[PhilKT88]

Hey all,
new to the forum.
Had some questions on mod suggestion order ect.

Recently got a 22 WRX and loving it soo much! community is nice too.

here’s my car, was thinking to start with stage 1 cobb (or possibly jb4) and slowly build up to stage 2-3.

get rpf1rs with michellin or toyos or whatever you could suggest for a fun, sexy looking street racer. eventually would like to work up to 400+ whp as just landed a better job and will have some extra money around

any recommendations for which order to go or any other ideas would be cool!

-phil

 

[PhilKT88]

 

[XJman]

I'd be super hard pressed to modify a new vehicle that has a long ample warranty.

 

[zax]

I'd be super hard pressed to modify a new vehicle that has a long ample warranty.

Agreed.

The real advantage of paying the "new car tax" is the availability of a factory warranty and complete service history.

If you modify the vehicle, you are throwing away the factory warranty and killing the reliability nullifying the value of the second point. Modification (project car) is better served by an older car that can be had for less $$ and with parts more readily available.

 

[ProZach626]

I wouldn't. But, if you insist, I would at least wait a while to see how the motors hold up to the kind of power people are getting out of them, even with the simple "stage 1" off the shelf tunes. Things always seem to go well when people start modding new platforms, and then before you know it people start breaking shit. I refuse to believe all of these 400 HP 2.4 FA builds are going to last, and we don't yet know the long term repercussions of modding them at all. It's like taking a new medication that just began trial studies.

If you still must, I would absolutely do brake pads and fluids first. I would match a nice factory size/offset wheel and tire combo with a quality slightly lowered shock and spring set that wouldn't ruin the ride or change the fun driving dynamics like wide wheels and tires can do. Almost no one truly needs adjustable coilovers. Finally, I would Cobb AP flash it and call it a day. Outside of that, if you want the shitty sounding motor (from the exterior) to sound a little more shitty, get some Subaru "STI performance" mufflers. Or, if you want obnoxious turbo sounds get an intake with the tune.

I just plant to drive the hell out of mine for five years and get a new one after that. If something in the drivetrain breaks, it's covered under the warranty. From my experience, that's a hell of a lot more fun than having it in the back of my mind than something could break and I could be on the hook for $10,000 at any given time.

 

[zax]

I'm so glad we have our own resident pocketbook-burner moderator @WRX-maniac to demonstrate JUST how expensive modification is.

It used to be @brfatal (yep - I brought him back from the dead) who had spent well over $80k on his many-times-broken bugeye.

It's crazy how much money people will chuck at an econobox Subaru to chase dickswinging horsepower when they could have bought a NEW Porsche 911 C-4 with warranty for the same spend. No disrespect - the builds are cool, but at the end of the day it's still a Subaru.

 

[silver_scooby]

I'm so glad we have our own resident pocketbook-burner moderator @WRX-maniac to demonstrate JUST how expensive modification is.

It used to be @brfatal (yep - I brought him back from the dead) who had spent well over $80k on his many-times-broken bugeye.

It's crazy how much money people will chuck at an econobox Subaru to chase dickswinging horsepower when they could have bought a NEW Porsche 911 C-4 with warranty for the same spend. No disrespect - the builds are cool, but at the end of the day it's still a Subaru.

Eh, if you can afford to burn 80k on mods, you are swimming in money anyway, might as well mod if you feel like it.

Then again an 800hp subaru probably doesn't have 4k$ part failures every other year like MB/VAG.

 

[XJman]

Eh, if you can afford to burn 80k on mods, you are swimming in money anyway, might as well mod if you feel like it.

Then again an 800hp subaru probably doesn't have 4k$ part failures every other year like MB/VAG.

Don't bet your ass on that. Engines built to sustain that kind of power are not built to do it long term.

A buddy of mine builds drag cars, I made a post about his talon here many years ago. It's built to hold 700hp, but it's blown up all kinds of things

 

[zax]

Then again an 800hp subaru probably doesn't have 4k$ part failures every other year like MB/VAG.

Can't tell if you're serious.

