2013 Black STI / JPM / ETS / TSM / BallEngines

If you route the dump back into the exhaust the flutter will probably become a lot less noticeable....I'd do that first and then decide later if you still want to switch the EBC. The SI Drive functionality is a really cool thing. Doug was the first to show me how that works in his red STi and I was impressed....much easier than getting out multiple time and twisting a dang boost controller knob.

 

I am with him....plumbing it back into the downpipe makes a huge difference with the fluttering.

 

I can get you atleast 5 maybe 6 of those things on your list of upcoming purchases. Let me know when you want to make a move!

 

UPDATE:

First, the car now has close to 20k on it since the (2nd) rebuild, and the big turbo setup. It's had 6 oil changes I believe not including break in, and is running as strong as the day it got tuned. There are some little annoying things I need to fix but just haven't gotten around to it. I drive it every day pretty much on 24-25psi @ 500+whp and it see's full boost and full throttle in multiple gears dozens of times per commute. It absolutely gets "used".


UPDATE 2:
I haven't been spending a lot of time online, here or otherwise lately and many may have noticed my absence from facebook as well. This is all part of the process as I admit to myself and my family that I was an alcoholic and addict and continue to heal and grow from that. I'm 8+wks sober now and a changed man as a result, but there is a lot of ground to cover there still.
My focus has been on my family and my son, as it always should have been, so lesser things have had to take a backseat. I have also been avoiding sources of alcohol to not set myself up for failure or cause unnecessary strain where it can be avoided. I'm also not a fan of inner city / ITP dinner meet locations that have horrible traffic, terrible parking and are far from my house which has also contributed to my absence.

Anyway, I know this isn't much car related, and most thread subscribers might opt out as a result but it's a members journal thread, and this is all part of my story so it gets posted. I've also been pretty convicted lately on the amount of money I spent on my car when it could have been spent elsewhere on much more responsible things like paying down my mortgage or things like that. I've even considered selling it a few times but know that I could never recover my investment or even come close so I think that would be pretty foolish.

My little daily driver passat that I was able to bless STIRhino with for a couple months while he rebuilt his GR is back and I'm having some issues with the tiptronic auto transmission in it. 2 of the 3 shift solenoids keep throwing a code for "shift solenoid electrical" which in a VW means God knows what. Also it apparently has an APR stage 2 map on the ECU, but the previous owner locked the map change feature with a 4 digit PIN that I do not have. That's like 149$ at an APR dealer to fix so i'm not sure what i'm going to do there, and it's definitely in "stock" mode right now. If anyone knows anyone at APR please let me know i'm not trying to spend 500$ on a car I only paid 3k for to begin with if you know what I mean.


I plan on hitting up Dana at some point for the things he offered to help with, but it's going to be a while as I simply cannot justify spending any money on my car right now with a clear conscious. I really want a single exit tomei expreme exhaust and to re-plumb the wastegate in, but that's a major job and at least a grand just for the exhaust.

Thanks for reading, and sorry about the first page getting all screwed up, all the photos were linked from facebook and with my account deactivated for now they don't show up. I'm sure i'll be back on eventually but for now it'll have to stay ugly

 

Awesome man couldn't be more happy for you!

 

Dude I commend you on your life decisions....keep it up!

And integroid knows the APR guys really well...maybe he can help you out?

 

Hey I know what your going thru. I was a alcoholic for 7 years and now have been sober for 5 1/2 years. I will tell you the first year is the hardest but it does get easier. For the longest time I couldn't even go in somewhere that served alcohol. My son, wife, and family were my main reasons for quitting. Just take it day by day and you will get thru to the other side. If you need anyone to talk to about it also, hit me up. Congrats on the 8 weeks bro.

 

Glad to hear from you my friend! I was beginning to be a bit concerned as I hadn't heard from you in a while, I'll admit. That being said, congratulations on being 8 weeks sober and doing what you need to do. That's awesome man. Give me a shout if you need to talk or you just wanna jam(I still need to take you up on that one of these days!). Anyway...Glad to hear from you, and hope to see out somewhere sometime soon!

 

Nothing but respect for doing what you're doing. Stay strong.

