2010 WRX STI Brembos

[Scubaboo]

Will these work on a 2010 Legacy?

 

Just kidding guys, I did search and thanks to you all I know the calipers will bolt on and the rotors will work including the ebrake, except I need the rotors to be 5x100.

 

I was able to score a low mileage caliper/rotor/dust shield 2010 STI Brembo set, and I would like to redrill the rotors as they have a lot of life in them.

 

Anyome do this before? I would appreciate any tips and pointers.

 

Oh, and will the dust shields fit? Seller included them and so thinking of putting them on.

 

ETA- I got them on, NOW A REVIEW!

Edited June 12, 2018 by Scubaboo
New info

[GTEASER]

My recollection is that the front dust shield need minor modification to fit.

 

The rears....dont bother. It's a huge task to swap shields because of the parking brake assembly. Just do the mod to remove the outer portion of the rear dust shields and you're good to go.

[Scubaboo]

Thanks GTEASER! I'll try to fit the front shields, thanks for the info on the rear.

[Scubaboo]

Ok, now I haz Brembo!

 

 

 

I went to a friend's shop to borrow a 5x100/114 rotor to use as a guide to redrill the 5x114 OE rotors that came with my set.

 

My other friend found out and told me a friend of his got Brembos adapted to a BRZ so his set has 5x100s. So we traded rotors!

 

We did the install and here are some initial observations...

 

 

 

 

-Front Brembos bolt right on.

 

-Mount them right, bleeders on top!

 

-Stock dust shields work fine, we left them in place with no mods. The lip doesnt reach the ends of the bigger Brembo rotor but they dont hit anything. (I have a GT, same brakes as a 3.6 IIRC, 2.5i guys have smaller rotors so you may need to mod the dust shield).

 

-Stock brake lines fit the Brembo calipers.

 

-As mentioned in many threads, make sure your calipers come with mounting bolts as the stock caliper bolts have a different thread pitch and wont work with Brembos.

 

 

 

 

 

-Rear Brembos also bolt right on.

 

-Make sure you have the Brembo caliper mounting bolts, as the stock caliper mounting bolts have a different thread pitch than the Brembo caliper.

 

-Bleeders pointing up is the way to mount them.

 

-The dust shields are in the way and there are a couple of ways around this:

 

 

*Remove the stock dust shield and replace with the proper STI-sized dust shields, which is a pain as you need to remove the hub.

 

*Remove the stock dust shield altogether by cutting the rivet points then cutting the shield so you can remove it without removing the hub.

 

*Modding the shield by bending the protruding portions back. Difficult as the shield contacts both the caliper and the rotor so that a lot of bending! Looks ghetto too, IMO.

 

*Cutting just the portions that hit the rotor and the calipers, which is the lip of the dust shield and a small area of the shield near the calipers.

 

 

I chose the last option because replacing the shields was too much work for me and cutting left an acceptable portion of the shield for protection of the rotors.

 

We used an angle grinder with a cutting disc to trim the shields and smoothed down the edges and painted it with some high temp black paint.

 

-Stock brake lines bolt right on.

 

-08+ STI dual pattern rotors fit with no mods needed.

[FearlessLegacyGT]

Definitely wouldn’t mind doing the sti swap on my 10 lgt but the cost of calipers are insane. I’m going the cts-v brembo swap for the fronts, the swap totals about 600 +- depending on different variations of rotors, pads etc

[GTEASER]

Definitely wouldn’t mind doing the sti swap on my 10 lgt but the cost of calipers are insane. I’m going the cts-v brembo swap for the fronts, the swap totals about 600 +- depending on different variations of rotors, pads etc

 

Making something fit is NEVER as good as something that is made to fit. What's the old adage about saving a dime on something cheap costs you a dollar later?

[mcg_]

Relevant (IMO, favorite post of mine).

 

 

FWIW, I have been pursuing a Brembo upgrade for a few months now, have made plenty of mistakes, and intend to share write-up will upon completion. That being said, here is my advice.

 

Unless you are buying new Brembos, rockauto.com sells the cheapest, most complete (but refurbished) Brembos around (new pads, new seals, new hardware, new paint, etc.). It is very, very, frick'n very unlikely that you'll be able to buy a used pair of Brembos--let alone refurbish a used pair--for less than what you pay at rockauto. The only issue is availability of rockauto.com, but if you diligently search the part numbers every day, I suspect you can get a complete set in less than a month. The part numbers are as follows:

Fronts (each is about $244): 14247040, 14247039

Rears (08+) (each is about $217): 14247532, 14247531

Rears (07-) (each is about $182): 14247517, 14247518 (these require adapter brackets from KNS - $250 for both)

 

In other words, for roughly $900, you can get a complete set of refurb'd Brembos, and the only thing you need after that is rotors ($400 or so).....

 

EDIT: It has been brought to my attention my reputable folks on the forum that the "Brembos" sold on rockauto.com may not be genuine Brembos.

 

Or, you can choose the route I chose along with a seemingly endless line of ignorant Subaru owners, which is as follows:

(1) Scour NASIOC, craigslist, etc. for a "good" deal of used Brembos (I paid $800 but they came with rotors, pads, and older WRX adapter brackes I could sell -- what a deal! note the sarcasm).

