BEST handling upgrade for the WRX!

The WRX is going to the track in a couple of months and I need to get it ready to race! The first track modification I want to make to the car is a bigger rear sway bar. This Whiteline 22mm rear sway bar is 3-way adjustable and will improve the car's grip as well as reduce understeer.
Let me know what you guys think of the new sway bar in the comment section below. Thanks for watching! Subscribe so you don't miss out on new videos every Wednesday.

[@mysteriousguy019]

Got front and rear with endlinks and lower control arms. The stiffness of body roll on round abouts or sharp cornering is outstanding!

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

Nice! I’m planning on doing the front soon as well 😁 it really does make the car so much more planted

[@paulmarsdensr1095]

A great install man. The Exhaust, the coilivers,, everything looking good bro. Subies forever.

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

Thanks Paul! I appreciate you watching all of my videos. I think by the time we are finished it’s going to be a pretty cool build.

[@toplistcrew7645]

I cut my oem end links with a chop saw/angle grinder. It saved a ton of time. The rust had taken over and there was no hope even with penetrating lubricant.

[@MamunShaikh]

I had this on my WRX with the kart boy endlinks. They bushings started squeaking after a couple months and even with more grease didn’t solve the issue. I ended up just removing the setup all together. Went with kart boy since I’ve seen in the past some adjustable endlinks snap over time. But great for the car must admit. Improves the cornering a lot. Double check passenger bushing mount. You have it upside down. The hook slots into the top.

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

Whoops. Good catch! Since I won’t be putting a ton of miles on this car I’m okay trading some comfort for increased performance at the track. But I’ll keep an eye on it!

[@Redcadence]

Late reply, but what they did NOT show is that you're supposed to tighten the bushing bolts when the car is at ride height. If you tighten at full extension, the bushings will twist when the car lowers under its own weight causing the squeaks.

[@DaytonaRoadster]

Thanks, this is my next upgrade

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

A great bang for your buck modification!

[@Rescrewed]

Here pretty soon, I’m going to be joining into the Subaru WRX market. So watching your videos has been fun and entertaining! Love your steering wheel! You plan on going to UEL Headers at all?

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

Especially as the VA platform becomes cheaper and cheaper to get into they are really a great bargain to buy and modify. I do have a header planned for this build but it’s not going to be UEL

[@attacktheculdesac_]

Absolutely love my Whiteline rear sway upgrade!

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

Nice! Did you also go for the 22mm version?

[@attacktheculdesac_]

@@FosterJohnsonMedia yes along with the rear swaybar mounts and endlinks. Also have the front endlinks, front/rear strut bars, and front bump steer kit. Have this on my legacy but still Subaru is Subaru

[@cughan_9482]

You should note that the stabilizer bar are directional. The r/s bar has a line on it. I did my whole suspension whiteline and air lift performance.

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

How does the sway bar feel with air suspension? I heard if you dial it in right they can be pretty good.

[@cughan_9482]

@@FosterJohnsonMedia My steering is stiffer. Like you can put the car hard into corners and the car holds its just fine. Like little body roll. So much more fun to drive.

[@petergruber7903]

Loving the content. I've been driving my car stock since i bought it about 18 months ago and ready to start doing a similar build so I'm getting a lot out of this. Can't wait for the next video!

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

They make a perfect platform for a fun daily driver! Thanks for following the build 🤙

[@tehSUNMAN]

Loving the videos. They give me some inspiration for my build. It would be cool if you would show clips of you driving the car after the install and get your thoughts/reactions to the mod.

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

Thanks! That’s actually a really awesome idea. If you think people would enjoy slightly longer videos I can definitely try to do that.

[@c.j.cameron1820]

Looks good man! I just went through this last week with the Cusco bar and brace. Gotta say your install looks much smoother than mine! Hopefully the car handles like you want it to.

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

Yeah there was a little bit of cursing that I edited out! Lol that’s always the case when you work on cars

[@samskee415]

Did rear whiteline sway front rear endlinks and aftermarket bushings. Car hits corners like its on rails.

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

It’s a great way to remove all the slop! bushings are next on my list

[@blueridge8992]

Anyone have an opinion about a rear sway bar upgrade for loose surfaces? I’m in a ‘17 WRX, stock struts, Whiteline springs, lightweight 17” wheels, 245 gravel tires. On gravel and dirt I actually feel like the rear end is too lose at low speed. The car definitely plows at high speeds so I’m considering the small Whiteline rear bar and endlinks, but I’m worried it might make the car unmanageable when powering out of the tight low speed corners, which can make up like 30-40% of the stage.

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

A lot of rallyX cars run equal sway bar setups, or depending on conditions no sway bars. Having less sway bar allows the weight to transfer a little more and get better grip on snow and slick conditions

[@Christosan88]

Adding a stiffer thicker bar in the rear helps eliminate understeer

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

Exactly! The less understeer the better

[@morganelrod1326]

Dang! What do you have to do to bend a control arm like that?

