The 2015-18 Subaru WRX is one heck of a car, once again delivering on Subaru’s winning recipe for all-wheel-drive fun. As with every Subaru of the last 20 years or so, enthusiasts are feverishly modding 15+ Subaru WRX’s.
In their zeal to throw parts at it as quickly as possible, the FA20DIT engine has developed a reputation for being notoriously finicky among Subie lovers. In particular, the issue is that many aftermarket intakes cause a Check Engine Light or worse, resulting in quite a few ‘horror stories’. All the ‘horror stories’ have created the impression the motor will blow up if you look at it wrong. While that’s a wild exaggeration, there is some truth to the fact it’s fairly easy to hurt these motors.
Longevity with a performance car like the WRX can be a concern, so that’s why we wanted to take this opportunity to do a Long Term Review of the performance of our Hi-Flow Intake for 2015-2018 Subaru WRX to see how it really held up in the real world.
Dean’s WRX runs a basic COBB AccessPORT for tuning and datalogging, a KILLER-B Intercooler, as well as the prototype STILLEN Exhaust for 2015-18 Subaru WRX (currently in development), and that’s about it.
Dean’s WRX is not ‘wildly modded’ by any means, and it’s worth saying Dean doesn’t drive like your grandma – he also enjoys spirited driving in the Rex. After 2 years of normal commuting and typical maintenance, Dean’s WRX is still running great – no check engine lights, and the motor has not exploded. Furthermore, it still makes every bit of the power it did 2 years ago.
Given the FA20DIT’s ‘reputation’, that’s remarkable. The OEM airbox is rather restrictive and could really be in virtually every regard, airflow, sound – which is part of why our intake was able to safely achieve 30WHP gains.
This really highlights the value of the work we put into developing our performance parts here at STILLEN. When we were designing the STILLEN Hi Flow Intake for 2015-18 Subaru WRX, we wanted to create an intake that delivered power safely and would work well with the OEM ECU.
Dean tells us that around town, the intake sound remains fairly subtle until you tip in the throttle, offering an intoxicating and rich boxer four intake note, yet is still quiet enough to have a conversation with passengers. Given the power gain, longevity and sound level of this intake, this intake is a great option for any commuter WRX or any WRX enthusiast chasing horsepower.
That’s another quality we strive for in our performance parts- we aim to offer subtle, refined tones in our intakes and exhausts that sound GOOD, avoiding obnoxious drone and unnecessary noise that can take away from enjoying a car.
After dozens of prototypes, we settled on a shielded design that retains the factory air duct – the end result being a walloping 30whp / 32wtq peak gain. That’s one of the perks of doing all of our manufacturing in house – since every STILLEN intake is manufactured right here in Costa Mesa, CA, we’re able to produce and test numerous prototypes to fine tune diameter and design for safe, reliable, consistent power.
We wanted more than just “peak numbers” with this system – by carefully tweaking the airflow, we were able to make a huge dent in that infamous FA20/FA20DIT “torque dip” between 4300-5500 RPM that normally takes the fun out of things, offering a huge improvement in usable power across the entire rev range.
Considering that our intake delivers huge power, nearly eliminates the infamous torque dip and won’t cause a CEL, we’re not just blowing hot air when we say the STILLEN 2015-18 Subaru WRX Cold Air Intake is quite possibly the best intake for FA20DIT WRX models. The only question left is – why don’t you have one yet on your ‘rex?
Talk to our Performance Counselors including Dean. Give us a call today at 866-250-5542, shop online at STILLEN.com or chat live with us at STILLEN.com
What happens when a Nor Cal computer expert gets his hands on a stock 2012 Nissan 370Z ? Great things in the form of a complete performance upgrade for this lucky 370Z! This Z owner was looking for performance and handling gains, so he contacted our experts, booked his appointment at the STILLEN performance shop and shipped his 370Z to the shop so work could begin. From radiator to wheels, there isn’t much that wasn’t upgraded by this performance-hungry STILLEN customer!
