Forester Page 2 Let the modifications begin!
Wheels & Tires
Typically, the first thing I always do to change the appearance of a vehicle and make it more unique are different wheels. Subarus are a bit limited in choices compared to a lot of cars because of both the bolt pattern and the offset of the wheel. The Forester has a 48mm offset. Some other Subarus use a 53-55 offset, which can work. Most all Subaru wheels of similar vintage can be swapped around between models. However, the only WRX Sti wheel that fits is the '04. Later Sti's used a different bolt pattern, I believe.
The original wheel size is 15", and on our L model is a unremarkable silver painted steel version. These are great for winter tires, but otherwise not stimulating in either appearance or weight. A slightly larger diamter wheel means we can get a lower sidewall height for better cornering and appearance. I'd probably have been ok with a 16", but in my searching for pre-owned wheels on the various forums it was pretty apparent most everyone was using 17". So that's what I ended up using.
The dark color of our Foz, coupled with the dark gray cladding, really begged for something other than a standard silver wheel. I started persuing anthracite or gunmetal colored wheels with a vengeance. The gunmetal closely mimicked the cladding color and I was able to get a set of Impreza Rota Downshifts with shot tires for $450 in beautiful condition. The next hurdle was tires; the stock size is 205/70-15. With the help of online tire calculators (just Google them--I found a very useful one at Miata.net), I found the tire with the exact same outer circumference was a 235/50-17. The problem with this size is that there aren't many tires available. The only reason I was fretting over a duplicate rotational size was for speedometer accuracy, and somewhat less for cruising rpm/fuel mileage. But, I wasn't willing to pay a premium for oddball tires to retain this. The next best thing, and only marginally different, would be a 225/55-17 which is readily available in multiple brands and much less expensive. That would have been the plan had a set of 225/50-17's not turned up slightly used at a price I simply couldn't pass up. This winds up being about a half-inch lower sidewall, and alters the speedo reading by about 1.5 percent (or about 1 mph too fast at 60 mph). I figured I could live with that for now to save almost $200.
At the same time I mounted the wheels I also did the suspension lowering. I like to refer to Subarus as the "Mr Potato Head" of cars because most of the parts will swap around between models. The Forester is no exception, being that it is based upon the Impreza. Therefore, Impreza suspension is more-or-less a bolt-on affair, which includes the WRX model and even a fair bit of Sti stuff. Shortly after buying the car, I purchased what I thought were 2002 WRX wagon springs. I also bought a set of brand new KYB struts for an '02 WRX wagon since I didn't see the logic of installing used struts. I stuck them in a corner of the garage until I was ready to do the swap several months later after the wheel/tire situation was solved.
Well, there were some problems.
What I bought were 2004 springs. Had I bought springs and struts together this would not have been a problem, but what I learned with a car torn apart in my garage was that the front springs swap around no problem but the rears are entirely different. That was not a happy day.
I had saved this image for my own use on my computer but don't recall where I got it from. If it's yours, I didn't mean to use it without permission. Please let me know if you want it deleted or credit given!
This photo doesn't necessarily apply to what I'm doing, but helps illustrate the physical difference in the springs
So here's the thing you should watch out for...the 98-02 SF Forester can swap pretty much any Impreza front spring up to recent (06?) history. They share the same top hats and so forth. The rears will swap up through 2002 (it's recommended you use wagon or Outback Sport springs to carry the extra weight). In 2003, the spring design of the top changed to the springs shown above. The earlier springs have a much larger coil diameter at the top where it rests into the 'top hat' that holds the spring and strut together. The early top hats will not fit over the 04--> spring top, meaning you can't put the assembly together. Guess how I found this out? You can install them with the matching top hats, which if you buy complete assemblies should come attached. If you buy seperate parts like I did, make sure of what you have before you take the car apart!
There is an illustrated thread on Forester.org that will show the varying degrees of drop using different spring combinations, but the WRX swap is without a doubt the least expensive route if buying used parts, easiest to find, and will result in your car riding what appears to be low but is actually at a standard WRX Impreza height! The only downsides to doing it this way are 'butt sag' in the back (which I think is made to appear worse than it is by the fender openings) and a bit more negative camber in the front (1.5-1.7 degrees) than you may want as a result of the different geometry of the struts. From a performance aspect, the camber setting is actually desirable for track use but may cause premature tire wear to the inside edges.
It is NOT recommended that you install non-Forester springs on Forester struts, because the strut piston travel will be compromised and the struts will eventually fail prematurely. Whiteline is the only brand of aftermarket lowering spring I know of for the Forester, but they do get excellent reviews.
A couple of links that may also prove helpful:
With WRX suspension installed. You can see the 'butt sag' in this photo. While the back is physically a bit lower, I think some of the appearance is a result of how the wheel openings are cut into the panels.
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