[Slimey]

••••• Mods & Accessories •••••

Exterior
Stupid Parking Sticker in Window
STi License Plate Frame
Totsubo Front License Plate Brackets
Perrin Shorty 3" Antenna
Rally Armor Mud Flaps (to be installed)

Interior
STi Titanium Shift Knob with silly glow-in-the-dark shift pattern sticker
Subaru Homelink Rear View Mirror
All Season Floor Mats
Subaru Navigation System
Subaru Subwoofer (I thought it was a PIA to install)
Subaru Bluetooth System

Wheels, Tires, & Suspension
Summer Units: BBS STi wheels 18x8.5J +55 with Dunlop SP Sport 600 245/40R18 93W (stock)
Winter Units: (to be decided)
SPT Front Strut Tower Bar

???

[Slimey]

Finally got my STI this week after 8 weeks of waiting. I wanted a Gray one with BBS & Navi and the closest one to me was about 1300 miles away sitting on a lot in Texas. With all the hoopla about the stop sale and bad paint, I figured I might as well order a brand spankin' new one from the factory and hopefully get any changes that were anticipated.


This is my third Subaru. I had an RX in the 1980s (great little car when Subarus were a bit more rare) and my wife currently drives a pretty much totally stock Forester XT. I most recently drove a 2003 Acura 3.2 CL Type S 6MT. It was really a good car, but was getting a bit old in the tooth after six years and I wanted something new. The CL had some suspension upgrades as well as some bolt-ons...which probably means that I'll do the same with the STI Stock for now though...at least while I break it in.


Cleaned and polished and got some pics. Got some not-so-good afternoon sun and it looks like the camera was having trouble focusing (cannot blame it with all the reflection from the Zaino) and it looks like my aperture was more open then it should of been. My fault for shooting in full auto. Anyway, here goes...







Nice rainbow effect.



The tail lights are growing on me. I hated them when I first saw the car and was going to go the route of many of you with smoked tint. Now I'm thinking they fit the bigger image of the new STI. <shrugs shoulders> will probably change my mind again.



Here's a closeup of the rear door with the newer 3M coating. Looks bigger to me then other pics. Notice that there are three pieces of 3M - one on the door, one on the rear fender, and one on the side skirt.



I don't know if you can see it, but the 3M from the fender wraps around the corner and goes under the door by about a centimeter. There's also another piece on the side skirt that wraps inside of the door edge as well.



Reflections and rear door with 3M. Notice side skirt 3M as well.


Do any of you have a spot of blue-green paint on your BBS rim? It looks like something from tire mounting. I have that on three of my wheels. Ugh. I'll try to take it out with goo gone when I have a chance. Any other ideas for removal?


I got the STI titanium shift know with my order. I saw someone else here has it with the silly stick-on shift pattern on the center trim. I was going to take this off as soon as I saw it, but then I noticed that it glows in the dark which I must say is a cool effect. I'm keeping it for now. I think you can see some of the glow effect in this picture.

[slyguySTI]

looks good, i love the color.. you will love the mud flaps they will keep lots of the dust and dirt off..

[Slimey]

Got my Totsubo Front Plate Mount. Maybe a bit pricey for a place to bolt my plate, but for some reason I don't like the quality of mount with just a screw through plastic. Seems like a problem waiting to happen (stipping the screw or just plain tearing the plastic). I like the idea of a more solid mount.

The Totsubo is just a couple chunks of aluminum that use countersunk rubber sleeved anchor bolts to placed into the JDM mounting holes. The plate then mounts into the metal with allen head topped machined bolts for a solid mount.



There's also some double sided tape to augment the solidity of the mount.


The mount keeps the plate away enough to keep from rubbing the front bumper. Great if I ever happen to move to a state where front plates are not required.

[GhoSStRyda]

^^^this is wut i should have gotten!!! too late for me tho, now there are two holes drilled in for the front license plate...

[Slimey]

Not that exciting, but here's some pics.

Easy install.
Torque for front strut tower fasteners is 14.5 ft-pounds. Torque for bar bolts is 35 ft-pounds.






It rubs against this hose that goes to the brake booster. Looks like I'll also have to remove it to access the brake or clutch reservoirs.


It rubs this plastic wire cover. I think it goes to the wiper motor.





edit 7/2/08 - put some flexible plastic conduit on the brake booster hose to protect from any rubbing

[Raceroftomorrow]

That strut brace is sick man!

[B_K]

Nice! Picked mine up a week ago. Love the shifter.

[RFFG]

Looks good!

[Slimey]

Hard to tell, but it's like half the size of the stock (yes - I should have taken a picture of them next to each other, but I didn't).

Easiest install ever. Unscrew the old one; screw on the new one.

Seems to work - at least I seems to get reception from the garage tonight.



Rained today - dirty top.




Also installed the Subaru subwoofer. I thought the install was a PIA, but everything worked out fine in the end. It does round out the stock sound pretty well.

[Nola08]

I have the same shift nob on my DGM 08 sti too. I also have that same shift pattern sticker as well, except mine doesn't glow in the dark

I love my shift nob, but it sometimes gets really hot to the touch when in direct sunlight for hours.

[Subie 2.5 STI]

looks great

[YeloFva]

It's nice/reassuring to see Subaru address some of the issues with the car & correct them.

Congrats on the purchase & welcome back to the family

[Slimey]

Originally Posted by Nola08

I have the same shift nob on my DGM 08 sti too. I also have that same shift pattern sticker as well, except mine doesn't glow in the dark

I love my shift nob, but it sometimes gets really hot to the touch when in direct sunlight for hours.

I have one of these knob socks from ricks2k that I got for my sphere titanium knob I had in my Acura.

Works great especially for very hot or very cold days. You could probably also just put a sock or a shop towel on top of it for the same effect. I just put in on when I parked and took it off to drive. IMHO, cold (ie: below zero degrees F) is worse then hot.

[Slimey]

I installed the Bluetooth microphone tonight. Not a tough install. Like others, I did not remove the driver's knee panel as suggested in the instructions. I just snaked the microphone cable from the steering wheel opening towards the navigation bay after removing the navigation unit.

I started up the car and there under 'menu' was the phone setting. I easily paired my cell phone and did a test dial to my home. Worked great.

The instructions suggest to put the microphone in the mid portion of the steering column. After a test fit, I didn't like how it partially blocked the gauge panel. I moved it to just above the wiper arm and angled up just a bit towards my head.