[Sir Castic]

Since its Venetian Red Pearl we are calling it Ruby. 3 months and 6000 miles in and I'm still loving the Crosstrek. I took it to the dealer last week for the first service which cost about $75.00. Only mod so far is a trailer hitch. I'll post more about the hitch in a later post. It has made several 3-4 hour trips on interstate highways and back roads. Its also been my daily driver around town. Fuel economy on the longer trips has been 30-32 MPG. I have found I can easily achieve 32 MPG if I keep the speed down.

I do not like the Yokohama Geolandar G91 tires that came on the vehicle but they will be replaced soon enough.

Planned changes include a lift, new wheels and tires. Soon.

EDIT:
Summarized running list of changes/mods/upgrades below.

-RRW (Relations Race Wheels) RR2-S
-BF Goodrich KO2 235/75R15
-LP Aventure 1.5" lift
-LP Aventure jack spacer

-Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver
-Rexing V1P front and rear camera
-Weathertech front floor mats
-Pedal Commander
-RokBlocks mud flaps
-Subaru OE side window deflectors
-Nameless 5" muffler
-Wilco Hitchgate

...more to come soon.

 

[AstroKats]

Welcome!

Is that the fuel economy on the display?

 

[Sir Castic]

Welcome!

Is that the fuel economy on the display?

Good question and I should clarify. That was indicated MPG. I have actually calculated it manually on only two occasions so far. Once with all highway miles on a road trip and 32 indicated on the average display, I calculated 30 at the next fill up. Later with a combination of city/highway driving I calculated 27 although it indicated 33 at the time. That is with resetting the trip odometer after each fill up to reset the supposed average. As others have reported it appears the MPG display is optimistic.

 

[Sir Castic]

Trailer Hitch update. I ordered everything from etrailer. This is the third vehicle I have purchased a hitch from them for.
I ordered:
Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver - Custom Fit - Class III - 2"
Hopkins Plug-in Simple Wiring Harness With 4-pole Connector
Hopkins Fold-over Mounting Bracket For 4-way Flat Connector
Etrailer.com Rubber Hitch Cover For 2" Hitches

I selected this particular Curt based on the fact that most of it is concealed behind the bumper. Price was also a factor since I didn't want to pay for the totally concealed ones and then have to remove the center receiver part after each use. I also wanted the 2" receiver since everything I have is 2" already. I also didn't want to do any splicing or tapping into wires or running wires to the front of the vehicle for the trailer lights. This setup met all those requirements.

Their installation videos are amazing for both the hitch and wiring kit. Thats a good thing since the printed instructions (for both hitch and wiring) are not worth very much. Contrary to the instructions, I used a uni-bit to simply enlarge the holes for the bolts and reinforcement pieces that went up into the frame. A wasn't going to try to grind the round hole into a slot then beat the hardware in with a hammer. There is more than enough reinforcement from the piece that goes up inside the frame and behind the bolt to it support behind my enlarged holes. Over all the installation was very easy in my garage by myself.

The Hopkins plug-in kit it also great. It plugs right into the factory harness connector that is at the rear of the vehicle. No splicing, tapping or other nonsense on a brand new vehicle, just plug it in and route the flat plug harness out. I also got the mount for the flat plug which I attached to the underside of the bumper

Overall I'm pleased with how it looks and works. Cost $204.42 to get it all to my door.

 

[AstroKats]

Good question and I should clarify. That was indicated MPG. I have actually calculated it manually on only two occasions so far. Once with all highway miles on a road trip and 32 indicated on the average display, I calculated 30 at the next fill up. Later with a combination of city/highway driving I calculated 27 although it indicated 33 at the time. That is with resetting the trip odometer after each fill up to reset the supposed average. As others have reported it appears the MPG display is optimistic.

Yep, our '18 over reports 12-15%. I haven't done the manual calcs on the '19 but from what others have reported it doesn't seem to be something Subaru wants to "fix"... ?

 

['05TJLWBRUBY]

Thanks for the update on the hitch- I've been looking at same one just haven't ordered yet. etrailer is Awesome, been ordering from them for years.

Best of Luck,

Mike

 

[Sir Castic]

Look what the brown truck dropped off yesterday! Still waiting on wheels to arrive but for now these 235's are sitting in my garage making it smell like a tire store. Its going to be a good Christmas for Ruby. I think she is getting more presents than anyone in the family.

