Calling all local 14+ XT owners. If there is already a thread like this, please let me know. I think it would be pretty shweet if we could have a thread related to all things SJ. Mods people have done, mods people want to do, photos, tips, questions, ideas, PITA jobs, yadda yadda yadda. I know SubaruForester.org pretty much covers everything imaginable, but it would be nice to have a local based thread. There have been plenty of times where I come across something on the other forums and would love to see it in person, to really get an idea of it, to pick someones brain why I'm right there in front of it, but that is hardly ever the case... at least for me that is. This thread can morph into anything SJ, just seeing where it'll go. I'm in a 2016 XT Touring in ISM. Purchased CPO with ~8.5k on the clock. Since owning, I've done Feal 441 coilovers, Whiteline LCAs, toe arms, 20mm RSB, Kartboy endlinks. I needed the extended dampening adjusters for the rear coilevers. Morimoto XB LED fog lights with the yellow Lamin-X. I tried plasti dipping the fog light bezels... yea, didn't turn out so hot, not my forte. Switched out all the interior lights (except trunk light) and license plate lights with Diode Dynamics' LEDs. Had my sports grille wrapped in satin black before installing it. Had the windows tinted at 5% on the rears, initially did 35% on the front, but I wasn't satisfied, so I had a sheet of 50% laid over the top to bring the final percentage to 20 on the nuts (prescription in hand.) Subaru window deflectors, love 'um and pretty stylish, too. Rally armor mudflaps (installed the rears without the supplied bracket... the bracket was skewing the flaps and interferring with tires). I have a nameless CBE (5" muffler) awaiting fabrication. Also awaiting on the Aero lip from Canada. I'm gonna wrap that in satin black as well. Did the "F" badge overlays on F & R and a fellow SF.org member loaded the "F" image onto his touchscreen. Debadge. I have dynomate, but its too cold now to lay it down in the spare tire well and inside the doors. I'd really like to get the front DRLs, I'm scared of electrical stuff, though. I'd like to also switch to my C lights as DRLs. I'd like to get some 19x9.5 wheels. I need to sell another set of wheels first. I really wanna do the rest of the chrome delete. That ish needs to GO! Once the warranty is up, I'd like to go stage 1 and a pro tune, accessport, ebcs. I donno, lets see where this goes....
Thanks for starting this, @Clem ! Here is mine. 2014 SWP FXT Premium Just about to roll over 51k, and loving the car. No real mods beyond small aesthetics until the warranty is up (and more money frees up!) I'd like to look into more suspension, possibly switching to an LED or HID set up for my headlights and fogs, different summer wheels (currently have stock and a winter set up of 17s), audio upgrades, and exhaust (either SPT from an older sedan or q300 from Invidia). This is my daily driver, and I don't plan to do too much to it. I hope to pick up a project WRX or something in the not too distant future that can be more of the project vehicle. Here is the link to my thread about the car. https://mnsubaru.com/threads/justawrxs-2014-forester-xt.48512/
I am subscribing to this thread man. I am in a white 16 xt (about 3 months now). I upgraded from an 08 forester. Current mods: Mann Engineering lower spring 20mm rear sway bar 18" prodives for summer (using crappy stock tires until they are done) 17" team dynamics for winter Front DRL Leds Leds Fogs Oem Visors (sides and sunroof) Gorilla flaps Plans: Nameless catback-on order Danoz clamp fix Replace interior lights (leds) Front lip Side and rear splitter-making these Wrap front grill and fog covers (I hate all of the chrome) Tint More suspension mods-waiting to see how the springs works out first
@JuStaWRX Great read on your thread. Makes me want to start an "official" journal myself. @accord917 how long have you been waiting for your Nameless CBE? I ordered mine Sept 9th. I knew it would be a bit of a wait, but damn, I'm getting antsy and its getting colder by the day.
My wife's is a stock '17 FXT Touring. It's great! I enjoy driving it more than my other Subarus - probably because it's comfortable. We need to figure out a wheel/tire scenario for winter, but that's probably all that will be done to it - maybe some JDM DRLs or something easy in the future. If it were up to me, I'd probably do a few extra things.
