Problems fitting alloy wishbones to Bugeye WRX Wagon
 

Hi folks.

I bought a set of STI bottom arms off eBay for my 2001 WRX Wagon...rather naively I thought it would be a simple plug and play fitment...

So after fitting them, the first problem I noticed was that when I tried to fit the STI drop links (ball-jointed ones), the mounting point on the bottom arm seemed too close to the anti-roll bar to allow fitment so I had to bodge the old plastic ones in there to get me out of a muddle...then things got even more interesting... when I let the car down of the axle stands and back on the deck, both front wheels had the most mammoth severe toe in you have ever seen...so by now my head is melting wondering what bit of geometry is causing this effect and what I need to buy to rectify this.

For the time being I've had to wind the steering rod out of the track rod end enough to offset the toe in but I am sure there is a better solution than this but my lack of knowledge has thus far has brought me to this juncture. Do I need the anti roll bar from an STI? Or the subframe and struts??? :wonder: My brain is melting :brickwall:cry:

I've searched posts with the keyword wishbone but haven't found anything similar to the problems I am experiencing.

Thanks in advance for any pointers anyone can give.

what year sti were the alloy arms off ?

All I can remember is that they were listed as Newage. I am just struggling to grasp where I have gone wrong. Is it possible they are widetrack arms??? What is it that make the widetrack STIs widetrack? Are the bottom arms mounted a little further out on the body and subframe or is it the length of the arm?

Solved it
 

Anyone??? LOL Nah don't worry I solved it anyway so if anyone else has a similar problem at least there will be one person who can answer it eh? :hjtwofing

What was the solution then?

Newage saloons have slightly wider track than newage wagons! Iirc classic alloy arms are the same track as newage wagon arms.......someone should confirm either way!

Hi there

I wouldn't advise fit New age STI alloy arms/wishbones on wagon,as above they're wider and will require bit more than wishbones itself there

Usually I would go with Classic STI wishbones which are same track/wide as New age Wagon

If you want to run New Age STI saloon on yours wagon then you will need to have fitted few more parts like STI ARB's and different shape of droplinks etc

Thanks,Jura

The solution is to either fit Classic Alloy Wishbones as far as I am led to believe so far. I still haven't grasped what makes the wide track cars wide track though...but what caused my severe toe in issue, I think was where the front of the arm (longer on Newage) connects to subframe and then obviously the same 15 turns of the track rod which were just right for my original steel arm way too much for the Newage arms and pulls them in too far

From my experience it's perfectly fine to fit saloon wishbones, steel or alu, on a wagon. it's even ok to use the wagon axles, though ideally its best to swap the saloon one's on as well.

To properly swap you need the saloon wishbones, endlinks, axles and swaybar. The wishbones and swaybars are a bit wider than the wagon/classic unit.s

The saloon track is about 1 cm wider than the wagon. the extra width of the control arm changes the location of the balljoint and mounting point of the tie rod. This changes the toe when installing.

The advantage of using the saloon wishbones are:

1) Wider front track = less understeer, less front body roll, more front end grip
2) Can use saloon based suspension components. Most coilovers and struts are based on saloon geometry. When using a saloon strut on a wagon, you can not get maximum negative camber (ca. -1.5). The most you can get is about -.75 to -1. Not really enough for performance driving. Using the saloon wishbones gives you full compatiblity with all of the best struts and coilovers on the market.

Disadvantages:
1) Wider track can lead to some rubbing up front if you are using mild camber. On a 7.5x17 ET48 wheel, I had to run about -1.5 camber to clear the fender.

You can install saloon front bumper and fenders! Looks pretty cool on a wagon.

You can use wagon axles with the conversion. Again, not ideal but I have driven easily 60k miles on wagon axles and not an issue. However, just know, using the sedan axle would be better. There is a lot of play in those axles and when you think its only ca. 5mm difference per side ...

using a classic alu wishbone has its problems as well. you'll need to fit a spacer between the forward bushing and the engine cradle.

Wow!!! That is how to answer a question and then some. Comprehensive accurate information which was exactly what I needed. Top man Arnie:luxhello:

Fantastic indeed. :cool:

To complete the excellent info - Do classic steel wishbones fit straight on a newage wagon? With the droplink mounts lining up correctly under the wagon's ARB?

They look right in pictures, and they are plentiful from motorfactors...

There seems to be a world shortage of WRX wagon steel wishbones. Particularly the offside.

Says me with one side saloon and one side wagon fitted at present... :(

edit: Infact I've just ordered a pair of ally newage arms with all the bushings, from Neil at Scoobyspares :) :)

Another revival coz I'm losing the will to live.

The newage alloy arms that's you ordered, were they for a blobeye wagon??? I can't find any anywhere especially newage ones.

They were ally newage saloon wishbones, as Arnie's post up above. :)


The track looks a lot more than 1cm wider, but they do fit on there (and 'Z' shape saloon droplinks 'just about' fit with the WRX wagon ARB).


HTH :)

I've just had the newage saloon alloy arms,drop links & arb fitted to my 2005 wagon. The arms are 1cm wider and you do notice the extra width visually but TBH it's hard to tell whether it's a huge difference or not as stated above. I'm the kind of guy that when my missus gets a new hair style I can't remember what the old style looked like, but TBH I don't pay much attention to her.