Since this is his first heavily modified car, he spared no expense to make sure that it would perform up to his exacting standards, while still being extremely reliable. With this in mind, our experts recommended top brands like RS-R, CSF, SPC and STILLEN for his 2012 Nissan 370Z. Check out the full list of modifications below:
Rays Gram Lights Xtreme 19″ Wheels – call for more information
The Result
As you can see from the video above, this 2012 Nissan 370Z can really put out the power! Not only that, but with the other upgrades, it also handles extremely well and can stop on a dime. This is exactly what our customer is looking for and we can’t wait to hear how great his Z is doing after he puts some miles on his car after the install. Who knows, we might even see him whipping his way around the track, leaving the other cars in his dust!
Ready to Upgrade Your Z? Contact Us!
Whether you’re looking to add an intake to your 370Z or do a full makeover, trust our experts to help you get the most from your Z. From our expert sales staff to our ASE certified STILLEN technicians, the STILLEN team knows Nissan and Infiniti vehicles inside and out. If you have any questions about the 2012 Nissan 370Z parts we sell please give us a call at (866) 250-5542 and we will be happy to help you!
STILLEN is excited to announce the launch of our complete line up of products for the 2018 INFINITI Q60 at the 2017 SEMA show.
The INFINITI Q60 redsport is a very exciting car as it brings performance back to the INFINITI marque. Featuring a potent 400 horsepower twin turbo V6 badged the “VR30.” This car offers the driver an exhilarating experience and inspires the driver to push the car aggressively.
STILLEN has been involved in performance parts for off-road trucks, supercars and street performance cars of a variety and makes and models, but STILLEN is perhaps best known for our experience in tuning NISSAN/INFINITI vehicles… we’ve been involved with developing performance parts for Nissan (and later Infiniti) for over 30 years now. When the opportunity came to work with Infiniti on this platform, we jumped at the chance and let our engineers run wild.
INTAKE
To kick things off, we took a look at how we could beef up the car’s performance. Our engineering team immediately began dissecting the air intake system to study it and determine how we could optimize airflow. While the engineering team was busy with figuring out how to get every last pony out of the intake, our fabrication team were hard at work under the car, reviewing the exhaust routing, tube diameter, configuration of the system and the construction of its muffler, all in order to see what gains could be made.
After going through more than 20 prototype intakes trying to achieve our goals, our induction specialists produced a Q60 Intake design that yielded a huge gain of over 20 horsepower at the wheels, and that’s without the need for further tuning or any modifications to the vehicle. Not every ‘high flow’ intake on the market works with the OEM ECU map, so making sure our intakes benefit the car with the stock tune is a high priority for our design team. The end result is what you see above – the urethane airboxes offer a significant advantage over an exposed conical filter, as the airboxes ensure that the intakes are drawing in only cool, outside air, rather than sucking in hot air from inside the engine bay (which robs you of power). Designed as a complete solution, the STILLEN Cold Air Intake for 2017 Infiniti Q60 comes complete with silicone couplers, CNC machined and tig welded aluminum MAF tubes as well as poly-urethane air boxes to keep the engine fed with cooler air, helping to deliver maximum power output.
EXHAUST
Turbo V6 engines are notoriously difficult to get the sound “just right.” In the end, our team was not satisfied with any of the common mufflers we could source “off the shelf.” The only option was to build our own. So, we engineered our own mufflers, manufactured them in house, and pack them with a high temperature ceramic wool. These tuned mufflers truly allow the heartbeat of the car to be experienced. The final exhaust design was selected after 15 different prototype systems were rigorously tested on our Dynojet chassis dyno. It took quite a while to determine what the engine wanted in order to produce the most power across the entire powerband. The end result is a tuned Y-Pipe, leading to a single Mid-Pipe which branches back into a dual outlet exit.
