Jump to content
LegacyGT.com

fenominal

Members
  • Posts

    56
  • Joined

1 Follower

About fenominal

  • Birthday 04/04/1981

Personal Information

  • Location
    OC to DC
  • Car
    '05 WRX Wagon, '05 OBXT
  • Interests
    Craft Beer, Leica, Hasselblad, Subaru, Honda, Angels Baseball
  • Occupation
    Writer. Photographer.

fenominal's Achievements

Contributor

Contributor (5/14)

  • First Post
  • Collaborator
  • Conversation Starter
  • Week One Done
  • One Month Later

Recent Badges

0

Reputation

  1. Hey man, I'm all over earlier posts in this thread. Take it from me--I've spent more than $3000 on various setups and, at the end of the day, I wish that I would've started with where I am now: just spend $500-600 on a set of JDM LGT SpecB's. DO make sure to add the .5" spacer in the rear, and I HIGHLY recommend the rear LGT LCAs. Start with that. If you're curious, send me a PM. I'm near Rockville, off the Red Line. https://www.instagram.com/p/BIL1FJZjRSN https://www.instagram.com/p/BNm9LSPjJAz
  2. I've used the STI MC and STI BB on my 5EAT OBXT. I also have a Grimmspeed brace, LGT slotted rotors, LGT calipers, and SS lines. If this is installed and not adjusted correctly, it will feel like crap. Overall, I DO think it's worth it, but it needs to be adjusted correctly. You don't want 3" travel and no feel and you don't want 8" travel and no feel. Keep in mind, this is a feel upgrade and not a performance upgrade. If you want performance, just get better pads.
  3. Just to confirm: IF YOU ARE LOWERING YOUR OBXT ON LGT SUSPENSION, DO NO SKIMP OUT ON REAR UCA'S AND REAR TRAILING ARM BRACKETS. Got mine back today from IAG. It is beautiful and breathtaking and lovely and I couldn't be happier. No more rear sag, no more bottoming out. More details: One Two
  4. It seems like you understood me perfectly. On CA roads, my OBXT did well, but with occasional bottoming out in the rear. Then I moved to DC/MD, where the roads are shiit. I bottom out all the time. Then my rear started sagging more. I've added a .5" spacer. I have less rear sag. That doesn't have much to do with the bottoming out. So I'm thinking about the trailing arms and rear UCA's. While reading through the post, no one really commented whether it had noticeably improved the ride. That's all. Thanks. Anyone else?
  5. Reviving this old thread. For those who have changed OBXT to LGT suspension geometry (not so much the spacers or steering rack stuff, just the trailing arms, brackets, bumpstops, and rear UCA's), please comment on the change. We've already seen from the images that the LGT UCA's should provide more travel to the rear suspension. Can anyone confirm that this is an actual improvement?
  6. Gentleman, I figured I ought to throw in an update, since I have been the most vocal against this upgrade. You can read back a few pages to find my discontent, but I'll summarize it again, before offering my professional opinion: I didn't feel the money for the booster and cylinder was worth the performance gain. In my experience, the pedal throw became too short, offered no improved "feel," and that the performance didn't actually improve. What has changed? I had Frank from Prolific Autosport in Upland, CA, take a look at my car a few weeks ago. He agreed that something felt off, most likely that the booster wasn't working. If you'll recall, I'm an automotive journalist/photographer. I've driven almost 300 cars in the past 18 months, and I'm on record saying my OBXT brakes are the worst feeling and performing brakes of any car I've ever driven. Frank concluded that the booster and master cylinder were correctly installed, but not correctly adjusted. Something about a nipple, I don't remember. Upon adjustment, there was an immediate difference in pedal feel. Instead of a stupid short throw, there was actually a decent amount of travel, still a lot less than stock. With the install before adjustment, there used to be no travel and no gradual easing into the brakes. Now there is an acceptable amount of travel, and better yet, the brakes respond to varying levels of pressure. This didn't used to be the case. Around town, the brakes are easier to work with. They respond to light and hard pressure, and more importantly, to gradual and increasing pressure. This is the good news: they perform as they should have from the factory. Unfortunately, this is still not great news: the performance still sucks. I have LGT stoptech rotors and pads, SS lines, and the Grimmspeed MC brace. I still think the best bang for the buck is harder than OEM pads. I'll rescind my disdain for the STI MC/B upgrade as long as it can be done cheaply, and if you know how to adjust it. Otherwise, you'll fall into the trap of thinking little pedal travel is race car brakes, disguising the fact that nothing improved. In all, I now think that the brakes are passable, if barely, and still toward the bottom of my list. It is an improvement in feel, but not much in performance. - Jason
