QBScooby

I had a '03 Impreza STi with 22mm Whiteline ARBs front and rear plus Whiteline ALK - it improved things significantly.

I've now got a '06 STi and am wondering what to do with it. The extra castor introduced from '05 or whenever it was, makes a noticable difference and as I understand it, the '06 model comes with larger ARBs than previous models anyway.

I guess the rear ARB should definately be uprated (I was going to put a 22mm on) but what about the front? There are arguments for and against uprating the front ARB. Any opinions on this welcome.

Does the '06 model benefit that much from a ALK, given that most of the benefit is in increased dynamic castor which is better anyway on the '06 model?

Would be interested in hearing from anyone who has uprated ARBs/ ALK on a late model STi and how it improved in terms of understeer/ oversteer, whether it's made the car a bit sensitive at speed etc.

swifty.....!

iTrader: (4)

i've got a 05 sti with whiteline front 22mm arb on soft setting and solid drop links and 22mm rear on hardest setting with solid drop links and uprated mounts. the car feels alot better no understeer slight bit of oversteer which i like but if i could i'd have got 24mm for the rear so would of had more options but will probably get this in future. this is all on standard sti geometry but going to get fast road setup from tsl probably in new year as this is were you get big gains

Mocom Racing

iTrader: (2)

Why?

IMHO leave well alone, the stock chassis (MY05>) is that good in standard form especially in the cold and wet conditions we're about to experience with winter looming. Uprating the ARB's looses some feel from the front tyres which is where the revised chassis of the later models scores so highly, this can cause problems in low grip conditions.
If you're breaching the limits of the stock chassis on the public road then you need to slow down

Ofcourse track use would require a different approach.

QBScooby

Thanks for your replies guys.

The stock chassis is indeed pretty good - at higher speeds I completely agree, it doesn't need any more for road use and that's pretty much all it's used for.

However, I felt on my 03 STi that the steering feel was improved for the addition of the ARBs, not worsened. Although outright corner speed wasn't any faster, the car felt less of a pudding on slower corners and roundabouts - and on the right radius 2nd gear turn/ rb would actually oversteer slightly rather than understeer - but remained a pretty forgiving setup at speed. I wouldn't want to make my 06 one over sensitive in trying to the same thing and end up backwards through a hedge!