[Pearson II]

Any answer?

[homer09]

Originally Posted by Pearson II

I thought that WRX's had stamped steel control arms? Or are you just saying they are the same design, but made out of different materials? What model year WRX are you refering to?

hope this makes it clear...

there are 3 control arms made by subaru for the GD sedans across the world.

1- standard steel control arms (this is what all imprezas RS, WRX, etc get except the sti)

2- standard aluminium control arms: these have the same geometry as the steel ones except they are forged aluminium (this is what the standard jdm sti gets, as well as the 2007 usdm sti)

3- spec-c aluminium control arms: these have different geometry resulting from an extra bend in the chasis mounting point of the control arm. this results in a few degrees of extra castor and an extended wheel base +0.4" (this is what the spec-c jdm sti gets and the 04-06 usdm sti)

as a result: 3 >>> 2 > 1

i cannot confirm or back this up, but the aluminium control arms dont have much of a weight advantage over the steel ones (since the steel ones are mostly hollow, whereas the alu ones are solid). so the advantage of #2 over #1 is mostly in better bushings, possibly less flex (not sure) and the bling factor.

the #3 is what everyone wants, and are the ones that truely make a difference. its too bad subaru dropped them from the USDM sti in 2007, since there is really no reason to. the cost to them is virtually the same. i believe wikipedia says the reason is the rising cost of aluminium, but that makes no sense since both #2 and #3 have the same amount.

[Pearson II]

So, you're basicly saying the 07 STi's have the same suspension geometry as a regualr WRX? I know that most of the 04-06 STi's couldn't get anymore than 1/2 degree of negitive camber out of the from in stock form, but I had no problem getting a full degree. I believe that I can get even more. I plan on finding out next week. SOA may have changed the 07 lca to get a bit more neg camber out of the front to help with the understeer problems people complain of. I didn't have any hint of understeer at VIR this past weekend.

[homer09]

Originally Posted by Pearson II

So, you're basicly saying the 07 STi's have the same suspension geometry as a regualr WRX? I know that most of the 04-06 STi's couldn't get anymore than 1/2 degree of negitive camber out of the from in stock form, but I had no problem getting a full degree. I believe that I can get even more. I plan on finding out next week. SOA may have changed the 07 lca to get a bit more neg camber out of the front to help with the understeer problems people complain of. I didn't have any hint of understeer at VIR this past weekend.

dont confuse caster and camber. the better control arms change the caster of the suspension, not necessarily the camber. the new 07 c arms and the standard wrx c arms are caster challenged compared to the 04-06 c arms.

as for the camber difference, that can come from the struts, the ride height difference, or the hub geometry more so than from the control arms.

[Pearson II]

what i was getting at was if you move the lower ball joint then you have changed the camber also.

[Pearson II]

also look at the specs that 05 STI WRB posted. it states that a 05 WRX should have 3*35' of caster, not 1* like what i have on my 07. so how could I have the same LCA design as a WRX if the caster specs are different?

[RdRacer301]

Subsribed as Pearson II and I had discussions over this @VIR. Very interested to find out what the #$%@ is going on with 07s.

[homer09]

Originally Posted by Pearson II

also look at the specs that 05 STI WRB posted. it states that a 05 WRX should have 3*35' of caster, not 1* like what i have on my 07. so how could I have the same LCA design as a WRX if the caster specs are different?

sorry i missed the part where you said you have 1 degree of caster on your car. wow, if that's not a mistake in the alignment specs at the shop you got it done, thats is extremely suprising and bad for the 07 STi.

but my gut feeling is there is something wrong with that number, it should be about what the wrx has.

and finally, yes you are right, moving the ball joint will change the camber.

[Pearson II]

I did the alignment myself at the Volvo dealer where I work. I couldn't believe it either when i saw the caster after the swing. I'm taking my STi back to work with me tomorrow to put it back on the rack to see just how much negitive camber I can get out of it. I'll post up some stuff tomorrow.

[Pearson II]

I got about -1.3* of camber out of it up front. I've read that 04's could get a fair amount of negitive camber stock. Can anyone confirm that?

[Pearson II]

Anyone besides me interested in this?

[Nis01]

Interesting read, I didn't realize there was such a change in suspension geometry of the new Subarus... if it is correct. I thought all Subarus ran approximately 3.0-5.0 degrees of caster.

[XDNBC]

I have a 2007 and this discussion leads me to wonder why Subaru changed the suspension to reduce castor and camber. I assumed [not sure why] that each new STI would handle a bit better than the one before. Logically, if you are going to make changes in a car like the STI, it should make it handle better, and accelerate better too, as well as get better fuel consumption.

If this turns out not to be the case- what were they thinking?

[Pearson II]

They def reduced the caster by a huge amount, but as for the camber it looks like they increased it. I haven't had a chance to adjust my brother's car at all(a 2006), but from what I've heard I won't be able to get anything near what I got. This also makes me wonder if they changed other things like the spring rates or struts on the 07's. As soon as it warms up I'm gonna try to look at my brother's car more in depth and compare it to mine.

[Digitalfiend]

I just had my 05 STi re-aligned. My right wheel allows me to hit approximately -1.14 deg camber while my left is a ***** and will only go to -.90. The tech dropped them to a relatively even -0.9L and -0.94R. My castor readings, off the top of my head, were 4.58L and 4.68R. Rear camber is -1.48L and -1.52R. Once again, this is an 05.

I'm pretty sure I remember reading that the 07s received less castor to reduce the "darty" feeling of the car when steering. This follows with Subaru attempting to make the STi a less demanding car. But 1 deg? wtf. That HAS to be wrong. That is a huge loss of dynamic camber potential, no?