Ledj

I'm looking to upgrade the ARB's on my 99 STurbo, and having spent many an hour trawling through many thousands of posts, and getting mightily sidetracked on many different issues, I thought it may be easier to just ask.
What ARBs are compatible with early S Turbo's? I'm not planning on dropping the suspension, just want better cornering handling - less body roll.
Cheers in advance.

The Rookie

You want a classic Impreza turbo/WRX/STi or early Newage WRX rear bar with the plastic C-shaped endlinks, get one with bushes to save money, also look at getting subframe lockbolts, easily as worth it as a mod.

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98 s-turbo now breaking for spares , now driving a BMW 320D M-sport

Ledj

Thread Starter

Cheers Rookie,
I noticed there is a set going on eBay off an early impreza 555 sti which are already poly bushed, so they could prob do the job.

Dads taxi

Be careful - you cannot assume that the front rollbars from a high performance Impreza will automatically be bigger than the existing Forester ones - not necessarily the case - I had some from an RA and I think a P1 which were thinner presumably to promote oversteer.

A 20mm rear is a nice size.

Don't forget the lock bolts. You are unlikely to find secondhand ( although I was fortunate to buy Simons - thank you) so bite the bullet and just do them. You will need a thread chaser or tap to clean the chassis nuts.

I doubt I would now bother with the front ARB as it will increase understeer. I will probably just re-bush it.

forestergump

While it's true a thicker front bar will increase understeer it will also decrease body roll esp on initial turn in. Course the thicker the rear bar the thicker the front bar can be without too much undiesteer.

If you can get solid droplinks such as the whiteline ones they force the bar into action sooner giving you that initial positive feeling rather than allowing some initial 'lurch' before the bar acts. I say this all the time - no-one listens.... I don't care

The Rookie

Thing is most Subaru's have a 19mm front ARB, from Foz through turbo to STi, so a thicker front may be a benefit but it's not what he'll get!

My rear droplinks were spherical (aka Rose) jointed......and I got here first!

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98 s-turbo now breaking for spares , now driving a BMW 320D M-sport

Ledj

Thread Starter

I had thought that the front one wouldn't need doing due to it's size, I had only planned to polybush it, and maybe upgrade the links.

AP

You won't need to touch the front one, polybushing is as much as you can do really..
The rear bar is the one you need to work on, I would get hold of a whiteline 22mm fixed bar for the rear

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160bhp 4EAT Outback.....

UKForester

If you want to do the front then you need to go even bigger on the rear really, by increasing the size of the rear you effectively move the balance point backwards, if you increase the front as well the balance point will stay forwards so you will reduce roll but not affect under/oversteer as much.
I run 22/24 on my impreza and std/20 (the imprezas old bar) on the forester. I'd like to go 20/22 on the forester but can't really justify the cost on the daily hack!

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2001 Forester Turbo S & 440 bhp 2002 Impreza WRX

forestergump

Were they salt/water/road sh+t proof? I've always steered* away from rose joints on roadcars cos I thought they'd eventually sieze. Not to mention the price.

*see what I did there? huh?

Pindie

I put a 22mm rear bar on my XT. It transformed how it felt. I never felt any need to do the front.....


I bought a 2012 WRX STi instead as it seemed less hassle than getting spanners out.


I also changed the rear droplinks and mounts at the rear.

Patrick P931

As people have said before, the rear arb is a great upgrade for relatively little money!

I installed a complete 2004 impreza sti rear arb kit on my 2007 fxt and it was truly bolt on as I had all the parts from the impreza. 17 mm to 20 mm arb and a great upgrade handling wise.

If you enjoy turning don't wait with this.

:)
Patrick

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07 FXT
400+ ?