Richard B. Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 Ok, forgive me... I will remember to comb my USER CP and update you all on information in my profile, my sig, my avatar as well before I post a simple question for a friend just so you don't look stupid by cracking jokes about a vehicle I don't even own any longer as if I am not credible because I own/owned an Explorer. how do i look stupid? it's your stupid mistake not mine. i called you on it. don't like it go kill your self. we have enough stupid in this country. call me if you need help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmfspecb Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 The original question was how will this open up the LGT? My answer is tremendously. The accessport is a great bang for the buck. Adding the stage two mods in any form (look at the accessport threads for what's really needed & what is your taste/financial constraints) - will add power, without a doubt. I've gone stage 2, with a TMIC. Just recently went with sways and swift springs. Wish I did the springs and sways first. The car just drives better. For track/autocross, upgrade brakes. But, I haven't found the brakes to be lacking for moderate around town driving. Track driving is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommypenguin Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 This thread sucks and all of the attacking on the OP is unwarranted. That aside I own legacy gt and felt it was a slug stock. Decent on the highway but not so much around town. To get the much needed bump in power I knew would make me happy I went stage 2 - (Perrin Catless DP/BPM Catless UP/Perrin CBE/AP) Got a great deal on parts from a local member off of the forums here. Cost me 800 for all parts. People on here will say you need upgraded suspension and brakes for stage 2 but I have been riding on both for 10k miles with stage 2 and have never had an issue where I felt I 'needed' upgraded suspension. But I don't auto cross my car and never will, maybe get up to the mountains for some twisty runs a few times a year. When I drive I never push my car to the limit, always leave a safety cushion. I'm saying for the supsension and brake upgrades it all comes down to how responsible one drives, if you feel the need to pull jeff gordon moves on the highway and be able to canyon carve at high speeds you will want to upgrade the suspension to be satisfied with it. If you want to be able to auto cross your lgt you will definitely need upgraded brakes on for the track use, once again, I've never had an instance where the stock brakes failed me for my everyday driving. I will also say this I managed to go a full year without modding my car after buying it, with exception of a little car audio. Then I found some great deals on here and went from stock to stage 2 in a matter of a couple months. Next up I'm upgrading the turbo next month, once your friend starts getting into the modding it will be hard for him to stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawl Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 i feel the LGT is missing a few things from the factory. 20 horsepower (get AP, flash stage 1 problem solved) better brakes (pads, lines. or go nuts like i did and get brembos) better tires slightly stiffer suspension (springs and/or sway bars) for a high wow factor per dollar ratio i'd say sway bars and brake pads are the winners car for sale. PM me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSFW Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 how do i look stupid? Since you asked: "look so freakin bland". that's quite the opinion from an Explorer owner hanging out on a subaru board. it's your stupid mistake not mine. i called you on it. don't like it go kill your self. we have enough stupid in this country. call me if you need help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigT Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 As far as stock brakes go, i've had them fail on me (serious brake fade/steering wheel shake) on a couple of occasions. One instance is when I'm doing some seriously spirited driving 70-90 with a couple of heavy braking instances. The second, and more probable one for others is on long highway trips. I'm sure that we all know that 70-80 on the interstate is a norm for traffic. I've found that on a couple of occasions when I had been driving for a while (2 hours +) that I get some serious brake fade and poor pad performance. I personally upgraded to front brembos and a new rear rotors and pads. I find it night and day. That might be overkill for some people, but the upgraded pads and rotors can be had for a couple hundred and can really improve performance. I'll also note that where I live it is very useful to have good breaks and tires. There are way too many cars per foot^2 of road and people drive like maniacs, so there is always a need to stop short.... in many ways it's like I'm autocrossing all the time!