2023 - Sport - Soft brakes - upgrade options?

964 Views 18 Replies 7 Participants Last post by RRSubF, 1 d ago

RRSubF

Discussion Starter · 2 mo ago (Edited)

I have a 2023 forester sport and I find the brakes to be pretty soft/lacking performance. You can really feel it when you add some weight to the car. I would like to upgrade the rotors to maybe cross drilled with ceramic pads. Has anyone made this upgrade on the SK model yet (2019-2023)? Im not having any luck finding these upgrades (rotors). Im not looking to go bigger just would like to swap the stock set.

Thank you!

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TTiimm

· #2 · 2 mo ago

Cross drilled rotors and ceramic pads won’t cure a soft pedal.

The master cylinder brace is the first place to start. Braided brake hoses, if available for a 2023, will also firm up the pedal.

Drilling is for heat management. If you are looking for better heat management then high carbon steel rotors and high boiling point fluid should be considered first. I’d rather have high carbon steel rotors with no slots or drilling than drilled and slotted rotors made from standard grey iron.

Have a look at my brake upgrade. ('14-'18) - TTiimm's 2015 Forester XT Touring

Reactions: 5

RRSubF

Discussion Starter · #3 · 2 mo ago

TTiimm said:
Cross drilled rotors and ceramic pads won’t cure a soft pedal.

The master cylinder brace is the first place to start. Braided brake hoses, if available for a 2023, will also firm up the pedal.

Drilling is for heat management. If you are looking for better heat management then high carbon steel rotors and high boiling point fluid should be considered first. I’d rather have high carbon steel rotors with no slots or drilling than drilled and slotted rotors made from standard grey iron.

Have a look at my brake upgrade. ('14-'18) - TTiimm's 2015 Forester XT Touring

You are right with those upgrades but finding the parts is the problem. I guess when I said soft brakes i just meant they arent very good. With added weight you can really feel the braking performance.

RRSubF

Discussion Starter · #4 · 2 mo ago

RRSubF said:
You are right with those upgrades but finding the parts is the problem. I guess when I said soft brakes i just meant they arent very good. With added weight you can really feel the braking performance.

Im looking to see if anyone has ahd any luck with finding any performance parts for the SK generation. I seems to be lacking.

TTiimm

· #5 · 2 mo ago

RRSubF said:
You are right with those upgrades but finding the parts is the problem. I guess when I said soft brakes i just meant they arent very good. With added weight you can really feel the braking performance.

Oh, I thought you meant soft pedal. Sorry.

A better pad, something with more bite might help. I’m running EBC Red Stuff on a 2015. They are nice for a ceramic pad. Maybe EBC yellow stuff or a Hawk street pad? I don’t know what’s available for the SK.

What brakes are on the STI version of the SK?

www.sti.jp

パフォーマンスパーツ｜STI

SUBARU TECNICA INTERNATIONAL オフィシャルWebサイト

www.sti.jp

Google chrome should be blue to translate that page.

RRSubF

Discussion Starter · #6 · 2 mo ago

TTiimm said:
Oh, I thought you meant soft pedal. Sorry.

A better pad, something with more bite might help. I’m running EBC Red Stuff on a 2015. They are nice for a ceramic pad. Maybe EBC yellow stuff or a Hawk street pad? I don’t know what’s available for the SK.

What brakes are on the STI version of the SK?

パフォーマンスパーツ｜STI

SUBARU TECNICA INTERNATIONAL オフィシャルWebサイト

www.sti.jp

Google chrome should be blue to translate that page.

cool thx. the site doesnt really have much of a description, but ill look into those pads you referenced. 🍻

FozzyX3

· #7 · 2 mo ago

TTiimm said:
The master cylinder brace is the first place to start. Braided brake hoses, if available for a 2023, will also firm up the pedal.

As with the WRX, the Forester went to an electric brake booster starting in 2022. Would a brace even make a difference?

I know it's still early on, but so far I'm not seeing any of the usual companies (Subispeed, Perrin etc) offering a brace for the '22 WRX.

RRSubF

Discussion Starter · #8 · 2 mo ago

FozzyX3 said:
As with the WRX, the Forester went to an electric brake booster starting in 2022. Would a brace even make a difference?

I dont think a balance will be needed the car is brand new with 3k miles. I just would like to eventually get some performance upgrades but its slim pickins or just dont have anything out there yet. Ill be getting bigger tires so the brakes would be nice to have.

TTiimm

· #9 · 2 mo ago

FozzyX3 said:
As with the WRX, the Forester went to an electric brake booster starting in 2022. Would a brace even make a difference?

