Rear Brembo Brake Upgrade

Bored at work and wanted to get a few opinions on which way is the better route to convert the rears to Brembo's. Below is what I've narrowed it down too and I do not want to have to use custom rotors. I'm leaning towards the aftermarket approach for availability and apparent lower cost but still wanted to get some feedback.

1. Aftermarket Route - Price ~$400

- Brembo caliper bracket adapters (i.e. torque solutions, kart boy, etc.) ~$175-~$200

- Parking Brake Adapter Shoes - ~$200 (Flatirons Tuning)

or

2. JDM/OEM Route - Price ~$400-~600

- Source a set of tbSTI rear brake backing plates which eliminates the need for both of the adapters in option 1.

- Price and availability are both variable, currently one set for sale on Japan auctions for ~$500 before shipping.

From what I can tell there is still no straight forward way to get +08 rear Brembo's to work without a custom caliper bracket. So any one have a lead on a set of 04-07 rear Brembo's for sale?

From what I can tell there is still no straight forward way to get +08 rear Brembo's to work without a custom caliper bracket. So any one have a lead on a set of 04-07 rear Brembo's for sale?

I got a set of 19MY green/yellow STI calipers, which as far as I can tell are identical to 08+ black calipers. These bolted right up to the LGT backing plate, but were far too narrow to use a STI rotor/190mm hat and the back spacing was all wrong. I think all you would need for this is a custom rotor with a 170mm hat and it would work.

What is the reasoning on not wanting to use the custom rotors? Overall, it is cheaper. The custom rotors and custom parking brake shoes are both about $200 but if you go the shoe route you still need some 5x100 rear sti rotors.

If you go option #2, do you still need to trim the trailing arm?

I went option #1. The KNS adapter bracket works well, only downside is having to trim the trailing arm. I currently have the 5x100 sti rotors and the lgt parking brake shoes. My parking brake does not work, no matter how far you adjust it out. This was an oversight on my end, I bought the setup used. Even though I already have 5x100 sti rotors, I still plan on buying the custom rotors instead of the bigger parking shoes.

The other downside is the oem brake lines are too long with the Brembo's. The angle is different on the Brembo's, causing the oem brake line to be a couple of inches too long. I currently have the slack ziptied to the trailing arm, which I don't like, but at least it keeps it away from the axle boot.

I dragged my feet a long time to do the rear setup, I had run the fronts for a few years before. I can't say the rear setup is a good bang for the buck mod. I'll have $1,000 into this rear setup and I can't say I notice any difference between the lgt rear brakes and the Brembo's. For my 100% street car, its mostly an expensive cosmetic mod that no one probably notices but at the same time this was the last piece of the puzzle of my car being 'complete.' It's been frustrating though, I have too much time and money tied up into this and it's still not 100%. This also doesn't take into account the two sets of wheels I bought to clear the brakes. In retrospect, I should have kept the LGT brakes and just swapped to the STI booster/MC and called it a day. Sorry, just venting, probably not the answer you're looking for but maybe it will help someone in the future who's thinking about a Brembo swap.

Anyway, does anyone know of any rear brake lines available for the rear Brembo's that are shorter and work on a LGT?

 

Anyway, does anyone know of any rear brake lines available for the rear Brembo's that are shorter and work on a LGT?

Check out brakeswap.com. The product page page won't load for me right now, but I have a set of their LGT lines w/ rear Brembo option and they work great.

 

With that being said, when they do get here I am thinking of having them 3D copied and getting a few sets made if the cost can stay between 200 - 300. I already have a few local guys interested in them. My other thought was trying to find what other car(s) they are used on because I find it very hard to believe these were just one of sets that were made specifically for TBSTI with no bin/part number.

 

So best case is the ebrake cable & shoes are identical, meaning we can re-use our LGT rear rotors & associated parts. Taking the price of the rear brembo swap from 500 to about 200-300. Kind of depends on how quickly you were trying to put on rear brembos though as this is probably a couple months away from the first copy being made.

That's what seems weird to me, I've been trying to find the parts info and if it was used for other models as well. It makes zero sense to me Subaru used a one-off part for the tbSTI. I'm not in a rush to get this done, just in the initial planning/budgeting stage and still have other projects I need to finish up first.