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubieAA Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 As far as stock brakes go, i've had them fail on me (serious brake fade/steering wheel shake) on a couple of occasions. One instance is when I'm doing some seriously spirited driving 70-90 with a couple of heavy braking instances. The second, and more probable one for others is on long highway trips. I'm sure that we all know that 70-80 on the interstate is a norm for traffic. I've found that on a couple of occasions when I had been driving for a while (2 hours +) that I get some serious brake fade and poor pad performance. I personally upgraded to front brembos and a new rear rotors and pads. I find it night and day. That might be overkill for some people, but the upgraded pads and rotors can be had for a couple hundred and can really improve performance. I'll also note that where I live it is very useful to have good breaks and tires. There are way too many cars per foot^2 of road and people drive like maniacs, so there is always a need to stop short.... in many ways it's like I'm autocrossing all the time!!! I agree on driving conditions. What do you recommend for ~$200 upgrade? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drcaveman Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 As far as stock brakes go, i've had them fail on me (serious brake fade/steering wheel shake) on a couple of occasions. One instance is when I'm doing some seriously spirited driving 70-90 with a couple of heavy braking instances. The second, and more probable one for others is on long highway trips. I'm sure that we all know that 70-80 on the interstate is a norm for traffic. I've found that on a couple of occasions when I had been driving for a while (2 hours +) that I get some serious brake fade and poor pad performance. I personally upgraded to front brembos and a new rear rotors and pads. I find it night and day. That might be overkill for some people, but the upgraded pads and rotors can be had for a couple hundred and can really improve performance. I'll also note that where I live it is very useful to have good breaks and tires. There are way too many cars per foot^2 of road and people drive like maniacs, so there is always a need to stop short.... in many ways it's like I'm autocrossing all the time!!! Who did you brakes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigT Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 I agree on driving conditions. What do you recommend for ~$200 upgrade? For ~$200 You could probably get all of your pads done and maybe a set of lines. If you wanted to spend a little more you could get some new rotors. They retail for about $225 (pair), but you can get them cheaper (see below). I would suggest at least doing the front rotors. I can't say because I did a frond BBK and rear rotors at the same time, but the front is where most of your braking gets done, so it's probably what you're looking for. Who did you brakes? I got them done at king of parts in Pennsylvania. I went there for a couple of reasons. 1. Very honest people 2. Best prices around 3. Actual subaru dealership, so they have people who work on subarus all the time working on your car. 3. They take Subie bucks for parts (basically like getting 25% off every part in addition to whatever discount you already get for being a board member here.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Wow....this thread did go downhill fast In the course of this thread, I went from not owning an LGT, to owning an 08 LGT 5-speed. Does that now warrant more serious consideration of any of my contributions? Lol... Anyhoo....to the OP: Any performance modification you or your friend does will "liven" things up in the way of changing your driving experience. If your friend is bored with the car, don't get springs to make it look better. Do a few small things first to see how much the enjoyment changes. I believe it's a 5-speed: get a short shifter. That way, if your friend wishes to rid himself of the car in 20,000 miles he didn't just drop $4k on it. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukeTrout Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 My friend has a 2005 LGT 5spd LTD... the car has 51,000 miles on it and he finds himself not even driving it like he used to, he has gotten bored and is debating modifying it. He does not know whether or not his investment will pay off in smiles. He is skeptical because he feels that if he mods the car that it will be headaches and problems when all he would be doing is: -Cobb Stage 2 or a TBE and a Accessport -Springs -Wider/lighter/stronger wheels... -Exedy clutch instead of replacing with an OEM I think those things will make the car feel amazing compared to the stock car, and he would fall in love with it again. What do you guys think? First off, he should get the clutch replaced under warranty prior to any power mods. No reason to go aftermarket when he can get an OEM clutch for free with free labor. Second, especially in Maine where you get all kinds of weather and probably have roads to match, the old mantra of tuning handling and grip before power is apt. For an 05 MT stock LGT, I'd echo what a lot of folks here are saying, in order of priority: 1. tires, if the original RE92s are still on the car. If they aren't then it depends what they were replaced with. Given Maine winters, at the very least some really good all-seasons are necessary, and separate summer/winter sets are not a bad idea. 2. Rear Sway Bar - biggest bang-for-the-buck suspension mod from stock, and easy to do himself with simple and available tools. I like the AVO bar, but there are a lot of good RSBs out there. Be careful about going too stiff in the rear. Going much more than 20 mm with the rear should also mean upgrading the front as well to maintain balance. A 25 mm RSB with the stock FSB is going to be a very tail-happy setup. 