An 800whp Subaru isn't going to last an appreciable amount of time in any regards.

And contrary to what you are saying, the people that spend $80k on a Subaru certainly aren't swimming in money.

 

[silver_scooby]

Don't bet your ass on that. Engines built to sustain that kind of power are not built to do it long term.

A buddy of mine builds drag cars, I made a post about his talon here many years ago. It's built to hold 700hp, but it's blown up all kinds of things

Can't tell if you're serious.

An 800whp Subaru isn't going to last an appreciable amount of time in any regards.

And contrary to what you are saying, the people that spend $80k on a Subaru certainly aren't swimming in money.

Should have been clearer, failures unrelated to mods. An 800hp subaru is likely a weekend track toy or dyno queen. Even if you do a track day every other weekend, that's just 26 days a year. Doubt anyone drives it 30k miles a year like stock cars. A merc/VAG will have random control module failures, brittle plastic cracking, etc. and costing a few thousand regularly.

True, there's no limit to financial recklessness. But most people can't be that reckless. The only way you can reasonably afford to spend 80k on mods is on a 300k+ income and even then it's close to 40% of aftertax income.

 

[XJman]

Should have been clearer, failures unrelated to mods. An 800hp subaru is likely a weekend track toy or dyno queen. Even if you do a track day every other weekend, that's just 26 days a year. Doubt anyone drives it 30k miles a year like stock cars. A merc/VAG will have random control module failures, brittle plastic cracking, etc. and costing a few thousand regularly.

True, there's no limit to financial recklessness. But most people can't be that reckless. The only way you can reasonably afford to spend 80k on mods is on a 300k+ income and even then it's close to 40% of aftertax income.

I don't know if we've discussed this but I will stand and die on this hill. VW is the worst vehicle manufactured in modern times. Starting with the mk3 the reliability and ease of repair VW did have going for it died an instant death. VW does one thing well and that's hiding inferior engineering and quality under a coat of polish.

Their vehicles are so bad I refuse to accept them as real and I pretend they don't exist until I see one, or one is mentioned.

That being said.

I know people right now that have taken out massive loans against their retirement or even personal loans to do silly things to shit vehicles. One of the apprentices(well former apprentice, he has been full time for around 7 years now) pulled 20k from his 401k and another 10k in personal loans to dudebro out his super doody.

 

[silver_scooby]

I don't know if we've discussed this but I will stand and die on this hill. VW is the worst vehicle manufactured in modern times. Starting with the mk3 the reliability and ease of repair VW did have going for it died an instant death. VW does one thing well and that's hiding inferior engineering and quality under a coat of polish.

Their vehicles are so bad I refuse to accept them as real and I pretend they don't exist until I see one, or one is mentioned.

That being said.

I know people right now that have taken out massive loans against their retirement or even personal loans to do silly things to shit vehicles. One of the apprentices(well former apprentice, he has been full time for around 7 years now) pulled 20k from his 401k and another 10k in personal loans to dudebro out his super doody.

Yeah Piech turned them into budget audis, for the 1st owner. Headache for everyone else. The door seals on VW's vento/polo need to be oiled every summer and the dealership tech seemed to think this was normal. A coworkers passat had gearbox problems, and the dealer had transmissions sitting on the shelf because it's a common enough problem.

Fucking hell, that is a new low. Mods on a loan. Was he on crack when he made that decision.

 

[silver_scooby]

I may have to eat my words. Turns out I know someone with that level of recklessness as well. Talking to a coworker about 2k23 today, he mentioned that he has an R34 stuck in a dock waiting to tick over 25yrs for import. I assumed wife's or family's money. 5 mins later, he brings up 5 yrs of savings + a fucking loan.

 

[ProZach626]

And contrary to what you are saying, the people that spend $80k on a Subaru certainly aren't swimming in money.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one thinking that.

The only way you can reasonably afford to spend 80k on mods is on a 300k+ income and even then it's close to 40% of aftertax income.

My wife and I don't make 200k combined and I have "80k" to spend on a Subaru. The vast majority of people are just terrible with the money they do make. It's a culture based on debt.

