Wow man, sorry to hear of all of your troubles. Hope it gets resolved soon, especially with nicer weather around the corner. Nice looking 03 nonetheless!
What a let down. Can't stand little things like that. To me they nailed the car on so many levels, and then it's like meh throw this on there if it works...
Mine stock gets about 34mpg avg per tank. With the lighter wheels it's gone up about .3 or so on average.
As for tires, another option is to do what I did...Have the stock tires put on an aftermarket set of wheels, and buy some stock size winter tires (Blizzaks, etc) for the stock wheels. The...
Glad to hear of the success. Was just going to chime in and add that I run 315/30/18 R888's on 18x10.5 wheels. Am lowered a good bit on stock springs and no rubbing on inside, slight rub every now and then on the outside (fender). The tires do run wide like BFG, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Been eyeing up the new Bilstein shocks as well. Not sure on springs either. I ran Swift on my WRX and they were absolutely awesome for all around dd and handling, lowered about .8" all around. Not a fan of how much they lower the FiST though unfortunately :/