[AWD_Kibbles]

Hi everybody!

Just wanted to introduce myself and the journey I will be taking with my 2015 ISM WRX Limited.

A little about me... I reside in Austin TX and this is my first Subaru. I've always been a fan of the STI's growing up and have hoped that one day I could become a proud owner of one. With the new VA redesign, like many automotive enthusiasts, I was intrigued yet disappointed by the return of the EJ25 for the STI, thus finding my way into the uncharted territory of the FA20. Although this is will be my first car build, I am hoping to be as hands-on as possible... so local ATX members, let's meet up!

Now onto what's really important...

 

[AWD_Kibbles]

BEGINNING OF TIME

2015 WRX LIMITED - ISM

Date Bought: 12.23.2015

Vehicle Options:

Popular Package #1
Keyless Start + Harman Kardon Sound
STI Short Shifter
Tint
Weather Mats

Snagged a major deal during the holiday season as I grabbed the last 15' limited off the lot. Drove down to Houston (about 2.5hrs) to pick it up, but it was well worth it! B)

 

[Steemax]

Lookin good! Subb'd!


Sent from my SE using Tapatalk

 

[AWD_Kibbles]

Lookin good! Subb'd!


Sent from my SE using Tapatalk

Thanks!

 

[strudinox]

Also subbed for progress :thumbup:

 

[AWD_Kibbles]

Also subbed for progress :thumbup:

Thanks!

Subbed your build as well, love the creativity and you've pretty much done everything that I want to do... so thanks for paving the way lol :rotfl:

 

[AWD_Kibbles]

Bits and Pieces

Got a package in from Subispeed this past weekend.

OLM LED for rear license plate
JDM Fuse Box Coin Holder Tray
Front Bumper Plugs
Fender Emblems in Matte Black
Trunk WRX emblem in Matte Black

I'll give my short thoughts/ratings on the quality of the product and the ease of installation for it.
Side note* Although all of these modifications are super easy to do, I want to make this a 'standard' of how I share my experiences for each modification I do for my car.

SUBISPEED: I've heard mixed reviews about purchasing products from Subispeed with their previous CC scandals and what not, however I find myself always visiting their website just because they have cataloged and pooled the largest collection of aftermarket parts for 2015+ WRXs that I've seen. I used PayPal to purchase so I don't expect any fraudulent issues to occur. Overall, I was very pleased with the packing and shipping time (4 days since time of checkout) and the products were packed fairly well.

 

[AWD_Kibbles]

Saturday night, had a little debadging party at my friend's place. He recently got his wheels powder-coated on his 2015 Yamaha R1 so he wanted to debadge his bike as well. Figured it was a great time for me to debadge the car as well as I had to do some lighting on my bike too.

MATTE BLACK WRX TRUNK EMBLEM

Quality: 9/10
The product felt sturdy and the injection molding looked to be pretty good as well - nice and clean. What caught me off-guard was it felt textured. I was expecting it to be a smooth finish, but it wasn't a deal-breaker. The 3M adhesive tape was precisely cut and placed on the back which was nice to see that they didn't 'skimp' on ensuring the backing was fully covering the entirety of the badge. This is easily my favorite modification on the car at the moment.

Installation:
The hardest part of this installation was removing the adhesive residue that was left over. Also it infuriates me when dealerships decide to put their own emblems on cars... WHY, WHY, WHY?! :unhappy:
I used a heat gun, fishing line, and goo-gone to remove the emblems, followed by some Chemical Guy's detailer spray to protect the paint and clean the exposed areas. As for the WRX emblem, I blocked in where the emblem goes using some painter's tape, removed the old WRX emblem, cleaned the area, applied the new WRX emblem using the tape as guides, and removed the painter's tape.

Simple and easy mod but it really helps clean up the back of the car. With the silver emblems, it felt lost in the similar hue of the ISM, but now it gives it a 'sportier' feel.

TIP* I found that opening the trunk so that you have better leverage when rubbing off the residue certainly helps!

Before / After

 

[AWD_Kibbles]

MATTE BLACK FENDER EMBLEMS

Quality: 7/10
Much like the trunk emblem, it was certainly a good piece of molded plastic. Although the physical quality of the product was nice, the WRX that was molded in is slightly crooked. It wasn't enough for me to want to return it but it certainly left me slightly disappointed. With a price tag of $60 I was hoping it would be identical with that of the OEM pieces. Besides the hiccup in the mold, the fitment was on point.

Installation:
This was a piece of cake to do. The only word of caution I may pose is be careful when pulling the emblem since you can easily break the tab behind it. You also have to pull it to the point where it felt like I was going to break it, but it just pops right off. The adhesive backing comes off like butter compared to that of the trunk emblems so you'll be good to go!
For this I used a heat gun and goo-gone to remove the emblems, followed by some Chemical Guy's detailer spray to protect the paint and clean the areas.

After

 

[AWD_Kibbles]

OLM LED LICENSE PLATE BULBS

Quality: 10/10
These LEDs are super bright! Almost too bright? They certainly complete the look of the car at night for me. The bulbs seem to be well-made with a good plastic enclosure. Hard to say on longevity, but I have heard that people have been experiencing their LEDs burning out within a year. I will have to wait and see.

