Forester SH9 S-Edition - any owners? Planning upgrades

[mersontheperson]

Hi Everyone

My SH9 S-Edition will be fully registered in the UK next week. I bought the best example I could from auction in Japan, I live in Tokyo so was able to get my guy to check it all out. Had it serviced by Subaru in Tokyo, then shipped it back to the UK and eventually got round to getting it all registered for UK use.
At the time I wanted a tS, but they are as rare as hens teeth here, with exactly the same performance less the suspension enhancements, mainly dampers and springs , tower and sway bars.
I can by the STI dampers and springs for around 1200 quid here, but can get Tein Flex Z for half the price, I had Tein’s on a Chaser JZX100, and they were amazing. I definitely will put on the STI flexible tower bar, I think it’s worth it for 200 quid. Anyone here got suggestions on what suspension mods they would use for fast road use? Not planning on doing any track days.
Lastly, the engine puts out around 267 PS, the Impreza WRX Auto of the same year puts out 300 PS, I would like to retune mine to a similar number, any recommendations on who to use around Northamptonshire ? Or anyone done something similar with the EJ25 engine with the 5AT box from 2010?

Edited by mersontheperson on Saturday 2nd January 10:33

Edited by mersontheperson on Saturday 2nd January 10:34

[vxr2010]

Richard at Fb tuning is not an unrealistic distance from you , he is very good and has mapped three of my Fsti , you maybe limited power wise by an auto box , the older wrx imprezas were , don’t get Fsti suspension it’s not worth it , you money is best spent on a set of bc coilovers , i would not bother with any other suspension mods , the biggest change is the coilovers , a lot of other suspension mods are so minor and not notice able once you have done the coilovers you will see what i mean , bc is better than Tein

[mersontheperson]

Thanks VXR, I was researching BC Coilovers last night, so very timely. I think it makes sense to start there and see how I get on before doing anything else.

[vxr2010]

the next best handling is wheels and tyres , you don’t want a big side tyre wall , but go with the suspension first , i have tein on two of the Fsti they work well but Bc on the third are definitely better , the best i’ve had so far is blitz coilovers but they are quite a lot more , price wise there’s not enough in it to go with the blitz ones , speak to Kam racing in aylesbury they will probably do you a discount , delivered will be around the 800£ for a set

[mersontheperson]

Thanks, actually I am still in Tokyo right now, so will check blitz out and see how much I can get them for here.
Have you seen those blitz legacy special editions? I like them but don’t know if I could really purchase a red wagon!

[mersontheperson]

The Blitz Damper ZZ-R seem to be 1200 quid here

[mersontheperson]

Update, I have bought the Blitz ZZ-R kit here in Japan for 625 quid, will be delivered next week.
Thanks VXR!

[vxr2010]

you were lucky on the price of the blitz ones , the sg Fsti looks like the same pcd as yours i thought it would have changed , tyre wise don’t go cheap vredestein ultrac vorti are very good but not expensive , the fsti uses 225/45/18 even going from a 45 to 40 helps , suspension set up is important it can take quite a bit of playing around to get it right , you want a compliant ride but also on softer settings , the blitz is a very smooth fairly soft ride but was very compliant , the shocks and spring actual weight was a lot lighter than the Tein coilover , i am running 235/40/19 on that car , 235/40/18 on another and 225/40/18 on the third

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

vxr2010 said:

you were lucky on the price of the blitz ones , the sg Fsti looks like the same pcd as yours i thought it would have changed , tyre wise don’t go cheap vredestein ultrac vorti are very good but not expensive , the fsti uses 225/45/18 even going from a 45 to 40 helps , suspension set up is important it can take quite a bit of playing around to get it right , you want a compliant ride but also on softer settings , the blitz is a very smooth fairly soft ride but was very compliant , the shocks and spring actual weight was a lot lighter than the Tein coilover , i am running 235/40/19 on that car , 235/40/18 on another and 225/40/18 on the third

OP the tyre advice here is poor. A 40 profile tyre on a forester is pointless and will give you a worse ride in the UK than 45 + profile.

For contrast that's the equivalent of what a wrc car runs in tarmac set-up.

This has been done to death here but larger wheels and narrow profile tyres offer no benefit on UK roads assuming they fit over the callipers.

If you're tyring to create a fun b road car, stick to 17s with a higher profile tyres. 17s are generally better for unsprung mass and the higher profile offers a more compliant ride which is important for lateral grip. They just don't have the same cosmetic appeal.

Don't take my word for it - do your own research. There are plenty of technical vids on YouTube and papers on the Web discussing this.