 

[silver_scooby]

Poor money mgmt is certainly a factor. That said, having 80k to spend out of savings is easy. Having enough to burn 80k with no effect on total savings is a different story.

 

[ProZach626]

I mean... it's off topic, but a few posts ago $80,000 was swimming in money, and now it's easy. The median household savings is between $5,000 to $6,000. All of this makes about as much sense as building a high horse power Subaru.

 

[silver_scooby]

I mean... it's off topic, but a few posts ago $80,000 was swimming in money, and now it's easy. The median household savings is between $5,000 to $6,000. All of this makes about as much sense as building a high horse power Subaru.

Having 80k to burn on a hobby with zero return is swimming in money. Total savings is a very different story.

 

[zax]

Having 80k to burn on a hobby with zero return is swimming in money. Total savings is a very different story.

I mean....

Depends on how you define it. I've seen some bad money management in my time.

If you are burning $80k on a hobby with zero return and no savings while not contributing to tax-deferred retirement accounts and not enrolling in available insurances, that's not swimming in money... that's bad with finances.

I see a lot of that in the car community.

 

[BoboTwo]

Hey all,
new to the forum.
Had some questions on mod suggestion order ect.

Recently got a 22 WRX and loving it soo much! community is nice too.

here’s my car, was thinking to start with stage 1 cobb (or possibly jb4) and slowly build up to stage 2-3.

get rpf1rs with michellin or toyos or whatever you could suggest for a fun, sexy looking street racer. eventually would like to work up to 400+ whp as just landed a better job and will have some extra money around

any recommendations for which order to go or any other ideas would be cool!

-phil

Hello folks!

Well I agree not to mess with the warranty but... I went with the JB4 unit (as will all my cars I did) so I have a lot of tuning experience with it. Anyway, did you know just by adding E30 to your *stock 2022 WRX will unleash 30 HP... with no tune or nothing else. Already been proven and I can verify via track times ... yes it does work. Been with the Beta 2022 JB4 since it initiated with a lot of testing. As of now, the latest update seems to have ironed out the wrinkles in the AFRs and EWG arm issue. Do the JB4, get the BMS intake and run Map 4 with a shot of E85 (to make ~E30) = ~ 339 WHP. You'll have to adjust your Fuel Bias and Open loop settings to get the optimal AFRs in which various settings have been already tested, so it's easy to dial in now. You'll see a huge difference. You can knock this stuff off and resort back to the stock setup no problem without the warranty issue.

BT is working on a TMIC which has dual 1/8" NPT bungs. This will utilize their prototype chargepipe injection kit which allows the JB4 to directly control a 5th fuel injector off the low pressure system. They increased the E85 mix to E60, cranked up timing, and got ~381 WHP. They expect this will come more in to play when people start doing larger turbos, straight E85, etc, but they found the side benefit of bypassing some ECU fueling limitations they were previously fighting. Check out their CPI (Charge Pipe Injection) updates to get 400 WHP!

FA24 is a stronger motor (rods, springs, cylinder walls.. direct port injection) so I think 400 WHP mark would be fine. You can still take all this stuff off for warranty issues but it'll be a hassle. Going the CPI (later on) route, might be a hassle taking the setup off & on when taking the car in to address warranty issues or service though

 

[silver_scooby]

I mean....

Depends on how you define it. I've seen some bad money management in my time.

If you are burning $80k on a hobby with zero return and no savings while not contributing to tax-deferred retirement accounts and not enrolling in available insurances, that's not swimming in money... that's bad with finances.

I see a lot of that in the car community.

The way I see it, modifying cars is pure entertainment & it won't be covered by insurance. So you spend on it the same amount that you would be willing to spend on vacations or nightclubs or tennis/golf in a year. Basically pay all taxes, insurance, living costs, save at least 20% of aftertax income, then spread the rest between vacations and all interests for you & your partner.

Yeah poor choices about cars in general, not just enthusiasts. At least a quarter of my coworkers have SUVs/pickups they can't afford with 6+ year loans. And they don't care about cars, hate driving and can barely open the hood.