I took a quick run to my local Ace Hardware store and managed to find a set of bolts that fit perfectly, without any hassles or issues. The size I got was:

M8 x 1.25 x 40mm

The added length of these bolts provided plenty of clearance for the Whiteline front strut brace. When I took one of the stock bolts into the store with me, it appeared to be close to 25mm in length.

After picking up a set of 6 new bolts, I quickly put them onto the car, as I had been waiting to put the strut brace on for a few weeks. I simply jacked up the front end of the car, took the wheels off, and replaced the studs with the coilovers/camber plates still attached to the car. Obviously I loosened and removed the tophat nuts, but the lower control arm and knuckle still held the strut in place without issue. The lower strut bolts were not loosened or removed, therefore my alignment is still perfectly in tact.

I also picked up 6 new M8 tophat nuts, as the stock ones looked like they were going to be rounded soon.

I will post up pictures soon!

Often times enthusiasts will purchase suspension parts for their cars, without thinking of the attached strings, such as added noise, vibration, and harshness. Or for some, they knew there will be added NVH once the part is installed, but the handling benefits outweigh the comfort factors. I happen to fall into this 2nd category myself, and figured I would post up a review of the Whiteline Rear Strut Brace for the GD STi.

Last year I installed RaceComp Engineering Tarmac 2 coilovers onto my car. These coilovers are great, and offer excellent adjustability, without sacrificing too much ride comfort. I drive the car with Tarmac 2′s on daily, and therefore have adjusted my struts to a comfortable setting. Often times people will categorize coilovers as making their cars feel stiffer. I think a better word to describe the Tarmac 2′s is “tighter“.

However, with this added performance other factors come into play, such as NVH. A few months after installing my coilovers, I began to notice a slight windshield creak, and it was only audible when going over driveways or slight inclines at an angle. So what did I do? I hopped onto IWSTI, and searched about the issue. Long story short, I wasn’t alone. Countless other members had experienced the same thing, and they all had one thing in common: They were all running coilovers.

A few members had posted about how they installed strut braces to help tighten up the upper strut tower areas of the car. Subaru enthusiasts often deem strut braces as an unnecessary mod, since the strut towers are so close to the firewall up front. Although this rule does not apply to the rear. Therefore, I decided to go ahead and order both front and rear Whiteline Strut Braces.

I ordered both front and rear Whiteline Strut Braces, along with a few other goodies all from Import Image Racing. Shipping was very fast, as everything arrived only a few days later.

I have PDE camber plates on the front of my car, with Cusco camber plates out back. I quickly learned that the tophat studs on the PDE plates up front weren’t long enough, and did not feature enough thread to securely tighten down the brace onto the car. I’ll save my stud-replacement front brace install adventure for another blog post, so stay tuned!

Installation:

Installation of the rear brace was fairly straightforward. I used the following process:

1. Remove rear seats
2. Remove 6 tophat studs with the car on the ground (3 on each side)
3. Remove ends from center piece of the strut brace.
4. Fit end pieces into place, and loosely thread tophat nuts back on by hand
5. Adjust the brace’s center piece length as needed, and then fit it to the end pieces
6. After proper fitment, tighten up the 6 tophat nuts
7. You’re done!

Overall, the install went without a hitch. It should be noted that for step 5, I pretty much crawled into the trunk of the car, as it was my only option to get an up close view of things. Whiteline also mentions that you should not pre-load the strut brace. Therefore, I adjusted the length to where it was tight, and could no longer spin, and then loosened it 1 full turn. Either way, if the brace is properly fit into place, it’s going to work functionally, regardless of how stiff or lose it is. It should also be noted that the proper fitment of the brace is for the center piece to be parallel with the ground. (flat) This can be seen in the pictures below.

