In this episode we are going to check out my 2010 Subaru Forester Premium or as I like to call it my grocery getter warrior. As you can see in the video the car is far from stock. I have made many changes to the car, from lowering the vehicle ride hide to updating engine components and exhaust. Granted the car is still in its original naturally aspirated sluggish form. It is still a hell of a lot better than stock.
I purchased the car a few years ago as a pre-owned vehicle and began slowly transforming it to what it is today. The first thing I changed was the suspension. I hated how wobbly the car drove and the fact that it could not take a corner. I changed out all the struts with KYB Excel G struts, coupled with a Swift lowering springs giving the car an approximate 1.5″ drop. However, the car still handled horribly, yes it was a lot stiffer and bumpier but I did not see a big improvement over its stock cornering abilities. In fact, it still under steered horribly and bounced all over the place every time I nailed it into a fast corner.
The big improvement came when I actually upgraded the front and rear sway bars to 28mm thick along with White Line adjustable sway bar links and bushings. The difference was like night and day. Not only the car was more corner happy it actually did not under steer so horribly. With the right amount of throttle input and steering wheel manipulation I could actually kick the back out and let the car over steer. As most of you car nuts know there is nothing like a feeling of a controlled over steer, it puts a smile on my face every time I jerk the wheel and do something not so smart.
Since I knew I was heading in the right direction with these sway bars I decided to go further and I upgraded each and every bushing to high performance White Line polyurethane bushings. I also upgraded all the ball joints, control arms, and so on…
I noticed that with all the changes I was making the high speed handling characteristics of the vehicles were definitely improving. It no longer rolled side to side like a boat however, the car developed some other issues caused by my upgrades and changes. The car developed a horrible case of body flex. It is only logical, I made the suspension stiffer so the body had to absorb more force on practically all planes.
I understand that the car was not meant to be modified in such a way. This all became very evident to me when I parked it on a side of the road with the passenger side wheels sitting on a raised embankment while the driver side wheels were at a lower level. I actually had a hard time opening and closing the rear gate. Apparently the body flexed so much that it jammed the rear gate door and I could not easily open it until I actually moved the car onto leveled ground.
To remedy this problem I started to add all kinds of undercarriage bracing. Everything from sub frame brace to fender bars. Short of building an entire cage, I think the car is as stiff as it could be. Now, that is not to say that I am happy with the chasse and its rigidity. All I am saying is without going absolutely crazy with a full cage and an X brace this is as good as it is going to get and I kind of learned to live with it.
Having upgraded the suspension and added some chasse stiffening components I moved on to the other mechanical flaws that I did not care for much. I replaced the OEM pitch stop mount with a new one I got from Parren and it made a world of difference in the shifting feel. I replaced all wheel hubs, upgraded the front brake calipers and fully serviced the car many times over.
One of the things that always bugged me about this car is what’s under the hood. Do not get me wrong I do not mind the boxer motor. It’s the fact that it is naturally aspirated that bothers me. The power really drops off and goes flat after about 3k RPM. Since this car is my every day driver and I do not intend to make it into a show car. I figured maybe I could live with it as it is but that did not stop me from doing whatever I could to get more power out of the engine.
I made all the typical engine performance upgrades such as K and N filter, cat back exhaust, upgraded ignition wires, injectors and so on… nothing spectacular and the changes did make a difference but nothing I can really brag about. I just wish Subaru still sold manual XT Forester in US, then I would not have to go through this hassle. I guess I will have to do the motor swap eventually, just have to find a good salvage WRX to pull the drive train, CPU and harness from. I guess it is all just a matter of time and money.
As far as the exterior goes I bolted and double taped a lot of extra bits, like the front chin spoiler, rear diffuser, wing spoiler, bigger rocker panel covers and so on… There are not many body kits available for the SH Forester so my choices were limited, but overall I am happy with the exterior but who knows one day I may just wake up and tear it all off.
My friend Arman of Renovation Auto Body did all the amazing bodywork and he is responsible for the custom two-tone paint job. That man sure does amazing work. I do not yet know what life holds for my little grocery getter warrior, only time can tell.
Check back for more updated videos and posts.
The Forester STI is one of those cars that you aren’t really sure about when you first .