We spent about $2100 to improve the performance of our Subaru BRZ’s brakes and tires, which made a big difference on the track. A 3.1-second lap time on the Grand Course at Virginia International Raceway was possible thanks to better results on the skidpad and the brake test. In exchange for the changes, the brakes make more noise in town, and the ride is a bit stiffer. The Subaru BRZ and the Toyota GR86 twin are great cars. Because our 2023 Limited model is going to last so long, we have almost 40,000 miles to test the pros and cons of Subie’s sports car. On the other hand, it lets us test whether some aftermarket upgrades will make it even better, which they do. The suspension, engine, and powertrain of our BRZ have stayed the same. Still, a few simple changes to the brakes and tires have made it perform much better when pushed to the limit, both at Virginia International Raceway and in our normal set of handling and stopping tests. The main problem with the BRZ (and the GR86) is that the brakes are weak and need to hold up better to rough use. This means that you have to stop farther away from the car on the track, which slows down lap times. To sum up, we changed our BRZ last fall by adding new OE brake rotors ($364) and track-focused Carbotech XP12 brake pads ($437). We chose this over a more complete big-brake package because adding a big-brake kit is more expensive and takes more time, and the BRZ’s simple goals didn’t fit with that. To get the most out of the better brakes, we also changed the OEM brake fluid for high-temperature Castrol React SRF Racing DOT4 fluid ($56 on Amazon). Then, we decided to take advantage of these changes by switching our Limited model’s factory 18-inch Michelin Pilot Sport 4 summer tires (sized 215/40R-18) for a slightly wider set of Bridgestone Potenza Race tires (sized 225/40R-18). These tires are still legal for the street but have a stickier compound made for racing ($1220 on Tire Rack). Bridgestone does not think that lap times are the best way to try this tire. However, the Potenza Race does very well in other areas, giving the car its installed incredible grip without throwing off its balance. From our experience, they also last a long time and give us consistent lap times during track practice. On the test track, the changes were right away; the BRZ circled the skidpad with 1.01 g of grip, up from 0.95 g when it was brand new after the rotors were set in (we paid $40 for Carbotech to prepare the pads). Our Subaru’s stopping distances at 70 and 100 mph were 143 and 285 feet, respectively, during our tests. These were much shorter than their normal distances of 162 and 318 feet. The tough 4.1-mile Grand Course at our Lightning Lap event at VIR got faster by 3.1 seconds thanks to these changes, which you can read more about soon. With a time of 3:09.3, the BRZ is now faster than a 2006 Porsche Cayman S and about the same speed as a 2021 Toyota Supra 2.0. In addition to having more stopping power and a stronger initial bite, drivers said that the car still felt fun to drive, even though it had a lot more stick. This made the times faster in all five sections of the track. The Potenzas’ stiff sides made the car less comfortable to drive on the street, as expected. They also lost a lot of their grip when it got below freezing, just like all summer tires do. In the same way, the improved brakes often needed to be warmed up before they would work properly on cold mornings. A lot of people quickly wrote comments in our car’s logbook about how loud the brakes were all over town. We didn’t think this was a good way to drive our car every day, so we quickly put back on the original brakes and our 16-inch winter wheels and tires for the coldest months in Michigan. But there are some good things about the agreement. With the release of the 2024 BRZ tS model, which has better suspension and Brembo brakes, Subaru will now do most of this job for a small fee of $2650 more than a BRZ Limited with a manual transmission. That’s a little more than what we paid for our car, but the tS has the extra class of being installed by the factory. We have driven the model but have yet to test it, so we are still determining how much better it will be. People who already own BRZs might have little choice but to buy extra parts. Still, our short experience made one thing very clear: a few key changes make one of our favorite driver’s cars much better.