 

[FLCrosstrekker]

Love the description of the color as "Ruby." Never occurred to me. Here in Florida the Motor Vehicles Department has determined on my registration the color is "Turquoise." Isn't that a hoot?

 

[Sir Castic]

Thinks are going a little slow while waiting for a bunch parts to be delivered. The new wheels came in a few days ago. I've got 5 of these and they look very nice. I'm wondering now if I should have gone with the all black...wife liked the gunmetal finish with black rim though so I'll wait to see how they look on the car.

 

[Sir Castic]

Installed a Rexing V1P camera. Its 1080p in front but only 720p from the rear cam. However I got a great black Friday deal with the hard wire connection kit for about $100.00.

The main unit is mounted on the windshield directly below the mirror. I was able to get the wires inside the black plastic cover for the mirror wires so it looks neat. The power wire routed down the passenger side windshield pillar then all the way down and under the edge of the carpet to the fuse box on the drivers side. There was an empty fuse holder that was powered when the car was on so I plugged into that.

I tucked the rear camera wire behind the headliner all the way back being careful to stay away from the air bags. The wire was routed though the wiring boot into the lift gate. Right now its stuck on the glass but I may change that later. I left the back glass dirty so I could make sure I was getting into an area that the wiper covers.

So far I'm happy with it especially for the cost. The only thing I didn't like was that the screen is not visible from the drivers seat due to the angle of the windshield without leaning way over and down. Its not a problem though since I'm not looking at it while I'm driving.

 

[Sir Castic]

Pedal Commander.

I'm still waiting on a lot of pieces to show up and Fedex is definitely on the naughty list this year. They have had several items at the local terminal for 4 days and can't seem to get them to my house. One thing did show up today and that is the Pedal Commander. So I had to plug it in today before running a short errand down the road.

Most people either love it or hate it. Its awesome or --- its pure snake oil and you just need to push the pedal harder. I had to try it. It only too 5 minutes to install and half of that was trying to figure out how to release the factory plug at the top of the pedal. Hint: Look at the new plug and how the clip releases. Push the tab at the top of the plug near the wires and pull up.

I started on Sport +1 and backed up to leave. I immediately could tell a difference in the way the throttle responded. Once I got to the end of my driveway and up to the paved road I took off. Right away I knew I liked it. Much better throttle response. I drove down some long back roads and stopped at a stop sign before making a left turn. This is an intersection where you often have to take off quickly unless you want to sit there a long while. I took off and, wow. So much of an improvement. Maybe not actually faster but much easier to get there. There also seemed to be less delay between pressing the pedal (like none) and actually taking off.

With some of the delays I have experienced with trying to take of quickly from a stop I think it may be worth it. I shouldn't have to stomp the pedal to the floor every time for that. Only time will tell for certain but for now I'm keeping it. It aint going back! For now I'll be playing with the settings to see what it can do.

 

[AstroKats]

It only too 5 minutes to install and half of that was trying to figure out how to release the factory plug at the top of the pedal.

Yes, this! I felt so stupid after tugging at the cable every which way while crouched under the steering wheel. Then I looked at the plugs on the PC and... duh...

We actually got it to try to improve fuel economy but OAK liked the responsiveness in Sport Mode so we kept it and it has stayed on Sport +1 ever since.

 

[FLCrosstrekker]

Has the Sport setting and improved response affected your mpg?

 

[AstroKats]

Has the Sport setting and improved response affected your mpg?

No, and my guess is that the better responsiveness, even if perceived, means the accelerator probably gets stomped on less... ?

 

[Sir Castic]

Finally got my lift, wheels and tires on yesterday. LP Aventure 1.5 lift. BFG KO2 tires 235/75R15 on RRW 15x7 wheels. I removed the factory mud guard on the rear part of the front wheel wells in advance as I expected them to get in the way. After the installation I observed that the front tires barely touched the lower middle part of the front inner liner of the wheel wells but only when backing up at full lock and only when accelerating hard. I drove home like that with no issues whatsoever.

Today, I was able to move the lower front part of the front wheel wells forward about an inch. I generally followed the instructions at the end of the ReadyLift kit instructions which someone else had suggested. Just removed some fasteners and made new holes to pull the lower part forward. It already had plenty of clearance for the rear tires. Now no more rubbing at all!

