[andrewthegreat]

Well it took forever but I finally got my forester. Thank you to all of the people in the awesome forums here!! I wish I could have taken a few of you guys up on your offers when I was looking for one but life has a funny way of changing your circumstances sometimes.

First things first, getting the Yakima Load warrior from my work.

Second, Auxiliary lights and a maybe a light bar

Does anyone have any experience putting lights on a rack? It seems like the mounting would be easy but the wiring would be difficult. Is it something that should even be considered? I heard that some states have laws against having lights on top of the car. It seems like it might be easier to mount them there because I wouldn't have to buy a separate light bar and deal with all of the mounting and what not.

third, possibly a skid plate

I'd like to do something to enhance the vehicles performance but i'm not sure what to do there.

Let me know what you guys think!!

 

[theletteri]

I had an 06 Outback Sport (OBS) that i put a load warrior and 2 piaa 520 driving lights on. There was not a light bar for the car when i put the lights on the roof so it was my best option at the time (plus it looked bad @ss)

-I remover the headliner, driver-side roof rail and the a-pillar molding.
-Ran the wire up the a-pillar
-Drilled a hole in the middle if there the front boot of the roof rail mounts.
-Put the wires through and sealed with silicone (some stuff my dad suggested would work)
-Water tested the seal before i put everything back together but after it dried.
-put everything back together and wrapped and zip-tied everything all nice and pretty!

I tried a couple different mounting spots but settled on the outside of the lower bar. I had the light mounting brackets but i could not have my thule snowboard racks on and carry my surfboard at the same time so stuck them on the lower bar, out of the way.

Here are some pix!
With the lights on the outside i could not put my snowboard racks on (http://thule.com/en/US/Products/Snowsports/SkiCarriers/1047.aspx)
With the lights on the inside i could not put my surfboard rack on.
With the light on the lower bar my surfboard and the snowboard racks fit "just right"

 

[2.5x_sleeper]

Always good to see another member starting their own Member Journal!

Since you asked, here's what I'd do.

• Unless you have the complete service history, I'd be catching up on all the required maintenance. Joining MySubaru is free & you can get lots of vehicle specific information there.
• Next I'd work on the appearance, like window tint & perhaps upgraded tires & wheels.
• Got to have tunes, so a new head unit & window tweeter & subwoofer. I'd guess your XS has the upgraded speakers, door tweeter & perhaps a sub woofer.
• Upgraded front & rear sway bars would be nice .

That should get you started. :wink:

Bobby...

['07 FSXT MODding Journal] ['03 X MODding Journal]

 

[thebeephaha]

Do what I did, look at everyone else journals and see what they have done and pick and choose what you would like to do! Come up with a unique blend of mods to fit you.

 

[andrewthegreat]

Wow guys thanks for all the great responses!!

Just got the load warrior on and its looking good!! When I first got it a friend of mine said that it looked like a moms grocery getter car! Well I am changing that for sure! It's now a back country grocery getter!!

I really like the idea of putting the lights up on top of the rack but if they are up there then the rack becomes a lot less usable right? Hmm choices...

Thanks again guys I really like your ideas!!

 

[theletteri]

I did not use any functionality when i put my lights up top. I guess if you want to stick a sheet of plywood up there you may have an issue but i was able to put my snowboards, spare tire and waterproof bag of clothes up there all at the same time!

 

[andrewthegreat]

Update!!

Alright so it's been awhile since i've posted so I thought I should do an update.

Well I got the first thing off of my list awhile back but I never got around to posting about it. The yakima rack looks great! It makes it look a lot less like a "grocery getter," as my friend puts it.

For my birthday my girlfriend got me a set of the regular rally armor mud flaps. I Just got done installing them and they look pretty nice. The back ones were a huge pain in the a$$ to get installed but it was worth it.

So many things that I wanted to do but to my foz but I'm out of a job at the moment.

Just got new dunlop signature tires as well. My old tires were really bald and they were pretty much the equivalent to skis in the light snow that we just got in Ashland, WI.