I know it's still early on, but so far I'm not seeing any of the usual companies (Subispeed, Perrin etc) offering a brace for the '22 WRX.

The brace addresses soft pedal due to firewall flex.

I don’t know if they are available for the SK.

Reactions: 1

RRSubF

Discussion Starter · #10 · 2 mo ago

TTiimm said:
the brace addresses soft pedal due to firewall flex.

I don’t know if they are voluble for the SK.

Ya it doesnt seem to be much out there for SK gen, but thx for the help. Ill probably just have to wait and see what comes out in the near future.

TTiimm

· #11 · 2 mo ago

Yeah. I just searched.

Not much out there except some big brake kits from companies I’ve never hear of.

I did notice that brembo make some pads.

Pads and Discs for SUBARU FORESTER (SK_) 2.5 AWD (SK9)

Brembo offers a wide range of high-performance discs and pads for your SUBARU FORESTER (SK_) 2.5 AWD (SK9). Discover the catalogue!

www.bremboparts.com

Good luck in your hunt. You are on the cutting edge. If it was a Mustang you’d have a billion choices.

Reactions: 1

TMX

· #12 · 2 mo ago (Edited)

TTiimm said:
A better pad, something with more bite might help. I’m running EBC Red Stuff on a 2015. They are nice for a ceramic pad. Maybe EBC yellow stuff or a Hawk street pad? I don’t know what’s available for the SK.

I would go one step further and suggest trying the Bluestuff NDX pads from EBC. I've had them on my SG XT with WRX front caliper upgrade and the difference was huge.
In theory, the part numbers @RRSubF want for the pads are:
Front DP52330NDX
Rear DP52257NDX

Possibly with or without the NDX on the end. EBC are pretty awesome and ran a "custom" pad for me, using the moulds used for the Green, Red and Yellow but used the Blue compound. It took a 3-4 week wait but they were awesome as they didn't do an off-the-shelf bluestuff pad for the 2005XT rear calipers

TTiimm

· #13 · 2 mo ago

@TMX, this is really interesting.

How did you contact EBC or whom did you speak with?

Phil From Texas

· #14 · 2 mo ago

Braking issues on a 2023 vehicle? How much weight do you add? Or are you talking about towing? Have you had the dealer test the stock brakes? Would your warranty be affected?

TMX

· #15 · 2 mo ago (Edited)

@TTiimm
The contact details below.- They are based in the UK, so consider that when making contact as they are a 5 hours difference from USA-EST

The person I dealt with was called Buckley
EBC Brakes Direct Limited
Tel - +44(0)845 22 55 0 11
Fax - +44(0)845 22 55 0 12
http://www.ebcbrakesdirect.com
Office opening hours Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

Screenshot with the conditions of a custom order. - Was a while back admittedly for my MY05 2.5XT rear factory caliper fitment.

Rectangle Font Screenshot Parallel Number

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TTiimm

· #16 · 2 mo ago

Thanks!!!

Reactions: 1

Black21Limited

· #17 · 2 mo ago

I have had no issues with my 2021 Limited. The 2023 brakes are the same as the higher trim levels on the earlier higher end trim levels. Except for the base model.

There is a break in period for the brakes. If that wasn't followed, YMMV.

Drilled rotors probably don't cool any better than non drilled. The holes are not nearly as efficient as the internal fins, and the inside diameter inlets drawing air and expelling it to the outlets on the outside edge. They are designed like a centrifugal fan, just not a very efficient one.

The drilled holes serve the same purpose as slots: To release gas build up from heated pads. They were just the first draft. It was simpler to drill holes back in the day. Not many folks (Racers) had milling machines to make nice curved or angled slots, but drill presses were much easier to come by.

Unfortunately holes create more issues than slots. But then track use longevity only needs to be good enough to finish the race. if you could get an edge by drilling a few holes, it was worth a little less life from a cheap rotor. The concept obviously worked, and caught on, or drilled/slotted rotors would not be a thing.

For long term street use, there is time for weaknesses to play out, and potentially bite you in the ...

Slotted only are a far better choice if you must go that route.

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Boo Boo

· #18 · 22 d ago

The brakes on my 2023 grab fine. You should have the dealer check them. Or turn on pre collision. My brakes catch hard

RRSubF

Discussion Starter · #19 · 1 d ago

The brakes are fine and they work, there is no added weight. This is the first suabru Ive owned and I just compare them to other cars I have owned and currently have. Subarus arent knowen to have the best brakes unless its the STI model. I will seek crossed drilled rotors with ceramic pads for he front in the furutre and crossed drilled rotors are proven for cooling even though the inside fins are at an generic angle.

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