2012 Impreza thread

[xcnick]

Originally Posted by sgoldste01

On my VW Golf I ran General Altimax Arctics in the winter and really liked them a lot. Not overly expensive, and provided really excellent traction. And if the can provide that kind of traction on a front-wheel drive car, then the Impreza would be crazy good in the snow.

I can second the General's. Not a big name, but I have tested many living in a ski area. The wife's WRX has 4 studded.

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[sgoldste01]

General is not a big name except that it's now owned by Continental. I left my Altimax Arctics unstudded and thought they were awesome.

[xcnick]

They have a summer tire Exclaim UHP I like as well.

[Shotokan07]

Hey ST, thanks, its good to be back. How's ur scubie doing? Finally hit the 3k marker lol

Any customizations? Gonna get my tints done and hopefully get the retrofit headlamps done like jdm's

[freshrider]

I have 9000 miles in 4 months on the 2012 impreza. Used to drink oil during break in but no longer does. No problems so far. Only thing is that the windshield is weak and thin. I have a crack and chips already. Paint is ok so far. I'm in Alberta so they put a lot of rocks on roads in the winter and lots of SUV and truck drivers here too.

[nubsub]

(cross posted with oil light thread)

hi everyone,

i just completed my first oil change on my Impreza at 2689miles on the odometer, and as promised am reporting back on my experiences.

1. Jack or no jack or ramps
after realizing that this car has the same problem as my wife's prius with minimal clearance that allows a complete loosening of the drain plug with a pan underneath, i decided to drive up onto a couple of 2x4's. the extra 1 5/8" made a big difference and the change was really easy. (i don't own ramps, and if this didn't work, i would have used my jack and jackstands)

2. oil color
after nearly 2700mi, the oil was very dark. i can't say it was dirty, but it had enough carbon to have a very dark appearance.

3. dipstick prior to change:
read right near the full mark or maybe 1/16" under the full mark. contrary to what others have experienced, there wasn't an appreciable difference in reading either side of the dipstick.

4. 5 qts of oil reading:
after adding a full 5 quart container of Mobil 1 Fuel economy full synthetic 0w20, and letting the car run to fill thew new filter, the dipstick came up to the midpoint between the two marks.

5. 5.3 qt reading:
i then added ~0.3qts (11 ounces out of a 32 oz quart container), and the dipstick came up to the full dot on both sides.

my car's build date is Feb 2012, by the way, so i wonder if the dipstick and tube are different on my car vs others? i checked the dipstick multiple times for both pre change and post change and it was consistent on both sides of the dipstick.

other notes:
- i can't believe how thin this oil is. it drained out of the pan really fast. much faster than i'm used to with 5w30 oil on my old honda or my wife's prius. i was suprised that a slight shift in grade would have a perceptible difference.
- the new oil seems even thinner than what i drained as evidenced by the way it coated the dipstick. i'll be curious if that will change as i put miles on this batch of oil. this is definitely something i'll be keeping an eye on.

[3rdSubie]

Originally Posted by ZionZR2

My previous car was a 2004 Pontiac Vibe that had
Continental ContiProContact as OEM
THEY WERE GARBAGE!!!
A dealer replaced them at 12K free of charge with
Goodyear Eagle RS-A
They were better than the above but still pretty bad in anything other than dry pavement.

After those were used up I went with the GY Triple Treads which were great but never saw any real snow.

My wifes car a 2008 Chevy Cobalt I went with the Bridgestone Potenza 960AS Pole Positions

A great tire on wet roads.

On my new Impreza so far I do not have any issues with the OEM yokos, but they have only seen dry roads so far and only 1500 miles.

I probably wont do anything until they wear out. And when they do I'll probably go with the Bridgestones tough I think they replaced the 960 with the 970.

Wet traction is a top concern for me over noise and fuel economy.

I wish there were some real test data published on Tirerack or other places for the specific Yokos used on the Impreza.

For me, the issue is black ice (traction and braking). I'll keep using the Yoko Avids because I have them, but I don't feel all that safe. Consumer Reports did not show ice braking ratings for the specific tires it came with, so not a lot of help there.

