Randal Graves

When braking hard when "pushing on" the rear end of my MY03 WRX feels "light" if that makes any sense? It feels unstable and like its moving side-to-side. It is worse if the road is uneven, or you need to make minor steering adjustments while braking.

Feels like the rear could do with being about 2in or so lower? Would a larger anti-roll bar help with this?

Thanks for your help!

raduv

I have the same problem with my 03 sti so help on this would be great thanks.


P.S sorry to hijack your thread

Randal Graves

hehe. No worries. I've made it a lot better by running the rear tyres at 28psi, as reccommended for the STi size tyres, despite the book saying 33psi for the WRX. The only difference i can think of is that the standard tyres are an 87W and the Toyos that are fitted to mine are 91W. The higher load index would point to a stiffer construction, so lowering the pressures seems to have helped compensate for this.

carnivorous

my 2007 does it too. spoke to dealer i trust. said they all do it to an extent as the brake bias is way forward. am getting prodrive springs on friday this is meant to help. if you remind me after friday i'l llet yiou know the difference!

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Have a good think about it what happens when braking?
Front engined car, lots of weight on the front which means your nose will go down because of the weight, you need a much greater bias to the front because of that as the rear of the car will raise, hence the lightness though most other front engined cars have the same problem if braking heavily, and having more bias to the rear would essentially not do you any favours (considering that my Omega TD is rear wheel drive/front engined the brake bias is still considerably more to the front than the rear )

Tony

carnivorous

yes brake bias is always forward. thats why i said WAY forward. my mate's M3 doesn't do it, my dad's RS6 doesn't do it, my A4 and my Mazda never did it. Subaru's do an "endo" and get nervous when they do.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

My omega does it if im very harsh on the brakes my mondeo did it (mk1 phase 1 and 2), my pugs use to do it just depends on how heavy you are on the brakes but stiffening the front springs may help, but physics is a damn hard thing to try to beat (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction).

Tony

carnivorous

well it annoys me that the scooby does it. the cars you are talking about aren't "performance" cars or rallye cars. they have soft suspension. i expect better from a scooby. mitsu evo's don't do it.

lol

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Evo's have rock hard springs pugs (GTi etc) handled better than classic scoobs so yes they are a performance car the omega has a huge 2.5TD straight 6 so that doesnt help but ive not just owned performance cars for the last 10+ years (ive had other cars at the same time also ) but lots of cars do it, the evo would probably do it if it were not for the warped discs hacking you off

Tony

carnivorous

funny that...my classic used to warp the discs on a regular basis. never did nervous nose-wheelies tho...probably because the brakes were so poo to begin with! LOL. the hawkeye does it really bad and on a bumpy road it's all over the shop. i hope the prodrive kit and geometry setup works, all will be revealed on friday!

exvaux

iTrader: (1)

tell me about it did my first quarter mile when i got my typeR and near crapped myself when i hit the brakes back end started squirming and i nearly hit the skyline i had been racing thank god it was on track and not the road

Hol

iTrader: (1)

Fit better (intermediate) pads to the rear if you want more bite at the back.

You should only brake in a straight line anyway (oversteer anyone??) . As long as the sterring wheel is point right, the rears will follow.

And the Evo driver wont feel much cos the GSR rear diff is doing it for him. (Yes I have driven a one or two of thse hard too).

carnivorous

ummmmm......we were talking about in a straight line. all i am saying is i have had a fair number of motors, and have never had one that's so nervous under heavy braking over bumps and undulations. i am sure i'll get used to it.

Hol

iTrader: (1)

Fair do's.

Never really felt a problem in my TypeR or JDM newage when it has standard dampers/springs.

But both have had Dccd and the R had big AP Disks up front, but no ABS.

Not saying that there is anything in the above, just that I have never been usettled under breaking on track.

carnivorous

i don't think it would really manifest itself too much ona nice smooth track....it's bumps that make it a bit scary sometimes! LOL. i was thinking maybe the DCCD helps but that's on throttle only on scoobs. in any case, EVERYONE I have asked....from prodrive to dealers to modders....have said the same thing; it's blatantly just something subaru's do. apparently you get used to it. it helps not gripping the wheel as hard as you can when braking...LOL....but then if you do that I think just about ANY car would feel awkward. (except for the autopilot EVOs of course - yawn - LMAO)

gillyz20let

evos dont do it, and its not the ayc keeping it in line as the gsr rear diff is open when no power is applyed. the evo is just better balanced and the suspension is much stiffer.

my 05 sti did it but rear antiroll bar and prodrive spring made it a lot better.