Subaru: '02 WRX Sedan Observations

Paul wrote: 

Nice commentary. Interestingly enough, this last weekend I was at a BMW
driving school at Virginia International Raceway. I went out as a
passenger in my instructors '97 M3 during the instructor track session.
We hunted down and easily passed another instructor in a WRX on a wet
track! FWIW, you an buy a low mileage '97 M3 for less than 20k. Since
they easily last 200,000 miles, they still may be a better deal than the
WRX if you don't need the 4WD.

On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 12:16:27 GMT, Rob Munach <commotion>
wrote:
 

Surprising, but there's soooooo many variables.
 

Sounds like typical "BMW-speak".
 

Yeah, but then ya look like every other 2-bit button-down yuppie rushing to
a very important meeting. ;-)

....Ron

> About 3 months after I bought the car I started having the dreaded 

hey paul,

this is an issue that has a factory technical service bulletin
released on it. generally those with legit. shudder problems got a
new clutch, throw out bearing, and possibly a new flywheel replaced
under warranty.

 

if the m3 is beating the 'rex off the line, then you're not launching
properly! you can get a sub 2 second 60' time in a rex--a time VERY
hard to beat in a 2 wheel drive vehicle.

you don't have to abuse it, either... what i find works best while
being mechanically sympathetic is to rev up to about 5k, and let out
the clutch. at the same time, increase throttle to wide open.

the speed of the clutch release is very critical. too fast and the
rpms will drop down too much, and the car will bog off the line. too
slow and you may heat the clutch up to the point of slippage. not a
huge deal, but it does smell for a bit. nail the timing of both
pedals and you will launch at close to 1g of acceleration.
 

the scoob's ecu is a marvelous device. it will continually attempt to
advance ignition timing right up to the point of detonation. if it
senses det via the knock sensor in a certain rpm range, it will pull
back timing in that range. if it continually senses knock it will
globally lower ignition advance.

"flat spots" in the torque of the motor are caused by this retarded
rpm based ignition timing. they occur as the ecu attempts to avert
damage due to the knock.

the cause of the knock is probably due to a batch of bad gas (ie
insufficient octane), or a hard run when the intercooler was
heatsoaked.

what octane fuel do you use generally? the injector cleaner may also
have contributed to the knock.

to start over, disconnect one of the battery terminals and short it to
the other one. (note: you're NOT shorting the battery itself, but the
car's electrical harness.) this will cause your trip meter to reset,
and your radio station presets to be lost, but it will also put the
ecu back into a fresh state. the iam, or ignition advance multiplier,
is a global value between 1 and 16 which indicates how agressive the
ecu will be at advancing timing. when a stock ecu is reset it will go
to the median value, 8. if no knock is detected this number will
slowly rise to 16 as you drive the car. (there is also a "trick" that
one can use to rapidly increase this number to the max, 16. it
requires a boost gauge. let me know if you're interested.
essentially it just starts the car at a more aggressive setting, and
then allows the ecu to retard timing from there, as opposed to slowly
increasing it. the end result will be substantially the same.)

there is also a table of advance per rpm range. these values will be
reset to their initial baseline values. after restting, take the car
for a quick spin. you should immediately feel a smoother powerband in
your problem area, 5-5.5k. the car may feel a bit more sluggish
overall if you do not do the iam trick, but let it warm up, drive it
hard, and it will start to come alive again. there is a period of
time where the ecu learns very aggressively right after a reset.

note that this doesn't attack the root cause of the problem, which is
knock. if, after restting, you drive for a while and get the same
problem, you know that you haven't found the issue... again, the two
big ones are insufficient octane and heatsoak.
 

yes, lowering the car more than about an inch and a half will require
some more hardware to keep proper wheel alignment. in particular, the
lower ride height will contribute to a larger negative camber.. ie the
tops of the wheels will be closer together than the bottoms, like
/---\. there are camber bolts in the stock front end, which can allow
for some adjustment, but they may not be enough. at this point, an
adjustable strut top plate would be necessary. generally a degree of
so of extra front negative camber is a "good thing" since it offsets
the tendency of the front end to "push" in corners, or understeer.
iirc, factory settings are just about zero camber. depending on how
much you lower the car, you may or may not need extra bits to prevent
excessive negative camber. within a value of less than about -2
degrees, you'll notice a LOT more stick in hard corners, and you'll
notice less tire wear on the outside shoulder. any more than -2
degrees and you're just wearing out your tires on the inside edge, and
you will start to lose lateral traction. it goes without saying that
any suspension mods, especially springs, should be followed by a
period of "settling" and then a professional alignment.

also, lowering the car more than 1.5" or so will probably lead to
faster than normal strut wear, since it will be operating in a
different range of travel.

go to whiteline's site http://www.whiteline.com.au/ and read up on
what they have to say on suspension mods. they are a very good
company that makes a lot of aftermarket suspension bits, many of them
for the impreza wrx, and they have an extensive reference section.

hth,
ken

'03 mbp sportwagon.

Ron Ginter wrote: 

Of course. Granted, my instructor is a phenominal driver. 
M3's and BMW drivetrains, in general are extremely durable. Given
similar abuse, I can't imagine WRX holding up nearly as well. 

Agreed. Although I would rather look like that than have to be seen in
an STi.

On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 16:44:27 GMT, Rob Munach <commotion>
wrote:
 

Why ever not? All the evidence these days points to the German marques
being the ones with the problems. OK, so BMW aren't as bad as
Mercedes or Audi, but they are lagging well behind the best of the
Japanese these days.

Main problems with the M3, of course, is that it is over-weight and
over-equipped. Thankfully, BMW has recognised that and come up with
the CSL, which is a desirable car. Ridiculous price, though, and you'd
still have to be seen driving it ;-)>.

David Betts
org.uk

David Betts wrote: 

The overall relaibility of the BMW is not up to Japanese specs, but the
toughness of the powertrain under perpetual abuse far exceeeds the
typical Jap car. 


Agreed, but the standard E46 M3 is still an awesome car at any price.
Actually, all M3's (E30 and E36) are awesome cars that have to be driven
to be appreciated. I kinda like the way the new CSL looks. 

'04 WRX. Now have 1500miles.
Since new, the car seems to pull left. I waited a couple of weeks
because I wanted to make sure before I talked to my dealer. Air
pressure in all tire is to spec. On just about all roads, the
steering wheel is always tilted right just to drive the car
straight... even on roads that seem to be slanted to the right!

Dealer says that an alignment is NOT covered and I will have to fork
out the $ myself?

Is that the norm or do I have a legitimate beef that should be
covered?

Carleton

CW wrote:
 

Assuming you didn't drive it into the curb on the way out
of the dealership, you have a legitimate beef.

You paid good money for dealers prep and you deserve to
get a properly aligned car. Either the alignment wasn't
done properly at the factory, or it was damaged in shipment
or on a test drive. In any case, they should be willing
to fix it.

Driving an unaligned car is a royal pain in the ass and
it scrubs rubber off the tires. If the dealer still won't
do his duty, politely inform him that you'll see him in
small claims court for the cost of an alignment and a
new set of tires.