[Shotokan07]

I can tell you from experience about the black ice. The day i got the car was late January, where it rained. The car did slip very so slight in the cold rain on my way to the tireshop. After the tire change, i immediate saw the difference.

The next day i went to the poconos where the following night it anowed heavily. I saw cars slip and slid down the hill while i maintained a good 30 mph, having a crowd witness my boldness.

So im very glad i switch my avids to dws. Albeit, if i had stayed in the city and not drive up to snowboard and such, I'd keep the stock.

[ST Eye]

Originally Posted by Shotokan07

Hey ST, thanks, its good to be back. How's ur scubie doing? Finally hit the 3k marker lol

Any customizations? Gonna get my tints done and hopefully get the retrofit headlamps done like jdm's

The '12 second Impreza is doing well. I have just over 4k miles on it already. So far I put in a reverse camera and yellowed out the fogs. I NEED to get it tinted though, just gotta find the time! I do have the sedan spoiler waiting to be installed, gonna require drilling 12 holes in the trunk!

[Shotokan07]

Wat kind of yellow fogs did u put? Did u separate the connection from the headlights? I hate how u have to turn on the headlights in order to have the fogs on... So tacky...

I just got the crossbars but im gonna wait til i put the 3m film on the roof before installing the bars. ...no holes to drill.

Speaking of bars, r the bars pretty safe to keep once installed? There r four torx screws to tightened and thats it. Who's to stop from someone to just prop it loose and take it??? :/ maybe im just paranoid but i do live nyc and leave my car on the street. I was thinking of installing my bike rack and use its lock to secure the bars, but that defeats the purpose of being more aerodynamic.

[ST Eye]

Originally Posted by Shotokan07

Wat kind of yellow fogs did u put? Did u separate the connection from the headlights? I hate how u have to turn on the headlights in order to have the fogs on... So tacky...

I just got the crossbars but im gonna wait til i put the 3m film on the roof before installing the bars. ...no holes to drill.

Speaking of bars, r the bars pretty safe to keep once installed? There r four torx screws to tightened and thats it. Who's to stop from someone to just prop it loose and take it??? :/ maybe im just paranoid but i do live nyc and leave my car on the street. I was thinking of installing my bike rack and use its lock to secure the bars, but that defeats the purpose of being more aerodynamic.

I bought some overlay material on ebay and layed them over the outside. I would love to find out how to just be able to use my foglights as DRLs instead of the high beam.

Not sure about the cross bars, surprised that there is no protection against theft. Do you park on the street?

[Shotokan07]

Yea. :/ i really like jdm's system of lights. Want to do the same on mine. A little jealous he's got the white, super sexy! But I'm loving mine with silver on black look. Gonna tint out the rear lights, got black grill, hood deflector, side deflectors, and the black tints will definitely make it look very aggressive. After Jd's retrofit lights, im thinking of putting offroad piaa lights inside the grill.

^_^

[Hobgoblin]

Originally Posted by Shotokan07

Wat kind of yellow fogs did u put? Did u separate the connection from the headlights? I hate how u have to turn on the headlights in order to have the fogs on... So tacky...

I just got the crossbars but im gonna wait til i put the 3m film on the roof before installing the bars. ...no holes to drill.

Speaking of bars, r the bars pretty safe to keep once installed? There r four torx screws to tightened and thats it. Who's to stop from someone to just prop it loose and take it??? :/ maybe im just paranoid but i do live nyc and leave my car on the street. I was thinking of installing my bike rack and use its lock to secure the bars, but that defeats the purpose of being more aerodynamic.

I was worried about theft of the factory cross bars and rack as well. I put a couple drops of solder in the torx screw heads and it now seems theft proof. If I ever need to remove the rack I have a desoldering tool that will allow me to access the torx heads again. I was going to buy some security torx bolts from McMaster-Carr but they were $10 for four! Solder is cheaper.

[sgoldste01]

I was going to put yellow Lamin-X on my fog lights like I did on my VW Golf, but Lamin-X said they hadn't created a template for our cars yet.

When you put the yellow material from eBay on yours, did you have to cut the material to fit, or was it already sized correctly? And did you have to remove the plastic trim around the fogs before putting on the yellow material, or could you get a good result without removing any trim?

