Summer 2018 Update: Racecomp Coilovers, 19" Rota Wheels, and More

The Mach V WRX has been busy over the last half year or so, doing lots of parts delivery to our track-side store at Summit Point Raceway, plus other errands and general-use duty. We've done a good number of parts changes during that time, too.

On the cosmetic side, we did a set of JDM WRX S4-style fog lamp bezels, and some LED front turn signal indicators. The bezels maybe require a little bit of explanation. In Japan, the WRX S4 model has special front daytime running lights (DRLs) that are integrated into the fog lamp bezels. The original-equipment Subaru parts are very expensive, so we sell an aftermarket equivalent version. Actually, we sell two versions. One lights up white, just like the original JDM item; the other also switches to amber to act as a turn signal. That "switchback" model is the one we installed on our car.

The LED turn signals come in clear, smoke, or black color schemes; we chose black. They are a plug-and-play item, so installation was easy. There's an additional resistor you can clip on if you need to, to prevent super-fast flashing caused by the LEDs lower resistance, but we already have an LED-specific blinker module, so we didn't need to do that.

On the back and sides of the car, we removed the OEM chrome badging and switched to black badges. That's a pretty simple modification -- the new trunk badges just peel-and-stick to install -- but our technician did use a bunch of painters tape to line up and make sure the new badges were in the same position and were level.

The side badges attach to the plastic fender trim panels, which remove using a couple of bolts. We chose some blue STi-logo black badges for that. Yeah, the car is not an STi, but the blue matched our (custom powder-coated) STi Brembo brake calipers, and we didn't have any WRX-logo badges in stock at the time.

We changed up the wheels and suspension yet again. On the suspension front, we installed Racecomp Engineering Trophy Cup coilovers. These are an adjustable-height coilover with an excellent fixed-rate Bilstein damper. We ended up with a ride height about 2" lower than stock. The coilovers gave a ride that's a little more comfortable than the OEM STI suspension we had on the car previously, but the lower ride height and center of gravity give an amazing improvement in cornering ability.

The latest wheels are a 19x9.5" Rota KB-R. With a relatively conservative +40 offset, these wheels clear all STi Brembo brakes, and we think they look terrific. The weight is pretty good, too, at 21.25 pounds. (By way of comparison, Subaru's own factory STI 19x8.5" wheels weighs 28 pounds.) We had hoped that our 265/30R19 tires would fit without rubbing, but they JUST skim the fenders under full compression. We rolled the fenders just a bit, and so far the tire scuffing is minimal, so we can live with it.

Products mentioned in this post:

• JDM WRX S4-style fog lamp bezels
• LED front turn signal indicators
• Black fender badges
• Black trunk badges
• Racecomp Engineering coilovers
• Rota KB-R 19x9.5" wheels

Edit: I forgot to publish this post back in summer 2018, so here it is March 2019 and I've finally posted it.