legacycentral bbs

On a drive tonight with some friends. A buddy in an 05 Legacy GT wagon on 225/45/17 Kuhmo MX's and stock everything else. And another buddy in a BG (not sure on year) with STi V5 struts and H&R springs (I forget what tires).

I was on my 225/45/17 Nitto NT450's.

No, I didn't wreck.

I was behind the 05GT and he knew the roads really well. The BG was behind me.

I was keeping up well, any ground I was losing from not knowing the road I easily gained on the straights.

But there was one turn, it was like a camels hump up-down-up-down. The "recomended speed" was 30mph, and I was cruising in the money-spot of 4th gear (where I didn't feel the need to exert any specific mechanical sympathy before hitting double digits of boost), probably around 3250 to 3500 RPM in 4th, give or take. He took it OK, I was on his tail, went around. BANG.... BANG.... I was rubbing all 4 tires on the fender. It was a horrifying sound.

Right after that we pulled over to convene and see about how much further to go. I decided to split and go home and they kept going.

I need to roll my fenders more and get some suspension work done I tell you what.

So, in conclusion, I offer a word of warning.

Wide tires are good. I was keeping up very well with the 05 Legacy Perfectly fine, and had I not rubbed, I would have kept going, but hitting all 4 on the fenders while traveling close to 65mph, that was scary.

It was fun though, and I cant wait to get some suspension done and such. Hopefully the 225/40/17's I'll have in the spring will also help with rubbing.

There is a LOT of potential in the BC chassis. A lot. It was SO well balanced through the turns, it was insane.

That is all.

1. did was the bg even able to keep up?
and 2. are you serious about the chasis having alot of potential? and what kind of suspension mods do you have?

personaly i think you have one of thoes freak cars that is perfect from the factory. my chassis sucks the big one. i think the subframes are loose or something. going around turns fast the car wants to twist itself in half. on stock suspension in the handling department i would perfer my moms 97 leg. its just not nearly as fast.

1. the bg has some pretty sweet suspension. He should have no trouble keeping up, going downhill, he should have been way faster than you.

Glad you're alright bac, and dont be upset, but i find that very funny. Some suspension work will do ya a world of good. Your car is practically begging for it.


My chassis is soft as hell too, and i don't have a spot of rust. If you cant tell yourself... something is wierd.

I was/am on stock suspension. The BG was back a ways, none of us was going all out (due to night time and the fact that we didn't know the roads). The only one who was pushing it was the 05GT. For being on stock suspension, i'm impressed with the handling. I was on the brakes once throughout the whole 1.5 mile long run. Around those bumpy, off-camber type turns, the car just eats it up. A little bit of bracing, and the chassis will be pretty solid.

I am trying to choose between coilovers and just a strut-spring combo (which would be AGX's and Whitelines).

I'm willing to bet it's not the fenders where it's rubbing. I'm pretty sure when you change your struts you'll see hella rub marks on the bottom strut perch.

i doubt it hardy, you have the 90 suspension, it doesnt clear nearly as well as the 92 stuff does.

I was under the impression the 90-91 perches sat higher in the rear than the 92-94.

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=17352

or does that only apply to non-oem struts?

but then why would they change the struts just because they're aftermarket?

I agree that the BC chassis is pretty damn well balanced, and with the right suspension mods/upgrades, you will out handle a lot stuff on the road.

My car feels pretty solid in the suspension/chassis department. If I turn into a drive way at a right angle that has an inclined entryway I can hear a few creaks around the rear seat area....probably the plastic. So I do know the chassis is far from being super rigid.....but it does alright.

I think our cars do much better on track/nice driving roads then per-say auto-x.

I took a guy who had an RS and driven in quite a few wrx's for a ride last night. We didn't do anything crazy, but he was quite impressed with how the car handled, and that was on cold tires. One turn got a little squirmy, but it was very controllable.

The balance of these cars keeps them up with new cars and all their tricks. If I get the chance I'd like to seam weld the thing and add a few braces to catch up in the rigidity department, but for their time these cars were pretty stiff.

Steve

I know that bang sound, happened once when I was catching up to a guy I was following somewhere. By far one of the worst noises Ive ever heard, but that was before I had GR-2's. I also agree about the balance of our cars, im constantyl amzed whenever I make a sharp turn or turn quickly to avoid something.

THAWA wrote:I'm willing to bet it's not the fenders where it's rubbing. I'm pretty sure when you change your struts you'll see hella rub marks on the bottom strut perch.

Negatory. If I was rubbing the strut perches, it would be a constant noise, not just over big bumps. The distance between tire and spring perch is static, if it's 10mm unloaded, it's 10mm loaded.

and camber never changes ever?

Still doesn't matter. The spacing in relation to the strut and tire will not change much. The tire may/will deform slightly under cornering loads, but not that much to touch the strut.

then can you explain to me why my rear strut perches have rub marks when the tires weren't touching at rest?

I had that too- the tires scraped the dirt off the perch. I attributed it to the tire squirming while cornering- they're damn close on 90-91s.

The rears are taller in 92-94s, and while the front is a touch lower, its the rear thats way too low for larger rims/tires.

Well Hardy, I don't have ANY rub marks on the struts and my tires are a good bit wider than yours. What does THAT tell you?

The 92+ have higher rears, and the 92+ has slightly lower fronts like Scott said. If anything I would be worried about rubbing up front, but I'm not rubbing there.

I CAN see the dirt scraped off on the fender liners, so I'll just re-roll them

that tells me i was wrong

The BC chassis is definitely well-balanced, ask anyone who ran the Dragon last summer about how my bone-stock Legacy (save for Turbo rear swaybar) was forcing WRX's to get over to let me pass...

The only complaint I have is that the car is just too heavy. If I were to autoX/rallyX a BC Legacy, I'd gut the thing down to bare metal inside, completely. I'd lose every last pound of extra weight I could, then the car could really be competitive.

Dirt- the Automotive Engineer's research and development tool.

Subyluvr - The BC is lighter than the WRX, mine weighed in at 3230lbs with everything inside (including a 15" sub and amp, and all of my clothes and such for the weekend). Matt's came in at like 3170 or something like that. It would be really cool to have the car be at or under 3000lbs though.