[vxr2010]

not sure what you mean by a worse ride , a firmer ride so less body roll and therefore better handling , as quite a few Fsti owners do , 18 inch being the Fsti standard wheel size , same thing applies to a 17 inch rim , the added benefit with the 40 v the 45 is it often works out cheaper per corner and more tyre options , it’s down to the chap modding his car , the rolling circumference changes but it’s very minimal impact on speedo accuracy

[mersontheperson]

Thanks guys, I can see the benefits of both, to be honest I prefer SUV’s or talker wagons with a bit of a rubber profile, can’t remember what my existing wheel size is, will try them out with the new Blitz and see how much I can tolerate. First use will be mainly for the wife and kids, so maybe when it becomes my station car I can get a bit more aggressive !

[mersontheperson]

I bought mine from the Amazon Japan website using google translating the page. Also available here

https://www.rhdjapan.com/blitz-damper-zz-r-coilove...

Including shipping to the uk about 780 quid

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

vxr2010 said:

not sure what you mean by a worse ride , a firmer ride so less body roll and therefore better handling , as quite a few Fsti owners do , 18 inch being the Fsti standard wheel size , same thing applies to a 17 inch rim , the added benefit with the 40 v the 45 is it often works out cheaper per corner and more tyre options , it’s down to the chap modding his car , the rolling circumference changes but it’s very minimal impact on speedo accuracy

Firmer ride / Low body roll does not automatically equal 'better' handling.

Watch this... It helpfully illustrates why a stiff set up and track biased tyres are not helpful in a road car.


https://youtu.be/m9kQrbPEXKU

[vxr2010]

so watched the clip , as stated above you want it set up on softer settings , which in the greatest respect i said fairly early on , the tyres have too much give when it’s a higher profile , plus you are comparing a lotus to a subaru with more than likely the subaru has very soft suspension from the off v a lotus , plus made softer by it being worn any way , a lotus handling is going to be some way off a scooby and very different , he sets the lotus up fairly softly by the time you do the above mods the subaru will be closer to the softer set up of the lotus , the main thing it’s down to the chap posting how he wants to set it up , all five of my car’s three being subaru’s are set up differently , two sets of tein and two sets of bc fitted , coilovers on a scooby make a big difference it’s like night and day even compared to sti suspension

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

vxr2010 said:

so watched the clip , as stated above you want it set up on softer settings , which in the greatest respect i said fairly early on , the tyres have too much give when it’s a higher profile , plus you are comparing a lotus to a subaru with more than likely the subaru has very soft suspension from the off v a lotus , plus made softer by it being worn any way , a lotus handling is going to be some way off a scooby and very different , he sets the lotus up fairly softly by the time you do the above mods the subaru will be closer to the softer set up of the lotus , the main thing it’s down to the chap posting how he wants to set it up , all five of my car’s three being subaru’s are set up differently , two sets of tein and two sets of bc fitted , coilovers on a scooby make a big difference it’s like night and day even compared to sti suspension

It doesn't matter what car the principle is the same. It's F=M x A.

Fitting big (thus heavy) wheels decreseases acceleration in rotational and vertical planes. So the car accelerates slower and the wheel is slower to respond to bumps in the road, thus reducing lateral grip. You compound this with stiffer less compliant sidewalls.

There are other factors at play too. On perfect tarmac a bigger single wheel will offer more grip. However, as a system it can increase body roll resulting in a reduction in inside tyre load seeing a net loss of lateral grip.

Not to mention the increased risk in punctures and worsening in NVH and fuel economy.

Big wheels look cool but seldom offer a real world benefit.

[vxr2010]

the reality is you have a choice of three wheels when you have brembos some 17 , 18 or 19 most probably don’t go bigger than 19 , the rest of tyre choice plus how the suspension is set up is down to an individual , what ever way you look at it coilovers are often firmer than standard suspension but a massive improvement , even better if uk roads are smooth which some of them are

[trails]

OP, how is the Foz going?

...I'm thinking of buying one of these to replace a UK XT.

[mersontheperson]

Hey Trails

It’s going great, but have t taken it for a proper cross country drive for too far since the enhancements. It’s strange driving an SUV that isn’t an SUV anymore! I really like the fact that you can take the seat and steering wheel quite low, and the coilovers have given a firm bud compliant ride and the only thing that has been lost is the body roll. Just looking forward to some warmer weather and a proper long drive.

It’s also for sale in the classifieds, take a look!

[trails]

Is it the one with the red wheels?

I think I’m about to buy an editionS…

[mersontheperson]

Ha, no. Its the black 2011 model with the proper STI wheels.

Have you imported it yourself? Tell me the details please