BODYSTYLING
With the performance parts development underway, now it was time to address the exterior styling. The Q60 is a fantastic looking car straight out of the factory, but like a nice tailored suit, it can look even better with the addition of the right accessories. To bring out the car’s flowing lines, we opted to wrap the car with a red chrome wrap. The brilliant luster of the red chrome accentuates all of the angles and curves of the body of the car and truly ‘makes it pop’. The Q60 has a very organic, free flowing design, and the hyperreflective red chrome shows off these daring curves and deep creases exceptionally well. Like any car, we felt it could be a bit more aggressive and could do with some aero styling to really accentuate the curves the car comes with. The STILLEN design team then set to work shaping a Front Bumper Splitter featuring STILLEN Front Bumper Splitter for 2017 Infiniti Q60 – (with Winglet Extensions). With the front end spiced up to our satisfaction, we shifted our attention over to to the rear of the car, the STILLEN craftsmen then created a set of side splitters and rear spats to suit the aggressive feel we were going for. Both of these parts were custom fabricated exclusively for the STILLEN Q60.
Finishing off the ground effects package, STILLEN designed a Rear Diffuser for the Red Sport V36 Infiniti Q60 with a set of aggressive air channels and openings for a larger-than-stock dual exhaust. The STILLEN diffuser for Infiniti Q60 is no “one off” for a show car – this part is a production item you can purchase and install on your own Q60, along with the rest of the aero suite, including the STILLEN front splitter and winglets. While these days the majority of aftermarket manufacturing seems to be done overseas, but at STILLEN, we make all of our products right here in the USA. Every single STILLEN aero or appearance upgrade, intake and exhaust system is designed and manufactured in the USA, right here at STILLEN headquarters in Costa Mesa, California. Not everyone realizes that here at STILLEN we fabricate pretty much everything in-house, exterior parts, intakes, exhausts, suspension bits — our CNC machines, benders, welders and a team of experienced and talented craftsman makes it possible to do everything here. Now that we had the ground effects completed, the team still felt like our Q was still missing something. The rear end still lacked something, so next, the STILLEN artists then turned their attention to the rear spoiler. The initial idea was a simple, clean spoiler that would added a bit of height to the deck lid. After a few design studies, the team decided to step it up and came up with something that would compliment the dynamic lines of the Q60’s design, and created a custom hand crafted rear wing that completes the car and ties in beautifully with the overall design concept.
SUSPENSION
With the power and exterior styling completed it was time to focus on supporting all of that extra power and downforce. To do so, the STILLEN team partnered with RSR suspension, who used the STILLEN Q60 to develop and prototype a set of coil overs that are truly incredible. One difference that sets STILLEN builds apart from other SEMA showcars is that our cars are built to be driven. Our Q60 Redsport is no trailer queen – this car was driven to the show and then driven home. Since this car would be seeing hundreds of miles of actual road use between STILLEN HQ in Costa Mesa and Las Vegas, it was vital that the car not only look good, but could also retain its handling performance. The team at RSR hit another home run with the RSR Coilovers for 2017+ Infiniti Q60 we had fitted to the car – we really enjoyed these dynamic coil overs. The ride quality is fantastic when cruising on the freeways and the car carves through the canyons with ease.
To make sure that the alignment was correct after the coil over installation and subsequent ride height lowering, SPC suspension provided a complete set of adjustable suspension including front upper control arms and SPC Suspension Rear Camber, Toe and Setback links for 2017 Infiniti Q60. By installing the adjustable SPC suspension the STILLEN technicians were able to precisely dial in the alignment ensuring excellent handling characteristics
No car would be complete without the right wheel and tire package. Wheels are one of those items that can make or break a car. For years STILLEN has chosen VOSSEN Wheels for 2015+ Infiniti Q50 / Q60 and NITTO tires for their vehicles. On this car though they wanted something a little different. To accomplish this the STILLEN team selected the Vossen X Work line of wheels. Particularly, the VWS-1. Work wheels is a leading Japanese manufacturer of high end wheels and the collaboration between Vossen and Work has resulted in a melding of Japanese technology with American style. These two piece wheels feature a high luster polished lip with a matte gunmetal center and polished anodized barrel.