Initial Impressions:

After going out for a drive, I immediately noticed an improvement. My rear windshield creak was mostly gone, although I still had a few squeaks. I decided to fully wait on judgment until after installing my front strut brace as well. (To complete the pair)

Another improvement that I noticed is that the rear end of the car feels more planted and controlled. Shifting from side to side is virtually eliminated, which allows the rear struts to really take the hit when riding over bumps and such. (A good thing) With my Tarmac 2′s, I can hear a nice “psst-psst” sound, which is most likely coming from the strut’s external reservoirs.

I have yet to autocross with the new braces installed, however I do have an event this upcoming weekend. (Sunday) I’ll report back with race impressions in my comments section.

Overall, I definitely noticed a solid improvement from the Whiteline Rear Strut Brace. With a cost of only $169 for the Whiteline Rear Strut Brace, I highly recommend it to anyone who’s looking for ways to improve their STi or WRX suspension.

I’ve included a gallery below with pictures from the install. I have not modified these pictures since taking them, therefore they are very high quality. (56k warning!)

The PDE plates are an absolutely excellent product. Their build quality is incredible, and they fit perfect. Their unique design sets them apart from all other manufacturers, as they feature a unique set-interval camber adjustment system, by the use of different holes. Each hole represents .2 degrees of camber, and the plates can be adjusted accordingly. For me, this setup has worked out great as I’m able to have my daily driver camber setting for the street, and then I’m able to max out the front camber when I go to autocross events. After I’m done with my event, I simply change the plates back to my DD “hole”, and I’m back at exactly -1.7 camber with 0 toe!

Coilovers are great, don’t get me wrong, but they sometimes come attached with other variables, including added noise, vibration, and harshness, also known as NVH for short. My Tarmac 2′s have been great as a daily driver setup as well, but I’ve noticed that they have promoted a creaking sound in my front and rear windshields. To many, this is expected and is not an uncommon occurrence.

To fix the issue, I’ve decided to invest in a set of Whiteline front and rear strut braces. The rear brace installed without a hitch. The Cusco camber plates provided plenty of thread on the tophat bolts for the brace to latch onto.

Although the front was a bit more of a challenge. After loosening the 3 tophat nuts on each camber plate, I quickly discovered that the tophat bolts on the PDE camber plates simply weren’t long enough. As part of the strut brace, Whiteline provides a set of washers, and in the instructions asks that you place them under the brace at each of the 3 bolts. This is done because the strut tower area isn’t exactly level, and the washers are meant to help fix this.

So, to help visualize, the setup goes:

PDE Camber Plate > Tophat Bolt > Strut Tower (Body of the car) > Washer > Strut Brace > Tophat nut

With the supplied washers in place, I was only able to get about 3-4 full turns out of each tophat nut. This left me with a bolt that wasn’t able to fully thread through the tophat nut. A picture is really worth a thousand words, so I’ve included one below:

As you can see, the nut definitely has some thread to latch onto, but by no means do I feel this is secure. Therefore, I’ve opted to get some longer bolts, as the original bolts are designed to be removed from the PDE camber plates.

For those readers who might run into this problem in the near future, I’ve found that I need the following bolt size:

M8 x 1.25 Metric Button Head Bolt

The length can vary, although something probably around 60mm should be sufficient. I still haven’t picked up a set of these bolts myself, but I plan to sometime this week. I will keep you updated on how it turns out, and on the final size that I end up with.

Another picture:

Moving on, I also feel that I should point out that PDE’s customer service appears to be non-existent. I’ve emailed them about 4 days ago, and still haven’t received a response. I also noticed that their website states that the camber plates fit with most aftermarket strut braces. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Whiteline strut brace isn’t very different that any other braces on the market. Therefore, I’m not really sure how this statement can be true, but it’s still on their website.

Overall, PDE without a doubt makes an excellent product, though when it comes to customer service, they don’t shine very well. (if at all!) If your thinking about getting a set of PDE camber plates, by all means go for it, just don’t be surprised if it takes 3 weeks to get them, or if you don’t receive a reply from customer service. (they don’t even have a phone number posted!) In the end though, if you do end up getting the plates, take them and run!