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You're better of getting some second hand 17" WRX or Liberty rims and putting Pirelli P-zero's on them, than you are to purchase some TE37's and having "Dodgy Ronny from down the roads rubber special " tyres fitted.
Oi! I like my TEs with dodgy rubber thank you very much!
Try to avoid second hand components, unless they are known to be in very good condition. Particularly struts and coil overs. Remove the under steering characteristic by replacing the standard sway bars with 22mm front and rear items. If I had to do it again, I personally would go for a 24mm rear sway bar. Just because i like to have the rear end a little bit more twitchy than what it is currently.
Second-hand parts can be fine, just check them thoroughly, research your purchase and if the deal seems too good to be true it probably is. Struts and coilovers can be bought 2nd hand no worries so long as you don't blindly throw cash around like a spastic, though I'd definitely try to buy something already in Australia rather than trying your luck overseas.
STi struts with pink springs would be a great set-up on the street as they're almost as good as many bottom-of-the-range coilovers. Teins can be had from Fulcrum in QLD as they're the official agents for the brand in Australia, and they developed Aus-spec coilovers for them (plus they can rebuild all Teins).
Also, what you really want to do is dial the understeer out of your set-up and make it more neutral so the car can be driven through either the understeer or oversteer. You definitely don't want it twitchy, and I reckon a 24mm rear bar is massive overkill on a street-driven car. 20 or 22mm would be fine.
When replacing the sway bars, Particularly on a gen2. You MUST replace the plastic end links. They will snap with the extra load on them. You can replace them with steel end links or if you have the cash some HD Alloy links are the go. All are available through whiteline.
Get the solid alloy ones, especially if you're going for a 24mm bar. They aren't much more expensive and do a far better job as I've seen the lesser ones destroyed with hard cornering.
After this, i would look at chassis bracing. Front and rear strut braces. The rear item is more of an issue with wagons, but a sedan will also benefit from it. Try to avoid Ebay items where possible. The construction of them is often fairly poor and generally they use a flat bar to brace the chassis.
Flat bar has sweet f*ck all torsional strength and will bend with the car. Thus making it totally useless.
Oval and tubular bracing bars are the best for this application. You can spend a fair drop of coin on brand name braces, but I've found my N*power items work very well. The cost me $160 for the both of them. The Strut braces are never going to have a massively noticeable impact on the vehicles performance. Nor will the do much of anything unless you've upgraded the standard suspension prior. Strut braces simply stiffen the chassis of the vehicle, so that the upgraded performance components can function at their optimum level.
Lastly (Off the top of my head anyway) replace the rubber bushes in the steering rack, control arms and trailing arms.
This WILL increase NVH issues (Noise, Vibration, Harshness), but will keep all the suspension geometry in line.
The load put on the suspension components while being driven hard is enormous, as such things want to give in and move with the direction of the load. Rubber bushes do this very readily. They work well for a comfortable ride but but lack the stiffness needed for those wanting something a little more serious. Keeping everything in line will allow your suspension to do its job properly. That being keeping the maximum amount of rubber on the road as possible. The more rubber on the road, the more grip you have, the faster you will go around the corner safely.
The reason you fit those braces & bushes is to keep your wheel alignment stable and to stop it moving during the stress of cornering... which is what Soop said, but in a round-about manner
PS: that post sounds kind of like a convo I once had with a certain someone
