Cheaper/easier Brakes?

[Grayguy]

Well when I bought my 93' T-leg, the PO had taken the Rear Calipers. All the parts stores around here want between $500-600 for new Calipers, rotors, and pads on all 4 corners. Is there an OEM swap I can do that's cheaper than that? I think I read that the 2.5RS Brakes are the same, so maybe I can just try to get rear calipers from one of those?

[James614]

Why don't you just get re-furbed calipers? Mine were like 60 bucks each for the front I believe. No switcheroo wrong part junk either, I got the proper turbo ones.

[Buffman]

what I don't get is, they're made of cast iron, and nothing really special to them. yet remans cost $60-70 each with a $42 core. My Roadmaster has bigger calipers (cast iron) and they can be had from the same company (fenco) for $14 with a $10 core! Ohh well thank gosh I only had to buy one for the subie...

[Grayguy]

yeah, If I had the cores, they are about $60 a piece. but I don't have cores, and I need rotors/pads too, and if I'm doing all new rears, I should do all new fronts.

[jamal]

you can get stock used brakes for super cheap in the classifieds here and on other forums.

You car has vented rear 266x18mm rotors, something that's not on any other car in the US. You can exchange other rear brakes from most subarus, but most other subarus have solid 266x10mm rear discs.

Spending all that money on new stock parts is not a good idea when you can get better stuff for less. The 02+ WRX has bigger front rotors and you can get that stuff for good condition on the cheap. 06-07 WRX has the fixed opposed piston calipers and vented rear 290x18mm rear rotors.

All this stuff is listed in the sticky at the top of the section. Check it out along with the local classifieds section on nasioc.

[evolutionmovement]

Yeah, you should be able to get better brakes with cryo rotors (highly recommended) for that or cheaper.

[James614]

what I don't get is, they're made of cast iron, and nothing really special to them. yet remans cost $60-70 each with a $42 core. My Roadmaster has bigger calipers (cast iron) and they can be had from the same company (fenco) for $14 with a $10 core! Ohh well thank gosh I only had to buy one for the subie...

Supply and demand. Think about how many Roadmasters, Caprices, Fleetwoods, Parrisiennes, etc have been built (remember the Caprices were used extensively as taxis, rentals and police cars) vs. the 91-94 Turbo Legacy.

Cast iron vs. aluminum vs. magnesium vs. 24K gold has nothing to do with the cost of cleaning them and putting new seals around the pistons

[Buffman]

Supply and demand. Think about how many Roadmasters, Caprices, Fleetwoods, Parrisiennes, etc have been built (remember the Caprices were used extensively as taxis, rentals and police cars) vs. the 91-94 Turbo Legacy.

Cast iron vs. aluminum vs. magnesium vs. 24K gold has nothing to do with the cost of cleaning them and putting new seals around the pistons

I wasn't refering necessarily to the TLegacy, as mine is N/A. I don't have production numbers, but I'd imagine they're are a lot of subies running around too. Especially since just like my RMS various years of subie brakes on certain models are the same...

[James614]

Even with the standard Legacy, still a much lower total volume than the full-size GM cars.

[evolutionmovement]

Total Subaru sales/year were well under 200k (at the end of the nineties, prior to their ill-advised upmarket push, 280k was a goal). I'd bet more of the Chevy version was built every year than total Subarus.

[Buffman]

interesting I would have figured with as many subies as I see around here (pre 00s) that they weren't that hard to come by.

[evolutionmovement]

It wasn't until the WRX that they really started to sell outside the snow belt and prior to the Outback were the rare choice, only really selling to loyalists who appreciated their toughness, torque, and superior AWD. Along with Saab, Subaru used to have one of the smartest and most educated demographics in the industry, which also ruled out some areas of the country.