  7. Still waiting on an answer from John Mueller. He's been busy. But according to him, and when we talked in person, he was wondering what was wrong with the brakes. He's the successful racing son of a racing legend. In fact, he was joked about trying to buy a Subaru. Twice. "I never made it past the test drive," he said. Great cars, he said, but flawed. Anyway, as for the BB and MC, to me, it's the equivalent of cutting your stock springs so the car will be lower and bouncier. I'm still wondering if I've got a bad install, or wrong parts because there's nothing sporty or athletic in my setup. - Jason
  8. I'm a photographer under the Motor Trend Auto Group, but medium format and large format black and white film are my real passion. Here's a photo I shot from inside the Tustin Blimp Hangars: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_meabfuxHr71qa2ntso1_1280.jpg My auto work, for work, can be seen at Automotive.com, or you can check out a blog I maintain of the same images: 13stoploss.tumblr.com My film work is at Appeal to Emulsion. Also, if anyone is interested, I'm selling my wife's Nikon D3100 kit...
  9. triple_B, Let me elaborate again. I don't have tools. I don't have knowledge of tools. Until recently, I didn't even have space for tools. I certainly don't have money for tools. I am that guy that has to pay for everything. It's not economical, but that's the way it is. When I say I don't have experience, or that I lack brake knowledge, what I mean is that I don't know the brake lingo to describe what I feel. I'm certainly no expert on the matter, but from experience, I know when something is good, or not good. But my knowledge is limited to stock function. I can't tell you how long a pad will last on a track, or how long on a track until the brakes get too hot and don't work. I've driven more than 80 2012-2013 new cars this year (and more than 40 2011's last year). All of them stock, and from the manufacturer. Yes, our '05-06 LGT/OBXT's are now a few years old, and there should be some expectation for regression due to wear and age, etc. But I can say that my stock OBXT was the worst feeling and performing braker among all those cars that I drove. Ordinarily, this could be an isolated incident. My car may have a problem that others do not. But, I found on this forum and on Outback.org, that my brake disappointment is not an isolated matter. This modification, as I understood it, would better brake performance. I do not believe that it does this. You are correct, however, that empirical data would tell. I don't have or know of a way to do this. After all, even tires will make a noticeable difference. You would need to have an identical setup, before and after, to accurately conclude a realistic sample. When I describe mush, I don't mean that I like mush. I mean that mush is an actual feeling. There's something there, something happening. Yes, it's not a great thing, but it's a reliable thing in that it's there and you know what's happening. You can count on it and you can adapt to it. With my setup now, there's no indication of any level of brake pressure, meaning, the travel is so waaaaaay short and that there's no feeling from initial clamp to lockup, you have to slam on the pedal to stop at a stop sign, and you have to slam on the pedal with equal force to get it to stop emergency like. See what I mean? With the stock MC/BB, one can casually stick the foot through the jello with just a little pressure to stop at a stop sign, and one can distinguish that, in an emergency, one can stomp on it, to the bottom of its travel, to stop for an emergency. My setup now requires the same hard effort everytime, in every situation. I drove a 2013 Nissan Altima yesterday for a 5-car midsize sedan comparison that I'm writing. Of the five cars, it had the most sensitive brakes, meaning that it was easy to lock them up, that it only needed a little bit of pressure to stop quickly. If my OBXT with STI MC/BB had the same short pedal throw as it does now, but acted like the Altima, then I wouldn't be complaining. My discontent stems from the fact that performance is not improved, and that brake feel has disappeared. The only "advantage" I see is that brake pedal travel has ben reduced. The ace up my sleeve (an appeal to professional authority) is that underground racing legend, John Mueller, who last week built me a custom-fabricated