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WRX TOTAL TUNING TECH
Text By Ed Kim
Photos By John Prescott
Article see in Turbo & High-Tech Performance Magazine
May 2003
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Stating that the Impreza WRX has taken the performance world by storm would be making a gross understatement. Upon its arrival in 2001, enthusiasts who had been sitting on pins and needles anticipating its long overdue coming finally had their dreams of boost come true. Sure, it may not have been a full-tilt--boogie JDM STi, but for its suggested retail price of less than $25,000, nothing else on sale in North America could touch its performance credentials for the money.
Mark Miller, a die-hard car nut and owner of Westminster
Speed and Sound of Westminster, Md., was one of those
early buyers who had been praying for pressure. By
a stroke of good fortune, Miller ran into Brett Middleton,
proprietor of Middleton Rally Team, or MRT.
MRT
has long been one of the premier WRX tuners in Australia,
offering a bewildering array of speed parts for the
car, and with the introduction of the WRX in America,
it was looking for outlets stateside through which
it could offer its goods. Talk about a match made in
heaven.
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Miller
enthusiastically struck a deal with MRT to become an
authorized u.s. distributor. Naturally, Miller's newly
acquired WRX went through a whirlwind eight--week transformation
to become a showcase for MRT upgrades and illustrate
how. easy it is to make a tuning impact on all aspects
of the Scoobie's performance.
The first noticeable thing about the stock North American-spec
WRX is its wheel and tire package is pitifully weedy.
Those little 16-inchers look lost beneath the WRX's bulging
fenders, and the tires' 205mm section width seem a bit
skimpy considering the power available from the engine.
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Miller's
first order of business was to find suitable replacements.
The stock wheels were replaced with far more aggressive
forged 18-inch Center Line RPMs, notable for their
strength and lightness at an affordable price. The
wimpy stock Bridgestone Potenza RE92S were pitched
in favor of sticky P225/40ZR-18 Michelin Pilot Sports.
This aggressive wheel-and-tire combo upped the car's
handling prowess considerably, but as this car wasn't
headed for any rally stages in Kenya, the suspension
could be set up for aggressive tarmac use.
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