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Thread bump! My bumper is sagging a little. Thought I'd phone the Subaru dealer, see how much those clips were in the service bulletin...looks like something I could fix myself in about 20 minutes. £15.82 each and no stock in the UK. Three week wait from Japan. Probably easier and cheaper to get hold of some scrap metal and make something yourself. As far as I can see, it's just a metal shim to reinforce the plastic and stop it from rounding. EDIT: In fact, thinking about it, there's can of Carslberg that's been sitting in my fridge since it was brought to my house for a barbecue about 4 years ago. Can't bear to drink it, but now I won't feel bad pouring it down the sink so I can recycle the can and make something myself

Managed to find an exploded diagram of the rear sub frame with the part numbers for the bushings...41651 and 41651A. Don't look to hard to replace so I'll see if I can get them from the local dealer before getting the Whiteline inserts.

Indeed. The good thing about this mod is it's easily reversible. I intend to give it a try but remove them if it makes the car too noisy.

This is where I get concerned. Most reviews have said there's only a small increase in noise, and generally at low speeds - but not even enough to be audible over a louder exhaust, or even the radio. My car isn't driven daily anymore, but I'd still like to keep increased in NVH to a minimum, but it can of course be a subjective measure. Did you install the inserts to the front and the rear bushing inserts? I read that you can just install the rear inserts(which are easier to access), which takes out a lot of the slack without increasing noise too much. This is probably what I'd do.

I've not seen much from UK forums, apart from people mentioning they've installed them. There's more experiences on the US forums if you have a cast around, for instance: https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64364 I'm not too badly affected by it, but seeing that vid of the movement and seeing how cheap the inserts are, it's the kind of minor modification I'd like to make to see if it helps how the car feels.

(Cross-posting from Owners Club forum) I wanted to try a relatively common modification for this car which is to install the Whiteline KDT925 differential bushing inserts (rear inserts only). I can occasionally feel a little bit of slop when modulating the throttle - nothing major, but apparently the bushing inserts help make the car feel a bit more "taught", and also apparently help alleviate the slight clunk you get when shifting into gear at a stop*. Usually, I wouldn't bother, but they are relatively cheap and it's the kind of install that one can do on the driveway. That, and I fancy a bit of tinkering However, at the last service at Abbey back in January, Scott mentioned to me that the differential bushings were looking a little worn. Probably not unexpected at 75K miles, and not enough to cause concern, but he said keep an ear out for any clonking noises, etc, which might mean they need replacing. If I'm going to try the Whiteline inserts, I figured it would probably be best to replace the OEM bushing at the same time. But of course, I'm not having much luck looking for OEM parts, because most searches for GT86 bushings give results for aftermarket replacements. Anyone know (A) somewhere I can look up the part numbers for the OEM bushings and (B) is it possible to replace the actual bushings yourself? Installing the Whiteline bushing inserts looks easy enough. I just don't know about the bushings. If it's not possible then I'll just have to wait until I can get it to Abbey, but I'd like to have a try myself if it doesn't require any special tooling. *For anyone who isn't aware of the issue I'm talking about, there's a good demonstration here. This video is made by Whiteline to demonstrate the effectiveness of their subframe bushings. But if you keep an eye on the differential bushings (on the left of the video, in the middle of the subframe), you can see how much they flex on acceleration/deceleration). The differential inserts can reduce this. I should also add, that I would only be looking to do the rear diff inserts - the kit includes front diff inserts, but they are much harder to install, and you can apparently get almost the same improvement without them, with slightly less NVH. https://youtu.be/IDfJ_zYFPcs?t=24

Never had an issue driving the car daily, but I started to experience problems with my passenger wing mirror when I stopped using the car to commute and only used it infrequently. I once left it about a week and on start up, the mirror refused to unfold (I have the auto folding module so they unfold on ignition). I shut off the the car and press the ignition again and it unfolded fine. I squirted some WD40 into the mechanism which seemed to sort it for a bit, but the issue did come back. Next time I washed the car I gave the whole housing where it meets the support arm a good blast with the pressure washer. Again, this seemed to fix it, but it has happened once or twice since. I reckon it's just starting to stick now that it's being used less. A bit annoying, but now when I get in the car, I tend to just press the ignition only (which causes the mirrors to unfold) and check they open correctly, then I start the engine. If they don't unfold, they usually do so on the second attempt.

Hmmm yeah doesn't look much better than my current solution. Something that would cover the front of the bench part would be best. Handsome looking fella there though. Here are the two dickheads I'm trying to cater for

That would be ideal, but given the 86 has no rear headrests, not sure what I could attach those loops to. It would be handy as the sideflaps could protect the plastic trim at the sides though.

Does anyone know where I can buy some proper fitted seat covers for the rear seats only? Occasionally I need to transport our dogs in the car. They are happy to sit in the back, and are usually clean, but I like to cover the seats just to stop their claws scratching the leather on the seats or the plastic hump between them. The best I can do at the moment is use a big fleece throw rug, but even when tucked in over the back and around the sides of the seat cushion, it has a tendency to get pulled up and move around once they get in. Searching for specific fitted seat covers only seems to throw up results with "GT86" in the description and pictures of generic covers which I suspect will be crap. Anyone know where I can find a set gauranteed to fit our car neatly and securely?

They displayed fine for me, too.

Hardly driven the car much recently, so just decided to take it for a quick blast up to Allhallows and back to blow away some cobwebs. Sky looking very wintry and moody over the marshes

71K/5 years old. Oil level has never budged between services.

Not a huge amount, but it does sound a little louder and deeper. I only fitted it after I'd already had the ACE manifold fitted, so the car sounded different anyway, I'm led to believe the difference is more noticeable on a stock motor. The throttle also felt like is responded a little more sharply, but that could be a bit subjective.

I've always found using deicer causes the inside of the glass to mist up quicker. I now just leave a bottle of water by the radiator near the front door. In the morning, go out, poor a little on the side window (if it's badly frosted) so I can open the door cleanly. Then start the engine, turn on heated rear screen, and pour the lukewarm water over the windscreen - then immediately turn the wipers on. All frost/ice cleared instantly, and the water cleared so it won't refreeze. Pour the remaining water on the side and rear windows, sling the empty bottle in the boot and drive off. I used to do this every day when I was commuting in winter. It would take me at most 2 minutes to be driving away with clear glass all round, whilst I'd see some of my neighbours spending much longer scraping away.