Once you mod, the fun don't stop... Unless it is a brake upgrade. Then hopefully it does..
It’s true, modifying your car is pretty darn addictive. With one fully modded car you would think that I could leave one alone.. but nope, here come more mods! Having plenty of upgraded areas of the car what is actually left to change..?
I am never pleased… There is always something to be completed on this car! And if there isn’t I will come up with something.
With 200k plus miles on the Forester I am always looking for an excuse to replace old parts with something fresher. First on the list was another exterior mod to give the Forester just a bit more style and to separate it from the rest of the Foresters out on the road.
The side view of the Forester is rather pleasing and in 2006 Subaru decided to to do paint match the C pillar for the Xt instead of the generic grey plastic unit. While either of these setups good looks I wanted something a bit different. The look I decided on was gloss black to give the windows a continuous flow instead of being broken up by blue. I had thought about testing a silver to match the wheels and other accessories, like an Audi R8 look but that seemed a bit much for my more oem plus look.
Factory 03-05 Sg Foresters all had this gray trim in the C pillar location.
Easily enough the C pillar piece pops right off with little effort, it is only snapped into a rubber seal that resides below it. With it off you can make a rough template with your C pillar. Then using a good soap and micro fiber towel you can prep the surface for the vinyl. After placing the vinyl I used a squeegee and micro fiber towel to get proper adhesion and release any air bubbles that may have been trapped.
C pillar off!
These would be what holds the c pillar to the car.
Then with a exacto knife I went around the surround to get a precise trim to tidy up. Now is the best part, fitting it to the car and then standing back and enjoying your work. Then on to the subsequent drive and photo session!
Rough cut ready to be installed.
Trimmed down and now ready for the car.
Driveway shots! Full install guide here.
And a little more scenic shot of the completed C pillar.
With another exterior mod completed I was really feeling like a mechanical improvement needed to be made. A place that I always thought could use improvement in both a mechanical sense and a little bit of style and that piece would be the brakes. After adding more height and larger, heavier tires and a bit more power that increased stopping power was now a necessity versus a want.
There are many different choices for brake upgrades for your Forester from Subaru, one being the larger Legacy front and rear brakes, Sti brembos being another and the last set is 06-07 Wrx four piston/ two piston calipers. For my setup it was obvious that the larger options ( Legacy and Sti brakes) would not fit my setup. It just so happened that during this thought process a set came up on the for sale forums and shortly they were on there way to be fitted.
Shiny! Full install guide here.
The calipers arrived and had been painted by the previous owner and were in pretty rough condition. Soaking them in brake fluid allowed for quick and easy paint removal, now it was time to test out the seals and operation of the brakes. The driver’s side had one piston that was having trouble moving when pressurized with air. After adding brake fluid to it and trying to work the piston loose it was deemed to be replaced by a rebuilt unit.
Not so shiny!
After a day or two of soaking in brake fluid the old blue paint has disappeared.
Rf caliper looking good after it’s brake fluid soak.
After getting a new set of Stoptech brakes for the fronts, a fresh rebuilt caliper from Centric and a full set of Centric rotors I was ready to tackle the task. The fronts bolt right on and you are done. The rears on the other hand need either 06-07 rear spindles for the proper mounting location and backing plate or you can cut your backing plate to fit and utilize Kartboy adapters to mount them up. The calipers came with the brackets so being halfway there I took a cutting wheel to allow for the larger rotors.
Left front installed and ready for action
Right rear also ready!
When bleeding the system I found that the master cylinder was either old and worn or the hill assist was causing a lousy feeling pedal…. Either way I decided to go ahead and change it out during the middle of my progress. I used a standard Wrx master cylinder to go with the Wrx calipers.
It might have been the high mileage or the hill assist but the pedal was less than inspiring. So a new master cylinder was sourced.
What a difference these brakes made! Now I could come to a halt quicker and without the fear of going through the car in front of me. They also classed up the front wheels with a nice bit of red poking through. This also helped me accomplish a lifelong dream to upgrade a braking system. I had always upgraded my pads on each of my cars but never had the time/need to do a complete caliper upgrade.
Lookin’ good!
With all these mods completed it was time to just drive and enjoy the new upgrades. The brakes were by far one of the best upgrades I could have made. The bigger(heavier) tires and added boost truly needed the additional braking support. These also fit snugly under your rally wheels which is just another bonus.
What would be next for the Forester… It seems like I am running out of areas to upgrade.. But there are so many performance parts out there and money that I feel would be best invested on my daily driver. Stay tuned for the next installment of the never ending money pit of a daily driver I call my Forester.