Sweet, thanks for starting a local thread! I like the idea - sometimes there's a mod that you just want to check out in person. Julian was nice enough to let me take his on a little test drive before I pulled the trigger on buying mine. I have yet another 16 XT Touring in white (seems like everyone has white), with Eyesight. Adaptive cruise is still one of my favorite features of the car. This was the first new car that I bought, and although I got a good deal, I probably won't do that again. Here are the few mods that I have so far: -35% Ceramic window tint on front windows and 5% on sunroof from Chris @ Flawless Front Ends -Recaro Ergomed driver's seat...heated, ventilated, electronic adjustment. -LED's for rear license plate and rear cargo area -Draw-tite class III hitch -Swagman Chinook bike carrier for rear hitch (absolute favorite "mod") -Black "Flexidip" on front grille and fog surrounds + 3 coats of glossifier -'16 WRX catback. Surprisingly loud at low RPM's and cold start-up. I'll post a video one of these days Coming soon: -winter wheels + tires (likely Drag DR-38's and Continental Wintercontact SI tires) -tow hook for rear hitch for when bike rack is not in use -SSD Rally light bar + LED light bar -skid plates? A couple photos of mine: I ordered a Nameless muffler "delete" w/ a 5" muffler for my FRS and it took FOREVER. I want to say it was about 6 weeks. Waiting time all depends on their workload. Their wait times are quite annoying...I wish they just kept an inventory. Argh, stop posting pics of the '17! Part of me wishes that I would have just waited a few more months, but I got a pretty decent deal on my '16(~$32k) and I keep telling myself that I didn't need a heated steering wheel. Or thicker glass. Or blind spot monitoring. Or the 80 other upgrades for '17 lol.
I passed on this option when I had my n/a Impreza, but I decided to go with it on the Forester. Roadtrippin' is so pleasant. I always hated having to disengage cruise when I would get boxed in on the highway, but now, I just let it ride and do it's thing. I still get a little nervous sometimes if I don't feel the car slowing down enough when approaching a vehicle. I'd like to get a winter setup as well. I need to chew through my stockies first.
Oh yea... does anyone have the rocker panels without the chrome accents that would love to swap with me for the rockers that do have the accents???
Was chatting with Nameless today and they said probably another 2 weeks. They said they were short a couple welders and have a HUGE batch to do... 200+. On the plus side, I'll be getting their new single wall design on the axleback portion.
Hey all! Here's mine! 2015 FXT premium in DGM. It's completely stock aside from rack, aftermarket radio I installed, hitch, floor mats, etc. Love this car.
Can N/A guys get in on the love here? I've got a 2016 Premium. 7th Subaru and none have been a turbo.
The only turbo car I've ever had was a Miata. You must remember my sale thread from a while back. At least you didn't tell me to go back to ClubRoadster.net, lol. Ugh.
Nice rack ... I would've loved a DGM or a CBS, but at the time I was shopping around, the only XT available in the condition I was looking for was ISM.... literally the ONLY one. Thats a sleak color you got there. Hell, why not
DGM or CBS was definitely my preference too. I always prefer dark cars, and have really only ever driven black cars, but this white has grown on me. White Foresters are the new PSM though... On the plus size, not hard to find photos of potential "ideas" around! I have the factory aero bars, but a neighbor is selling the round style and I am debating getting them. Something about that set up looks appealing to me over the aeros.
Still my favorite color is Aspen White, but Subaru hasn't made a car in AW since the special edition 2010 STI, or the 08 STI (which I had). So I had to settle for whatever the 16 is...crystal white pearl (I think the color white changed in 16? Or was that the white for the FRS? I'm getting them mixed up lol). RE: round bars. The round bars are great for their carrying capacity, but they howl like crazy. There is still some noise even with a fairing, and the gas mileage sucks. I like the stock aero bars for how quiet they are, and considering that now I'll only be using the aero bars for my ski racks, I don't need the load capacity. Just my $0.02!
Definitely love the AW! Mine is the Satin White Pearl (and flaked like crazy! Eventually I hope to have Meghan take a look at that next spring) which I think was only 2014 for SJs? Good to know on the round vs. aeros!
As winter-wheel-time draws near, I am curious about the TPMS. Is it true that the car can only link to one set at a time? I can't remember if I ever asked this in another thread, but thought I'd check with you guys. The snow wheels/tires I have do have TPMS in them, but I never got them set to the car as I was told that I could only have one set registered, and didn't want to do that every season. Is this true?
It is true. You'd have to go to a dealership and have then program your other set. This past summer I had an aftermarket wheel and tire setup with different TPMS and I wanted to have them programmed, so I called Morrie's in Minnetonka and I think they said it would be ~$25-$35 I went to go have it done, but there wasn't a master tech on hand to "magic wand" the new sensors.... never went back and just dealt with the warning light all summer.
