I figured as much. I'll have to see if I can find a tune shop here. I was hoping I could get Delisious Tuning or someone similar setup a custom tune. I'll have to keep an open mind.