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Old 10-12-2017, 12:47 PM   #1
mnrex
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Default mnrex's 2018 Lapis Blue Pearl WRX Journal

Hey everyone! I fulfilled a lifelong dream and picked up my LBP 2018 WRX Premium back in September.



As a long time Subie fan/NASIOC lurker, I loved reading people's detailed build logs. Not only did it let me live vicariously through them, but it gave me a ton of inspiration regarding how I wanted to mod my own car someday.

Now that the script is flipped, I really want to give back to the community and document my own journey for everyone to share.

I've got big plans for the car, and have been documenting everything through my blog over at benscarblog.com.



I have been challenging myself to document all of my mods thoroughly, so check out my posts over there. If you're interested in what's been done already, I've got a running list of mods here.

Taking some inspiration from Scoobyfreak86's journal, I'll try to keep up with posting on here whenever I do any mods or changes to the car.

Glad to be a part of the Subie family, finally!
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Old 10-12-2017, 12:53 PM   #2
mnrex
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Just finished sound deadening the front and rear doors on my WRX! Overall, it's really added to the "solid-ness" of the car. Opening and closing the doors is MUCH more satisfying now.

I haven't noticed a measurable decrease in overall road noise yet, but I will say there's less wind noise coming in through the doors. I plan to fully deaden the floor, rear seats, and trunk area come spring, which I think will have a much bigger impact on the road noise.

More thoughts and a full write-up/tutorial are on my blog over here: https://benscarblog.com/sound-deadening-the-wrx/







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Old 10-12-2017, 01:54 PM   #3
ISSAWRX
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LBP

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Very nice! I ordered mine in the same color. It's the best one!

I'll keep looking at your website too.
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Old 10-12-2017, 02:11 PM   #4
mnrex
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Originally Posted by ISSAWRX View Post
Very nice! I ordered mine in the same color. It's the best one!

I'll keep looking at your website too.
Awesome! Congrats!

I was torn between silver and LBP, but I have no regrets going with the blue. I get compliments on it all the time and it adds a bit of character to the car without being too flashy.

Thanks for the support!
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Old 10-12-2017, 04:17 PM   #5
mgeak22
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World Rally Blue

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Looks good! Maybe I'll see you around the Twin Cities.
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Old 10-12-2017, 04:23 PM   #6
mnrex
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Looks good! Maybe I'll see you around the Twin Cities.
Thanks bud! See you around!
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Old 10-12-2017, 05:27 PM   #7
Kinnikuman
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Nice shade of blue.
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Old 10-15-2017, 02:46 PM   #8
ScoobyFreak86
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mnrex View Post
Taking some inspiration from Scoobyfreak86's journal, I'll try to keep up with posting on here whenever I do any mods or changes to the car.
Glad to have helped! Nice pick up and I like the detailed entries. Keep it up!
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Old 10-17-2017, 11:02 PM   #9
mnrex
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Date: 10/17/17
ODO: 3000
Blog Post: https://benscarblog.com/blacking-out-the-wrx



Today I hit the 3K mark and took the car in for its first oil change! I plan to do my own oil changes from here on out, but since the dealer threw in a free one I figured I'd take advantage of it. Side note: I'm particularly proud that I managed to time it perfectly and rolled over 3K as I parked the car in the dealership bay this afternoon.

Unfortunately, after getting the car back from the dealership, I noticed the technician must have had some issues getting the car into gear and hammered my shift stops out of alignment. This caused a moment of panic on the highway on-ramp when I couldn't find 5th gear, but was easily remedied when I got home. Pretty annoying, but nothing worth complaining to the dealership about (especially considering it's an aftermarket part). That and the greasy fingerprints on the inside of my windshield from applying the oil change sticker didn't leave me itching to return to the dealership for my next maintenance...

In addition, I've been working on blacking out the badging around the car the past few nights and got everything finished up tonight!







There's a detailed write-up of what I used/where I got everything over on my blog: https://benscarblog.com/blacking-out-the-wrx/

Finally, after letting it drive me insane for the last few weeks I caved and picked up the OEM fan blower motor cover for the passenger footwell. Why Subaru cheaped out and chose not to include this from the factory I have no idea.