NITTO tires have been the preferred tire for STILLEN for many years. Offering a wide range of tire selections for everything from race cars to passenger cars and even offroad vehicles. For the STILLEN Q60 project STILLEN selected the INVO series of tires. INVO tires are designed specifically for the luxury sports car enthusiast. They offer excellent performance and grip without sacrificing comfort.
We’re thrilled with the end result of how our 2017 SEMA project came out – the team here at STILLEN feels that the Q60 we put together strikes the perfect balance between high end street luxury, with design inspired by our race-winning heritage tempered with elegant style.
STILLEN Vice President Kyle Millen had this to say of the project: “The STILLEN Infiniti Q60 project car is one of my favorite cars out of the many projects we have created. The team at STILLEN did an amazing job and made a car that is truly one of a kind. From the work of the body craftsmen, the engineers and fabricators working tirelessly on the performance parts, I am extremely proud of the effort put into this car and the end result.”
If you have any questions about the Infiniti Q60 3.0t or any STILLEN products for the Infiniti Q60 on our website, give us a call at (866) 250-5542, email sales@stillen.com, or message us on our Live Chat!
We recently went over the basics of lowering your vehicle with springs and shocks in our Suspension 101 article. While this covered the basics, we know a lot of enthusiasts are looking for more capability than what springs and shocks alone can offer. That takes us to the next stage of Best Suspension 201: Coilovers.
When you hear the phrase “coilovers”, most people are referring to an aftermarket replacement damper and spring combination. The term coilover originated from the design of the coil spring being placed over the shock. This description does not apply to all “coilovers” as some still utilize a separate spring and shock setup depending on vehicle application. For this article, we will be using the term “coilover(s)” in reference to the adjustable aftermarket replacement suspension systems.
Advantages of a Coilover System are (this can depend on the model):
The ability to run a specific spring rate while perfectly matching a damper to that spring.
Independent height adjustments at each corner.
Adjustable dampening (rebound and compression).
Adjustable spring preload (via spring compression) at each corner for corner balancing.
So what do these advantages mean for us?
From the performance perspective:
Having a spring and damper engineered to work together is paramount to performance. One of the limitations of a typical lowering spring is that one must match the spring fairly well with the OEM dampers. This generally means limited spring rates as well as a progressive spring design. When it comes to coilovers, extefnd higher spring rates which means improved handling (within reason). A non-OEM spec damper means a lot of coilover systems use linear rate springs which gives more consistent feedback as well as more predictable handling.
Ride height adjustability at all four corners gives you the ability to optimize suspension geometry as well as achieve the proper balance of a lower roll center and vehicle pitch (aerodynamics).
Adjustable dampening can be a big performance benefit when it comes to versatility. On a smoother road, or track, you can increase compression (the rate at which the dampener compresses under pressure) and rebound (the rate at which the damper returns to resting height after compression). In turn this reduces roll, increases pressure on all four tires, and keeps weight transfer in and out of turns under control. This type of setup is ideal on a smooth road or track as bumps and moderate imperfections in the road can quickly unsettle the car- potentially causing a loss of control. On a rougher road, or track, you can decrease your rebound and compression. While this will allow for a little more body roll (which can be countered a bit by stiffening the sway bars), when encountering bumps and imperfections in a turn the suspension will absorb them more effectively without getting unsettled.
The option of changing preload/compression length of a spring is completely performance oriented. Corner balancing is the technique of utilizing spring preload (the amount of pressure on a spring set by the length) to balance a car. Production cars are not perfectly balanced from the factory as most of you know. For handling performance it is ideal to balance the weight of the car as equally as possible. While this can be a little easier to accomplish in a full race car, most people don’t want to remove interior bits from their car and move things around too much. So how can we accomplish more balance without removing parts of the car or adding weights? Corner balancing is done by weighing the car, then placing each wheel on an independent scale. Using those weights, one can calculate how to adjust the spring rate so the pressure on each tire can be close to even on each corner. This is typically done with the driver in the car as that greatly affects weight distribution. For an example, let us say we have a 350Z that we are corner balancing. For simplicity we will just do the front right to left balance. We find the weight on the front right tire is 850 lbs (or 385.5 kg) and 905 lbs (or 410.5 kg) on the front left tire. If we want to balance that out we can increase the effective weight on the front right tire by compressing that spring. If we have a spring rate of 560 lb/in (10 kg/mm) we are adjusting to correct for the 55 lb difference (or 25 kg) we simply need to calculate the increase via percentage. 55 lbs is 9.8% off 560 lbs (or 250% of 10 kg). So we simply multiply 1 inch by 9.8% (or 1 mm by 250%) so see how much to compress the spring (you can also decompress the side with the higher weight by the same amount instead).
