2nd-Gen LGT Brake Upgrades: WRX front and H6 Rear

ohhhhh

youuuuu!

my right rear pads just started the death squeal, my shits falling apart

Possible you can just chamfer the pads to get rid of the squeel, unless the pads are below 3mm.

In my excitement I bought the rears instead of the fronts. Oh well, lol. Now I'll have them for later.

Let me know if you need rear knuckles for disk brake setup. I am installing wrx knuckles in the rear so my 97 OB knuckles will be up for sale soon.

Possible you can just chamfer the pads to get rid of the squeel, unless the pads are below 3mm.

where on the pad would i do that?

Yeah that would be great, let me know when you have them off. Is there really any difference between the WRX and OB knuckles?

The WRX knuckles bold right up, the only difference is the rear of the knuckle where the axle slips in. The WRX axle has a different shape to it and will only slide into a WRX knuckle. The Legacy axle wont fit properly inside the WRX knuckle. I will post up some photos in another thread explaining the difference.

where on the pad would i do that?

Do you ever notice on new brake pads how they have the leading edge that is angled down. That leading edge is called a chamfer, and that allows the pad to reduce grabbing and squeeking. So basically you can use sand paper to make the leading edge chamfered again. If you google how to chamfer brake pads im sure you will find a tutorial somewhere about it. It is very easy.

Also why you are at it, you can remove the backing plates on the brake pads and apply some brake quiet lube and put the plates back on. When chamfering the pads you can also use a flat surface to sand the face of the pads to to remove any glazing or uneven brake wear to get a solid flat pad against the rotor surface.

Yeah Portland has seen a few nice days so far this spring, but it's been a little slow to really warm up. Oh well, it's only March! Once it gets really nice I'll be painting the JDM bumpers, folding mirrors, spats, and the flush door trims I just got the other day. Some of these parts I've had sitting around for two years, can't wait to be done.

 

You'll have to give us details on your OB project!

Since you have JDM bumpers, are you looking to get rid of the the US LGT bumpers? I am looking for some for the OB.

Since you have JDM bumpers, are you looking to get rid of the the US LGT bumpers? I am looking for some for the OB.

My plan is to keep the USDM bumpers and put them back on the car for winter mode. The JDM bumper beam is so flimsy it is a joke, so I'd like to have some extra impact protection on the car for the cold season.

I think you can still get brand new bumper covers from the dealer for surprisingly little money (unpainted, though). The impact beam is the expensive part.

Sounds like a good plan, and I will keep looking around and figure out what I would like to do. There is much to be done yet. Working on that elaborated brake upgrade post yet?

I am actually trying to figure out the suspension upgrade path I'd like to take. I sort of unintentionally threadjacked this suspension discussion. But I think my favored option is Koni inserts on WRX Wagon strut housings with Ground Control coilover conversion. Lowered 1" below stock in summer mode, raised 0.5" in winter mode. Appropriate alignments for each.

Ive been reading up on your JDM headlight install on SLi. I will finally do mine correctly since I just got the pieces that were missing from my headlights when I bought them.

What was missing? Pigtail plugs? Backside covers?

The backside covers and headlight wire harness was missing. So I have all those pieces coming from Japan.

You know about these, right?:

http://sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=25573

Looking at the rockauto catalog, it would seem that Remy makes a 4-pot caliper for the EU market at about half the cost of the black/red subaru logo calipers. $123.79 per caliper. I found this under 2003 WRX.

REMY Part # DC82882

REMY Part # DC82883

I'll wait here while someone buys them to see if they fit

Bump

Well here we are a few years down the line and it's finally time for me to change pads on my WRX Front/H6 Rear brake setup. It's got me thinking about doing a few other things that I never got around to as well.

- Master Cylinder Brace

- Brembo Ceramic Pads

- ATE Super Blue is no longer sold by my FLAPS but there are some new performance fluid options

- I plan to remove the cheap remanufactured calipers that constantly drag ever-so-slightly and appeared rusty shortly after installation, and change to Genuine OEM units that I paint and rebuild myself. Or, I could at least get remanufactured units that come already powdercoated (such as Power Stop brand: http://a.co/an0CYSe)

- I also plan to change the rear caliper style from 2000-2004 Legacy "H6" that I have now to 1993-2007 Impreza/2002-2005 WRX Calipers + "H6" rear caliper bracket in order to fit my existing 290x10mm EBC Slotted/Dimpled rear rotors. The "H6" Legacy calipers that I have now are not notched properly for the brake line hard fitting, but '93-'07 Impreza/'02-'05 WRX calipers on H6 brackets should allow the brake line to fit in their notch.

