WRX Wagon Aluminum control arm install

[glickstue]

Great how to guide. I just did this upgrade on my '03 sedan after cracking a endlink mount on the passenger's side control arm.


Luckily my spindle's released the ball joints on both sides without any issues unlike some people have experienced. It took less than 10 good "taps" on each side to knock out the ball joints. My car has bout 83K on it and I was surprised how easily everything came apart after some of the issues I read. I made sure to spray a healthy amount of PB Blaster into the seam or "crack" on the back side of each spindle before I got started. If anyone is considering doing this mod I would highly recommend trying this when spraying all of the bolts. Lastly, I agree whole heartedly to using air tools, mainly because or the length of some of the bolts involved. As my arms got tired after ratcheting over a dozen 4" in long heavy grade bolts.

[012.5RS]

i havnt done this yet, myself but have been doing research into it. if u want a wider track then get a set of alum sedan control arms, sedan front sway bar, and sedan cv shafts and you'll be golden. I'm looking at getting the 04-06 sti arms along with said sedan sway bar and cv shafts with some bc racing coilovers. Trying to figure if i wanna go either sedan or wagon whiteline lateral links since they have adjustable track widths. I gotta do some measuring and ill let u guys know what i find out.

[Big Sky WRX]

I'd consider widening the front, not the rear- wider front vs narrower rear = dialing out understeer

the 04-06 arms also give you 2+ degrees of positive caster (as well as the increased front track)

[012.5RS]

good to know bout the wider front narrower rear. makes sense, but honestly never though bought it. I'd like the wheels to sit flush but im a function over form kinda guy. hence my 16x7 12lb wheels over some "ballin aggresive" 18x8 18lb wheels. big sky would u reccomend the 04-06 sti front arms and the whiteline rear adj wagon lat links? also what u think bout maybe doin the sedan rear and using the added caster, some staggered -camber/tire pressure and 24mm/27mm sways to dial out the understeer?

[Big Sky WRX]

front 04-06 STi arms would be a good choice, little less weight, more caster, wider front track

I'd skip the sedan rear- nothing really to be gained going that route

the WL adj wagon links are nice- firmer bushings and you can fine tune rear camber (w/o using aftermarket bolts)

my personal experience w/ sway bars favors large-ish front, med-ish rear- both adj so you can fine tune overall handling

a lot of the inherent understeer can be overcome simply w/ driver adjustments to driving (ie slow in, fast out)

[012.5RS]

thanx for the info man, def good to know. bout the sways tho, pretty much everything ive been reading has been saying stiffer rear sway than front will reduce understeer. Ive read a couple different things that state what ur saying, which i guess the other is old thinking and this is a newer concept(like that body roll doesnt transfer weight to the outside wheels)? so pretty much ud reccomend 27/24 instead of 24/27?

[Big Sky WRX]

yup you got it- it basically boils down to increasing front roll stiffness to preserve camber (keeping the tire flat)- the Mac P strut setup has rather poor camber curves (unlike a double wishbone)

I used to be in the "old" camp, real world experience w/ the Impreza (8+ years) has put me squarely in the "new" camp

[012.5RS]

Im no expert obviously but I never did understand why they thought it controlled body roll since they are attached to the suspension and not like say the subframe

[s00n2BEimpreza]

what happens if you dont tighten the control arm down to the specific tourqe ratings? im gonna be replacing mine on my wrx just back to an oem one but i dont have a tourqe wrench could it like fall off or be too tighten or what? thanks

[Big Sky WRX]

I don't think you can hardly get them too tight too loose would be a problem- a bigger breaker bar and give it hell!

[s00n2BEimpreza]

sweet thanks man. yeah im just broke and have to do it in my drive way! but its probably the best. ill be getting experince too! hahaha. but is there honestly that big of a difference with the sti arms? lots of people say yes but lots of people tell me no

[Big Sky WRX]

large difference, probably not- some difference- yes

[s00n2BEimpreza]

okay so ive almost got itll all back together i just need a ball joint cause i didnt know how to get it off first time around so i messed it up, but how did you get the ball joint back up into its place. it seems like hell i need help

[BlueWorks]

i spent two days under my car fighting these (use curse word of choice). i had no difficulty with the rear bushing bolts, but spent hours trying to get the ball joint out. 82,000miles of rust beat a pickle fork and bent the metal bar i tried using as a pry bar. i took it to my mechanic a defeated man only to find out from him that he started bending some of his tools trying to get it out.

good news is that they're in. bad news is that my wallet is lighter than i would like. if you're going to do this, do as bigsky has done and get it out of the way quickly.

[Tinywagon]

okay Big Sky, I've got one for you...probably a dumb question, but if I were to hypothetically put a 6MT into my 02 wagon, does the 6mt have long enough axles to necessitate the use of the larger 04-05 sedan control arms?