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Which brand of brakes are the best bang for the buck?


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2015 premium 2.5

70,000 miles original brakes are finally close to worn out.

 

Which brand of brakes(rotors and pads) is everyone happy with?

Which to avoid?

 

Considering going with oem Subaru but they are pricey. About $350-400 for front and back rotors and pads

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I've been happy with Centric Premium or Raybestos RPT/Element 3 rotors (same basic design, name depends on old or new stock). My go to pads are PosiQuiet ceramics, although I'm currently running Raybestos EHT/Element 3 hybrid pads. Little dustier than the Posi, can't say I notice a performance difference.
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Subaru OEM pads are semi-metallic. Not worth what they are asking. I think the OEM rotors are too thin and cheap. Power stop has a great packaged for slotted with Ceramic pads. And add a couple hundred onto your original quotes 350-400 if they are doing the labor.
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Depending on where you live, they have elemental coated rotors which help against corrosion in the winter. Had Centric GCX rotors on my old Impreza and they were really good, easy to bed in pads as well.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I replaced mine @ 100k and used the Advance Auto Parts Wearever Platnum:

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/carquest-wearever-platinum-professional-ceramic-brake-pads-front-4-pad-set-pxd1089h/10143723-P

 

My break use is different than most.

I drive 50k per year, 95% highway, so not much heavy breaking.

Still happy with the Wearever Platnums.

Good bang for the buck for me.

Be ready to deal with the rear e-brakes.

 

There is at least one other thread discussing brake pads you can read through:

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/brake-pads-rotors-241413.html?t=241413&highlight=break+pad

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Subaru OEM pads are semi-metallic.

Source? I believe the OE pads are actually ceramic, but I may be wrong. These days, brake pad formulations are a black art (see attachment).

 

I think the OEM rotors are too thin ...
Huh? I think you would find "thicker" rotors problematic when paired with OE calipers and pads.

Wagner_Brake_Pad_Formula.gif.f27c1f3fa4694c0b81c0ee859e274625.gif

Edited by ammcinnis

"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." ~ The Cheshire Cat (Alice in Wonderland)

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I replaced mine @ 100k and used the Advance Auto Parts Wearever Platnum:

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/carquest-wearever-platinum-professional-ceramic-brake-pads-front-4-pad-set-pxd1089h/10143723-P

 

My break use is different than most.

I drive 50k per year, 95% highway, so not much heavy breaking.

Still happy with the Wearever Platnums.

Good bang for the buck for me.

Be ready to deal with the rear e-brakes.

 

There is at least one other thread discussing brake pads you can read through:

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/brake-pads-rotors-241413.html?t=241413&highlight=break+pad

 

WOW! I'm at 75k and three years old and thought I drove a lot....Still on original brake pads and rotors.....

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For most folks, there is really no benefit to slotted or drilled rotors (other than aesthetics) - if you drive like a normal sort of person, there is nothing wrong with OEM - do you need rotors all the way around? For me, I had plenty of life left on both, but the fronts were causing a lot of pulsation, so I replaced them. If you can find an online place doing a deal on shipping, you can save a bit more (I did that when subaru parts warehouse was having one of their 9.99 shipping sales)

 

Cost-wise, it's hard to beat rockauto - you can get a powerstop kit with coated rotors and pads (all 4 corners) for $200 plus $30 in shipping...

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I haven't used EBC in years but the reds were track use. I had the greens and didn't like them one bit. Their rotors made a horrible sprinkler noise on all braking applications.

 

I get a little bit of rotor noise on hard braking with the Powerstops but that's to be expected. Normal braking is smooth and quiet with a firm brake pedal, no fading. I'd prefer a little less brake dust from the Akebonos but they bite well so I can't complain.

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redstuff is the low-dust ceramic sport/street pad, yellowstuff is their light track pad, bluestuff and orangestuff are the track focused pads. I used redstuff ceramic on my old WRX and had mixed results - braking was good, but longevity wasn't so great for the first set (I bedded them a more traditional way rather than letting their bedding layer do the work - much better results when I actually followed instructions!)
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  • 2 weeks later...

I am using hawk 5.0s in the front. I feel it has better stopping better than oem pads, but more brake dust is produced. I might want to try something else next tine around. And im thinking about upgradong rotors, just cuz.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
Source? I believe the OE pads are actually ceramic, but I may be wrong. These days, brake pad formulations are a black art (see attachment).

 

Huh? I think you would find "thicker" rotors problematic when paired with OE calipers and pads.

 

 

Subaru OEM Pads are indeed ceramic...

 

 

WOW! I'm at 75k and three years old and thought I drove a lot....Still on original brake pads and rotors.....

 

 

on my 14, i had to do my front brakes at 62K due to a caliper slide pin jamming in the bracket on the driver side.. the pads on the passenger side were not even half done so they should have lasted well past 120K.. from what I can gather, Subaru have issues with the front pins seizing up.. I had to replace my front brackets at 140K on my 2003 legacy becuase 3 of the 4 pins were jammed up in there pretty good

Edited by YeuEmMaiMai
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