A local truck accessory shop did the installation. They do this kind of stuff all day and the Subaru dealer didn't seem interested in doing it. They had done other Subarus but the truck shop guys commented about how the complete the LP Aventure kit was and said "that was a lot of parts". Afterwards they remarked that they loved the look with those particular wheels and tires. It pretty much took all day to get the work done, mount the tires and check the alignment.

It is a bit more noisy but not excessive at all. I drove a 2018 Jeep Wrangler all day yesterday with AT tires while my car was in the shop and it was a lot more noisy. It had Firestone Destination AT (I think) which is not as aggressive as the KO2s. With the bigger tires I couldn't tell any difference in acceleration but I didn't time it. Its has a bit more firm but more comfortable ride to me. Bumps and railroad tracks are more of a firm thump but less movement compared to the OEM tires. In general rough roads with potholes and other defects are much more pleasant. I haven't driven it in the rain yet but on dry roads it seems to corner much better on everyday intersection turns. The roads around here are horrible and I live at the end of a long unpaved road so I see benefits already.

It has gained 10 pounds per corner over the OEM wheels and tires but so far I'm pleased. I almost went with all black wheels but I'm glad I went with the gunmetal finish with black rims.

 

[lara2015XV]

1. Looks killer dude..The ruby color is awesome, just saying!!

 

['05TJLWBRUBY]

Looks great! I like that color, really looks sharp.

Best of luck,

Mike

 

[Sir Castic]

My car came with Subaru's mats. Both rubber floor mats and carpet mats. Either seemes woefully inadequate at protecting the relatively thin carpet in this vehicle. I upgraded to a set of Weathertech mats for the front only. Might get the rear ones later IDK. This first image shows them side by side on my garage floor. The second image shows them stacked and it emphasizes the difference in coverage. Lastly it is shown installed in the car. Amazing difference IMO and highly recommended.

Bonus: The OE carpet mats will fit inside and on top of the Weathertech and still lock into place with the posts that protrude up under the edge of the drivers seat. I like to drive barefoot (don't judge me!) so this is something I may try.

 

['05TJLWBRUBY]

Nice! Got these for the wife- they didn't show up yesterday, hopefully Monday. Snow is here and factory ones are all but worthless. Should be able to sneak them under the tree so long as they get here in time.

Best of Luck,

Mike

 

[Sir Castic]

RokBlokz fitment problems (resolved)

The factory front mudguard was removed prior to putting on the wheels and tires as that obviously wasn't going to fit. I left the rear mudguard on. I opened up the package thinking I know what had to be done.

The new RokBlockz front flaps were initially modified to remove a lot of extra material on the inner side of the mounting screws. They were also bent in at the bottom away from the tire. It looked good. On the first test drive when braking while turning it rubbed hard on the bottom screw and the flap material below it. At this point I couldn't cut the front flap any more so I started looking for alternatives.

Removing the flap I starting looking at how I good get more clearance. The plastic fender well was sandwiched between the new flap and the factory metal mounting tabs and the plastic fender edge stuck out further. I moved the plastic fender well to a position behind the metal tabs. This inner plastic liner had to be trimmed on the edge to let it go deeper behind the tabs so the holes would line up. The flaps mounting clips were placed on the plastic fender holes behind the tabs.

I then started trimming the bottom part of the fender edge plastic as that kept it from lying flat on the outer edges of the fender and caused the flap to angle in. Staying below the top flap mounting hole I started cutting progressively deeper going down. At the middle mounting point I was cut down to where the new flap would sit flat on the metal tabs. Going down to the bottom I hit the rocker panel piece and continued to trim straight down until it was also in line with the sheet metal.

All this was done with a utility knife taking mostly small pieces at a time. Starting with a brand new blade I was able to carefully steer the cut to keep it fairly smooth. The cutting went very slow as a slip or mistake could leave a long scrape on exposed surfaces. At worst a cut could lead to a trip to the ER. You have to pay a lot of constant attention to the depth and angles of the blade in addition to fingers or any other body parts nearby.

When reattaching the flap I had to be careful to make sure the screws lined up going straight into the clips. Keeping in mind the flimsy nature of the fender plastic holding the clips, I carefully tightened the screws.

Once the new flap was reinstalled it wasn't obvious that the fender had been cut as the flap covered it all. After a couple hundred miles doing all sorts of things there is no rub at all! I didn't measure it but I'm guessing I gained somewhere between 1/4 and 3/8 inch of clearance.

The rear had plenty of clearance and I was able to mount the RokBlocks on top of the factory mud guard.