Are there any WRX owners who do not have "groovy" front rotors? I have no complaints about the brake performance at all on my WRX but I'm going to bring mine in to the dealer soon just to have them take a look at it.

edit: you may have to actually touch the rotor surface to determine this

Since I have no comparison driving a WRX without the grooves (I've never seen one), how would I know if the brakes are compromised or, at least, operating at less than peak performance? WRXs are known for having less-than-wonderful brakes anyway. All I do know is that this problem is not common in the big world of automobiles.

Besides, if no one else here has any valid basis for comparison, how do they know their brakes are working properly? What if the "weak brakes" complaints from the magazine testers are caused in part by whatever problem is "grooving" the front rotors?

I guess I'll have to let you know when I get the new rotors and pads installed...

I saw three different WRXs today, one at a McDonalds and two at Second Creek race track in Denver. I had not seen them before. None of them had rings on their rotors. They were all stock. Mine had a small blob of crud that made a faint ring on the right front--I knocked it off, now the ring is gone.

TRS

I noticed the grooves on the second day I had my car. I've had it a week now, and haen't had any complaints about the braking (it's way better then my 328is'). The grooves do seem less noticable though with wear.

w

the groves don't bother me as much as my ABS acting up.
I have to have that checked out, my peddal gets very firm and then feels like it breaks through something and gets soft.
I'm like one of 3 ppl who have this problem though..not a cool feeling.
Keith

Rotors are all smooth at this point...but I did notice they were groovie during the break-in period.

I can't really comment on braking performance while 'groovy' as I avoided braking hard during the first 1k miles or so.

Shortly after 1k miles the rotors seemed to smooth-out. Braking has been consistent since then without problems. I have about 13k miles now.

I have a hard time believing people think these brakes suck. Sure they're not the UK or Japanese brake setup but they seem plenty good. Of course I'm coming from driving an old 4x4 with 33" tires where I was just happy to get a response to the brake pedal at all. :)

Cheers!

Well, Now I have about 6500 miles on the wrx and the groves are gone!. If you look at my front rotors, you will still see the grove line, but the rotor is smooth to the touch. Actually I was quite surprised, because they still looked groovy.

As far as I’m concerned the breaks work great! Just like anything else, it takes time to learn what to expect. When the ABS kicks in, the break peddle goes down more, OK I know it now and will expect it to happen when breaking hard on bumpy surface.

PS…. Let the car sit for a while before doing the finger test, the rotors could be very hot………..