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52 Bugeye WRX wagon, Front Lower Suspension Arm

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Old 12 November 2017, 03:53 PM
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filmMaker
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Default 52 Bugeye WRX wagon, Front Lower Suspension Arm

Wow. The offside one is 3/4 rusted through (car was behaving very strangely) and I consider myself very lucky it didn't let go as there's very little of it left... I'll post a picture when I get it off. Do check yours!

So I'm in the market for a pair of these arms (L and R, of course). Can you nice people please tell me if the STI ones (alloy type) are the same geometry? If so, it would seem to be prudent to fit these instead of the original steel ones. Any thoughts welcome.

A used pair would be ok, I would think, ideally with bushes and although I'm not made of money perhaps a new reasonably priced pair would be worthwhile. Can anyone help with this please?

Many thanks
//tony
Old 12 November 2017, 06:29 PM
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Smithys STI
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Call a subaru main dealer give then your car details and ask then to check if your car is due the lower arm recall....chances are it is and wont cost you a penny
Old 14 November 2017, 05:48 PM
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filmMaker
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The car had this recall back in 2012, and had the waxoyl/wax treatment. Thanks for your advice, I've been in touch with a dealer and Subaru 'haven't said no'. I'm sending pictures tomorrow and should hear in a day or two.
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Old 14 November 2017, 07:37 PM
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Originally Posted by filmMaker
The car had this recall back in 2012, and had the waxoyl/wax treatment. Thanks for your advice, I've been in touch with a dealer and Subaru 'haven't said no'. I'm sending pictures tomorrow and should hear in a day or two.
Wow...those are pretty bad!!
Through past experiences ​​​​​I would have thought they will cover the cost of the repair....fingers crossed!
​​​​
Old 06 December 2017, 12:10 PM
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Well, Subaru did cover the cost of the parts and labour (£600) but there was a wait of nearly two weeks for one of the arms, kinda frustrating. But I got it back today, can't believe how much I enjoyed the drive home... :-) I know it's old, but it still goes like stuff off a shovel.
The front part of the driver's side arm was completely detached, and the recall (back in 2012) showed little sign that waxoyl had been applied properly. That dealer in Peterborough is now defunct.
So DO make sure you have these arms checked if you have an older car!

PS - very good service from mtcars.co.uk near Whittlesey, Peterborough area, kept me informed, etc.




Last edited by filmMaker; 06 December 2017 at 12:14 PM.
Old 01 March 2018, 01:28 PM
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Thread revival - did they replace with WRX (steel) arms or alloy arms as fitted to STIs?

I was under my WRX wagon the other day on a ramp and my steel arms aren't anywhere near as bad as yours, but would like to replace them with alloy ones before they get worse anyway. The guys at the garage said there's no difference in size/dimensions between widetrack, non-widetrack and classic alloy lower arms but I'm sure I've read differently on here...
Old 01 March 2018, 01:59 PM
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I looked into this too. From what I remember the classic alloy arms are the same width/track but need a spacer next to the bush in order the get them to fit the frame. The newage saloon are slightly wider, so I think you'll struggle to get the wagon ARB to fit. But you can get a saloon ARB. I think the track rods have enough adjustment in them so that you can get the steering pointing the right way.
Old 01 March 2018, 02:06 PM
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boggissimo
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Originally Posted by Cambs_Stuart
I looked into this too. From what I remember the classic alloy arms are the same width/track but need a spacer next to the bush in order the get them to fit the frame. The newage saloon are slightly wider, so I think you'll struggle to get the wagon ARB to fit. But you can get a saloon ARB. I think the track rods have enough adjustment in them so that you can get the steering pointing the right way.
Yeah, I've got a saloon ARB that I haven't bothered to fit yet, and need to get some new droplinks too. Will probably do it all at the same time, and get the geo checked/tweaked again.
Old 01 March 2018, 02:16 PM
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I'm sure Wull did this not so long ago, might be worth dropping him a note. MB developments were involved, if memory serves.
Old 01 March 2018, 02:36 PM
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Originally Posted by Cambs_Stuart
I'm sure Wull did this not so long ago, might be worth dropping him a note. MB developments were involved, if memory serves.
Ah yes, thanks, you reminded me that I asked him about it last year some time!

Here's what he replied (and hope @Wull doesn't mind me posting this out of the PM conversation!): "From Mattyb I purchased lower arms and drop links from a blobeye saloon sti.

I then from eBay purchased a blobeye saloon sti arb.

The saloon arms are 10mm wider than the Wagon arms so there would have been too much stress out on the drop links so using the saloon arb took that out of the equation. The saloon arb is 20mm wider than the Wagon arb making up the difference.

The only downside will be the geometry, if you want fast road it'll be fine but you won't get normal road set up because of the wider track and the range of adjustment."
Old 01 March 2018, 04:25 PM
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Or, classic alloy arms and press in a newage front bush; to negate using a spacer.




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