sti front alu control arms - now image where to grind

[bmxkelowna]

well i picked up a set of GD STi arms for the drift legacy and tossed them in tonight. really easy job.

the metal part in the middle of the bushing on the front of the control arm where it goes into the sub-frame is too wide by quite a bit but all it takes is a few mins with an angle grinder and it slips right in.

so much more caster now, the wheel is quite far forward in the wheel well.
the reason i bought them was so i could get more steering angle with out the wheel hitting the control arm at full lock for drifting.

you can see in the curve of the arm how much more room there is untill the wheel would hit the arm now.


*INTERESTING NOTE*
also when i bought my car in 07 it had a smashed drivers fender from an accident and all the suspension has been replaced by the previous owner.
well fast forward 4 years to now and when i take off the drivers side control arm it had been replaced with a forester one. the control arm its self is the same but the mounting point is a lot different (think ALK) for the added height of the forester so my drivers side has had a shit ton more caster this whole time.

[cj91legss]

do you have a pic of the arm after you took the grinder to it?

[jamal]

yep, you have to take 3mm off the front bushing or swap them out. adds almost 2 degrees of caster. I kind of want a set. Would have some swaybar fitment issues and need new axles though.

[bmxkelowna]

saddly i dont



if you look where it says "crossmember bolt" at the black parts that stick out, that is what i ground down till it was the same width as the stock arms

[bmxkelowna]

yep, you have to take 3mm off the front bushing or swap them out. adds almost 2 degrees of caster. I kind of want a set. Would have some swaybar fitment issues and need new axles though.

i also read that it was 3mm (58 stock and 61 sti) but i think its a lot more then that, i never measured but to me it was maybe 3mm on both sides so about 6mm in total i had to take off.

sti sway bar endlink should work with out a problem and for the awd cars wrx front axles are needed as well.

[PhyrraM]

Don't you also have camber issues unless you use GD sedan struts?

[jamal]

yeah, but they're good camber issues. I'd expect the adjustment range is something like -2 to -3 degrees on stock struts.

[bmxkelowna]

grind off the area marked by the green. its is in a sence, premarked on the bushing where to take material off

[Legacy777]

I can't tell from the picture, but how much does this arm change the other suspension geometry? It may be how the two arms lay over each other, but the ball joint point looks shifted quite a bit.

[bmxkelowna]

lots more caster (my wheel is well forward in the wheel well) and it adds camber but it pushes the whole wheel outwards more then it adds camber

[Legacy777]

Any fitment/rubbing issues as a result of the change?

[bmxkelowna]

thats hard for me to comment, my car being stupid low with 16x9.5 +5 offset with a 215/45/16 does not leave a lot of room in our wheel wells as it is lol
but saying that i dont think it should be an issue for any one who is lowered a little bit or stock ride height should have no issues

ive yet to drive my car but maybe ill re-adjust my toe toss on my bumper and go for a drive tonight

[Legacy777]

Let us know how it drives and any adjustments you make.

[bry]

great pics! they really convey how much the wheel shifts in location.

[cj91legss]

pic of the car with these installed?

[AWD_addict]

Let us know what it's like with the caster change, and now that you have symmetrical front suspension geometry.

[conrAWD]

Are these the same aluminum control arms the 04 WRX sedan came with? I'm looking to upgrade my control arms and I've been trying to determine what parts to go with (it seems like subaru put stamped steel arms on everything).

Judging from your posts earlier this swap wouldn't make much sense for my daily driver wagon with all the negative camber it causes.

[LucyFord]

So from what i can tell via my searches you will need to changes the axle's to accomplish this control arm swap? The only reason bmxkelowna was able to pull it off without that is that his car is converted to RWD.

Someone please confirm.

[daveh]

Yes, you would need GD WRX sedan axles to make them work.

[Baddog]

I have debated doing this as well. Mainly for the caster increase (I already have 04 STi struts with GF210 springs)

I have a Tribeca bar so I don't think i'd have an issue with the sway bar fitment as it already sits on the outside of the factory endlinks (and would make up the void with the STI endlinks)

Did not know about the front axles.

[jamal]

most people have gotten away with not changing the axles so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I've been meaning to pick up a set of the high caster arms for awhile. I should probably find out how much caster my car has now first though.

[evolutionmovement]

So the main difference between these and the GC version is the caster it sounds like. I have the GC ones and there seems to be no change in caster and they compared perfectly to the OEM arms, but I still had to cut the bushing in the exact same way.

[jamal]

the GC arms should be a direct bolt in for a BC or BD.

the GD sedan arms are wider and they make a couple versions of the aluminum arms. There's the SPT ones that you could get when the WRX came out and that were on the 06wrx and 07 sti. then there's the 04-06 sti "spec C" high caster arms, and I think there are some GG wagon width arms too, which could be what you got.

[LucyFord]

i was able to do this swap with the stock axles

[LucyFord]

Update. We had some strange axle failure after doing this mod. The stock axle pulled apart at the outer point. This is not what we would expect since the axle plunges at the inner joint....

We were happier with the handling of the vehicle and tire consumption. We were able to achieve over 3 degrees of camber (with camber bolts also). And the additional camber seems to combat our body roll. But its hard to stay since we also changed the sway bars.