Where are all my Type RA's at?

[bolly]

I've only seen one in the "flesh" in North Bay Ontario

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[Pete Holt]

Originally Posted by bolly

I've only seen one in the "flesh" in North Bay Ontario

Nice! Mine is still the only one I have ever seen in person. Maybe the rarity will help me keep it stock a bit longer than usual for me.

[Jesus camaro]

Love it

[Pete Holt]

Originally Posted by D-Rodman

Hope all of them will be garaged and kept off salted roads.

Originally Posted by K3rm1tth3fr0g

That's what I'm saying!

Nope, sorry guys, but with 3 locking differentials and really good snow tires this thing is way too fun to keep in the garage all winter. Don't worry too much though. I always seal the underside and rinse off after the salt. This year I am trying something new- Fluid film

Swapping to these silver Enkei rims for winter with Hankook snow tires.



I really like the design of these rims and they provide a lot more caliper clearance.



The 35mm offset on these rims actually widens the track by over 1.5" Hmm, tempting to keep these rims for summer tires. This also means they sit a bit more flush with the fenders.



These Hankook Winter i*cept evo 3 tires are great in the snow. Probably partly because the outer tread blocks resemble Nokians. Also happy I can still take a corner quickly in the dry unlike a lot of snow tires with big square tread blocks (Blizzaks).

Originally Posted by Jesus camaro

Love it

Thanks!

[wrx_roggie]

Good choice for the winter wheel. I’m running the same one. It keeps the OE look year round!

[Pete Holt]

Originally Posted by wrx_roggie

Good choice for the winter wheel. I'm running the same one. It keeps the OE look year round!

Thanks! Are you running the same aggressive 35mm offset? I am amazed how much wider the stance is now. I am even tempted to keep them to put summer tires on when it gets warm since they are also lighter- so better performance all around.

Surprisingly, the spokes on the Enkeis are a touch thinner than the BBS giving them a higher quality look even though they are a fraction of the cost. Even though they are 18's instead of 19's there is still plenty of caliper clearance between the top of the caliper and the inside of the rim (even more than the BBS on the caliper face due to the offset).

However, if I kept these rims year round I think it is too much silver with the calipers and rotors. Maybe I would paint the Enkeis gold or just keep the BBS for the summer and paint the calipers black and get gold Brembo stickers for them and black/gold BBS center caps for the wheels. This car certainly has A LOT of STI emblems.

[Pete Holt]

The detailed video I did of my new Type RA

YouTube (Short URL)

YouTube (Short URL)

[wrx_roggie]

Originally Posted by Pete Holt

Thanks! Are you running the same aggressive 35mm offset? I am amazed how much wider the stance is now. I am even tempted to keep them to put summer tires on when it gets warm since they are also lighter- so better performance all around.

Surprisingly, the spokes on the Enkeis are a touch thinner than the BBS giving them a higher quality look even though they are a fraction of the cost. Even though they are 18's instead of 19's there is still plenty of caliper clearance between the top of the caliper and the inside of the rim (even more than the BBS on the caliper face due to the offset).

However, if I kept these rims year round I think it is too much silver with the calipers and rotors. Maybe I would paint the Enkeis gold or just keep the BBS for the summer and paint the calipers black and get gold Brembo stickers for them and black/gold BBS center caps for the wheels. This car certainly has A LOT of STI emblems.

sorry missed this. I am running 18s with the 40mm offset and 235/40 Pilot Alpin PA4s.

the Enkeis are quite a bit lighter but I love the gold BBS way too much to run anything else in the summer. And I think the silver calipers look great so I personally wouldn't touch them.

Its your car though and you should do what you like!

[Pete Holt]

Originally Posted by wrx_roggie

sorry missed this. I am running 18s with the 40mm offset and 235/40 Pilot Alpin PA4s.

the Enkeis are quite a bit lighter but I love the gold BBS way too much to run anything else in the summer. And I think the silver calipers look great so I personally wouldn't touch them.

Its your car though and you should do what you like!

Are you also running the "hyper silver" Enkeis? The gold and blue is classic Subaru. The gold rims definitely look unique on the black, but it does seem a touch odd that nothing else on the entire car is also gold.

I like both sets of rims so every 6 months or so when I change them each year it will probably be like, "Oh yeah, those gold rims look cool too." I am really trying not to modify this car too much like all of my others in the past. Or at least not modify anything that cannot go back to stock when I sell it if I have a picky buyer.

I just mentioned painting the calipers because I was thinking of keeping the Enkeis with their wider track width year round for the obvious handling improvement, but I don't think I will really track this car so probably no need for pushing the performance envelope.

[wrx_roggie]

Originally Posted by Pete Holt

Are you also running the "hyper silver" Enkeis? The gold and blue is classic Subaru. The gold rims definitely look unique on the black, but it does seem a touch odd that nothing else on the entire car is also gold.

I like both sets of rims so every 6 months or so when I change them each year it will probably be like, "Oh yeah, those gold rims look cool too." I am really trying not to modify this car too much like all of my others in the past. Or at least not modify anything that cannot go back to stock when I sell it if I have a picky buyer.

