I have a 2005 WRX sedan that still sports the OEM lid spoiler. I have seen a lot of guys swap them out for plain trunk lids, but am unsure about doing the same. Anyone have a strong opinion on this?
Personally I like the lip spoilers... Sti limited (or replica), Mines (or replica), modelista, etc... Wingless looks good too. Either way you'll be left with holes... In which case do-luck and similar trunks look nice on GDs.
I like the WRX spoiler a lot better than the STI spoiler. But still prefer wingless over both if the rest of the car is stock (no other aero add-ons). If there is some other tasteful and subtle aero, then a nice subtle spoiler like Idget said can look very nice.
In all seriousness, just comes down to personal taste and what look YOU are going for. I can guarantee the STi wing does absolutely NOTHING at the speeds you will be driving (and since it's non-adjustable, probably just increases drag at higher speeds and adds about 25 lbs to your car). It all depends on if you want something subtle, like the built-in lip on some aftermarket trunks, all the way to son-of-Solberg with an STi wing with Perrin braces in it. If you do get an STi wing, make sure you get the springs also, or your trunk won't stay open and it'll slam shut on you. Prodrive used to make an STi wing that was adjustable and looked a lot better than stock in my opinion. Was also hella expensive.
I've seen too many rusty deck lids from bolt on spoilers where the bare metal from drilled holes was not protected properly.
Skubi1 said it, the most important thing is what suits your taste. My bugeye was wingless when I bought it and since then I've had a stock WRX wing, an STI wing, and now a fiberglass trunk with integrated lip like the one MrBlue posted. I liked all of them but it comes down to what you prefer and the overall look you want the car to have. The springs should definitely not be overlooked, with the STI wing my trunk would fall shut and now with the fiberglass lid it springs open violently (hoping I can figure out a way to add a strut or something to slow it down).
You're right, he definitely did. Can't see it in that first photo but basically the whole front of the engine cover is an air scoop (even bigger than an STI's). You can see the underside in this photo
That wasn't Ruf's design originally for that chassis... but yes, integrated scoops. The next body gen had scoops behind the doors. You'll still see some aftermarket 911 spoilers with the wing integrated scoops on 996+ bodies with the quarter panel scoops... most of those are still functional, but are either for the pull fans or the airbox. FWIW stock location intercoolers are behind the rear wheels where the rear bumper vents are.
And this is all because the CTR2 was still air-cooled whereas the next gen switched to water-cooled, correct?
Partially. The watercooled turbos have 3 radiators up front and still use spoiler scoops for the airbox in some applications. A lot of those aggressive (functional) aero spoilers are integrated into the decklid and also cover up the engine bay vents that are functional during idle and low speed cooling when the decklid fans kick on... not much you can do there but really, those wings/decklids are designed for constant airflow (track use).
Excellent info Idget but it seems we're hijacking this thread and getting way off topic, so here are some WRX spoiler pics to get us back on track. These are all of my bugeye except for strangefamous's wingless hawkeye STI.
Meh, it's all been covered and OP asked for opinions. Biggest issue with swapping to wingless as suggested by the OP is finding someone with the same color who is willing to trade. You'll also want to trade trunk springs as you mentioned as well as lock cylinders. Only major difference between 02-07 trunk lids (other than certain colors that were only available for some years... sonic yellow vs blaze yellow, sgm vs ugm, mbp vs jbp) is the 06-07 rear subaru emblem is fastened with posts. So you can't completely debadge them without filling holes. There's some crossover compatibility with the 2.5RS and 2.5i models and more of those were optioned without a wing (most GD wrxs got spoilers from the factory... although the WRX TRs seemed to be optioned wingless more often than other years) but you'll want to be careful with color compatibility there as well... esp with blue.
Mine is a fiberglass one from Velocity but they were also available in carbon fiber. The company closed up shop in 2014, I was lucky enough to find a secondhand one that had never been painted or installed. Not sure if anyone makes a similar one anymore, closest you might get is the Mine's (or replica) lip spoiler Idget mentioned earlier. A few people have grafted them onto their stock trunks and it looks about the same.
