My 2007 Subaru Legacy GT Spec B

TomCat said:
Beautiful car.

But I have to say, I don't like the JDM bumper. Seems down-market compared to the previous bumper with it's lip spoiler.
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but when you look at the different bumpers in person, you can easily see the lines of the USDM bumper do not flow with the lines of the car at all and give it more of a 'nose heavy' look than it should, while the JDM bumper was designed to run with the cars natural front fender lines much better and again, gives it the appearance of being less nose heavy. Plus i love the canard looking appearance integrated into the front bumper, its just a more elegant design IMHO.

i'll try to illustrate:

before:
http://img183.imageshack.**/img183/528/dscf0636wr7.jpg

after:
http://img443.imageshack.**/img443/4756/jdmfront05zi7.jpg

and even if the longer front end looks ok in photos, trust me, its not a good look in person, its just a tolerated compromise.
 
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Yeah, you're right about the lines. It definitely flows better with the design of the car. The lines match up nicely.

I'm just looking at it from a sports/performance point of view. The previous bumper seemed like a high performance design, with it's larger mouth and lip spoiler. Function following form. Where as this JDM bumper seems like the normal bumper that Subaru would put on the normal family cars.

But since you more then likely saw no performance gain from the previous bumper, you might as well go with the bumper that looks better.
 
TomCat said:
Yeah, you're right about the lines. It definitely flows better with the design of the car. The lines match up nicely.

I'm just looking at it from a sports/performance point of view. The previous bumper seemed like a high performance design, with it's larger mouth and lip spoiler. Function following form. Where as this JDM bumper seems like the normal bumper that Subaru would put on the normal family cars.

But since you more then likely saw no performance gain from the previous bumper, you might as well go with the bumper that looks better.
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i can assure you thee front bumper design has minimal to no impact on peformace, esp since my intercooler is still top mounted and fed thru the hood scoop. true, if i chose to run a front mount IC, then the JDM spec B bumper wouldnt be a good choice because it is a smaller mouth, but since thats just feeding the radiator, its just fine, esp given sports cars *cough corvette* that have next to NO front openings to feed their radiators, yet they do just fine. if anything i think the aerodynamics are better with the new bumper than old because the lines run better.

and as far as lip spoilers go, that was just an aftermarket lip spoiler, my JDM bumper comes with a lip spoiler as well, which is sold because my last spoiler was destroyed by parking blocks, steep curbs coming out of parking lots, etc. it was not worth putting a new one on the bumper. and don't fool yourself think that little lip spoiler does anything for front downforce in real world driving conditions, its no race car splitter, its an image thing only.
 
Right, I was never under the illusion that such things made a lot of difference, I just thought the previous bumper looked sportier is all. Like someone at my office has a WRX STi Limited, which is one of the best looking Impreza's that I've ever seen. It's dark grey with a lip spoiler on the trunk lid and a lip spoiler on the front bumper. To me it looked so much better then the regular STi with it's giant park bench wing.

http://img61.imageshack.**/img61/540/uslimitedstier0.jpg

http://img61.imageshack.**/img61/9968/0509frankfurt012006subatp9.jpg
 
TomCat said:
Right, I was never under the illusion that such things made a lot of difference, I just thought the previous bumper looked sportier is all. Like someone at my office has a WRX STi Limited, which is one of the best looking Impreza's that I've ever seen.
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Yes i'm familiar with the Sti limited and the front lip, the legacys have a similar Sti style polyurethane lip, but again my point is, these lips get cracked and destroyed under normal road conditions over here. I'd rather have an undamaged naked bumper than one with a damaged, cracked lip. Once again, balancing aesthetic wants with real life considerations.
 
edkwon said:
Yes i'm familiar with the Sti limited and the front lip, the legacys have a similar Sti style polyurethane lip, but again my point is, these lips get cracked and destroyed under normal road conditions over here. I'd rather have an undamaged naked bumper than one with a damaged, cracked lip. Once again, balancing aesthetic wants with real life considerations.
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And thats fine. It's all up to you and your tastes and money.

If you want to avoid curbs and steep driveways all together, you could always buy a 1985 Toyota with a 6" lift. :lol:
The STi Limited at my office has been there for a year or two now and his lip spoiler is spotless. He must be careful.
 
TomCat said:
And thats fine. It's all up to you and your tastes and money.

If you want to avoid curbs and steep driveways all together, you could always buy a 1985 Toyota with a 6" lift. :lol:
The STi Limited at my office has been there for a year or two now and his lip spoiler is spotless. He must be careful.
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southern california roads and parking lots seem designed to be very unfriendly to lowered front lip cars, i never had this problem living in other parts of the country (midwest and east coast). now without a lip, my car looks good and clears virtually everything, a good compromise for me, anyways i'll just leave the discussion at that :p
 
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Great looking car! I've actually seen some of the first few photos on subydude.

@tomcat
On the 2006/07 Imprezas I tend to sit on the fence regarding the rear wing IMO it looks pretty good with or without.... but the little front lip spoiler does wonders for the looks of the car. Definitely something to have if you have one of those cars.
 
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Mod list updated on first page, with random pic

http://img53.imageshack.**/img53/9781/spa0037gv0.jpg
 
New recent photos:

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http://img501.imageshack.**/img501/3145/p1080170bj8.jpg
 
Yeah, the JDM bumper makes for a much cleaner look. Are those Rota R1s?

Wicked clean Leggy, man. Wicked friggin' good looking.
 
deltableh said:
Yeah, the JDM bumper makes for a much cleaner look. Are those Rota R1s?

Wicked clean Leggy, man. Wicked friggin' good looking.
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nope, they're hyperblack Tarmac 3s = Prodrive GC-010G (i think) replicas
 
Ah, gotcha. I'm looking at getting legit Prodrive WRC1s for my Impreza.
 
Nice car, but please get rid of those "eyelids." They ruin the look of the car. :(
 
Yeah, not a fan of the eyelids. They look cheap and tacky. But everything else, I love - including the JDM bumper. Is there a JDM rear bumper that's shorter than your USDM one? That would complete the look.

One more improvement I'd recommend is the Blitzen front grill. That my friend, is where it's at.

subaru-liberty-blitzen-2.jpg
 
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