(2) Tear apart the Brembos (because you/I don't trust the seller--because why would you trust anybody who is selling Brembos out of a trunk in a parking lot), strip the paint of the Brembos.

(3) Spend hours scouring the internet for the cheapest, reliable rebuild parts/kits such as, e.g., bleeders, bleeder caps, seals, boots, crossover O-rings, etc. (at least $100 when everything is said and done -- BTW, rockauto.com has the cheapest parts by-far)

(3.5) Endlessly debate and shop around for wheels spacers, new rims, new tires, etc. FWIW, it is pretty easy to find cheap WRX rims that'll fit Brembos with a 3mm spacer (which probably don't need new studs)

(4) Find a competent powdercoater, and get brakes coated ($150).

(5) Realize that you might as well buy new front rotors since you need to buy new rear rotors to fit over the parking brake ($400), buy new pads because you need new pads for your new rotors (at least $100).

(6) Buy SS brake lines because you're already losing your ass (the Mach V ones are hella-nice - $120).

(7) Realize that the rotors are hardly bigger than the stock LGT rotors and cry yourself to sleep at night.

(8) Show off your sweet blue Brembos at subie meets, drink booze with others who followed your same Brembo path, share each other's pain....

(9) Justify the madness by telling others that "you always wanted to learn exactly how brakes work."

(10) Go back to step (7).

[Scubaboo]

^ The above is a valid view, and one that weighed heavily in my conclusion to get Brembos mostly for looks. But after I got them on and tried them, my view evolved.

 

There was an instant very noticeable difference going from stock sliding calipers to Brembos. Smooth, linear, excelent modulation. I thought they engaged later and deeper at first, but I realized they just engaged so subtly that it felt I had to press longer to stop. They are a joy to use IMO.

 

People say this is a mod that is really for better feel, and if you had to sum it up in a word, you could say that. But "feel" is too simple a word to really capture the difference.

 

For me an analogy to it is telling time with an analog quartz clock and an expensive precision mechanical watch. Both will tell you the time just as well in day to day normal use.

 

But one does it with much more precision, with a smooth sweep of the second hand vs the coarse ticking of the quartz movement. That is how different in smootheness, modulation, and linearity the Brembos have vs stock. The perfectly powerful stock setup is abrupt and non-linear in comparison.

 

Again day to day they both keep time ultimately as well. But if you need to time things more precisely you go to the more precise instrument. If you use the car for more than a commute, like certain forms of racing, you can truly benefit from the precision these brakes have. I can imagine a racer can make a car dance with these brakes.

 

But if you wont be racing, why bother with Brembos? Because if you can afford it, why not? Heck, we are all speed limited on the street, why bother with a modded turbocharged car?

 

I dont see these Brembos as simple functional bling anymore, I think they are a functional mod that really contribute to the character of the car, that also look beautiful. I am really happy I got them.

[Scubaboo]

...now if you'll excuse me, I just need to finish my beer and then I'm off to a subie meet to show these off.

[mcg_]

...now if you'll excuse me, I just need to finish my beer and then I'm off to a subie meet to show these off.

 

 

Don't get me wrong, I love mine for all the reasons you listed!

[Scubaboo]

Don't get me wrong, I love mine for all the reasons you listed!

 

No worries, I could see you like them.

 

You were spot on putting together a proper Brembo setup, I went back to that post a lot over the past few months. Lots of good info in that. I did check Rockauto from time to time for calipers thanks to your tip lol!

 

I'll add that the pads and rotors are pretty cheap there too. I was pricing parts individually to crunch numbers and they have some of the best prices I've seen.

 

Getting them shipped around the world to me was a killer though.

[Scubaboo]

Pics:

 

Marking bolt circle on the hubs as part of layouting before drilling:

 

Fronts done:

 

Rear drilled:

 

Rears installed:

 

Fronts being installed:

[Scubaboo]

Found some more pics of the install.

 

I had these fitted with a friend's BRZ rotors while mine hadnt been drilled out to 5x100 yet. These are Glanz slotted rotors.

 

Fronts fit fine, he had early STI rotors for the rears and the ebrake hub is too deep and the rotors were offset from the caliper. We used a 4mm spacer to fit.

 

Calipers before install

 

Cutting the lip of the rear dust shields lol

 

Material removed from stock rear dust shields

 

Cut, edges painted, ready to install brakes

 

Calipers were hitting dust shields so we had to trim a bit more near the mounting ears

 

Rears on! These are gdb rotors with spacers

 

All on!

 

Getting ready to bleed

[Scubaboo]

Oh, and if you are installing 08-up rotors, dont forget the plugs to cover the access holes, for the ebrake mechanism I think. $2 each at the local dealer, you will need 1 per rear rotor.

 

The big hole near the edge of the hub

 

Edited June 17, 2018 by Scubaboo

[foxrider28]

I like how you got the full face on but are wearing flip flops. [emoji23]

[Scubaboo]

Yeah that guy at the shop cracked me up, he started cutting without eye pro then got something in his eye.

 

He said #&$^ it and grabbed his motorcycle helmet and finished it.

[JDMBR9]

what spacer did you use for the rear disc?

[Scubaboo]

For the rear rotors:

 

If you are using pre-2008 spec rotors, you will need 4mm spacers.

 

If you are using 2008-up spec rotors, no spacers needed.