I got a set of 19MY green/yellow STI calipers, which as far as I can tell are identical to 08+ black calipers. These bolted right up to the LGT backing plate, but were far too narrow to use a STI rotor/190mm hat and the back spacing was all wrong. I think all you would need for this is a custom rotor with a 170mm hat and it would work.

Would be nice if 08+ calipers would work. The reportedly larger piston size would be a nice bonus if could be worked out for fairly the same cost as upgrading to 04-07 versions.

What is the reasoning on not wanting to use the custom rotors? Overall, it is cheaper. The custom rotors and custom parking brake shoes are both about $200 but if you go the shoe route you still need some 5x100 rear sti rotors.

 

If you go option #2, do you still need to trim the trailing arm?

 

I went option #1. The KNS adapter bracket works well, only downside is having to trim the trailing arm. I currently have the 5x100 sti rotors and the lgt parking brake shoes. My parking brake does not work, no matter how far you adjust it out. This was an oversight on my end, I bought the setup used. Even though I already have 5x100 sti rotors, I still plan on buying the custom rotors instead of the bigger parking shoes.

 

The other downside is the oem brake lines are too long with the Brembo's. The angle is different on the Brembo's, causing the oem brake line to be a couple of inches too long. I currently have the slack ziptied to the trailing arm, which I don't like, but at least it keeps it away from the axle boot.

 

I dragged my feet a long time to do the rear setup, I had run the fronts for a few years before. I can't say the rear setup is a good bang for the buck mod. I'll have $1,000 into this rear setup and I can't say I notice any difference between the lgt rear brakes and the Brembo's. For my 100% street car, its mostly an expensive cosmetic mod that no one probably notices but at the same time this was the last piece of the puzzle of my car being 'complete.' It's been frustrating though, I have too much time and money tied up into this and it's still not 100%. This also doesn't take into account the two sets of wheels I bought to clear the brakes. In retrospect, I should have kept the LGT brakes and just swapped to the STI booster/MC and called it a day. Sorry, just venting, probably not the answer you're looking for but maybe it will help someone in the future who's thinking about a Brembo swap.

 

Anyway, does anyone know of any rear brake lines available for the rear Brembo's that are shorter and work on a LGT?

Not looking for answers, just opinions and feedback. I've started the process of gathering parts (STI MC/Booster & SS lines). Just don't want to deal with custom rotors if they ever need replaced for whatever reason in the distant future. Whenever this project starts the rear trailing arms are getting swapped out for specB aluminum and not sure if they would need to be shaved or not with the tbSTI rear backing plate. My guess is they use the same trailing arm. Like awfulwaffle said, check out brakeswap.com and they have a SS kit that is designed specifically for the Legacy with rear Brembo's.

Appreciate everyone's input. Really need to find some decent rear calipers before diving in further with this.

The gold 04-07 setup used to be pretty plentiful, but they seem to be more rare these days and clean sets are commanding a premium. I was able to find a nice set of gold rears on Nasioc last year for $500 shipped. Just looking through Ebay and Nasioc now though, nothing is jumping out at me. Helicoiling the mounting holes isn't a big deal but make sure that the bleeder threads are good.

The brakeswap.com page isn't loading for me either, but I'll keep an eye on it, thanks!

The rears by themselves seem to be commanding a premium. Most I find are in the $500 range but I see full F/R sets pop up from time to time for $800-900.

My issue is I need to find decent rears by themselves since I'm going the 6 pot route on the fronts. Not trying to buy a full set and then re-sell the fronts.

Oh yeah, they'll be getting rebuilt regardless of the shape they're in since I'll be re-coating all 4 to a red color.

Bleeders not working properly or in need of repair is about the only red flag for a set in rougher shape.

Let me throw out a diffrent option: 06-07 WRX 2-pots for the rear. They have more torque than brenbos, and can be used with the OEM rear rotor/parking break. You can get remanufactured ones for ~$100 each, adapter brackets for $200 (same as pre-08 rear bremos) and just paint them gold to match your fronts.

This is the setup I've been runnign the last three years (Brembo 4-pots in the front, WRX 2-pots rear) and I'be been extreamly happy with it.