- I'm also investigating whether to ditch the H6 setup and upgrade to 2005-2009 Legacy GT 290x18mm Vented Rear rotors and matching 1-piston calipers. According to brakemath.xls, the '05-'09 1-pot rear pistons at 38.1mm are the same size as '00-'04 1-pot rear pistons that I have now. I think my 16x6.5 Factory Snowflake wheels may fit over this setup but I doubt that my space-saver donut spare tire would. If I can fit a 2005 Legacy GT space saver spare in my spare tire compartment I would seriously consider this rear setup. That also means adding the cost of a new pair of EBC 290x18mm Sport Vented Rear Rotors to the tally.

*As cool as it would be, The 4-Pot/2-Pot caliper upgrade is not an option as my factory Snowflake wheels will not fit over them.

I had single piston front brakes and rear disc on my 98 legacy when I got the car. God those brakes were garbage.

First, I did outback front calipers and all newpads/rotors all around with autozone stuff. My pass rear caliper froze, so I replaced it.

Fast forward a year, and my drivers rear caliper froze, and my front rotors were shot.

I decided to get stainless steel brake lines, master cylinder brace, new drivers rear caliper, hawk HPS pads, and wagner painted blank rotors all around.

The car feels 1000000000x better braking now. I can probably say it is the Hawk HPS pads, and I feel confident with it now.

Makes me think how the WRX/H6 setup would feel. I think the big pain point is pad material and MC brace.

Question is, do you REALLY need that big of a brake in the rear?

I had single piston front brakes and rear disc on my 98 legacy when I got the car. God those brakes were garbage.

 

First, I did outback front calipers and all newpads/rotors all around with autozone stuff. My pass rear caliper froze, so I replaced it.

 

Fast forward a year, and my drivers rear caliper froze, and my front rotors were shot.

 

I decided to get stainless steel brake lines, master cylinder brace, new drivers rear caliper, hawk HPS pads, and wagner painted blank rotors all around.

 

The car feels 1000000000x better braking now. I can probably say it is the Hawk HPS pads, and I feel confident with it now.

 

Makes me think how the WRX/H6 setup would feel. I think the big pain point is pad material and MC brace.

 

Question is, do you REALLY need that big of a brake in the rear?

I also have a '98 Legacy L with single piston calipers all around. Were there any modifications to fitting the dual piston front calipers (do the dual piston brackets bolt up the same way)? I assume you replaced the rotors with ones made for the dual piston calipers as well. If I do this conversion, I'm thinking the current 14" wheels won't have enough clearance, but I have a set of 16" GT snowflakes that will go on it at some point.

I also have a '98 Legacy L with single piston calipers all around. Were there any modifications to fitting the dual piston front calipers (do the dual piston brackets bolt up the same way)? I assume you replaced the rotors with ones made for the dual piston calipers as well. If I do this conversion, I'm thinking the current 14" wheels won't have enough clearance, but I have a set of 16" GT snowflakes that will go on it at some point.

You should have no trouble swapping to 2-piston front calipers so long as you have their matching caliper brackets, correct sized rotor, and large enough wheels:

To start, you can put almost any set of Subaru brakes on any other Subaru. If you want WRX brakes on your L or something you pretty much just have to buy some and bolt them on. There are some exceptions, however, mostly relating to the rear, which are explained later on.

Well, silly me.

I thought I had done my research. I assumed there were "pre-2003" dual-piston front calipers, and "post-2003" dual piston front calipers... same size pistons, just a different shape housing, bracket, and pad. The brackets, like the calipers, are also divided this way, so they must change in sets with the proper calipers. It seemed to me that the 03+ caliper was the way to go... I figured I'd make my car essentially have the exact same brake setup as a 2004 Legacy GT.

I found someone parting out a 2007 Impreza Wagon. Perfect! Right? So I bought all four calipers for $100, to clean, paint and rebuild with all new seals. I've had the calipers for a week, and I finally realized that these pistons are not 1.685"/42.8mm. They are obviously larger:

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=265010&stc=1&d=1525999463

Not sure what to make of this as I kept reading that "You can put any Subaru brakes on any other Subaru". I was not expecting a change in piston size and I think this has something to do with a change beginning with Model Year 2007 Subaru vehicles. I don't think this particular caliper swap is a good idea because the change in piston size will almost certainly change my brake bias in an undesirable fashion. The rear caliper pistons appear to be the same size as earlier versions.