Need to replace all of my break parts front/rear. Suggestions?

[Lune]

I have a couple of calipers (one front, one rear) that are sticking and worn pads. My rotors haven't been swapped out in the 4 years I've owned my car and have driven it in Michigan winters. They should be swapped out too. So with having to replace basically the entire brake system I am looking to upgrade. I don't want to go crazy and don't race my car. But I'm an enthusiast and enjoy "spirited driving" and a car that performs and looks good.

 

I'm a firm believer in if you have to replace something that you should upgrade it. I have never upgraded to a big brake setup am woefully lacking in knowledge among a sea of options.

 

What I am looking for out of brakes:

1. Obviously stopping power. Currently my brakes are pretty squishy and I'm looking to resolve that.

2. Low brake dust. This has been a fairly consistent problem for me.

3. Looks. I want to go with something painted and powder coated. Yeah, I know it doesn't make it go faster but I am willing to pay a small premium for aesthetics.

4. Not looking to brake the bank (pun intended). I don't really need cross drilled and slotted rotors. I'm not stopping hard enough often enough for my brakes to get hot thus establishing a need for such features. If it doesn't cost a lot more I'm not going to turn it down though either.

 

So far, surprisingly, the best fit I could find is actually a Subaru kit:

https://www.fastwrx.com/products/subaru-four-pot-2-pot-full-brake-upgrade-2005-2009-legacy-gt

That is $1700 just in parts. Still it is the cheapest best fit I can find.

Stoptech and Power Stop big brake kits for both front and rear that includes calipers are over $4000. That is definitely above my budget. That makes Brembo out of the question. Willwood doesn't even make brakes for our cars.

 

If I can't find anything more reasonable I'm likely to go with Firestone's lifetime brakes. I wouldn't normally do it because you have to go with all their parts (rotors, pads and calipers) but since I'm replacing them anyway I might as well benefit from a lifetime warranty. If their price is close to the price of the above linked Subaru kit then I'll probably do that instead. Unless anyone has better suggestions?

[nr.metalguitar]

Upgrading your brakes is always a good idea, but the factory brake size and calipers are pretty damn good on their own. Get yourself a good set of pads and rotors, rebuild the stock brake calipers, set it all up and their performance will suprise you. Much better bang for buck braking performance when compared to a full brake kit. For me this costed about AU $400, which is only US $300.

 

Sent from my SM-G950N using Tapatalk

[Lune]

I'm not rebuilding the stock calipers. They failed for a reason. I am upgrading them. I've also had a caliper seize up previously on this car. I dislike the stock calipers. I've seen similar complaints from posters around this boards with them failing too frequently.

 

I don't so much care about upgrading my rotors or pads to a bigger set. Just a well performing combo for a not entirely unreasonable price.

[98legwag]

For pads and rotors I am running Hawk HPS pads and Centric Premium rotors. I am a fan. Good stopping power for a daily driver. But the pads do make more dust than stock.

[jrho]

Honestly for your needs it seems like all you really need is to rebuild the factory calipers and get a good set of pads and rotors. Hawk and Stoptech pads both seem like good choices and the Centric Premium rotors are great bang for your buck or I would look at the slotted Stoptech rotors as well.

 

If you're dead set on going to a different caliper, the Cadillac ATS Brembo seems like a pretty cost effective big brake upgrade.

[Lune]

98legwag: Why not the Hawk 5.0? It says they produce less dust. Not sure if it is true.

If you had to upgrade your calipers what would you get?

[Lune]

jrho: As I just said, I am NOT going to rebuild my calipers.

 

Look. It is a bit of a pet peeve of mine that when I come to a forum saying what I would like to do and outlining what I'm aiming at for a poster to come along and move my goal posts. I started in my original post saying that I am going to replace all my brake parts. I followed up in a later post saying that I was not going to be rebuilding my current calipers. I dislike the stock calipers, they seize too often. I do not want to rebuild them, I want to upgrade.

 

Thank you for your other suggestions though. As far as the Cadillac ones go I have heard of problems with balancing. Did that ever get worked out?

[Wasted Potential]

Stock calipers have better quality control than majority of aftermarket. Please don't be offended when people advise that route.

 

On another note, I'd advise buying from rockauto the fully loaded raybestos calipers with pads. Otherwise any quality pad will be an improvement.

