I know that the Impreza is prone to understeer, but I'm not sure if its meant to be as much as I feel I'm getting. Over the last couple of days, with wet roads, when I've been cornering or going around roundabouts, I've been noticing the front end just drifting off wide. I wouldnt mind, but I dont think I've been driving too quickly either.

Is this usual, or could it just be the front tyres are crap in the wet ? Think they are Yokohama S203s on the front.

If this is normal, then would these help :

Whiteline Anti Lift Kit, Front Strut Brace, Whiteline Rear ARB.

Also when it comes to the drop links, Ive heard two trains of thought on the Whiteline ones. Someone told me to stick with standard Subaru ones and just replace, as opposed to spending alot of money on Whiteline ones ?

Thoughts anyone

 

Are the yokos a semi slick type tyre like a prada style? only they are a bit crap in the wet(fab in the dry),
Rear ARB is a very good mod and will help with understeer, have you had the geometry set up ?
Also what are you used to driving in the past? As you do have to change the way you drive in a scoob, a lot of FWD guys struggle as they are used to driving a certain way,
If you have had a lot of rwd cars then you will adapt a lot easier,
The old saying slow in fast out certainly helps aswell until you have got used to the 4wheel drive system, once you have got used to it you will start to load the car up earlier and use the 4x4 system properly.

hth

 

A this time of year those yokos won't be working at their best. Its too cold (sub 10 degrees) and too wet.

If the geometry hasn't been checked, that would be at the top of my list, as well as checking the front lower arm bushings for excess compliance.

How old is the car? Shocks and rubber bushing don't last forever, and whilst it will still sail through MOTs and not show up when teh car is serviced, it won't give ultimate handling.

 

No the tyres arent slicks, they are just everyday Yoko's. I have been driving FWDs for the last couple of years, Audi A4 Sline Avant Diseasal which handled really well, and before that I had a 1 Series BMW Sport, so Im used to driving both really. I have only had the car a few weeks now, so I'm not sure if the Geometry has been setup or not. How would I go about having this done, and where, and most importantly HOW MUCH . Does this help alot ?

 

Its an 03 WRX, but its only done 33K miles. Just had its MOT and 30K service done when I bought it from a main dealer.

 

rear arb and a good geo setup would be a start,
What tyre pressures are you running in it?

 

I think I'll stick the ARB to the top of my list then, would changing the rear drop links to whiteline ones be advisable, or shall I stick with the Subaru OE ones. I'm not sure on tyre pressures, as I said before only had it a couple of weeks or so, MOT was done just before buying it so I would think that they checked as part of that ? Maybe I'll check them myself, what should they be running at, around 32 - 35 psi ish ?

 

Scooby Newbie here, but with experience of setting up a Westfield for sprints.

My Approach would be:

Check tyre pressures and adjust according to the manual.

Try arranging to take somebody with experience of driving Subarus to get a second opinion. I understand people are very friendly at the local meets

The tyres may be very old, usually the rubber is not very soft/grippy after about 4/5 years max, get some new rubber on (Toyo TR1 appear popular from reading on here) and try and get the same tyre front to rear.

Get the geo checked, our local place uses this sort of equiptment only charge £15 to measure and report back:

SUPERTYRES FOUR WHEEL ALIGNMENT

Good luck

Pete

 

My 2003 STI used to understeer on roundabouts... solution boot it harder to get the limited slip to kick in then it gripped again... but the WRX hasn't got a front LSD so unfortunatly it's a characteristic of the car.

Try the above mods but it's always gunna do it a bit (unless you have the geometry set for slight oversteer, which I would not recommend)

 

As scooby L says it is a characteristic of the car. Subaru set it up to understeer as it is judged to be safer and give more warnign to the standard driver than oversteer.

You have identified the issue, start at the back!

I was told rear ARB, anti lift kit and drop links would sort it but never had the money. A good set up cost about £60 and although it hasn't cured the issue the car was more positive in bends.

Depends how much you have to spend really!

5t.

 

Whiteline adjustable ARB and drop-links is the best value mod on my car.

You may need to allow the car to turn-in before booting it in the wet, "You canny deny the laws of physics, Jim".

dunx

 

Slow down?

 

Well as I said previously its understeering whilst not going particularly quickly. So slowing down isnt helping, perhaps speeding up might

 

Anythings worth a try

 

I bet your geo is out. My 53WRX understeered like a MF till I had it done. Yokos aren't my fav tyre, try vredestein sessantas. REO50's were awful for understeer too.