Installation:
Installation is easy and straight forward. Only tool I used was a flat-head screwdriver. Just remove the trunk liner with pop clips and you have full access to the bulb housings. Quarter-turn to remove the housings and pull the bulbs right out!

Comparison / After

 

[AWD_Kibbles]

SUBISPEED FRONT BUMPER PLUGS

Quality: 8/10
I find it super annoying that these cars come with front bumper holes, not to mention you have to make MORE holes if you want to mount US plates on them :confused1 But what can you do right? So there are a few retailers selling front bumper plugs, but seeing as I was already ordering from Subispeed, I decided to just snag a set while I was at it. Overall, fitment is perfect, they just pop right in. The paint is a pretty good match, but it's lacking that clear-coat depth and it is textured, but for $20 I can't complain.

Installation:
Plug and play! :thumbup:

After

 

[AWD_Kibbles]

JDM FUSE BOX COIN TRAY

Quality: 10/10
Why JDM always get the cool stuff I have no clue :shakehead:, but this is one thing that definitely should've came standard in the USDM as well. As you may expect it's top quality injection molding and fitment is unparalleled compared to anything aftermarket. So if you're annoyed by coins flying on every turn, this is a must purchase!

Installation:
Just pull the fuse box door off and pop this one on. Takes literally 15 seconds to do.

Also here is a shot of my friend's R1 and my CBR600RR.

That's it for now, thanks for reading and more to come!

 

[AWD_Kibbles]

COBB ACCESSPORT w/ Modern Automotive Performance's Stock 93oct Map

Quality: 10/10

COBB's accessport is great. Super easy and intuitive to install. I bought mine through MAPerformance since they were throwing in a free map. Their stock map has been getting a lot of great feedback so it seemed like a no-brainer decision for me. My only regret is that I didn't do this earlier! Also it seems that COBB came out with a new 're-branded' accessport, because it has the COBB logo at the top instead of the Accessport branding from before. As a designer, I like their new graphic touch a lot so kudos to COBB!

Installation:
Took me a while to find the OBD2 port since the booklet was showing that it was above the accelerator pedal when in fact above the foot rest lol... I used Last Human's Garage video on a mounting location so I snaked it through the unused switch slot.

 

[AWD_Kibbles]

JDM Front Grill + Subispeed's Matte Black Emblem Frames + Subispeed's Matte Black with Gloss Black Emblem Overlays + Premium Auto Styling Yellow Fog Overlays


Grill Quality: 10/10

I really wished the USDM models came with the JDM grill because it looks fantastic! :thumbup: Easily one of my favorite exterior modifications. The quality and fitment as you can imagine was superb.

Frame Quality: 9/10

The frames fit extremely well, and I'm very happy with it. I just wished the frames were finished better, the frames have a bit of a grainy(?) texture to them and a little brittle compared to the OEM ones. Just being nitpicky at this point.

Emblem Overlay Quality: 9/10

Cheap mod which is good since I'm not entirely sure I even like it at this point, looks too 'murdered out' if you look at the picture. I'm glad that I can easily peel it off if I grow tired of it. The cut was spot on, just noticed that when you're trying to smooth it out, you can kind of catch on the star decals and it can mess it up a little. Kudos to Subispeed for throwing in a second set in case you mess up or what not. I also wish the stars on the overlays were an exact replication of the OEM badge, they were just slightly off in size and location - not a big deal though.

Fog Overlay Quality: 10/10

Love this mod as well. Gives the front-end some nice color since I've pretty much blacked everything out. The fitment was excellent. I had the same difficulty installing them as I did with the emblem overlays so I guess I'm just bad at dealing with overlays haha :tongue:

Installation:

Grill installation was a breeze. Emblem frames were a bit annoying to get the adhesive off - glad that I don't have any more to do! Overlays were probably the most frustrating just trying to get everything to line up. I tired using the soapy water spray but after I used the heat gun, I started to get bubbles. I don't know if they disappear overtime but at the moment it didn't fly with me so I redid the overlays after wiping them dry.

 

[AWD_Kibbles]

EBAY CS-Style Urethane Front Lip

Quality: 10/10

Saw this on MyWRXChannel's youtube video, $140 shipped over a $450+ version is fine by me! I was thoroughly impressed and satisfied by the quality of the lip. I haven't seen a seibon or any other carbon front lip in person so I can't say how good it is compared to those, but I definitely would recommend it to anybody looking to give their car that extra aggressive visual appearance for 1/3 of the cost.

Installation:

There were no instructions included but it was very intuitive to install. All hardware was included. The main mounting hardware were self-tapping screws. Took about 10 minutes to complete the installation by myself.

PS: A lot of mechanical mods to come thanks to Black Friday / Cyber Monday, stay tuned! :wiggles:

 

[Steemax]

Lookin good man! Diggin the write-ups!

 

[AWD_Kibbles]

Thanks Steemax! Trying to get on your level haha