Pay a friend or paint place to properly powder coat them whatever racer red or neon color floats your boat.

 

If that's not enough for stopping look at sti caliper swaps. And if that's not good enough, you're going to have to break the bank.

[jrho]

jrho: As I just said, I am NOT going to rebuild my calipers.

 

Look. It is a bit of a pet peeve of mine that when I come to a forum saying what I would like to do and outlining what I'm aiming at for a poster to come along and move my goal posts. I started in my original post saying that I am going to replace all my brake parts. I followed up in a later post saying that I was not going to be rebuilding my current calipers. I dislike the stock calipers, they seize too often. I do not want to rebuild them, I want to upgrade.

 

Thank you for your other suggestions though. As far as the Cadillac ones go I have heard of problems with balancing. Did that ever get worked out?

 

I understand that you stated that but there's a reason why people are suggesting using the OEM calipers. For the uses that you outlined and for the majority of people, there is literally no reason to upgrade to larger calipers. I get your mentality of if you need to replace something might as well upgrade, but this is a case where it would be likely overkill for what you want to achieve.

 

In terms of the balancing issues with the Cadillac brakes, I remember reading that you can either use a brake proportioning valve to adjust some of the braking bias towards the rear to compensate for the larger front brakes or upgrade the rears with STI brembos. Then you're looking at a pretty big chunk of change though.

[apexi]

I almost wrote this reply earlier, but I didn't want to make the op mad since I don't know if it's helpful.

 

Basically, it looks like that machv/fastwrx kit uses calipers from the 06-07 WRX. Some people say it's not an upgrade, because you're going with smaller rotors.

 

A few threads on the subject

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/wrx-brakes-gt-info-pleasei-58835.html?t=58835&highlight

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/4-pot-2-pot-90267.html?t=90267&highlight

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/wrx-4-pot-lgti-127957.html

 

The only reason I wouldn't buy that kit is because I don't like that it uses different size rotors (also as the link notes, you'll need to use pads from an 06-07 WRX, not a big deal, but still different from oem). So if you ever sell the car, the future owner needs to be aware of that.

 

Ceramic pads will produce the least amount of dust, but they'll also be worse in colder weather. Some ceramic pads are better than others.

 

Lastly, I wonder if replacing your brake fluid will help with your pedal feel. Obviously that will get done when you replace the calipers.

[Holla]

I highly recommend the sti master cylinder/brake booster mod if you want a firmer pedal. You can pick up a used one for about $75.

 

 

Do you already own a set of wheels that will clear bigger calipers? A front a Brembo setup and a set of wheels to clear it will run you about 2k. If you want the rears too, it’s another 1k.

 

If I were in your position I’d do the sti mc/booster, rebuild your calipers and get some decent pads with blank rotors.

 

Personally, I run the sti mc/brake booster with front Brembos and oem lgt rears. I have no issues with the biasing and don’t have any plans to change it. I would love to do the rear Brembos but I’m having a tough time justifying another $1,000 for what’s essentially a cosmetic mod in my mind.

[Max Capacity]

I guess Rock Auto has good prices on rebuilt calipers.

 

Last Spring, I replace the calipers on both my cars with rebuilt's from my local NAPA store.

 

I like Hawk pads too, ceramic.

Best thing I've done for the brakes in years.

 

Easy job if you've maintained the brakes of the years.

 

There are post about DIY on this job.

[bergs]

You should rebuild the stock calip..........oh wait.

 

 

Perhaps the quality of the calipers you have purchased in the past are the culprits. I say this because I've owned three of the GT and a 2.5i and have yet to experience one caliper binding.

 

As has been stated, the stockers are pretty good.

[Lune]

apexi: I think that is the ones I linked in my original thread, right? I hear you on the "not an upgrade" bit but that isn't how surface area and pressure work. The only difference would be heat created which isn't a problem for me because I'm not tracking my car. As for selling the car... never. Seriously. I'm keeping this baby forever. ...or at least until my son wrecks it.

 

Holla: Noted. I may get to that eventually. I have stock 17" rims. Which from what I am reading will not fit the Cadillac brake kit. I don't want to get new rims either as I have 2 sets of tires for these rims.

 

Max Capacity: Yeah. Upon several suggestions I am going to check out Rock Auto. Maybe I can find a decent set of calipers there.