 

Lots of good advice above and as said understeer is "Safer" than Oversteer, and drive to suit, slower in faster out.


What car do you have WRX ?? or STi ?? because as said below

So the 2003WRX understeer is worse that a 2003STi and thats worse than a 2005STi(2004 WR1) has DCCD. DCCD lessens understeer but NOT removed it.

However understeer will be Far more Prononced in the WET or Slippy AREAs or with tyres with low or Poor grip.

STD ones good, BS.

DEFINATELY Replace STD ones (I much prefer solid Powerflex ones) and get adjustable rear Anti roll bar and Proper 4 wheel Geometry done, and not 4wheel alignment

Go careful try the middle setting firstl, much easier to drive the looking out the front windscreen than the Back one
17" or 18"'s ??

Tyres are somewhat important when considering grip, I would never "Mix" brands on ANY car let alone a High performance one. You be suprised how peeeps buy £30K's worth of Car and and put wingwangcrappo Tyres on it

as said above Some tyres are medium price but budget grip, try vredestein sessantas, budget price but mediun price grip. IIRC

try lowering you Tyre Pressures 32Fand 30R in wet but this is a driver preference thing, what suits me may not suit you, I have run as low as 30Fand 28R on the track in the wet, maybe a step to far on the road.

IIRC IMHO

Tony

 

i had the same problem and asked the same questions the replys i got worked very well so i would opt for rear arb whiteline are excelent change the drop links as standard ones are poo cdf racing on hear do a good one then get a full geo setup done as this will help no end and finaly the exspencive bit change the tyres for a good wet/winter set as yokohama are crap in the wet i run prada spec 2,s in the summers and verstines in the winter

 

Great thread!, I've come from a mixture of fwd and rwd but never 4wd. I'm still not sure if I'm getting the most out of the 4wd set-up. I've got a V2 STI '555' with a bilstein suspension, what sort of driving style should be adopted to make the cornering efficient??

 

Practice out the way but I always tell people to go in slow and then power out as hard as they can, You get used to the front having a small amount of power but get used to the rear pushing u thru the corner too, thats where its a weird feeling after say a fwd car,where u use the power to pull u thru and the rear drags but in a scoob it pushes u on as its rear biased.

 

Thanks for all the replies, I think your all right. I need to learn to drive the car a little more, but also the upgrades are well worth a look in too. the rear ARB and drop links are a definate upgrade. Tyres I think will have to wait until I have scrubbed these down a little as theres alot left on them.

Thanks again

 

can i ask what the difference is? with geo do you choose the settings, rather than going with the manufacturers recommended?

I have whiteline ARBs and droplinks on my legacy, but i think the best mod was the anti lift kit, which improved turn in, especially when you get on the power, tucking the front end in (in the dry at least)

 

I've managed to get a copy of the Prodrive Geometry settings, so I'm going to get those applied to the car first.

 

The Prodrive settings can be fairly agressive on tyre wear. I would recommend going to a place that doesn't need to be told the settings and simply sets the car up properly for fast road use.

My car was on Prodrive and the wear on the inside of the tyre was awful. The local specialist put their fast road settings in and the cars is most positive and tyre wear has evened out. The difference isn't night and day but the cost to pocket is greatly reduced!

5t.

 

4 wheel alignment

Some places/dealers only have the basic equipment for checking for toe in or out on one plane (parrallel) and not able to check camber and Caster, so not FULL geometry settings

4 wheel Geometry

The Pucker job, full 360 degree Geometry settings, normally get a print out with the settings applied to your car

Nearly all places quote you "4 wheel alignment" and you may get "4 wheel Geometry" but you may just get "4 wheel alignment"

Check what your getting for your money

IMHO IIRC

Tony

 

Ok, I have the car booked into the local main dealer for 4 wheel laser alignment / geometry etc next week. They are only prepared to setup the geometry to factory standard and wont entertain doing the Prodrive specs that Ive got hold of. Is this going to be good enough , should I push for the prodrive specs putting on the car too. Also its £80 + Vat, does this sound reasonable, does anyone know of anyone else that does geometry settings in the Leeds area that they can recommend ?

Thanks

 

Not Leeds, but...

Track Torque Racing



Track Torque Racing Ltd

Units 8+9

Rudgate Business Park

Rudgate

Tockwith

North Yorkshire YO26 7RD

Tel 01423 359768 or

Clive 07971 978775

Simon 07971 154703

Les 07775 994272