katalyst

#1) Tire: Michelin Pilot Sport Plus A/S, 205/50/17 (Legacy 2.5i, 17x7 wheels) #2) Location: Northeast Maryland #3) Type of driving: Commuting, daily driver #4) Ratio of driving type: 70% highway, 30% city #5) Previous Tire: OEM Yokohama Advan A82s (which were quite a good tire actually imo) #6) Comments/review: These were purchased from Discount Tire online for about 160 each (pricey I know), Michelin did offer a $70 rebate when I purchased them. This is a limited review since I just had them installed today. But wow! I love them. The most significant difference is the decrease in tread noise, my stock tires were approaching 30k and in other reviews that I’ve read, they tend to increase in tread noise towards the end of their life but it was a very significant difference that I noticed in the cabin, between new vs old, I thought my hearing was off haha. Comfort level in my opinion has also improved slightly, tends to absorb road imperfections a little more softly than stock tires. Due to it being late June at the moment, I haven't had a chance to drive it in wet or snow but we'll see. So far, wonderful combination of ride comfort and handling overall, definitely worth the price. edit: have put a few thousand mi on the tires now and they are still working well, now driving the car in Canada, had the chance to see how they performed in the wet and it was very solid. Highly recommend this tire to anyone considering. edit 2: had the chance to try these tires in the snow and contrary to other reviews I've read, these will not suffice for a Canadian winter with the amount of snow and the temperatures here. I would say below 30F these tires will be ineffective in the snow, nevermind the drops to -20F. If you live in warmer climates ie: California and hit up the mountains on the weekend and see some light snow on the way up but with mild winter temperatures, these tires may suffice but definitely not for a full blown onslaught of winter that northern regions would see.

+1 this is going to be awesome, been a huge fan of your LED tail lights

for the love of god, avoid the tein s-techs; it's going to be terrible on the stock struts if you really want to get the lowrider thing going, coilovers would probably be your best bet with the adjustable ride height and stiffer dampers, but even so with such limited suspension travel the ride comfort is going to be ass.

ok thanks

ok so it's the GT 5MT rear diff --> 4EAT 2.5i?

this is the 5EAT right? i updated the transmission section to include the LSD, thanks shtbxr22

thanks for the input

alright well back to the topic of brakes any opinions on Akebono ProACT pads? i know smushybrain you mentioned them, any difficulty with them in the winter time and getting them up to operating temp? also where did you get the centric rotors from? do they rust like the stock ones do?

tunnel runs for the win!! though...that run wasn't WOT

yea, i'm thinking cayman as well but i'm not certain i would daily drive it. my co-worker has a carrera 4s and he daily drives it and hasn't had any issues with it, seems pretty reliable overall. he's also crazy though cause he puts roof racks on his porsche and hauls his bikes around looking like an idiot, but he loves getting that wtf look. hahaha. in any case i think for my next vehicles i'd probaby just lease them and then once i hit the period where warranty or the maintenance is up i'll just swap out to avoid the excessive costs of ownership thereafter. i'm just so tired of the interior rattles ! though, i'd consider an outback for a winter vehicle, depending on the locale i live in and if AWD is still necessary in adverse weather. hopefully the new ones aren't as prone to rattles. edit: i also love the styling of the new lotus evora but not sure how reliability is on lotus vehicles, certainly the powerplant should be ok but not sure about other components

haha yea i know it but bmw has a maintenance package and i think MB has one you can purchase so not really a big deal imo.

haha i don't really care about the appearance of my brake calipers but i do want more stopping performance i suppose i'll just swap in aftermarket pads and rotors, seems easier. i'm up for my 30k soon anyway. also my cv joints suffered premature wear and i have to get them replaced. *sigh* and i'm getting some new interior creaks too. so f-ing annoying. this new one is in the center console by the cupholders, it's stupid. i don't know of any other car that has so many rattles and creaks. i'm definitely going to get a german car next.

do you guys think it'd be a waste of money to get the ion performance front calipers ??

that one is pretty sweet

i have a random question would the new intake manifolds from the 2010+ legacy 2.5i fit on our engines?

knock ended up being from a rod bearing failure, to the point of it melting into the journal from the lack of oil lesson to all: take periodic breaks when pulling hard donuts

^ i tried to find the thread where shtbxr22 showed a walkthrough on how he made that but i codlnt' find it for some reason he has UEL with some custom welding to hook it all up iirc. btw, it sounds awesome, thanks for the vid! haha kinda makes me want to do it now, prob doens't help i hung out with a bunch of wrx/sti's over the weekend. btw, i also pm'd hanger about the z/s intake piping that he tried, unfortunately it didn't fit and hook up properly so that piece is a no go for the 2.5i i guess the spectre piping that some guys have done on here does the same thing for a lot cheaper. i'm wondering i should do it that now, haha. where did you guys get it from again, autozone?

haha yeah i went to play in a big parking lot with some other guys and afterwards i got some vibrations, thought maybe i bent something but there were no curbs in the lot so i was confused. then i realized there was a bunch of snow caked onto my wheels cause the weight imbalance. haha wouldn't have thought of that, i'll keep that in mind. although one guy thought he was getting vibrations around his heat shield last night until we popped the hood and his turbo was glowing red hot, oil press was zero with heavy knocking we ended up towing his car too many sno-nuts for him

btw i beached my car in some snow the other day and i threw the ABS and CEL, also got a Er SS on the display. this typically happens when one wheel spins much quicker than the other, as when stuck in snow and the speed sensor gets thrown off. but after a few engine cycles it will reset itself once the calibration corrects. thought it might be useful for anyone who happens to get stuck in snow and is worried about the CEL

i don't think it would have any impact over the engine life. since once the incoming air enters the combustion cycle it will be just as hot as ever in the cylinders but the volume of incoming air should be greater at a higher density due to the lower temps. if anything i think it would probably increase mpg a little bit?

when's the next meet going down? i always manage to miss these cause of my work schedule. i was out of town this past weekend.

^ maybe he thought you were a 3.0R haha...or....riding stealth with a FMIC

lolol i guess i never had to do that before but i've used it before in a pinch and it worked well.

well you're suppose to pull the fuse when you put the spare on according to the manual so that shouldn't be too much of an issue. fix-a-flat foam is always worth a try but in any case. i updated the FAQ with some info on the exedy clutches. let me know if the info i posted is correct thanks blackfang for the tire info again

i follow it loosely, i haven't been able to keep up with it as much lately. i rarely have time to watch the races now and i don't have a DVR. i'm not a fan of the website that much either