No cable tie evident.
The one you have was fitted to Brembo's and the one I have now is fitted to AP's, but I think it was also originally with Brembo's....

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No Subarus currently owned

Bram, I was at MMS and talked to Rob about your issue....basically he said that hydraulic handbrakes are:
1. Imperfect bits of equipment that take a lot of fiddling around
2. Are only meant to work with weight on the front of the car while turning in with the back light
3. Will generally not work in a straight line
4. ABS may be an issue
5. You really don't need to change your Brembo calipers
6. Maybe you're over-thinking it
7. He is happy to talk to you about it 9458 1444...give him a call

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No Subarus currently owned

Ok. Well im gonna try pads first only because thats the easiest thing for me to try at this stage.

Failing that i will try removing ABS from the system.

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Doing it for all the wagons out there

Thanks Steve.

1. Tell me about it haha.
2. & 3. Yeah. I figured as much. But what makes me think its not 100% right, is the fact the cable/drum setup works so much better. It will lock up in a straight line with ease. Where as the hydro wont. I would expect a hydro to work better than a cable. Else its alot of work for no real benifet.
4. It may. I would prefer to retain it if possible just for ease of not removing it. But if i cant get it to a point im happy with by other means, then it is something i will do.
5. Thats good. Dont want to fork out for bigger rear brakes if i can get it working in other ways.
6. I always over think stuff.
7. Thanks for that. Will call in my lunch brake and have a chat.

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Doing it for all the wagons out there

I dropped into MMS today and had a chat (in the work ute, not Forester). I spoke with Dean as Rob was busy. The impression is that perhaps my hydro is working correctly, and i am expecting too much from it. He said to try it as if you were coming in to do a handbrake turn at a hairpin and not just a straight line like ive been testing. And said that it may not be able to work as good as a cable drum park brake.

So i guess the next step is to get the car back together and go for a whirl and see if i can do some skids under different test conditions.

I did get a chance to inspect the proper RS-SP STi lever mechanism on one of thier cars too. I measured it just to confirm the lever ratio was in the ballpark. I measured 65mm from fulcrum to cylinder and 400mm handle length. Which is 6.15:1 ratio. Which puts it right in the same vicinity of my handle. I also gave it a little pull and it felt and moved just like mine. Had very similar firm-ness and also similar throw.

I think maybe i just have this idea in my head that the hydro is some magical lever, that when pulled, will unleash the wheel braking force of a thousand unicorns. And not just a brake lever thats connected to the rear disc brakes.

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Doing it for all the wagons out there

It is strange though as drift cars pull a mean skid in a straight line sometimes! Like when they initiate the first drift. But the swept area of a drum brake is pretty massive compared to a small 2 pot brake. Plus you have pretty wide sticky rear tyres.

My thoughts always where like yours, that a hydro handbrake would just lock instantly and easily but I hav watched a few YouTube vids and they actually aren't like that.

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Huge range of extinguisher brackets for cars!

http://kap.industries/

Yeah. For sure. But they also probably tune the setup to the extreme. Very hard rubber with big pressure, stretched onto a rim way too big for the tyre width. They also do things like add a cable linkage to the hydro, so its hydro plus cable/drum. Use specificly designed rear calipers. Like those ones that have 2 sets of pads/pistons/hydraulic inputs built into the single caliper, Or additional big calipers just for the hydro. They use agressive drift pads etc. Im sure you could tune the setup to work better if you want. Im sure i could tune this setup aswell. Its just how far do i want to go for somethings actually only gonna get used a handfull of times.

Even with my testing. I've been doing the majority of it with the bob jane zetums and not the hankooks. And even still im not happy its working well enough.
Yeah. I thought that too. I might not be able to get mine as good as the cable but i think there is still room to improve. Will see what the new pads do i guess.

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Doing it for all the wagons out there

Maybe a combo of cable and hydro handbrake is needed here an extra line to the new handbrake mech

using the Perth-WRX mobile app

Yeah. Its something ive already considered a few times. Im actually gonna try and get the car down to 'Flexible Drive' this week dependant on how work goes. They can custom make all kinds of cable linkages etc. Everythung from speedo cables up to gear shift cables etc. So if i can get them to run thier eye over it and give me a price to make a cable to join the lever to the park brake cables.

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Doing it for all the wagons out there

You can get pmu handbrake shoes as well Mike had them in his then i think alex has them now might be worth getting some

using the Perth-WRX mobile app