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I'm planning on upgrading the brakes on my 91 wagon and I was wondering if the calipers from the brand new WRX models will fit. The new subaru models have the cool red powder-coated calipers. They look a little larger than previous WRX front calipers.

What's the scoop?

You'll probably need calipers and rotors to fit. Unless you have rotors that match the new 2007 calipers already...

::EDIT:: Damn you spelling.

Manarius wrote:You'll probably need calibers and rotors to fit. Unless you have rotors that match the new 2007 calibers already...

Caliber? Isn't that a Dodge?

FWIW the 06+ WRXes have 17" wheels, so the new brakes probably won't fit under the 16" ones.

They will fit under 98-01 RS wheels, which are 16"

Aren't the 06+ WRX front brakes the 4-pots that have been around overseas for a long time? The rest of this post rests on that premise.

They'll fit 16" wheels as long as the wheels are wide enough. The wheels that came on 02-05 WRXes aren't, but others (like the ones on 2.5RSes) are. You have 02-05 WRX wheels, yes? So you'll need bigger wheels.

And as Manarius says, you need the bigger brake rotors used on 02-on WRXes.

You also need the correct pads for these brakes. I don't know if they're the same as any other model's.

So if you get wheels, rotors, and pads, you can use these calipers. Your car will likely stop much better.

You will also need the caliper brackets.

vrg3 wrote:Your car will likely stop much better.

this is a fallacy.

I thought the 4-pots didn't have separate brackets.

I'll yield to Scott's understanding of what affects brake efficacy.

The 4-pot fixed calipers do not have caliper brackets.

As for stopping better. The main thing the 4-pot fixed caliper provides is better brake feel, which inspires more braking confidence, as well as more evenly distributed brake force on the pads.

Those things will more then likely help the car stop better.

I was thinking of the increase in rotor diameter and thickness rather than the change in caliper type.

To get the rears to work takes a bit more work. Well, actually just a kartboy adapter, but they don't bolt on in any case. You could also have new backing plates pressed on.

There is no change in thickness of "4-pot" rotors. It's the same 24mm as the majority of front rotors.

As far as stopping better, depends on what is meant by better. If you mean shorter distances most likely not. There would be especially no difference between turbo fronts, overall a net waste of money.

I'd have to disagree with you hardy. The main reason is pad compound.

Most people that would be upgrading from stock turbo legacy brakes probably have an "OEMish" type brake pad, which more or less sucks.

If you're going to buy a set of 4-pots/2007 wrx brake setup, I would hope you use a good set of pads. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but even if....I would think OEM wrx pads are better then OEM turbo legacy pads.

Just to add to the brake pad discussion. I drove a friend's 2006 outback LL Bean, which have the massive front brakes. The brakes felt like poo and didn't stop too well when I got on them at about freeway speeds down to city road speeds. My car stops much quicker, and has much better brake feel.

So I definitely agree with you that bigger is not always better. As I mentioned above, the 4-pots will provide better pedal feel, and more even brake force distribution.

I still feel that if you had 4-pots & stock t-legacy calipers with the same pad compound, the 4-pots will stop in a shorter distance (probably not too much shorter though), and provide better pedal feel & braking confidence. Is that worth the money? To each is his own, and that's something anyone looking at this brake upgrade will have to decide.

You could upgrade brake pads on turbo brakes and still come out way ahead in the money department with similar performance, so that's not really a point to be made.

Also 05+ Outbacks only have 294x24mm rotors up front, and 274x10mm rotors in the rear. Nothing too massive, 02-05WRX size to be exact.

i also suggest starting w/better pads. if that doesnt do what you are looking for then check out swapping calipers.

of course that assumes you are looking to improve the performance.

if all you are going for is looks then go ahead and swap the new red brakes. i cant imagine they will hurt anything but your wallet when it comes to daily driving.

Putting the RB fourpots on has been one of the best things I've done so far. Compared to my '93 L single piston garbage that was on there.

Threshold braking while stopping hard is nice and precise (no abs). I can flirt with lockup from damn near any speed. It's fun to freak people out around town by waiting by waiting till 50ft before a stop sign. I smelled a little pad once when icame down from about 120 in a real hurry. The the hum from the slotted rotors is kinda neat.


If you can spring for it, I highly reccommend it.

Besides, they just look pretty
(when clean of course)

THAWA wrote:You could upgrade brake pads on turbo brakes and still come out way ahead in the money department with similar performance, so that's not really a point to be made.

Also 05+ Outbacks only have 294x24mm rotors up front, and 274x10mm rotors in the rear. Nothing too massive, 02-05WRX size to be exact.

As I said, to each is his own. It's only money, and also depends on what you're planning to do with the car.

Thanks for the correction on the rotor size. I checked the info I have. For some reason I thought the 3.0 liter outback had the larger brakes, but apparently only the GT models got them.

josh... your car prolly weighs less then your friends, if that matters at all about the feel of the braking power

Mostly I just like the look of the red caliper. That's all. But I've made the investment in the WRX wheels and I just put a new set of tires on them. When I can get a set of the wrx calipers from the silghtly older WRX models I will just go that route.

I'm excited to try this upgrade, seems like a very practical improvement.


Thanks for the info.

You can always paint other calipers. Honestly for everyday driving in a near stock car, turbo brakes with good pads and tires are the best you can do for the money. Putting WRX fronts on my wagon actually made emergency braking worse due to a distribution imbalance.

evolutionmovement wrote: Putting WRX fronts on my wagon actually made emergency braking worse due to a distribution imbalance.

Ditto....without doing anything in the rear to bring balance back to near stock f/r balance, you're hurting yourself under panic situations. Been there, done that, got in a small accident.