Scoobyfreak86 2017 Lapis Blue Pearl STI Journal

[icedcoco]

Really?? I was not aware of that. I know some prefer the DAMD to the Gt-spec. Interesting.

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[ScoobyFreak86]

Originally Posted by icedcoco

Really?? I was not aware of that. I know some prefer the DAMD to the Gt-spec. Interesting.

the GT Spec had thicker thumb 10 and 2 knobs, which is why I ultimately chose it over the damd. Either way, I am happy with the stock wheel. I just need alcantara in my life.

[Bobsubaru1111]

That is reallly beautiful!! Great job, great choice

[LeMikeJames]

3 months almost... are you still happy with the lapis blue as opposed to the white on the previous one? I want a wrb next really, but everything is telling me to go neutral silver or white.

[ScoobyFreak86]

Originally Posted by LeMikeJames

3 months almost... are you still happy with the lapis blue as opposed to the white on the previous one? I want a wrb next really, but everything is telling me to go neutral silver or white.

Stilll very happy with lapis. Some days I say I wish I wouldn't have gotten white for the simplicity of it, but then I know I would be saying I wish I got lapis if I had white. Grass is always greener, right? Haha.

But in all honesty, lapis is very rewarding when you clean it up. It looks really good and I get compliments on the color all the time. It's fun to have a color on a car haha. I've had all black, silver, and white cars. My jeep was red and I loved it. Now having lapis, in glad I stayed with my gut.

You honestly can't go wrong with any color. They are look great. However, if you are looking for something that's easy to keep clean go for white or silver.

[Northern]

Meant to share my photo of the subiebros switchback bezels. Surprisingly bright at night. With the morimoto led fog's turned on I see everything.

[icedcoco]

Originally Posted by ScoobyFreak86

Stilll very happy with lapis. Some days I say I wish I wouldn't have gotten white for the simplicity of it, but then I know I would be saying I wish I got lapis if I had white. Grass is always greener, right? Haha.

But in all honesty, lapis is very rewarding when you clean it up. It looks really good and I get compliments on the color all the time. It's fun to have a color on a car haha. I've had all black, silver, and white cars. My jeep was red and I loved it. Now having lapis, in glad I stayed with my gut.

You honestly can't go wrong with any color. They are look great. However, if you are looking for something that's easy to keep clean go for white or silver.

I was expecting to see "dialed in" somewhere in this post, but alas, no such luck.

[ScoobyFreak86]

Originally Posted by Northern

Meant to share my photo of the subiebros switchback bezels. Surprisingly bright at night. With the morimoto led fog's turned on I see everything.

Nice. I really like the drl bezels. I plan on picking up a set down the road. Really adds a great look to the front end. My only concern is the longevity of something like that. I've realized over the years that adding a ton of stuff to a car just complicates things and just more things to fix. I'm trying to keep it simple this time around and put stuff on that car that is quality and designed to last. I'm too tired and don't have as much time as I used to to constantly change and test things haha. But I'm sure I'll snag a set of those jdm bezels someday soon.

Originally Posted by icedcoco

I was expecting to see "dialed in" somewhere in this post, but alas, no such luck.

In order to be dialed in, you need to use it sparingly Can't over do it!

[ScoobyFreak86]

Some quick phone pics of the most recent mods. Reviews and proper photos to come! We are expecting our second daughter any day now, so I have been a little preoccupied. I promise to get them up soon! Figured I would update all of yous in the mean time.

Moritmoto XB LED Fog lights





eBay Front Lip



Rays Gramlights 57DR with dunlop 265/35

[icedcoco]

Originally Posted by ScoobyFreak86

In order to be dialed in, you need to use it sparingly Can't over do it!

Hahahaha...that is the best line!

BTW, installed my own xb led fogs last night. Simple and great output! All this rain will give me a chance to try it out properly.

Best wishes to you wife in these last few days or so into baby #2's arrival.

[ScoobyFreak86]

Originally Posted by icedcoco

Hahahaha...that is the best line!

BTW, installed my own xb led fogs last night. Simple and great output! All this rain will give me a chance to try it out properly.

Best wishes to you wife in these last few days or so into baby #2's arrival.

Haha it is a solid line. It's funny to hear how far it has traveled. You can easily tell who is a follower when you hear it. I hear Adam LZ say it all the time now haha.

Awesome! It's a great kit. A lot of performance in a small package. Spreads the light nicely to the sides and fills everything in well. I do miss the yellow though, so I might get some yellow film to get the look. We will see. They do match the headlights really well though.

