To Sleeper or Not to Sleeper

That is the question.

I keep going back and forth over which direction to take my WRX in. I mean since my car is a Bugeye in the one true color (WRB) I’m not fooling anyone into thinking I have an N/A Impreza, but at the same time looking like your average (lol, OK not so average) unmolested WRX and over-performing is a huge draw for me.

On the other hand, I love to mod. Big wheels with sticky rubber and loud noises give my the feels as well. I am a creative person who likes to experiment. Modding in a way that makes me want to grab my camera and snap a few pics is pretty rewarding as well.

However, OEM+ is something I have practiced even back in my Mustang/Turbo TBird days. I just didn’t know it was called that. Researching and making upgrades with OEM parts from newer models was a challenge, particularly because it was in the early days of the internet. There was a lot of trial and error. But for me that was half the fun.

Subarus on the other hand have a well documented upgrade path, at least for the GD chassis, and for the most part you just look to the STi as a parts bin. Pretty simple, but not all that exciting. All you need now is to open up your wallet. 🙂

But I am on the verge of 40 and while I have no intention of moving on to a mobile appliance any time soon (tried several times in the past and failed miserably) I do feel a strong urge to get back to my roots. Keep it simple. Function over form. Control over power.

Balance.

Part of this has been prompted by my research into what makes a car have great steering response and feedback. Why do Porsches, Evos, and Bimmers all get hailed with great steering feedback? Is it meaty tires, suspension design, or weight distribution? One thing I had to disassociate was grip from handling.

Grip is great. It’s one of my favorite things. It generally keeps you on the road. But grip has side effects. Sticky tires will tramline more (a trade-off I’m fine with) and wider setups will change your scrub radius. Which I might also be fine with, but it’s one of those things I would need to play with to see how much I prefer.

OEM setups are usually on the low maintenance side as well. It’s the main reason I am sticking with springs/strut setup. And as much as I love wrenching, I hate maintenance. Flat out hate it. I do it of course, because it must be done, but I don’t like it one bit.

Which adds another check in the OEM+ column.

Then one look at this setup and it sweeps all of those reasons into the ocean.
fmwdmkp