3. Springs/coilovers - there are a lot of options for springs and coilovers, depending on what scratch you want to spend on it, but almost all of them provide a better combination of comfort and handling than the stock suspension. I've even upgraded from the already-upgraded spec.B suspension, and I haven't looked back. 4. Access Port/UP/DP/brakes - I think you can get away with stg. 1 or even 2 without upgrading the brakes, but while you or a mechanic near you is digging in under the wheels to upgrade the suspension, you might as well upgrade pads and lines. They are pretty inexpensive for very good returns. As mentioned, UP and DP alone net the biggest returns for power. CBE gives a little bit more, but an upgraded TMIC is even more affordable than a quality CBE and I've seen it provide significantly greater returns than a CBE. Ich bin echt viel netter, wenn ich nuechtern bin. Echt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmfspecb Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 If I did it over again: 1. Suspension (sways and spring for a shrek B) 2. AP 3. Brake pads 4. Downpipe 5. TMIC 6. Fix the seatbelt chime (ok, make that #1) 7. Rotors I've put 30K on the car and the brakes are fine. This is my 4th leggy and the brakes have all been more than fine. If you read this thread and others, you may believe the LGT brakes are inadequate to stop the car and that at any given point you may go crashing into grandma pushing a baby stroller. I think that's an overstatement. I respect those you said they've had problems, but if the brakes were really incapable of functioning, we'd all be driving a different car. The stock brakes are good, not OMG astonishingly wow, best ever, but good. The stock LGT/shrek B pads, as with MOST streetcars, are not suitable for autocross. If you are going to drive on a highway or a street like autocross, you probably need to rethink a couple of things - and one of them would be pads. If you plan on autocrossing, then you'll probably want to go with some form of upgrade. I intend to get into some track driving this summer - but not go nutso. I'll start with a $700-800 package upgrade to include rotors, lines, and pads. If I get more into it, I'll probably need to get dedicated pads for racing as they really aren't suitable for daily driving year round. Brembos are terrific. But expect to spend several thousand dollars for the goodies, plus you'll need different rims. I was talking with a subie mechanic who had some long term drivetrain issues after he installed brembos on only one axle . The more complex your drivetrain (traction control, ABS, etc.) and the more you vary from the way the car came from the factory, the more likely you are to have issues. That said, if you go Brembo, go front AND back. Everything is about balance. My view is if you go with sways, either go with the JDM factory rear sway or go with an aftermarket matched set. I wouldn't go with a Cobb rear and an AVO front (hypothetical example - if somehow that offends the reader, then insert your own brand names). I didn't follow my own instructions - so if I were to redo it, I'd follow the order above. I'm really happy with the quality of parts I've acquired - I just would install in a different order. Before you order through a particular vendor, I highly suggest researching their ability to deliver on what they promise. PM me for details and I'll fill you in on my problems with one of the prominent vendors on this site (no, i'm not going to pick on Cobb for their SI drive AP 2.0... but it is tempting). Happy motoring. Have fun. Subarus are a lot of fun. (edit) Plus 100 on whoever said go with separate rims for the winter. Do it early and you'll reap the rewards for many years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFromMass Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 My friend has a 2005 LGT 5spd LTD... the car has 51,000 miles on it and he finds himself not even driving it like he used to, he has gotten bored and is debating modifying it. He does not know whether or not his investment will pay off in smiles. He is skeptical because he feels that if he mods the car that it will be headaches and problems when all he would be doing is: -Cobb Stage 2 or a TBE and a Accessport -Springs -Wider/lighter/stronger wheels... -Exedy clutch instead of replacing with an OEM I think those things will make the car feel amazing compared to the stock car, and he would fall in love with it again. What do you guys think? Here are the best $/performance ratio you can get: 1) gutted/after market up pipe to the turbo, and a Access Port 2) #1 + gutted/after market down pipe from the turbo 3) #2 + aftermarket anti-swap bars Steven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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