Thank you! Really coming down to the last few days. She's ready to go for sure haha. Crazy how much more relaxed things are the second time around. First kid we had our bags packed and everything ready months ahead of time. 2nd kid... I haven't even taken my bag out

[icedcoco]

Originally Posted by ScoobyFreak86

Thank you! Really coming down to the last few days. She's ready to go for sure haha. Crazy how much more relaxed things are the second time around. First kid we had our bags packed and everything ready months ahead of time. 2nd kid... I haven't even taken my bag out

This is the TRUTH. My wife had hers packed once we were within 4 weeks of the due date. But then the baby came early, so I packed my bag later after being at the hospital for a few hours lol.

And now, back to the car...wheels look good of course.

[PremWRX17]

Very nice car, love this color!

[kaeknows]

are you still going to mount all season tires? if you ever decide to get rid of those re71r's please pm me, thanks! ps congrats on the 2nd one!

[ScoobyFreak86]

Originally Posted by icedcoco

This is the TRUTH. My wife had hers packed once we were within 4 weeks of the due date. But then the baby came early, so I packed my bag later after being at the hospital for a few hours lol.

And now, back to the car...wheels look good of course.

Haha yep probably going to be in the same boat as you.

Originally Posted by PremWRX17

Very nice car, love this color!

Thanks! LBP Unite!

Originally Posted by kaeknows

are you still going to mount all season tires? if you ever decide to get rid of those re71r's please pm me, thanks! ps congrats on the 2nd one!

Thanks bud! They are actually Dunlop DIREZZA ZII STAR SPEC's. I was planning on getting the DWS06's, but since this set came with these, I am probably going to rock them for the summer and then get the all seasons before winter. Figure might as well use the dunlops while I have them on already.

[gregor2001]

Originally Posted by ScoobyFreak86

Stilll very happy with lapis. Some days I say I wish I wouldn't have gotten white for the simplicity of it, but then I know I would be saying I wish I got lapis if I had white. Grass is always greener, right? Haha.

But in all honesty, lapis is very rewarding when you clean it up. It looks really good and I get compliments on the color all the time. It's fun to have a color on a car haha. I've had all black, silver, and white cars. My jeep was red and I loved it. Now having lapis, in glad I stayed with my gut.

You honestly can't go wrong with any color. They are look great. However, if you are looking for something that's easy to keep clean go for white or silver.

+1 for LBP, but again, you can't really go wrong with whatever you like. It is about what you want not what other people want you to be in.

[kaeknows]

lol oops the tread pattern looks just like bridgestones, lol i didnt even look at the brand lmao

[ScoobyFreak86]

Originally Posted by kaeknows

lol oops the tread pattern looks just like bridgestones, lol i didnt even look at the brand lmao

Haha yeah, they do look pretty similar. Both great tires! Looking forward to getting some seat time on these and seeing how they perform.

[ScoobyFreak86]

May 30, 2017

Mileage:2747

What's being installed: Morimoto XB LED Fog lights

While I really enjoyed the SubieLED 3S Fog lights, I wanted to see if there were other options out there that would be able to give me a bit more usable light on the road. Also, I wanted something with a whole housing package since I noticed some condensation/fog would build up inside the stock fog housings on rainy days. I tried to re-seal the bulbs with more rubber washers, but I still had the issue. I am not sure if it's because of the subieled bulbs or removing the initial seal of the stock bulbs. Either way, I deemed it unacceptable and wanted to fix the problem.

I came across a few full LED housing fog light options, but ultimately went with the Morimoto XB Fogs from a good friends company, Lightwerkz. I was able to get these in about 2 days after I placed my order (on memorial day weekend). My initial impression of these were stellar. The whole unit feels extremely solid. I love that inside the unit it is black and the front cover is crystal clear. The stock feels very cheap and the clear cover has a bit more of a haze to it, if you will. The Morimoto's are crystal clear and have a glass look to them. Looks very high quality.

To install, all you have to do is pop the plug socket into the little pins and plug them into the stock fog wire harness, just like stock. I reused the stock bolts as I found them to be a bit easier to screw into the bracket. Sure enough, everything lined up perfectly just like stock. The overall look of them (when off) looks way better than stock. It really cleans up the front end.

Time to fire them up! Click!...... only passenger side is working. Great! I find out quickly that the pins need to be in the right connection for them to work correctly. In other words, the pins have to go into the right pin for them to work. Simple wire swap and it came on. Shew!

What I noticed upon driving: There is much more usable light with these. What I mean by that is that there is a definitive cutoff from the fogs to the headlights. You can clearly see where the Morimoto's fill in. Whereas the subieled (or any normal halogen/led bulb for that matter) would just disperse the light and it would bleed up into the headlight. The normal LED bulbs would projector straight out in front of the car and it didn't really push any light out to the sides of the car. What the Morimoto's do is project light out to the sides of the car as well. Which allows your eyes to see the front sides of the car much better in bad weather and night time. The color matches the stock LED headlights very well and looks like it came from the factory this way.