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Old 10-18-2017, 12:05 AM   #10
Jasondk
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looks great, the sound deadening is a great idea!
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Old 10-18-2017, 08:21 AM   #11
mnrex
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looks great, the sound deadening is a great idea!
Thanks! The car really needs it from the factory. I love everything about it so far, but they really skimped on the insulation.
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Old 11-06-2017, 03:13 PM   #12
mnrex
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Date: 11/06/17
ODO: 3590

Well I'm a few weeks late, but late last month I picked up my set of winter wheels/tires for the WRX!

Having ordered the winter setup for my Fiesta ST from Tire Rack, I decided to go the same route this time. Shopping for 5x114.3 wheels was a VASTLY different experience than the 4x108 selection I was used to - so many choices! I eventually narrowed it down to a set of black Enkei YS5s or Motegi MR131 Traklites, but ended up going with the Enkeis for a few reasons. Mainly I had concerns about a lightweight wheel designed for track use and its durability through the winter. The roads around here in Minnesota/Wisconsin get tore up pretty good by the plows, so I aired on the side of caution.

As far as tires, I had a set of General Altimax Arctics on my ST and loved them. For the price, they were relatively quiet, comfortable, and had decent treadwear. Most importantly they were absolute beasts in the snow! With this in mind, I opted for the updated Altimax Arctic 12 since the price was basically the same.

With everything ordered, I opted for pickup from the Roseville, MN distribution center. Subtracting the cost of gas, I figured I'd be saving at least $100 in shipping! With snow in the forecast for the weekend, I took off of work and headed up on a Thursday afternoon to pick them up.

I paid for the items and loaded everything into the car. I figured I'd be able to fit two in the trunk, two on the rear seats folded down, but I ended up having to stack them in the rear seat as the trunk was about two inches short width-wise. I probably could have crammed them in, but didn't want to damage anything.



After an uneventful drive home, I pulled the car into the garage and got everything set up to swap the wheels over. Unfortunately, as I pulled the cardboard wrapping off the wheels, I noticed a slight problem.



They were painted silver, not the black I had ordered. Kicking myself for not checking them before driving home, I called up customer service and explained my issue. They were very polite and professional, but I was pretty frustrated. Having already used a day of PTO and half a tank of gas, I was faced really only one option; driving back up the next day to have the correct wheels mounted. As compensation for the error, the customer service rep assured me they'd be able to issue a $50 gift certificate for a future purchase with Tire Rack. Given the screw up, I notified him that I wasn't particularly interested in or planning on any purchases from Tire Rack in the near future and requested a partial reimbursement for the transportation costs I was forced to eat (not including the two days of PTO I had to use). In the end, the best they could do was a $10 refund on each wheel for a total of $40 back on my card. I didn't feel like arguing any further, so I accepted and notified them I'd be back up in Roseville bright and early the next morning.

When I woke up the next morning, the snow had already started to fall and the temperatures were hovering around freezing.



I wasn't particularly excited to make the 140 mile round trip on summer tires, but I didn't have many options. After a butt clenching drive up to the distribution center, I checked in and unloaded the wheels and tires for re-mounting.

An hour of standing/sitting around later, I was on my way (after triple checking the wheels over of course).



That afternoon I dismounted and thoroughly cleaned/sealed the stock summer setup for storage. I then prepped the new winters with a good clean and sealant and got them mounted up.













Unfortunately, my misfortune wasn't quite over yet...

