[ Chassis ]

1.STEERING WHEEL

The genuine steering wheel was good to drive but I exchanged it to this one in view of appearance.

It is made by NARDI and has three spokes. I feel it's excellent in control. I like other steering wheel made by MOMO and has four spokes too......

2.WHEELS

The original aluminous wheels of VZ are 14" mesh type. I like that appearance but it takes a lot of time and labor to keep them clean.

Then I bought the wheels of 16" dish type by Zauber for genaral use. I'm using the genuine ones for snow tires. I think the spoke type don't match well for VZ because the radius of brake disks are small. This was one of the reason for the choise.

Now these are in my favor and they make me very easy about cleaning. But they need effort for exchanging tires (I can't see the hub bolts directly).

Genuine Wheel [2001.1.15]Last summer I got the genuine 15" wheels (on GT or VZ-R grade without type C) at an auction! It has also the snow tires on good condition so I waited for using them till winter.

How do you feel like this? I think they are excellent because its design mixes dish and spoke on well balance.

3.TIRES

I was feeling G'GRID by Bridgestone (205/50R16) good but it nearly came to the limit of wearing down and I felt that the grip on rainy days turned weak, so I changed to new one.

It's LE MANS LM701 by DUNLOP. This is the tire which they think comfortableness is important rather than grip. FALKEN GRbeta and BS G'GRID which I used before were the second.

The impression on running is as follws. At first, I'll talk about comfortableness. It absorbs the road vibration well as they say. I feel G'GRID is softer than GRbeta but LE MAN is still softer than G'GRID.

Next how is the grip? It is weaker than G'GRID as I thought. But It's no problem in a general use. Concretely if I turn the wheel more on a high speed corner because of correcting the orbit, I feel G'GRID is tough and safty (It comes out that I'm not good at driving.). In contrast to it, I'm affraid that the sidewall of LE MANS gives way suddenly if I don't hold the wheel. But these are only feelings I've never tried to drive out of the limit. So please read this as one of the opinions.

And finally about the silence I think LE MANS is noisier than I guessed on road.

[2001.6.12]I bought YOKOHAMA DNA dB as summer tires for 15" wheels (195/60R15. 205/60R15 is also available but 195/60R15 fits NA's speed meter well) .

I bought them because they weren't so expensive and I wanted to feel how quiet it is. At the point of cost LE MANS was selled at quit nice price....

I think they are very quiet. I can feel it though my exaust note and the engin mechanical noise are big. And they absorb the shock like well shock absorbers but on the other hands they control the movement. And they drain well.

But if you like strong grip so you'll choise strong grip tires like G'GRIDII. You must know the purpose is different.

4.STRUTS

I exchanged them twice.

First time I thought the roll was slightly big because the shock absorbers of VZ were soft then I changed them to KYB NewSR (Mileage was 23,270 km.). This improvement caused the effect soon. When I turned sharply I didn't feel the the independent action of rear mass.

Next time I exchanged KYBs' to GAB Super HP at the mileage of 43,000 km. KYBs' worked still well but Changing shock absorbers needed same labor as changing both suspension coiles and absorbers then I did it at the same time to change coils. I and my friends who were some members of LEGACY BC/BF Mailing List did it by ourselves as the off party of that mailing list. For I've never fingered the mechanical parts except exchanging engin oil, I learned various knowledge. After that I asked a repair shop to checking and adjusting the alignment. Now my LEGACY is in very good condition.

GAB's shock absorbers are useful to be able to decide the absorptive power after driving because of the adjustable construction (It can be set to 4 levels on front / rear.). But level 1, which is the softest level, is however harder than NewSR.

5.COIL SPRINGS

VZ's coil springs are designed according to the policy that comfortableness is more important than drivability as same as the struts. They were too soft for me then I tried to exchange them to GT's.

Writing "tried" means that I didn't finish it completely. I got GT's coils from TANA (Thank you, TANA!) but TANA's LEGACY was the model before Minor model Changing (I write it as "MC" from here) and mine is after MC so I couldn't use them because of the difference of form.

Then front coils are GT's and rear coils are VZ's now. It's unbalanced I think but it can be balanced by setting front shock absorbers harder than rear ones as making the best use of adjustable absorptive power.

Now I have GT's after MC too (Thank you, GET-YASU) so I'll exchange all of them to GT's after MC soon.

6.BRAKE PADS

The brakes on VZ don't work well. It needs to step on the brake pedal strongly further for stopping the car cmpletely.

I was afraid of this so I changed the brake pads to ENDLESS NA-S. Now I use ENDLESS NA-Y because it's cheaper.

NA-S works better than NA-Y (From the moment I step on it NA-S begins to work but NA-Y doesn't work at the moment and then works.) , but NA-S wears down soon and the wheels are soiled by brake dust too quickly. I think NA-Y is enough for me without sport driving.

7.FRONT STRUT TOWER BAR

There are parts which don't cost so expensive but take effect well. I think a strut tower bar is one of them.

For improving the stability I equiped the CUSCO's strut tower bar.

You can feel the difference of the ability about turning.

Then I have to say, "Please pay attension to a trafic accident!". If there is a collision at the front fender you'll be unable to avoid the influence on the opposite side.

8.STABILIZER (REAR)

We can change the cornering feel by adjusting stabilizer.

I want more tenacity, so I exchanged rear stabilizer for VZ (the diameter is 14mm, [top]) with for GT (the diameter is 18mm, [bottom]). Then rear stability became more quick so I feel better.

9.FRONT BRAKE SYSTEM

Front Breaking system I changed the front brake sysytem more strongly. It meaned that I changed the disk roter for 14" wheel to the one for 15" wheels and changed the brake caliper with a pot for VZ to the one with two pots for GT (VZ-R, Brighton220). I painted them red.

The I can stop better. But I changed brake pads and brake hoses at one time so I can't know what parts cause strong stopping....

10.BRAKE HOSES

Break Hose Over running 100,000km I often thought that I would change brake hoses. Genuine rubber hoses were enough to my purpose but I ordered stainless mesh hoses of EARL'S.

I don't know why....

I can't feel the difference. As you know we used to say "cast pearls before swine"....

X. THE PLAN AFTER THIS

REAR STRUT TOWER BAR ........For a station wagon rear opening space is big so a rear strut tower bar has an more effect on stability than the case of a front strut tower bar. a rear strut tower bar obstracts the function which you can flatten the space from rear seat to cargo room but for choosing this with straight form you can use the ability of loading fully. Then I'll buy CS-TOP's one.

BUSHINGS ........It needs to exchange them regularly but it's not cheap so I'll do it with STi strengthen parts at the same time as other repairing.