DARKSTI v.Larry and Spencer | 56K = :(
 

Got to meet Larry and Spencer today, both very cool :) He just got his car tuned @ Gruppe-S. His car sounds great, he has Invida DP along with a G200 (FTW!! :D). His son also took pics, so those should be up soon.
Now on to the pics, some are a little over-exposed but Black v. SGM is a little hard, I am happy how they came out though.

http://gallery.darksti.com/main.php?...serialNumber=2

http://gallery.darksti.com/main.php?...serialNumber=2

http://gallery.darksti.com/main.php?...serialNumber=2

http://gallery.darksti.com/main.php?...serialNumber=2

http://gallery.darksti.com/main.php?...serialNumber=2

http://gallery.darksti.com/main.php?...serialNumber=2

http://gallery.darksti.com/main.php?...serialNumber=2

http://gallery.darksti.com/main.php?...serialNumber=2

Cool spot, nice pics.

Awesome pictures!

I suck at taking pictures... Maybe one day I'll ask someone who doesn't suck at it to take some good pics of my car.

Is it just me, or does this car look like it's got a front camber issue?

http://www.darksti.com/gallery/album...0644.sized.jpg

that right front looks a bit positive if you ask me, but it may just be distortion in the pic... (?)

Even if it's not actually positive, it looks like there's certainly more rear camber than front. And since that's not a BMW, I don't think that's quite right.

His wheels were angled a bit, so it may just be playing tricks with your eyes.

Maybe, but I think it may be an optical illusion

Also, remember, stock, for some reason, probably rear grip/engineered understeer, the rears get more camber than the fronts, so there may not be much to see.

I think it is 1.5 rear, and 1 or less front.

I couldn't find STi specs in short order, but I did find that WRX sedan stock alignment specs are -0.25 front, -1.3 rear. I'd imagine the STi is similar.

Yeah STi is 30' front 1°40' rear. But both have ±45' tolerance, so you could end up with +15' in the front on the far edge of the range... :(

The factory specs have nothing to do with whether or not that car has a camber problem. If the car has more rear camber than front, I would consider that a problem. The solution is a proper set of aftermarket camber bolts and a good out-of-spec alignment.

No wonder AS STI's have to run 30+mm front swaybars to prevent poor camber while cornering... they start without any negative camber!

Problem implies something is wrong. Being within factory specs may not be optimal for performance driving, but that does not make it wrong.

As you are undoubtedly aware, factory specs are about safety, and tire wear.

Take away front camber, and add rear makes the car understeer which is what the factory wants from a safety perspective, and if you rotate tires, wear should even out.

Well, yeah, I wasn't saying it was good cause it was in spec. Merely pointing out that you could be right about the car having positive camber in the front... :huh:

Really shows you how long it's been since some of these guys were stock. :lol:

Actually... I think selling a "performance" car setup to handle poorly is "wrong". Especially since it's done simply for liability reasons.

Maybe I trust in natural selection too much... but if you buy a car like an STI, you should be capable to drive it with respect and skill, which means the factory specs are bogus.

I can drive mine well, its stock. I've had people at tire shops say that I need an alignment because they thought that the rear was out. But, I keep telling them, thats the way they come.

I finally got my 32mm FSB, thats 1 1/4" diameter.

While I agree, you know that many buyers don't know any better, are not good drivers, and got it because it is cool. Just like SUV owners who will never go off road much less need to clear a boulder with their rear Diff 14" off the ground...

Those people would raise hell if they wore out the inner edges of their well rotated RE070s in 5K miles. And being the latigous society we are, they can't ship anything remotly "unsafe" from a handling perspective.

The car is pretty damn good in stock form. Heck, it wins awards for it.

Can it be improved upon, yes, but that is what the aftermarket, and performance shops live on.

What annoys me the most is that they do not give you the means to adjust the rear camber at all much less to a reasonable level.

A good street alignment would probably be about -1° front, and -0.5° rear, but even that would likely lead to inner edge wear for mostly freeway driven vehicles.