 

A friend of mine and I were talking and I'm thinking of just grabbing a decent set of aftermarket calipers and having them powder coated somewhere. ...just gotta find a place that does that. I could buy the paint and do it myself but I don't think I'll get the quality I'm looking for and don't trust myself as I have no experience doing that.

[Lune]

bergs: Hilarious. The calipers I have are stock. They are what actually came on the car. This is a second owner vehicle and I have all of the paperwork from work that had been done on the car by the previous owner. While some posters here think they are fine I have read other threads (like the Cadillac conversion thread) where people complain about the stock calipers as well. I can tell you from my personal experience that I dislike them. I admit, however, that Michigan is a pretty harsh state to drive year round in and that likely has done no favors to the calipers.

[Lune]

I looked at the Raybestos brakes on rockauto. They don't look very impressive. In fact, I looked through all the options on that site and wasn't really impressed. They look like smaller 2 pot brakes than what comes standard.

[Lune]

Hm. At the moment I am looking at this site:

https://parts.subarupacific.com/Subaru_2006_WRX-SEDAN-25L-TURBO-5MT-4WD/Suspension-and-Brakes.html

apexi had mentioned that he thinks the fastwrx kit uses brakes from the WRX of similar years. It doesn't look like that is the case. The calipers look different. The ones from my first link are 4 pot calipers. These are 2 pot. It is possible that they share the same pads though? Still, decent price, Subaru logo and powder coated. No idea on if they would fit correctly though.

[Lune]

After watching

it sounds like the CTS V brake swap can work on the stock 17s with some slight modification to the calipers. I'm thinking about possibly doing that now.

[Holla]

Those Wrx rims are 17x8 +53 compared to your 17x7 +55 lgt rims. You may not have enough clearance in the spokes with the lgt wheels. The only way to really find out is to test fit a set or find someone who already did the swap and see if you can get them to check the clearance for you.

 

The stock 04’ Sti rims are 17x7.5 +53 and clear Brembos. It’s not just about the sizing but also the design of the wheel.

[Waxiboy]

If you are on stock wheels, options are limited. I think the biggest you can fit are stock fronts and Tribeca rears.

[Lune]

Ah yeah... the inside of the wheel is different on the LGTs then. Piss. Ah well, that rules out that possibility then.

[Waxiboy]

rears http://www.racingbrake.com/LEGACY-GT-REAR-05-08-AND-OTHER-SUBARU-REAR-316X18-p/2060-k.htm

[Lune]

Waxiboy: Ok. What the actual **** is that? It is marketed as a big brake kit but uses the OEM calipers? The OEMs are 2 pot calipers. They are definitely NOT big brakes. That kit is just an extended bracket for putting larger rotors on.

It doesn't look better. The only painted part is the bracket, leaving you to paint the rest of it yourself if you want. Arguably the only reason to have big brakes on the rear is mostly for appearance anyway and that fails even at that.

It isn't going to help you stop better. It is using the same calipers and spreading your pressure out on a greater surface. The only thing it would help with mechanically is reducing heat.

I don't mean to be critical. Ok, I dunno. I guess I do. I don't get that product at all. It hits absolutely none of my bullet points. I honestly don't know who that product is for.

[Wasted Potential]

You can have the same caliper acting on a larger area... that is technically better and bigger...

 

Your logic is wrong also.. "same calipers and spreading your pressure out on a greater surface."

Pressure is force divided by area. So you're taking the same force over a larger area which is less pressure but has a higher capability to stop the vehicle as the force is not going to become more or less unless the pistons diameter or number changes internally.

 

You seem to poop on everyone's ideas pretty hard. I do not know how many OE calipers you went through. But any of the "not bank breaking" remans are going to be worse. If you're worried about taking them somewhere to have them properly powder coated and letting that being a deciding factor you better be ready to spend top dollar for this immense braking power you're looking for...

 

I'm not being critical here, just punctual.

[JF1GG29]

The Subaru 4pots are super heavy; don't get them.

 

Pick up some Brembo fronts off an STi, get them refurbished (new seals, pistons, etc.), have your rear calipers rebuilt and painted to match, and get a set of normal pads (I like Akebono proACT pads -- they wear well, don't dust a ton, have improved bite over OE, and are great for street driving).

 

Another option would be the ATS-V calipers -- you'll probably spend less overall, but there are a couple of things I'm not crazy about with that setup.