I recently went with an EWG dumping to atmosphere and I personally hate it. The fluttering is bad, but the noise is ridiculous in my opinion. I can't even hear the engine once the EWG is open. I installed a supertrapp muffler on the dump tube and that has made it quiet enough that I can deal with it for now. I will be having it plumbed back into the DP while having the taper down to 2.5 taken out(Cobb DP). I plan on doing this in the next few weeks and i would be happy to sell you the supertrapp for less than what Summit is selling them for if you are interested and can wait.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUP-344-1705

 

Congrats on making a life change man. That is not an easy decision by any means but normally good things in life are hard. You will also find that true friends will support it and the ones that don't you probably don't want to be around anyway.

Good luck with it!

 

I'm referring to the dump tube off of the EWG anyway. Probably about 1.75in. This would be a cheap way to knock the sound down until you get the exhaust work done.

 

Glad to hear you are making a change in your life. Very proud of you!

Errr....on the APR thing....you should probably talk to me offline. I might know someone that has access to an APR cable, APR Dealer Login, and programming software.

 

:clap: Way to go James. I understand completely how you have to re-evaluate the world around you and make a honest decision to make it better. Best of wishes on staying clean! I have faith that you will!

 

Congrats on many fronts for this man! I've personally dealt with a good amount of this stuff growing up and I know it takes a lot simply to recognize there is a problem, let alone admit any of it, and take the right steps to recovery; so, again, congrats!

Happy to help where and if I can so by all means, give me a ring.

 

Wow guys, the posts mean a lot honestly I wasn't expecting much and just wanted to update everyone. What a community we have!

Mustang forums:
"Don't worry dude, we'll drink it all for ya! Before we do a drift turn out of the bar parking lot"

Honda forums: ".................. well that sucks"

Hopefully caffeine and octane will not be a complete wash out in a couple weeks and I can see a few of you there, I really like going to that meet since I get there really early and can get breakfast and go to church with the family right after.

 

I was wondering where you were! I was going to ask you how your car and family were doing. Not that I've been active lately either haha. Happy for you and your life changes. Keep it up!

 

once an addict always an addict, choose your new addiction wisely

 

Congrats on having the balls to address this and make the change, James! Looking forward to seeing you make it out to some meets, whether its Caffeine and Octane, or a dinner meet where I too will join you at the sober end of the table with Matto.

 

James, I commend you on your strength to deal with these issues; hopefully we will be seeing you and your car around soon; I have family members that have struggled unsuccessfully, and friends who are much more successful at steering clear of the 'cliff' as I call it, so its great to hear where you are headed.

 

I've never met you but it seems that everyone here has only positive things to say about you. I'm happy to see you go through a positive change, stay in that lane.

I was a marijuana addict myself for four years. Some laugh at this, but I was always high and spent a lot of money on it. For me, personally, it was a huge problem.

The day my wife got pregnant I threw it all away and went cold turkey.

First six months were awful. The only thing I could think of was my addiction. But I got through it and 3 years later I have a beautiful wife, dream job, very good income, better friends and a second kid on the way. If I didn't do what I did three years prior, I somehow doubt i would have any of it.

What I'm trying to say here is, what you're doing with your life is only for better good, for you and your family. As long as you keep that in mind every day, the last thing on your mind will be your addiction.


-Mersad

 

Trancetto congrats on the addition! I myself am expect our second in a few months.

Sorry for getting off topic.....just like seeing folks be happy and making positive changes.

 

Tires:

Gonna need some, after King and I rotated mine the other day it was decided they are on their last 3000 miles (stock dunlop SP600's)
I know the Michelin Pilot Super Sports are the go-to tire for street use by most, and i've seen them on a few subies and they look pretty good to, but man are they expensive.

I also want to go from a 245 to a 255 to widen it up a bit on the stock 18" wheel and give a little more of a wide look since the car has stock suspension and the wheels kinda sit in a bit with no spacers.

What about the continental extreme contact DW? Or the Bridgestone potenza s-04 pole position? Also found the Dunlop Direzza ZII's but not sure I want another dunlop tire. Mine were different weights and not balanced very well. No matter how good I had the alignment on my car it would pull in one direction or another depending on my rotated / criss crossed tire config. Clearly one or more of the stock dunlops were not balanced right.

 

Brakes:

Gonna need to switch out my front pad's by the time I put tires on it. Down to like 15-20% left on the fronts. Backs still are 50+% maybe more but I'm going to go ahead and do them all at the same time since i'll likely be going with a non-stock replacement.

I don't track the car, it's street only use so my priorities go in this order:
1. Dust control
2. Stopping power
3. Longevity

What would you guys recommend?

 

EBC green / Yellow stuff
Hawk 5.0 or HPS.

