I have been considering getting a new Evo to replace my WRX daily driver. This weekend I was at a track event and got a chance to drive a students car for a couple of laps. The laps were done at "parade pace" so I wasn't pushing the car at all. The car was stock and the traction control was on. The car seemed nice and appeared to handle pretty well but I couldn't get over the soft feel and weird feedback through the brake pedal. I am used to a firm brake pedal, the Evo pedal was the opposite. It was very soft and I could feel the ABS or traction control feedback through the pedal. I didn't like it at all, it kind of ruined the car for me. I didn't feel like I was "connected" to the car, almost like the computers had taken over the braking. Is this just the way the brakes are designed for the Evo does the soft pedal go away when the TC is switched off? Is it common to feel ABS or TC feedback through the pedal even when driven at medium speeds and no where near the braking threshold?

 

wow, maybe something was wrong with the one you drove. of course you can feel the ABS when it activates-don't know what to tell you there- aren't all cars the same in that regard? Did it have hard compound tires? the oem tire is real soft and the abs doesn't activate too easily since it expects minimal lockup with competition compound rubber.

my 2008 evo has bigger/better brakes than a base model corvette and with the softer advan yokohamas, it seems to work better too. My pedal is pretty firm and rides high on the arc of the pedal.

 

You drove a car with screwed up brakes. Stock brakes on this car pwn.

 

They were street tires, car was totally stock as far as I could tell. Maybe I'm just too used to the non-power, no ABS, brakes on our racecars...

 

every time i drive a diferent car there is something diferent and criticable to mention.
you provably feel the weight diference. yes they brake diferent but none is better than the other.
you will save some money in brake pads keeping the wrx .
i'll keep my evo.
lol

 

I've driven a wrx and the braking is not nearly as good as my evo. Maybe the one you drove had cheap replacement pads or they were glazed over already. Definitely drive another evo, then make a comparison.

 

I was thinking about this. the ABS is quite difficult to activate on my GSR...perhaps your example suffered from worn out front tires thathadn't been rotated and had a greater than 2 percent difference in circumference which fools the wheel speed sensors and stability algorithm somewhat.

I know on trucks that taller tires mess with the stability control to be more sensitive due to the change in CG or on tires with a less stiff sidewall set it off more easily.

 

If the car had already done a session of hot laps, maybe he cooked the fluid already. If he is constantly activating the TC, that is a lot of brake work without even hitting the pedal

 

Yeah, sounds like the brakes were done, glazed pads or something. How far could you push the pedal from the floor? I put new rotors and pads on my evo (hawk sps and stoptech rotors) not the best by any means, but they are working like champs. Add that on top of the Goodridge brakelines I put on, when you push the pedal it is stiff as sh*t

 

I'm betting the rotors were shot and ****ty pads.

 

Bad pads, bad rotors, bad tires. Take your pick. My brakes on-track are massive and impressively fade resistant.