After a road trip later that evening, I parked in the garage and was on my way into the house when I noticed one of the tires looked a little low. Checking the PSI, I was surprised to find there was only 10 PSI in the tire! Assuming I'd find a puncture, I looked the entire tire over only to discover the valve stem hadn't been fully tightened down. Given that the other three tires had no issues, I can only assume the tech at the distribution center had rushed the re-mounting and forgotten to tighten all of the valve stems. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed. I managed to tighten the valve stem myself using a socket and filled the air with tire. After a week or so of driving, it seems to be holding air just fine now.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the setup. I wish they would've had the 40mm offset in stock, but the 50mm doesn't suck in too far with the added benefit of less exposed tire to fling road debris all of the side of the car. Having put a few hundred miles on the tires, I've found them to be substantially quieter than the stock Dunlops. There's a bit of responsiveness lost in the handling, but I've actually found shifts to be much less jerky! Not sure if that's a product of the softer compound or a placebo. Regardless, I'm pretty pissed about my experience with Tire Rack. I haven't contacted customer service since I discovered the loose valve stem, but I will certainly be thinking twice about doing business with the Roseville distribution center again.
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Old 12-10-2017, 08:29 PM   #13
mnrex
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Date: 12/10/17

ODO: 5620

After watching some of T-WRX's videos on YouTube, I got inspired to try my hand and fixing the factory exhaust sag. He utilized a pair of stiffer/tighter hangers from Amazon to pull the tips up and fill out the gap.

Since it was about 20°F out, I grabbed a warm bottle of soapy water and my heat gun to encourage the old hangers off. While it was still a bitch, a couple of breaks and creative leveraging got the hangers off/on.

The end result is totally worth it! The factory gap is painfully obvious when you compare the before/after. The rear end looks so much more refined and clean now.



Just waiting for my SubieBros order to come in this week for a few more rear end goodies!
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Old 12-19-2017, 12:22 PM   #14
mnrex
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Date: 12/12/17

ODO: 5750

Blog post: https://benscarblog.com/cleaning-up-...ar-of-the-wrx/

After getting the exhaust sag sorted, I decided to finish off a few rear end mods before the temps permanently drop below freezing around here!

Ordered up Subiebros' F1 LED rear fog light and replacement LED license plate lights.





Installation was relatively straightforward for both, but I did have a hell of a time getting the OEM license plate lenses out of the trunk; the hole in the bumper trim is BARELY big enough to squeeze them through. I'd highly recommend laying down some painters tape if you attempt this yourself.



The difference is night and day (almost literally) between the OEM and LED license plate bulbs:





I'm very happy with how the rear end looks now. I may look at tinting the taillights or picking up some cherry red replacements at some point, but I'll probably focus on interior mods for the rest of the winter.




Last edited by mnrex; 12-29-2017 at 03:23 PM. Reason: Added blog link
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Old 12-29-2017, 03:22 PM   #15
mnrex
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Date: 12/26/17

ODO: 6600

Blog post: https://benscarblog.com/carbon-e-bra...button-review/

Installed my carbon fiber e-brake lever and Perrin Drift Button this week:





Loving the upgrade in quality, but I'm not 100% sold on the Perrin button yet. Seems almost cartoonishly large IMO. Maybe it'll grow on me with time?

JDM armrest extension is in the mail as we speak!

Also picked up a case of oil from the dealership for my 7k oil change; I had originally planned on doing them every 3k, but since I don't appear to be burning much if any oil, and the oil itself doesn't appear very dirty yet I'll be trying 4k intervals instead.

I mentioned installing a Fumoto valve to the dealership's parts supervisor, and he laughed and said "Save your money. Our technicians have only ever had issues with them." Now I haven't personally heard of anybody ever having leaking issues with the valves, but crush washers are cheap enough so I'll be sticking to those for now.

Last edited by mnrex; 01-16-2018 at 04:09 PM.
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Old 12-29-2017, 03:31 PM   #16
Obviously Tyler
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2017 MX-5 RF Club

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I have the same Perrin button. It's probably one of my favorite interior mods. It's just a lot nicer on your thumb.
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Old 12-29-2017, 04:25 PM   #17
mnrex
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I have the same Perrin button. It's probably one of my favorite interior mods. It's just a lot nicer on your thumb.
This is true. The concave shape does make it a lot more enjoyable to use.