 

Costco has GREAT price on the Michelins... I got 265 \ 35 18s for less than 1k installed.

The ZII's are an autox tire and wont last very long, but a good tire.

 

Brakes for street use Hawk HPS.
Tires I'd go with the Michelins but you already stated the $$$ factor.....I don't have experience with any of the other options.

 

So much freaking FUN.

 

Bridgestone is coming out with the RE71R as well... that is supposed to be comparable to the Starspecs, Rivals, and the Hankook RS3.

 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...el=Impreza WRX 4-Door&autoModClar=STI Limited

There are some RE-11's

The RE71R's I agree might roast themselves to pieces fairly quickly, especially since 2nd gear for me generally breaks all 4 loose @ 25psi LOL, although with some new rubber that may change.

So the continental DW's are out eh? 13k miles is pretty pathetic. I mean I've had the dunlop SP600's for 34k with multiple mountain runs and daily driving the car.

I know the PSS's are the main stay, so i'm not opposed to them at all just wanting to make sure there aren't newer designs or better prices in some other tires.

 

You're definitely not going to find a shortage of opinions about tires haha!

Here's my recommendation: Michelin Pilot Super Sports. Surprised? lol

In all seriousness though, when you compare all of these heads up, the Michelins aren't really going to be MUCH more expensive. For starters, they come with a 30,000 mile mileage warranty (which Michelin will honor so long as you rotate them on time and makes sure your alignment is good so they wear evenly).

Second, with the exception of the Bridgestones, every other tire you mentioned is going to be really loud; I know, I know, the car is loud - have you ever driven a car with loud tires on the hwy though? Forget exhaust drone, that sucks - big time.

As far as the brakes go, I would absolutely hands down recommend the Girodisc SS Pads - I have them on my car and they are awesome. Between street driving and some track use, these are THE pad to have. The dust is no more (if not less) than the stock pads, they make VERY little noise (just light braking when they're cold), and stand up to abuse and heat. Oh yeah, and they are well priced. You're welcome to come up and drive my car to see if you like them - if you're willing to make the hike up here

 

oh yeah and definitely do the 255/40 18 - this will help your car specifically because it will add sidewall and help with grip; also with the added height it will help the gearing slightly for all those half mile events

 

Thanks Mike! Great point on the noise, and that is a huge factor I completely forgot to mention.

Discount has them for 219$/ea and I'm sure I could knock a little off that and get free installation like I always do.

Not sure when i'll pull the trigger as i've got my Passat back on the road again so i'm going to park the subie for a while and try to get some things done on it so i'm not worried about the tires necessarily right now.

 

I wont ever use Hawk HPS pads again. I think they are just a terrible pad. I have tried them on a few platforms and they dust worse than stock with less stopping power. Hawk ceramics were my happy medium with the S4. Stopping power was almost as well as stock but did not dust at all. If you dont mind putting up with the dust, the Hawk HP+ pads or the Carbotech Bobcats are a good choice.

I ahve also heard great things on Endless pads but I know they are bit pricey.

 

Costco beat discount tire by about $200 when I bought my set.

I drove out installed @ $930 something instead of the $1200 something from discount, and that was for 265s.

 

255 /40 R18 99Y XL BSW
$219.00 $876.00
This Michelin tire qualifies for:
$70 Visa Prepaid Card Mail-in Rebate (Details) Mail-In
Environmental Fee (State Required) $1.00 $4.00
Tire Disposal Fee $2.75 $11.00
Installation & Lifetime Spin Balancing $16.00 $64.00
Subtotal $955.00
GA 7.00% Sales Tax $62.37
Total "Out the Door" Price
$1,017.37


Not bad from discount? Costco's website doesn't work properly and when it finally did they don't even show PSS's in that size. Might have to call.

 

I got my A/S 3's from Costco and so far I really like them. They're softer than the Potenza 760s I had before this with a whole lot more grip to them. I don't remember what the price was but for the set (granted I'm running 17" not 18") they were less than $500 uninstalled (did it at SoK).

 

If you are going to want to get mileage, quiet and grip out of a tire...there really isn't any other option than the PSS.

 

Weird. I run HPS now for street, and I can go quite a while with very little dust. (HP+ for track, and of course they dust like crazy)

 

I was using PSS's up until last week. I am on my 3rd set of tires in a year on this car so I went with Nitto NT555's this time around to save money on the DD set because I am going through tires so quickly. I have drag radials for play time.