[sgoldste01]

Oops, double post.

[Shotokan07]

Hmm. Soldering IS a good idea...

[ST Eye]

Originally Posted by sgoldste01

I was going to put yellow Lamin-X on my fog lights like I did on my VW Golf, but Lamin-X said they hadn't created a template for our cars yet.

When you put the yellow material from eBay on yours, did you have to cut the material to fit, or was it already sized correctly? And did you have to remove the plastic trim around the fogs before putting on the yellow material, or could you get a good result without removing any trim?

The overlay came in a big sheet and I cut it to the basic size with some extra for stretching it to the curve. Then I used a razor blade to cut around the light. I did remove the foglight surrounds because it is easy to do and makes the install a whole lot cleaner and easier. In the end it cost me about 4 dollars and I have enough film to do probably another 6 sets of lights.

[sgoldste01]

Originally Posted by ST Eye

The overlay came in a big sheet and I cut it to the basic size with some extra for stretching it to the curve. Then I used a razor blade to cut around the light. I did remove the foglight surrounds because it is easy to do and makes the install a whole lot cleaner and easier. In the end it cost me about 4 dollars and I have enough film to do probably another 6 sets of lights.

I know it should be intuitively obvious, but how did you go about removing the trim pieces? Where did you find it easiest to start prying out the trim? What tool did you use, if any?

It should be easy, but I'm something of a bull in a china shop when it comes to removing plastic snap-in trim, and generally end up breaking something in the process.

[ST Eye]

Originally Posted by sgoldste01

I know it should be intuitively obvious, but how did you go about removing the trim pieces? Where did you find it easiest to start prying out the trim? What tool did you use, if any?

It should be easy, but I'm something of a bull in a china shop when it comes to removing plastic snap-in trim, and generally end up breaking something in the process.

Many people have pried the trim off from the outside, however I was having problems doing so. Instead I took off the plastic rivets that held the bottom splash guard off reached inside from under neath. Then I pushed the tabs that hold he trim to remove it.

I didn't want to risk damaging the bumper or trim.

[sgoldste01]

Originally Posted by ST Eye

Many people have pried the trim off from the outside, however I was having problems doing so. Instead I took off the plastic rivets that held the bottom splash guard off reached inside from under neath. Then I pushed the tabs that hold he trim to remove it.

I didn't want to risk damaging the bumper or trim.

When you say "bottom splash guard", are you referring to something under the front bumper?

[ST Eye]

Originally Posted by sgoldste01

When you say "bottom splash guard", are you referring to something under the front bumper?

Yes, there is a black plastic splash guard that attaches to the bumper. This prevents you from reaching your hand up underneath.

[sgoldste01]

Originally Posted by ST Eye

Yes, there is a black plastic splash guard that attaches to the bumper. This prevents you from reaching your hand up underneath.

Ah, gotcha. This sounds similar to the "belly pan" that VW puts under the engine on its cars. But those are held on with screws. How do these push pins work? Are they reusable, or are they one-time-use?

[flyboy1100]

Maybe some day i will report on my headlight armor fog light cover install, just need time to do it.

What is the easiest way to pop out the fog light housing so i can have better access?

[ST Eye]

Originally Posted by sgoldste01

Ah, gotcha. This sounds similar to the "belly pan" that VW puts under the engine on its cars. But those are held on with screws. How do these push pins work? Are they reusable, or are they one-time-use?

They are reusable. Just take a small flat head screwdriver and pop the center of the pop-it out. Then the whole pop-it will pull out.

[SleepNMnky]

Originally Posted by Hobgoblin

I was worried about theft of the factory cross bars and rack as well. I put a couple drops of solder in the torx screw heads and it now seems theft proof. If I ever need to remove the rack I have a desoldering tool that will allow me to access the torx heads again. I was going to buy some security torx bolts from McMaster-Carr but they were $10 for four! Solder is cheaper.

I'm gonna have to check out these security tork bolts. No garage for me, just city side driveway & there's no outlet anywhere close enough for a solder tool use. & I actually remove mine often... so I think that would be a pain in the ass for me. There's really no NEED to remove them, but with the moonroof open all the way it's pretty loud with them on when not in use.