Forester STi Aero Wiper Upgrade 15 August 2008 It was pretty obvious that the Forester needed some new windscreen wipers, however I had spotted on a forum that the later spec "aero" style wipers are a straight retro-fit to the earlier Forester's. A little bit of digging and with the right part numbers a set were ordered from Subaru at a cost of around £30. Really simple to fit and not only clean up the look but work very well indeed! Pictures of the fitting along with part numbers are here... Forester STi gets a stereo upgrade 01 August 2008 The final step in getting the Forester ready for me to take it home was get the standard stereo upgraded. The standard system is pretty good, 6 disc changer in a double din unit though it is Japanese so had a radio expander fitted. There is also a standard 6x9 sub fitted in the back which is pretty good. So upgrades were in order and I went for a Kendoow DNX-5220BT which is an awesome unit with Sat Nav, DVD, iPod, BlueTooth etc. all with a touch screen! Love it, and all speakers have been upgraded to the Alpine Type-R range, 6.5" in the front and 5 1/4" in the rear. A small amp was also used to power the standard sub and all together the sound is pretty awesome! Pictures of the install are here... Forester STi fitted with AST Suspension 30 July 2008 One of the things I noted on the test drive of the Forester was just how firm the standard STi shocks are... it's by no means a comfy ride and on a motorway it bobs up and down quite a lot. So a chat with Iain Litchfield and Curtis @ PowerStation and it was time to get some AST Suspension fitted. Not only would this give a more progressive and comfy ride, it would also allow for the Forester to be lowered... it does sit a little too high for my liking seeing as I don't intend to drive it around fields! Yet to settle fully and perhaps go down a little more, there are pictures of the install here... New car on the horizon - Subaru Forester STi 15 July 2008 Having had the BMW Z3 M Coupe almost a year I decided it was time for a change and more importantly something a little bigger. I was hunting for an Audi RS4 (B5) and had taken a look at several though none of them ticked all the boxes (mostly due to really high mileage). Then I happened to chat to my friend Iain Litchfield (Litchfield Imports) and he had a MINT example of a Subaru Forester STi with only 10k on the clock... a few days later and with approval from the wife a deal was struck and things put in place for taking the car home on 1st August. A few pictures of when I first saw it and general images of it a few weeks later are all here... Focal Dôme Speakers 19 May 2008 Thanks to the guys at Coherent Systems for sorting me out with a set of the truly awesome Focal Dôme Speakers, a new range of lifestyle speakers from the French manufacturers. Having demo'd a stereo pair (2.1) for a few weeks before going for the 5.1 set I was blown away by how BIG the sound stage they create is, far and away bigger than their little size should produce. My thoughts... go demo a set ASAP! Pictures of my set up are here... designed by: