2005 WRX PPP - Better braking?

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06 September 2005, 10:25 AM

05WRX

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2005 WRX PPP - Better braking?

I currently have standard 4pot brakes on my 2005 WRX PPP. I've been at the Nurburgring for the first time with this particular car last weekend. (I've been driving the ring for about 4 years in my various cars... some pictures from previous visits : http://homepage.mac.com/markcanderson/ringvisits/PhotoAlbum57.html ).

While I never actually got much fade and the car did stop properly, the pressure I had to apply felt excessive and the initial bite and feel was pretty poor.

I dropped into Ring Racing (a local reputable motorsport preperation place) and spoke to Horst (the braking guy -- he even makes the pads!) who had a look at the stock set-up.

He told me that the calipers are okay (they should have an external hydraulic feed between sides of the caliper - like Porsche brembos and they really should be monoblocks... but otherwise not too bad..) but the disks that are used don't have enough swept area, plus they aren't too thick for heat removal.

To improve feel and bite, he told me to try braided hoses and more agressive pads (he recommended a pad by Hawk, an american pad company).

Ultimately, though, I know that the 'ring isn't too bad on brakes, but when I drive at Zolder, I'll be in real trouble with my brakes, if I don't do something about them.

Horst can build some custom aluminium hats, and use Porsche iron 996GT3 disks and monoblock gt3 calipers to give better pad area, heat removal etc and have them fit inside the standard 17'' wheels. At 2200 euros for the work, it looks attractive and would also mean that I could just use off-the-shelf Porsche Pads and Discs going forward (which aren't too expensive).

However, fitting such a system would push the front track out a little. Would that affect the functioning of the 4WD system?

And what alternatives should I consider? Are there other larger 4 pot systems I should consider?