I just mentioned painting the calipers because I was thinking of keeping the Enkeis with their wider track width year round for the obvious handling improvement, but I don't think I will really track this car so probably no need for pushing the performance envelope.

Running the gunmetal color so I have a S209 “lite” look in the winter.
Agree the wider track does look a bit better.
Mine hasn’t been out of the garage for two weeks now. Might need to get it on the battery charger.
The black and gold reminds me of the original 04 STis with that combo. Also a classic! A friend had one of the first in our area.

[S2000_Europe]

another black Type RA!!! I have only seen blue and gold, when I was searching for one, and as you I feel I am a bit old for the blue & gold. (I am in my 40's).

This is my 3rd subaru. I have not seen one here in Miami.

I wanted to keep it stock, maybe Cobb Ti exhaust, until I saw Archer's journal....

[Pete Holt]

Originally Posted by S2000_Europe

another black Type RA!!! I have only seen blue and gold, when I was searching for one, and as you I feel I am a bit old for the blue & gold. (I am in my 40's).

This is my 3rd subaru. I have not seen one here in Miami.

I wanted to keep it stock, maybe Cobb Ti exhaust, until I saw Archer's journal....

I turn lucky number 43 in March. If you look at my profile you will see I have been here since the beginning- tuning Subarus for 23 years now!?! Wow, I must be getting old. lol

I agree with you on the tuning. I think this will be my least modified Subaru yet. Partly because I don't think I will track this one and partly due to the extreme rarity. But me being me, I can never just leave a car stock. So I did just install a different shift boot, weighted shift knob, and I have an even shorter throw (and shorter height- good Lord this thing is tall!) shift kit on the way.

[wrx_roggie]

Are you doing anything about the lack of spare tire? I was going to check parts diagrams and buy the wheel/tire and insert. Just keep forgetting to get around to it.

[Pete Holt]

Originally Posted by wrx_roggie

Are you doing anything about the lack of spare tire? I was going to check parts diagrams and buy the wheel/tire and insert. Just keep forgetting to get around to it.

No, I have a plug kit in the car and roadside assistance for the next 5 years if I completely shred a tire.

[Caleb90]

Definitely need an RA in my life…

[Pete Holt]

Originally Posted by Caleb90

Definitely need an RA in my life…

Definitely worth it if you can track down a clean one at a decent price. They're out there if you are patient, or lucky...

[S2000_Europe]

Originally Posted by Pete Holt

This car certainly has A LOT of STI emblems.

Nothing compare with the //M's car. Mine had the //M logo everywhere, strat screen, seats, brakes, wheels, badges outside, engine cover, shifter....

love those Enkei, I am torn btw Enkei and Apex. Gold wheels look fantastic on black cars, but the silver brakes do not match very well for me. Maybe the solution is gunmetal/ antracithe

[Pete Holt]

Originally Posted by S2000_Europe

Nothing compare with the //M's car. Mine had the //M logo everywhere, strat screen, seats, brakes, wheels, badges outside, engine cover, shifter....

love those Enkei, I am torn btw Enkei and Apex. Gold wheels look fantastic on black cars, but the silver brakes do not match very well for me. Maybe the solution is gunmetal/ antracithe

I had an E46 M3- great car and fortunately it was not covered in emblems like the STI. My STI has 15 STI emblems outside and 11 inside for a total of at least 26, if I didn't miss any. That seems like a ton. Fortunately, some of them are more subdued than others, but still, I cannot think of another car in existence that has so many emblems.

Glad you like the Enkeis too. I have always wanted mesh style wheels like this that look like the classic BBS design. The silver calipers look fine with the gold wheels, but they do become a lot of silver with silver wheels. I'm ok with it because I like the hyper silver finish. Gunmetal would not be a bad idea. I had a set of Prodrive wheels on my '02 WRX in gunmetal (anthracite) and they looked decent, but they always looked dirty because they were so dark. Totally your call though as appearance is always a personal preference.

(I responded to your pm too.)

[murrdogg24]

Very nice RA Sir!

[Pete Holt]

Originally Posted by murrdogg24

Very nice RA Sir!

Thanks! It puts a smile on my face every time I get behind the wheel. Mission accomplished.

[Pete Holt]

So I just installed the Torque Solutions short shifter to lower the super tall shifter, a weighted suede Raceseng shift knob to smooth out the shifts, and a suede shift boot to match the car a bit better. The shifts are nice and short now so I might wait a bit to install the front and rear shifter bushings. Thoughts?

[S2000_Europe]

you said that you would not mod this car***8230; first the shifter, then the boot...... to end with rotated turbo!!!

The suede shift knob and boot look superb

[Pete Holt]

Originally Posted by S2000_Europe

you said that you would not mod this car***8230; first the shifter, then the boot...... to end with rotated turbo!!!

The suede shift knob and boot look superb

Who said that? Twin turbos on order... J/K

Thanks!

[HooliganWRX]

I had no idea these hard a full carbon roof o_0

[Pete Holt]

Originally Posted by HooliganWRX

I had no idea these hard a full carbon roof o_0

It really changes the handling at the limit and especially the steering. If you watched my video above I have no idea how much that piece costs, but I bet it is ridiculously expensive since the little amount of carbon on the rear spoiler makes that piece about $4,000!?!