coilover to fix my wretched suspension, commented that the current setup and its travel is dangerously bad. As in, something is very wrong. I didn't tell him about this swap, but I did tell him about the new calipers, rotors, pads, SS lines, and MC brace. All have about 4-5k and were installed at the same time. With that novel said, I believe these are the most plausible conclusions: 1. I have a bad installation 2. I have bad/wrong parts 3. This swap is a bad idea 4. I'm a know-nothing idiot I would strike out number 4 based on the professional opinion of John Mueller (and his staff, who drove the car separately), who, without my prompting, and without knowledge of the swap, told me that something there is very wrong. When I get the time, I'm planning on semi-interviewing him about the coilover he designed for me. I'll get him to geek-talk comment on my brakes, too. I hope this clarifies my thoughts, at least until I can get the professional opinion and his professional words. - Jason
  10. I can't comment on the installation procedure since I'm a tool dummy (I don't have space or tools), but the pedal feel that you describe is somewhat consistent with what I described. The biggest difference is your estimation of the pedal travel (2-3 inches) versus my estimation of pedal travel (.5 inch). But yes, mine feels the same, in what you described, as "no resistance." It just stops, right?
  11. Nooo, I HATED the stock brakes, which is why I looked into this. I was confident that LGT calipers, stoptech rotors and pads, SS lines, and the GS MC brace would significantly better both the feel and performance of the brake system. There was a minimal benefit. I again expected a significant benefit to the STI MC/BB mod. The change was significant, but I don't believe beneficial. Now? I want to drive your car.
  12. ^ which basically means, "to each his own." I would rather have some mush and some feel than no mush and no feel.
  13. Swine, I'm not intending to create a thing. I'm only trying to set the record straight for others such as myself, who maybe don't know as much and who just see "OMG TEH BRAKE MOD IS TEH AWESOMEZ! (I'm NOT a brake expert, but I am a writer, and my intent here is to describe clearly what this mod DOES and does NOT do.) We could both have the exact same mods, and if installed by two different sources, could have completely different feeling cars. The constant is reduced pedal travel. If that was your goal, then the object is achieved. This mod significantly reduces pedal travel and mush. I am simply arguing that this may not be a good thing. Obviously, I can't perform a scientific study to actually verify whether one performs better than the other. In my case, which may not be what others experience (due to variance), I believe that the "feel" in the mush may be better than the no feel in the non mush. If that sounds weird, allow me to explain: mush is a feel. With mine, I could feel the engagement, but it happened low in the pedal travel, closer to the floor. Now, with no mush, there is no feel, no engagement. The pedal simply moves what feels like a half inch, then it doesn't move at all any further. Stomp on it and that pedal isn't moving more than half an inch, and once it reaches that point, it doesn't actually clamp up any better than before. It actually FEELS like it doesn't clamp as well. As for your three points, it would be nice if we could measure it. But, it is my opinion that this mod a) does increase pressure, but not beneficially b) does NOT increase braking force, c) does NOT increase the ability to modulate. It simply reduces pedal travel and lessens mush, which comes, in my case, at least, with decreased feel and confidence.
  14. I'm sorry, I mistook the purpose of the swap to mean functional, as in it provides an actual benefit to the performance of the brake system. In that case, yes, the swap absolutely firms the pedal and reduces the length of pedal travel. But it also completely negates all "feel," and I'm wondering if it's actually worse because of it. I have brand new rotors and pads, both of which are better than stock. They meet the function of my budget and intended use. My point in commenting is to spread the word that this swap is not really an upgrade, that it isn't functional or superior in providing better stopping power, and that it is essentially just costly swag (though some of that cost is saved if you do the labor yourself; I don't have the space or the tools). My comment serves to inform those, like me, who expected otherwise. In the future, I'll upgrade to a racier pad to provide what I had originally intended to achieve.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use