I think I'd still like to try a convex, smaller diameter knob though.
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Old 01-16-2018, 04:08 PM   #18
mnrex
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Date: 12/30/17

ODO: 6720

Blog post: https://benscarblog.com/jdm-dual-con...ension-review/

I'm a few weeks late again, but before the new year I finally picked up the JDM dual console armrest extension. With a cross-state road trip coming up, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to see how big of a difference it would make.

Long story short, it's 100% worth it. I think the $150+ asking price is a bit steep for what you get, but the extra comfort and storage are awesome. Plus it's OEM so everything matches perfectly!

Installation was super straightforward, albeit it was -10 degrees out...

There's a full review and picture-heavy instructions over on my blog here.





https://assets.bpwalters.com/images/...est_step_4.jpg

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Old 01-21-2018, 12:16 AM   #19
mnrex
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Temps hit 40°+ today, so I broke out the hose and buckets! Felt so good to wash the salt off by hand. We're expecting a beast of a storm this week, so I took some time to reapply a layer of FinishKare 1000P as well.

Currently working on tracking down a spare set of Base/Premium halogen headlights so I can get cracking on an HID retrofit!
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Old 05-22-2018, 12:08 PM   #20
mnrex
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Date: 05/22/18

Blog Post: https://benscarblog.com/morimoto-d2s-4.0-hid-retrofit/

As per usual, I'm almost a month late with updating my thread over here...sigh. Anyways, late last month I was faced with a week off between jobs and decided to tackle the project I've been wanting to do for so long - an HID retrofit and black out the headlights!

I decided to go with Lightwerkz's Retro-Quick Morimoto D2S 4.0 kit and the Diode Dynamics c-lights.

All in all it took me over four days of work (including taking pictures and notes for documentation) to get everything finished, but the results are ABSOLUTELY worth it. The OEM halogen system is a complete joke, and the D2S projectors + Morimoto 5500k HID bulbs bring the WRX's lighting into the 21st century. In addition, the Diode Dynamics c-lights and black housings add a ton of refinement and aggressiveness to the front end. I'm totally in love with the look!

I've got a full, detailed write-up on the process over on my blog if anyone is interested in tackling this project themselves, but here's a preview of the results:











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Old 05-22-2018, 10:18 PM   #21
mnrex
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Originally Posted by KEV7N View Post
Beautiful car
Thank you!
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Old 05-23-2018, 03:44 PM   #22
ScoobyFreak86
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Lapis Blue

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Great write up! The detailed pictures and thoughts each step of the way is right up my alley. Nicely done.

I would keep an eye on the paint towards the lip of the shroud. Where the projector meets the shroud, it tends to get very hot and causes the paint to bubble. I've contemplated doing a similar paint process to mine, but the issue I have read on that swayed me away. If it is done right, it should be ok. Just wanted to give the heads up.
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Old 05-24-2018, 04:48 PM   #23
mnrex
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Originally Posted by ScoobyFreak86 View Post
Great write up! The detailed pictures and thoughts each step of the way is right up my alley. Nicely done.

I would keep an eye on the paint towards the lip of the shroud. Where the projector meets the shroud, it tends to get very hot and causes the paint to bubble. I've contemplated doing a similar paint process to mine, but the issue I have read on that swayed me away. If it is done right, it should be ok. Just wanted to give the heads up.
Thanks for the heads up! I was wary of the type of paint to use since I had seen other folks experience this peeling/flaking under the heat of the headlights. However, I'm pretty confident that the combination of primer and dry time I gave should have created a pretty solid bond. If they do peel it'll be a good excuse to crack them back open and throw another set of projectors in!
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Old 05-28-2018, 01:09 AM   #24
mnrex
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Spent all day Saturday cracking open my taillights and blacking out the chrome. Also swapped in some Diode Dynamics LED reverse lights and wired the Tail as Turn modules up. Nowhere near as much work as the headlight project, and I'm loving the results!











Also replaced all the interior halogens with LEDs.





I'll be working on a blog post for the taillights in the next week or so. In the meantime, I jumped on a Memorial Day sale and have a set of Morimoto LED fogs on the way!
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Old 05-28-2018, 08:54 PM   #25
ret3423
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this looking so powerful..love the pictures
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