2015 Subaru WRX sitting on RS-R Sports-i coilovers.
From the aesthetics and comfort perspective:
For many enthusiasts, the goal of lowering is primarily aesthetic. When the goal is to achieve a specific look, many enthusiasts don’t want to sacrifice ride quality. While spring rates and dampening affect performance greatly, it also makes a big impact on comfort. While you might not select the same coilover for racing as you would for daily driving, there are a lot of options that can offer a high level of versatility. For example, the RS-RSports-i coilovers work fine for track days, but they can be adjusted to be extremely comfortable on the street (often times more comfortable than stock). They utilize features such as rubber bushings in the mounting hats, rebound and compression adjustability, as well as height adjustment independent from spring preload to retain a very civilized ride quality and NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness). Lower rebound and compression usually means a softer and more compliant ride even when running a higher spring rate than stock. So just because a spring rate looks high on a coilover system, don’t assume immediately that it won’t be comfortable.
There are so many reasons to have height adjustability. Everyone has their preference of what an ideal ride height is, and there are definitely looks that can’t be achieved with traditional lowering springs. Because most modern cars have a higher fender line in the front wheel wells, lowering often results in a larger wheel gap in front if the spring lowers evenly. With the adjustability of coilovers you can easily get the wheel gap you want.
We hope this helps you with your suspension knowledge. There are still many details we did not go over. If you have further questions about the Best Suspension 201: Coilovers, we would be happy to answer you.
Often associated with luxury, the black sedan is something of an icon amongst car lovers. Setting out to offer a different take on the traditional image, the Lia Infiniti team added a STILLEN Q50 Sport Front Lip Splitter, STILLEN Q50 rear diffuser, 20″ Infiniti Accessory Sport wheels, and an Infiniti Midnight Black grille to their latest showroom Q50s. With its clean lines and sleek custom accents, the Lia Infiniti Q50s is the perfect vehicle for an enthusiast looking for a luxury vehicle with attitude.
For an aggressive finished look, Q50 owners can’t go wrong with the STILLEN Sport Front splitter or diffuser. Both are made from the highest quality polyurethane by expert craftsmen in our Costa Mesa, CA facility. Manufactured in durable polyurethane to better survive the street, these body components are incredibly resilient, ensuring this vehicle’s future owner will enjoy many years of sleek good looks. In fact, we are so confident in their quality that the STILLEN Q50 diffuser and splitter that both come with a manufacturer’s limited lifetime warranty. Additionally, neither body component requires cutting or trimming; meaning you don’t have to significantly alter your vehicle in any way to install these body components.
With a reputation for offering their customers a great car buying experience, the Lia Infiniti sales staff are known in the Albany, Saratoga, and Troy, NY area for being extremely knowledgeable about the cars they sell and honest – making the overall experience a positive one. Additionally, the Lia Infiniti dealership features a full service department that can handle anything from routine maintenance to performance part installations such as Q50 intakes and exhausts. To schedule your appointment with either the Lia Infiniti sales staff or service department, call (518) 213-9242 or stop by their dealership, which is located at 965 New Loudon Rd, Cohoes, NY 12047.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about the STILLEN parts featured on the Lia Infiniti Q50S, please contact us by calling (866) 250-5542. Our experts will be happy to answer your questions, make recommendations and help you strategize how to get the most from your Q50 so you can enjoy the performance, handling and style you deserve.