Regarding the bars, if you don't mind dropping some cash, check out Yakima's Aero Bars (I forget the exact model name). They're pretty quiet, and have awesome carrying capabilities. I'd be happy to show mine off if you want a demo.
Jeff the alignment guy has the TPMS reader and reprogramming tool, so I normally go to him. Has anyone bought a TPMS reader and reprogramming tool that works well? When I looked at Amazon last, I thought they only had reprogramming tools, but I could be wrong. I think the reprogramming tools can only re-write the codes to the TPMS system, but they don't have a reader to wireless read each sensor in each tire...
I was just reading something over on the Forester forums and someone said something about being able to buy "cloned" TPMSs.
Yea, I did some quick research on Amazon. There are some brands of TPMS sensors that you can "clone", but you'd need 8 new sensors (4 for each set of wheels). Otherwise for the tools, it looks like you can get one tool that can read codes and rewrite to the ECU for about $600-$700. OR you can get two separate tools - 1 to scan and read the TPMS sensors on the tire/wheel, and a second tool to write the TPMS codes to the ECU. If you knew all of the sensor ID #'s, technically you wouldn't need the scanner/reader. Both of these tools cost a total of about $280-$300+. Perhaps I should just buy the tools and then offer to swap tpms codes for others...for a small fee of course
I bought this a couple years ago, and it paid for itself in the first year. Awesome little tool. https://www.amazon.com/ATEQ-QuickSet-TPMS-Reset-Tool/dp/B008SCWXN4/
Yep, that is one of the tools I was looking at. But I don't think you can read the sensor ID off the sensor. Can you read what sensor ID's are already programmed on the ECU with that?
Correct, and yes, it can read the codes from the ECU. So ya, once you either have the codes or they're in the ECU, you're fine.
Cool, thanks. 1 other quick question...I do have the id #'s from my wife's 11 outback, and they appear to be 8 digits, with no leading 00's. Did you have any full 8 digit id's or run into any issues with the oem sensor id's?
Good question. I'll fire up the windows VM I have the software installed on when I get home later tonight and let you know.
Heres mine 2017 xt premium stock for now some good bits. so far new blizzaks dm-v2 225/55/18 rally armor mud flaps carbon fiber wrapped grill ordered rsr lowering springs and nameless 5" axelback
Just got confirmation on shipping from Canada that my aero lip is on its way. Should have it some time next week. I'm going to have wrapped in satin black to match the sport grille wrap. I just couldn't do the JDM STI lip... to pay more for shipping than the actual piece itself is ridiculous.
Here is Aero Lip. I'm now debating if I really want to go through with wrapping it to match the grille or just leaving it as is. The edges come all the way up to meet the black trim on the fog lights.
I think I will leave it. The glossy finish on the lip does match the glossiness of the vented part of the grille. Tell your "Wife" it only cost $575 shipped instead of ~$850 for the JDM one. And you can get it paint-matched from the factory, too. Here is what a paint-matched one looks like: I'm not a fan of the two-tone lip, but some might be.
I think it looks alright. I can understand why people order the STI lip. It doesn't look terrible, but I donno... not sure if I'm fully feeling it.
I fir one think that it looks great! Maybe you'd like it moar if it was color matched? Maybe some side skirts to match? Lol
I think color matched is the way to go, but only the JDM lip has it right. I don't like the Canadian version of the two-tone one. I think I might just pop this one off, sell it and bite the bullet on JapanParts. To be honest, it wasn't until after I had this lip in front of me could I understand the differences between the JDM lip and this one that I realized the JDM is color matched on the sides, but the rest is black.
I wish that the funds would allow for me to help you out with this, because personally, I prefer this one to the JDM myself. I think it looks great! Also, maybe I missed this earlier, but what % do you have on your front windows for tint? I think I'm at about 35-40% and this just looks perfect. I fully agree -- I never understood that chrome accent there. They seem so out of place and distracting.
I'm going to pull the lip off today. It just look a little too "off" for me. Also looking around for non-touring side skirts to replace the ones on my vehicle. The AAA salvage yard in Rosemount has a few 14+ Foresters out there, but they have no idea what condition they're in. As for the front window tints... they are exactly 20%. Thats as low as I can go with the prescription I have. I bought one of those tint meters that police use just to make sure I was still legal.
