Stock BRZ

[Antheezy]

I plan on doing very simple cosmetic mods, and of course drop and rims in the first year. After my warranty is up and spare cash laying around Im going to have some real fun.

[Symmetrical]

Originally Posted by Antheezy

I plan on doing very simple cosmetic mods, and of course drop and rims in the first year. After my warranty is up and spare cash laying around Im going to have some real fun.

Glad to see another Bay Area BRZ owner, make sure to hit up the NorCal thread

[silvercar]

I just plasti dipped the wheels black, besides that it's all stock. I've had mine for over a year. Everyone says I need an exhaust, I like a deep sound, but I think it would sound too fake with one. Not to mention it's expensive. Anyway I love my Subby just the way she is, I don't have any plans to modify anything else.

[5th 86]

Mines pretty clean looking just had to fix the ugly/iritating parts with better

[Tman08]

All of my past cars have remained stock. Though I'm still a few months out from buying one of the 14's, I have a few simple things planned: OEM armrest, Toms Tail lights, OEM Audio upgrade, with new rims and tyres eventually as well.

I personally prefer a more subtle look to the car in terms of upgrades.

[thill]

Originally Posted by 5th 86

Mines pretty clean looking just had to fix the ugly/iritating parts with better

For the life of me I cannot understand why they did not go with clear side markers vs the amber ones. The clear ones really make a difference IMHO.

[rapidcars]

Originally Posted by thill

For the life of me I cannot understand why they did not go with clear side markers vs the amber ones. The clear ones really make a difference IMHO.

I believe they had to go with amber for legal reasons.

[Blood]

The only thing I didn't like about the stock setup was the wimpy looking exhaust tips on the North American version (Does Canada get the same tips that the States get?), the not so empowered exhaust noise, and the sound tube. So the mods I've done to remedy those are catback exhaust + front pipe and inlet hose to delete the sound tube. I also replaced the engine air filter with a foam filter just because.

Everything else is stock (including wheels). I'm completely satisfied with the car now, so I do not plan to do any other mods unless something needs to be replaced (such as doing coilovers when the struts need replacing).

[switchlanez]

So my dad has had 3 generations of Supras (including MkIV TT), '69 Mustang, '88 Firebird... never ever modded anything on any of them. Now he has a WRB BRZ Limited (like me) and never intended to mod it... but I keep pushing things on him. He's got the GrimmSpeed license plate relocator kit, gave him my JDM exhaust tips, and bought FR-S dash panels and Carsmo armrest for him. He likes all of it. Now he wants Tom's lights like I have. His car still looks mostly stock just with little touches that enhance.

I kept my MR-S visually stock and, after I sold that, my last 3 sports cars that followed (MR2, MR2 Turbo, and G35) were completely stock (sold off any aftermarket parts already on them and bought stock parts to restore to stock). There's something nice about "preserving" older sports cars by keeping them completely stock while everyone else's are modded out. And when the BRZ came out, I tried to keep the same mindset. But the ride height bugged me. The engineers intended for it to be lower for truer sports car handling. The suspension geometry is ideal at 20 +/-5mm lower than stock height according to a PM exchange I had with Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada. But to clear dips/curbs/parking stops and be public road-friendly, they lifted it to monster truck stratification. Also, everyone else's BRZ was stock when I got mine and I don't like being like everyone else. Parts available for this car were too sublime to ignore. With the BRZ, it can't be helped. It's meant to be tinkered with, with "hooks" in place from the factory for modding. So I'm having at it, the way it was intended. Kept all my stock parts in case I want to be "different" and revert to stock when every BRZ I see is modded out later on.

[chanomatik]

"Stock" is such a relative term. I've spent my money trying to make my interior more JDM, closer to the GT-86. "Stock" to me means that one doesn't know any better about what can be improved upon.

I was quick to remove the orange side markers since the car looks much cleaner without them. JDM comes with underbody aero panels. Also, if you got a lower trim model, having stock parts from an upper trim can be highly rewarding.

I guess it just depends on what you're going for. Most people want the car to be unique to them. I want my car to essentially be more show than go, but I would like it to be a capable autox car, which is why I'm even bothering with suspension bits.

My body fat absorbs most of the extra NVH from making the car stiffer anyways.

[dsgerbc]

Originally Posted by chanomatik

"Stock" to me means that one doesn't know any better about what can be improved upon.

It also means that one does know that improving something usually comes at the expense of screwing up something else.

Improving something is fine, if it preserves the rest. Out of all those who try to 'improve' the car, only a small percentage will succeed. The rest will "improve" something and screw up something else, for example handing (crappy lowering hardware, bad damping, crazy understeer-inducing spacers etc). Properly "improving", while preserving the rest is expensive.

P.S.: don't care about "unique", I'm not a teen/tween any more, and not having a mid-life crisis either (yet?).

[chanomatik]

Originally Posted by dsgerbc

It also means that one does know that improving something usually comes at the expense of screwing up something else.

Improving something is fine, if it preserves the rest. Out of all those who try to 'improve' the car, only a small percentage will succeed. The rest will "improve" something and screw up something else, for example handing (crappy lowering hardware, bad damping, crazy understeer-inducing spacers etc). Properly "improving", while preserving the rest is expensive.