The one thing they I have against them is the price. They are around 160-170. Pretty pricey for some LED fog lights. When in reality, you can get a similar results with a simple $60 LED bulb. However, I am sure the morimoto's longevity will outlast the cheaper LED bulbs out there and my condensation issue is no longer an issue. Would I recommend them to others? I'll recommend them, but it's going to be up to you if you want to spend the cash. Like I said, I was pretty pleased with the simple SubieLED fog bulbs, but the Morimoto's definitely offer a bit better performance when comparing back to back.

All in all, I am happy with my switch. It was a really nice upgrade that improved the look and overall performance of my STI. I am hanging onto the stock fogs and subieled bulbs, so if I ever want to switch it up I have that option. I will try to get some cutoff pictures of the fogs when I get a chance. For now, here are some quick garage shots!

IMG_2110 by Freak Photography, on Flickr

IMG_2116 by Freak Photography, on Flickr

IMG_2120 by Freak Photography, on Flickr

[ScoobyFreak86]

June 1, 2017

Mileage: 2824

What's being installed: eBay Front Lip

Subaru loves to have their bumpers higher than the side skirts and rear. I understand the logic behind it (clearance), but at an aesthetic standpoint, it just doesn't look right. On my WRX, as soon as I put the lip on, it made the car look that much better. It was a fairly inexpensive ht autosports cs style lip, but it did the car wonders. I knew a front lip was one of the first things I wanted to do on the STI since it had the same higher front bumper syndrome.

I flirted with the idea of getting something really nice this time around. I was really wanting a nice carbon fiber front lip, but after some thinking, I decided against it. I live in NJ and knowing what the car goes through year round, I would be pretty upset if I destroyed a $500 front lip. Something polyurethane would be the answer as it will give me the look I am after, yet the durability that I need.

The OEM STI lip is really nice, but we are looking at 400 bucks. I understand fitment is everything, but that is some serious money for a cosmetic mod! So I decided to look at a few other options out there and found some nice ones on Subispeed. HT Auto and OLM is what I initially was going to get. I decided to take a stab at looking on eBay since I have had a few friends get front lips from there and were happy with them. Found a oem style looking lip for 89 dollars. Decided to give it a go and see what it was all about.

To my surprise, the fitment was great. It went right onto the front bumper without any issues. Everything lined up well! I was pretty surprised I only paid 89 dollars for it, so I was more than happy. I figured if it was terrible, I would just toss it and get an HT auto one. But that easily changed after I saw how well it fit. There are a few areas on the side where it doesn't sit 100% flush to the bumper, but some 3m double sided tape took care of that easily. It is more of a shiny finish than the full, flat black of the more pricey options. But it looks pretty nice against the shine of the paint. I almost prefer this over the flat finished ones.

If you have the money to drop on a nice carbon fiber front lip, by all means do it. They look great. I just didn't feel comfortable putting that money on something I know is going to take a beating. Not to mention, I would much rather put the 300 dollars I saved into another part of the car. 89 bucks... hard to beat!

IMG_2133 by Freak Photography, on Flickr

IMG_2130 by Freak Photography, on Flickr

[ScoobyFreak86]

June 7, 2017

Mileage: 2877

What's being installed: Rays Gramlight 57dr in Black 18x9.5 et38, Dunlop Star Specs 265/35/18, Muteki SR35 Lugs

This was a wheel I lusted after in my WRX days. The simplistic design and overall quality appealed to me. ET38 is the PERFECT offset for this car and knowing this was indeed the offset on these wheels, I knew it was something I had to own. Before I bought my STI, I saw tons of pictures with 15+ STI's on the 57dr's. I knew it was the wheel I wanted for my car before I even brought it home.

I emailed a few vendors to see what kind of pricing they had and sure enough, these wheels were out of stock everywhere in the US until late summer. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since they are a great looking, affordable wheel. After emailing countless company's I gave up and decided to put it on hold for now. I didn't want to rush into getting another set of wheels when I ultimately wanted the 57dr's. I came very close to getting the 57CR's, but wasn't crazy about the 5 spokes and gloss black finish. Gloss black on wheels are a nightmare as they tend to swirl and scratch easily (had a set on my Jeep).

Decided to take a look in the FS section on the forum and see what was out there. Sure enough, my dream set of wheels were only a few states away selling for a killer price. Decided to scoop them up now before the deal slipped away. I wanted to sell my OEM 18's first, but since these came up, I went for it.

The seller shipped them out on Thursday and I got them on Monday. There is nothing like pulling up to your house and seeing two huge boxes sitting in the front of the garage waiting. Ripped the boxes open and knew I chose the right wheels as soon as I saw them. Simple and clean. The only issue with this set is that the tires on the wheels are fairly worn. They have a few thousand miles left on them, but I figured I would roll on them for the summer and pick up my DWS06's before the winter. Might as well use them if they are on already!

