I bought a set of STI springs from Japanparts.com, and went to install them today. The top hat on the front springs won't work with these. I'm in contact with Japanparts to see if they have one that will ( I'm assuming there is one out there somewhere ).

 

Very disappointing, as these are supposed to be drop in replacements for the BE/BH chassis. The rears fit fine, but the stock front spring has the same diameter top and bottom, the STI spring is tapered, so the top has a slightly smaller diameter and won't sit properly in the stock top hat.

 

If anyone knows where I can get these parts asap it would be greatly appreciated. The tech where I had them installed suggested I try Subaru directly, as perhaps an STI Impreza top hat would work, or they had something similar that would. Does anyone know the differences in the front suspension of the Impreza/WRX/Legacy of the 2000-2004 era?

 

Thanks, any help is welcome.

 

Ryan

I'm pretty sure they have the top hats available. I looked into the same springs for my car and they told me I would need new top hats and that they had them for my car. But I have an Impreza

For some reason, the US spec Legacies (BE/BH) have a slightly different front top hat and correspondingly larger diameter spring than the European and Japanese ones. The European and Japanese ones have the same dimensions as the Impreza line. Therefore, the headache you're going through. The following will fix the problem and should be about $15 a piece at your local dealer...even cheaper online if you can afford to wait for a few days for shipping.

 

STI front top hats Subaru part number: 20323FA000

You need 2 of those.

 

Good Luck!

 

BTW, any spring kit meant for European and Japanese Legacies, such as, H&Rs need these top hats too.