P.S.: don't care about "unique", I'm not a teen/tween any more, and not having a mid-life crisis either (yet?).

Fair enough. I guess the interesting part is that a stock car is really just a blank canvas. Not to be offensive, but generally when I see someone purchase a performance car and do NOTHING to it and they're not an older person (60+ years old), then I tend to think that they have zero imagination, aspirations or personality. Or, more likely, they're too cheap to spend money on anything "extra".

Are there exceptions? Sure. There always are. I do mean "generally." I'm obviously not saying this about you because I don't even know you beyond your last reply. I have a friend with a BRZ that has only done exhaust and another that has only swapped wheels. Beyond that they're both completely satisfied with the BRZ in stock form. They'd admit that they're not into parting ways with their hard-earned money nor do they have the imagination to think up modifications all the time.

"Improvements" are relative to goals. If you have no goals then there's nothing to improve. The large wheel gap is in the BRZ is an unnecessary byproduct. It works for SUVs or Subarus that are guaranteed to ride through tall snow, but for a RWD sports car, the wheel gap just BEGS for attention/modification.

The stock tires allow for turning sideways. Do you LIKE turning sideways? If you're that fun to WANT to turn sideways then you'll probably be interesting enough to mod SOMETHING on your car. Or, do you prefer being "safer" and having more grip? Well, then you'll have to "mod" your wheels by getting more appropriate tires for consistent gripping. Do you see how relative that is? If you want ultimate grip while not adding a bunch of weight, then your research may lead you to Michelin Pilot Super Sports or Continental Extreme Contact DW tires. If you live somewhere with a chance of snow or just low temps then you'll probably opt to not keep your summer tires.

Do you garage your BRZ during the winter months? If so, then you don't even have to worry about tires. However, just know that in your effort to not be unique, if you do keep your BRZ stock and garage it and keep the miles low, eventually your BRZ WILL be unique inadvertently.

I'm not trying to bust anyone's balls, but let's not get a superiority complex over either wanting to keep the car stock or modifying it. I'm actually jealous that someone has the strength to keep this car stock. I mean, you can honestly look at the speaker surrounds and center console knee resting area and say that you wouldn't prefer to have matching leather with red stitching as the car was INTENDED to have? It's more comfortable AND the interior looks way more complete. And you really don't think the Toyota armrest would be a welcomed addition?

[qoncept]

Originally Posted by chanomatik

I mean, you can honestly look at the speaker surrounds and center console knee resting area and say that you wouldn't prefer to have matching leather with red stitching as the car was INTENDED to have? It's more comfortable AND the interior looks way more complete. And you really don't think the Toyota armrest would be a welcomed addition?

I'm getting leather knee pads only because I'm tired of banging my knee in to the plastic. I could do without any more red stitching. I'm undecided so far on whether I'd LIKE an arm rest - the storage in the car is already so limited I like having it open. I certainly don't get bewildered by people who don't want them.

If it weren't for stock class in autox, I don't know where I'd be with this car right now (actually, I probably wouldn't have bought it). But I've done the super-stiff-minimal-gain suspension thing, spent lots of money on cars trying to make them go fast and look right.

I started autoxing 10 years ago and slowly I started to notice that the old guys were pretty much all running in stock class. Not old guys that just started going it. Guys that were probably me 20 years ago. They spent a ton of money prepping cars, making them less comfortable and shaking parts loose with stiff springs and poly bushings, and realized you really don't get all that much out of it.

I hover around the top 15-20% of raw times week after week in a car with just tires, a catback and front sway bar. I'm faster than guys with full exhausts, wider wheels, tunes, coilovers, etc etc. Not because of my (limited) talent but because I did the right things to the car.

And in a lot of cases I have the opposite irrational superiority complex. I see people buying the worst bang for the buck parts they can, adding parts that make the car slower and so on. Strut bars, getting all caught up in which catback to buy (as if they're any different), coilovers with crappy tires. People are going to do what they want to do, and other people are going to disagree with it.

[chanomatik]

Originally Posted by qoncept

I'm getting leather knee pads only because I'm tired of banging my knee in to the plastic. I could do without any more red stitching. I'm undecided so far on whether I'd LIKE an arm rest - the storage in the car is already so limited I like having it open. I certainly don't get bewildered by people who don't want them.

If it weren't for stock class in autox, I don't know where I'd be with this car right now (actually, I probably wouldn't have bought it). But I've done the super-stiff-minimal-gain suspension thing, spent lots of money on cars trying to make them go fast and look right.

I started autoxing 10 years ago and slowly I started to notice that the old guys were pretty much all running in stock class. Not old guys that just started going it. Guys that were probably me 20 years ago. They spent a ton of money prepping cars, making them less comfortable and shaking parts loose with stiff springs and poly bushings, and realized you really don't get all that much out of it.

I hover around the top 15-20% of raw times week after week in a car with just tires, a catback and front sway bar. I'm faster than guys with full exhausts, wider wheels, tunes, coilovers, etc etc. Not because of my (limited) talent but because I did the right things to the car.

You're inspiring!