My lugs weren't coming in until Wednesday, so I took the 2 days to clean, clay, and seal the wheels before I put them on the car. That way I know they are to my standards and protected thoroughly.

Wednesday came, lugs came in, it's go time! However, this specific Wednesday just so happened to be our anniversary, we had deck furniture being delivered that needed to be put together for our daughters 2nd birthday party, said daughter came down with a fever that day, AND we are literally waiting for our 2nd daughter to be born any day now. My plan of putting the wheels on Wednesday slowly started to be put on the back burner since I had a million other things to tend to before. Luckily, I was able to get everything sorted out and I got a chance to sneak into the garage to throw the wheels on... at 10pm.

Very happy with how the wheels look on the car. The offset is absolutely perfect and the simplistic 6 spoke design really showcases the brakes well. I am excited to clean these wheels during the next wash! Very easy to clean! They brought the car to another level of aggressiveness. It feels so good to be back in the car game and making my vision a reality. This car is turning out to be easily my favorite car I've owned.

It is easy to see, the car is now a 4x4 off-roader with the amount of gap these wheels introduced. To be expected and I knew what I was in for. A proper suspension setup will really be the icing on the cake as it will definitely complete the overall look I am after. I am currently doing my research in coilovers and I plan on making the right choice the first time around. I made a big mistake with the feal 441's on my WRX and I do not intend on making that mistake again. I am going to take my time with the suspension on this car as I really want to improve the car, not downgrade. I have been speaking with Geoff at Cyngus Performance and he has been schooling me on everything I need to know. As of now it is between AST 5100's, Fortune Auto Gen 6, and the HKS Hypermax IV GT. The AST's are at the top of the list currently, but are indeed the most expensive. I am also flirting with the idea of the Spec Swift R Springs or the RCE yellow's, but not sure if it will give me what I am after. Not sure when I'll bite the bullet, but I will be sure to let you all know!

There isn't much left I really want to do to this car. Suspension with a rear sway bar and some 35%-50% tint is really all I have planned left. I would like to do the Subispeed Alcantara steering wheel as well. And possibly a solid stage 1 tune is at the back of my mind, but really not sure if I am totally there yet. I definitely think the car could use a bit more pep. I find myself thinking, "do I really need that much more power for the street?" I am sure someday I'll give into it and get a safe stage 1 tune, but for once, more power isn't at the top of the list.

That is all I have for now! I am sure I will be pretty preoccupied in the next few weeks/month with our newest arrival, so not sure how often I will be able to get on the forums. If I have any updates in the mean time, I will be sure to post up and keep everyone in the loop. Thanks for tuning in!

I apologize for the lack of pictures on this one! My delrium got the best of me and I thought I got more/better pictures. I am going to try and go out for a proper shoot when I get some free time and get the car cleaned up.

IMG_2100 by Freak Photography, on Flickr

IMG_2105 by Freak Photography, on Flickr

IMG_2085 by Freak Photography, on Flickr

Stock Wheels/Tires
IMG_2149 by Freak Photography, on Flickr

57dr's and tires
IMG_2072 by Freak Photography, on Flickr

IMG_2144 by Freak Photography, on Flickr

IMG_2150 by Freak Photography, on Flickr

[gregor2001]

Originally Posted by ScoobyFreak86

IMG_2150 by Freak Photography, on Flickr

Black on that blue looks so good, nice!

[dichoi]

congrats on both the baby and the wheels Chris! (even though you didn't buy mine...guess it worked out in the end for both of us haha). I have AST5100 sitting in the garage and will be going on the car July 1. I already test drove my buddy's car with them and they are amazing. had the fortune autos with swift springs on my last sti and was not a fan. would highly recommend the AST's.

[FL4TFTW]

Soooooo meaty. Looks so good. I wasn't sold on the black but that looks great.

I never tried a $1500+ set of coils but I loved my feals on my WRX. I had no weird noises and the ride quality was very acceptable. Much better than my BRZ and Fiesta ST.

The stage 1 isn't so much having more power as it is improving the powerband. Stock to TP stage 1 is a massive difference in feel. More torque down lower and more power up top. Definitely worth it IMO.

[Dalessio]

Looks great man, welcome to the black on blue club!

I know you haven't had much time to drive on them yet, but please let me know if you experience any rubbing with the 265s. I currently have 245/40 Continentals (had them on my BBS before I got rid of them) but am planning on stepping up to either 255 or 265s before summer is over, and I've heard mixed things about 265/35s rubbing. The general consensus seems to be that they're fine for OEM height, but RCE says they will rub with Yellows or Blacks, and there have been lots of conflicting posts on forums.