Re-Bitten Hero

I was 'passing through' Cheltenham last Friday on one of my last drives before heading over to the continent, and stopped at PowerStation to have the Bump Steer modification done. Well, what can I say...





A huge improvment!

For those who don't know what this mod is, it basically involves doing a proper laser alignment of all four wheels (toe in/out, camber etc). They then test how much the wheels toe in under heavy braking, as is set by the default Subaru settings (which results in understeer and nervousness under heavy braking). Once they've determined this, they add a shim (small piece of metal) to the steering rack mechanism to raise (?) it slightly, which pulls all of the steering geometry into perfect line.

This means that when you're slowing down (braking or lifting off) the car slows much more confidently and reassuringly, and keeps to the straight and narrow better.

Also, the geometry set up makes the car much more neutral, so going round roundabouts unleashes a fair chunk more grip. Nick described my car as "understeer city" as the geometry settings were way out of spec (which could have contributed to my small argument with a fence some months back ) and the difference is huge. The car feels so much more stable and glued to the road - exactly how the car should have been from the factory...

The guys there are really friendly - big thanks to Nick The Perfectionist, who spent a couple of hours getting things perfectly right throughout, and happily chatted to me while doing the work - no "Please wait in reception, sir." The other guys are just as amenable - I think it was Dirk and Rich that I chatted to (have you got that Beemer engine sorted yet?) and all of them came across as very knowledgeable.

On top of that, they sourced and fitted a new set of rear brake discs and pads for me on the day (with no warning), including driving across Cheltenham to the Subaru dealer to pick up the pads

The cost? £129+VAT for the whole bumpsteer stuff. Great stuff, and one of the best mods I've made to the car. Big thumbs up

Cheers
Richard

Makalu

What MY is your car?

Re-Bitten Hero

MY00 (PPP but no other major mods)

Richard

Dr Pepper

You got there contact details R-kid, I'm trashing the inside edges of my current rubber at present.

Cheers D.P.

Re-Bitten Hero

Have a look at the top of my first post - the word Powerstation is a link to their website... also it's www.powerstation.org.uk if that's easier

Cheers
Richard

ScoobyK

Is it not the lowering of the rack by c2mm ??

Re-Bitten Hero

Can't remember whether it's raising or lowering... altering it anyway, yes.
Richard

Tang

Re-Bitten,

Do you happen to know whether the Powerstation bumpsteer mod is compatible with the Prodirve DEP?

Cheers

Tang

Re-Bitten Hero

Not sure what the DEP is, so I can't help... Best thing is to give Powerstation a ring and ask them (link above).

Cheers
Richard

Tang

Re-Bitten,

Dep = Driver Enhancement Pack

Consists of 17" Speedlines with 205/45 Pirelli P Zeros
Suspension lowered by 20mm
New Bilsteins
New Eibachs
Quickshift
I think Prodrive toe-in mod (not sure though).

Have a good mate who got the Powerstation bummp steer done and swears its the best.

Will check with them

Cheers

Tang

Canuck

How much of the improvement is down only to the geometry set-up, which can be done elsewhere?

Canuck

Tang

Canuck,

Based on what my mate has to say about it, all of the improvement comes form the Bumpsteer mod. It simply dials out understeer completely.

Tang

Re-Bitten Hero

General grip etc is down to proper geometry, extra stability under braking and cornering is down to the Bump Steer mod.

Richard

Markus

Must say it's been the best money I've spent on the car. Transformed the handling totally. I'm impressed. Do it and do it NOW! that's all I can say.

[Edited by Markus - 7/23/2002 3:02:04 PM]

Fuzz

Re-Bitten Hero !!!!
Was this post brought about by my reply in another post (was n5pug then).
If so, I thank you for putting fingers to keys and writing an excellent piece. very informative about the whole thing,
I also learned that I have something else on my car which I did not know about (or at least didn't know the name anyway)
D.E.P
Will now have to pop in to powerstation to ask about the bump steer mod, with the DEP already having been fitted.

Thanks again
Andy C
Good luck in Munich by thge way

[Edited by Fuzz - 7/23/2002 5:14:57 PM]

Re-Bitten Hero

Hi Fuzz/n5pug

I was going to do a write-up anyway, but your post prodded me into it Hope it helped.

Cheers
Richard

ChrisB

Driver Enhancement Pack and it has PZero's. He heh

Free pair of underpants for wet weather with that Sir?

Fuzz

oh that good then are they

Attu

Yep ive got a PPP car with the P-zeros and it makes it errrrr intresting in the wet

Andy

Tang

Depends how far you push it. Never had any problems with them myself, and certainly wouldn't second guess Prodrive with the set up. Although to be fair I've not tried S02's.

Been driving in convoy with a mate on s0-2's and we both had similar grip levels. His was standard MY00 with bump steer mod only.

Tang

Fuzz

havn't taken it out in the wet...yet,
ahh haa.
i was just practicing my skid control orificer