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

I have a feeling a snowy parking lot and some donuts were involved!

[@thatoneguy9842]

I posted a comment asking for help on your headlight video. If you have the time to check on it I would be super grateful. Also, how is that swaybar treating you? I was thinking of getting one myself.

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

Just replied to ya! In terms of the sway bar it’s already been more planted taking corners so it definitely makes a difference

[@thatoneguy9842]

@@FosterJohnsonMedia tysm! Also that's great to hear. I'll likely be picking up one of those sway bar kits from subispeed soon. Keep up your good content 👍🔥

[@Paddle749]

Why did you choose the 22mm over the larger 24mm option?

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

Mainly just because I’ve heard 22mm is plenty so I wanted to start with that and see how it felt. If I feel it needs to go stiffer I will adjust this one first and see how it feels

[@Talljoystick]

Would highly recommend getting a matching front bar before going to the track. A rear bar only on a Subaru will actually reduce overall grip and create horrible handling characteristics specially on track.

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

The plan is to do the front bar as well just didn’t have a chance yet. Upgrading to a larger rear sway bar will allow the back end to step out more but as you stated doing both front and rear bars is more ideal!

[@c.m.9881]

@@FosterJohnsonMedia The front bar is fine to use if you upgrade to poly bushings and adjustable end links for zero preload. The stock ones are too soft so the front bar takes longer to react than the rear creating an imbalance.

[@walterhagans1465]

You have a link for those?

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

I just pinned the product link from SubiSpeed 🤙

[@K03sport]

Why are so many sway bars adjustable? How many ppl (constantly) adjust their bars to 'change' the handling characteristics after installing an adjustable bar? Do ppl really set the bar to stiff for summer and then soft for winter? I've only seen a couple of "one-hole non-adjustable" bars [which have my eye]. And on top of adjustable bars, any setting outside of the middle/factory length requires adjustable end links which then have to be adjusted if/when you decide to try out the near or far holes__ Foster, glad the car is progressing nicely; however, ( I ) would have loved to see befores and afters (timed/measured) comparisons w/the new suspension parts. .:R 🏁

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

The main reason I went with an adjustable bar is because I didn’t want to have to buy 3 separate sway bars. In the end you will get the same result however switching bars is a lot more work than adjusting your end links so to me it seams worth it!

[@K03sport]

@@FosterJohnsonMedia...thanks. I get it. But how many actually need that adjustment? I'm glad they are available, but too much for work for me. Cheers....

[@wimmj6952]

In 10+ years of having an adjustable rear bar ive only adjusted it a few times. Mainly when the car goes from daily driver duties to being more of a weekend toy. Not super useful but nice i didnt have to buy a whole new bar, just adjust what i had in a few mins for a noticeable difference

[@kevingroover]

@@FosterJohnsonMedia heads up on the front bar, I think my endlink contacts my outer tie rod may want to extend endlink by 1 thread or 2

[@dougl4253]

How’s that’s work/feel with a strut bar in front?

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

Both mods would be ideal for a track/autocross setup. At the moment I don’t have a front strut bar but do plan on adding one down the road.

[@dougl4253]

I have the strut bar but not the sway bar

[@KevinVo]

More mods more mods!!!!

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

All the mods, except for driver mod 😂

[@20VA]

vehicle needs to be at full load BEFORE you torque suspension components ... otherwise you'll be replacing some bushings a lot sooner than you want to

[@hawgs20]

That passenger side sway bar bushing cap was upside down. I believe the tab goes into the hole at the top. Just a heads up 👍🏻

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

Whoops! Somehow I missed that. Focused on the camera instead lol.

[@8145dwerdna]

Good luck with their end links lol

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

No issues so far! Have you had any trouble with them?

[@8145dwerdna]

@@FosterJohnsonMedia yes. Lasted maybe 6 months and snapped. Multiple others had it happen too. But from what I hear top notch warranty, send new ones with just a photo. I just went to superpro instead

[@davidbeauvais1364]

It’s just not a good track car. I have all the mods you plan on doing it seems but still this transmission blows apart at the track I’m on my 2nd one. The logical answer is get a R180 but meh I’ll build up my e46 and e90

[@FosterJohnsonMedia]

What power levels are you at? I know the WRX doesn’t like to go much above 350whp. Are you flat foot shifting?

[@davidbeauvais1364]

@@FosterJohnsonMedia nope I don’t flat foot and I’m around 380-390

[@nikesbeast]

@@davidbeauvais1364 thats why you gotta sti trans swap, strong rotors and calipers, and some quality coils 👌🏽

[@davidbeauvais1364]

@@nikesbeast I got hks coils man wasn’t looking forward to STI tranny swap at all but sigh oh well.

[@user-nq3jh6sl5e]

@@davidbeauvais1364 is the sti trans swap that much more difficult?