scoobychef1985

hi i have a 1994 uk turbo and want to start improving the handeling can any 1 point me in the right direction??? also how much would 17" or 18" wheels affect things?
thanks

Doobs Scoob

iTrader: (2)

A mate of mine has Tein Superstreets on his and it made a world of difference to the handling (along with uprating the droplinks and ARB's) I recommend the EDFC aswell if the budget allows.. Great bit of kit. Will be one of my next mods.

dunx

iTrader: (3)

18's won't help the handling, that's a "look" thing... wider 17's will allow some wider tyres to provide more grip.

At the age of your car a full poly-bush job would help, but it's quite a bit of work, then there's coilovers, ARB's and the geometry to sort.

Finally some road legal slicks will sort it...

Good luck !

dunx

Arnie_1

i guess biggest initial question is what is your budget?

Bushings

I agree with dunx, bushings would be an important thing to replace at this point. The OEMs are certainly pretty tired. Look at Whiteline Plus or STi Group N, depending on if you like poly or rubber.

I would initially target the rear lateral links and trailing arms. They will make a very big impact on how the car steers and rotates.

Steering rack bushings from Whiteline. Also a nice detail mod. Really makes for more precise steering compared to those old rubber bands that Subaru call a bushing. They're inexpensive too! Though driver's side can be a bit of a bear to install.

Front control arm mounts are fairly robust but it might worth looking into Whiteline's Comfort ALK to replace the rear front control arm bushing. Added caster and a stiffer bushing to improve dynamic caster changes as well as a an improvement to the anti-lift geometry.

Strut top mounts. may be dependent on what spring/damper you decide to go with, but a fresh set of STi Group N combined with Whiteline's Com C front mount is a nice combo. The stiffer durometer of these mounts will let the dampers do their thing, which is to damp the spring. The soft goo of your old topmounts is just another undamped spring leading to an imprecise and bouncier ride. The Group N's look just like standard but are a stiffer duro. The Com-C's have the same duro as the Group N but the mount is offset inwards and backwards, providing more caster and camber.

Wheels/Tires

I know, with a new fun car like the Impreza Turbo, you want some bling on there. All the cool cars are running 17, 18 and 19" wheels. Avoid the temptation to go big on the Classic chassis. Personally 17" at the most. Tire size 215/45-17 or 215/40-17 depending on how snappy you want the gearing to be. You can, naturally go wider but that will necessitate some fender rolling, pulling or cutting or extreme neg camber geometry to fit. You do risk damaging the fine feel and poise the car has with the wider tires. You may have more ultimate grip with fat meats but, IMO, you lose that delicacy and balance that made the Classic Turbo such an awesome car.

Anti-roll bars

Default brand of choice is Whiteline. Decent quality and a huge range of bars, from mild to wild. I would look into a 22mm F/R bar with new rear Alloy/Poly endlinks (also from Whiteline). You should definitely look into the heavy duty rear mount too as the OEM mount will break fairly quickly if you use anything beyond the stock size. the bigger bars will control roll and when you use a mild size like the 22mm, not affect ride quality much. At the minimum, make sure the rear is an adjustable so you can fine tune your handling bias (less understeer to more understeer). Larger bars like their 24mm or 27mm are more for track biased cars or running slicks. Size will ultimately depend on tire type and what kind of springs/dampers you are running. Naturally, of course, how you like the car to handle.

Springs/Dampers

This is very wide open subject and is utterly dependent on what you want out of the car, what tires you ultimately run and if you are planning on doing lots of track work, b-roads or boulevard cruising.

Ask yourself, what's important to you. Ultimate grip and handling? Compromise between sporty and compliant? Smooth roads? bumpy roads?

you'll need to know those things before any of us can provide any accurate suggestions.

Brakes

Take a good look at your brakes. See if the rotors and pads are still in good shape. I would flush the fluid with some Motul 600 or Ate Blue. A more aggressive pad would also be a good idea if you plan on driving hard. For the road, I like Ferodo 2500's. Good temp range and bite. Can squeak a bit on occasion when cold.


But what to do first?!

Tires. Most important thing. Get the best tire you can afford. Its also not about tire compound. The carcass construction is just as important.

Best bang for the buck improvement in chassis handling and feel? Anti-roll bars and endlinks. Your car will feel like a completely different machine with a set of bars and endlinks.

Brakes. Make sure you have good materials in there. If you want to go, you better be able to stop.

The rest you can do in stages and as budget allows.