Help with brakes

[Richard]

Okay, so my rears are shot. I mean warped really, really bad. Or possibly, seeing how nobody before me probably ever greased the caliper pins, the rear calipers could be siezed. Either way, I can't drive it. Haven't driven it since June. It's been on blocks ever since. I want my damn car back!!!

I want to upgrade the brakes, more or less. I want to stop the car really well and not warp the brakes so easily. My fronts should still be okay, they're the ones from my last roo. I swapped the calipers and rotors last year and threw on a set of new pads. Nothing fancy, just godderdun. I was pondering what to do with the rear rotors. I've done numerous searches online and all I can find are "Aftermarket", Brembo, DBA, EBC, Powerslot, and Powerstop discs. The listings are kinda crappy, most don't list the turbo model explicitly, just general 1990 to 1997 Legacy.

I really like the powerslots because they're slotted and cryo'd, but they're only for the fronts. The DBA 4000 series look pretty hot, but they're not cheap. That, and I'm not sure if they're for the turbo model. I'd like to buy something matching that I can get for the fronts either now or in the near future. I'd like to do the whole car at once if possible. I'm also keen on more aggressive looking brakes, ie dimpled, slotted, cross drilled, etc. I want these suckers to perform and take the beating I give them. Brake bling is good too.

I'm going to go with EBC redstuff pads on all corners, as well as stainless steel lines. I'll probably get some high performance brake fluid too. (Where can I get that stuff???) Okay, I know they're just rears, but I don't want to have all the goods up front. I'd like things to be well balanced, performance and looks wise. The front rotors are rusty as hell now too, so I might as well do them too while I'm at it.

I know, I could search all the posts and take in all the information, but everytime I try I get SOOOO sidetracked with everything else in here and I work WAY too many hours to sink massive amounts of time into looking up brakes. That, and I am a lazy schmuck.

Does anyone have a good brand/setup in mind? Does anyone know a good site to order from that will sell me bonafide turbo brake parts? I can get the pads from the same place or anywhere else that sells them. I can get the rear calipers locally if I need them. Or is there an awesome swap that can be easily done? I could really use the help y'all. Someone's got to have a good idea of what to do. It's rediculous to have the roo blocked up for over two months just because of the rear brakes. And the Foxbox isn't cutting it anymore, even though I've got shifting without a clutch downpat (up and down). A tank of gas every two weeks isn't something to whine about though.

PLEASE? ANYONE? THANKS!!!

[Legacy777]

Get OEM rotors & cryo-treat them.

Bed the brakes properly, and you should not have any more problems.

[scottzg]

oem turbo rotors. Don't worry about the rust too much, it will be gone in 3 stops. Bling is just that; bling.

[Richard]

There's nobody near me that does cryo treating. I could get them heat treated all day, but even the people I called said they didn't know where to do any cryo treating within the state, much less driving range.

Bling is bling. It looks nice. That's why a lot of people (including myself) decide to paint their calipers. Nothing says half-assed like a shiny set of rims with blobs of rust in the background. That, and the fronts are so rusted that there's pitting going on, not just a little surface rust. I don't want to deal with crappy discs when everything else is new.

[jamal]

yeah to me there's nothing cooler than a set of bright yellow drums behind chrome 18s on an 89 accord.

Anyway, I typed out a big post the other day on usmb about newer Subaru brakes. I think I'll expand upon it and make a brake compendium of sorts because I'm jealous of Scott and his compendium so I want my own.

[dscoobydoo]

Try the 4 pot/2 pot set-up, as you can now get it here in the states. We have it on the RS ( which had the WRX/Turbo rears set-up and the difference is night and day)

I am now sourcing this for the Legacy turbo.

[Richard]

What can I scam this 4 pot/2 pot setup off of? Is there any difference in front/rear bias? I assume its a full swap of calipers, rotors, and pads.

Jamal - A brake compendium would be cooler. Painting drums defeats the purpose of them being rusty water holders.

Would powder coating calipers be a viable alternative to the 'ol rattle can? I painted my front calipers when I got them new out of the box with silver hi-temp ceramic spray paint, and for the most part they held their color. I also used hi-temp clear. They look kinda grungy now so I'm looking to sandblast and repaint them. I wonder if powder coating would hold up/look better. I'm also thinking red, blue or gold instead of silver.

[dscoobydoo]

https://www.subarugenuineparts.com/adva ... 97fa164dca

[Richard]

It says they need 17'' wheels to clear. Not something I want to get into at this moment. They're a bit pricey too. I assume I couldn't use the stock mounting bracket. But just for shits and giggles, what would I need to scam a bracket off of? 93 and up Impreza?

[dscoobydoo]

You can use the 98-01 impreza RS 16's on those brakes.

The front 4 pots are a direct bolt on- and you have to change the rotors to match but you can use the older WRX rotors or the new ones ( 11.4 vs 11.5 ) and there are slotted, drilled etc options there. The rears require either the kartboy adapter bracket or the R180 backing plates. The rears do get a bit pricey, but the combo is worth it.

[Richard]

Update:

Here's what I ended up going with:

-Power Slot cryo treated front rotors.

-DBA 4000 series rear rotors (the gray ones, not the yellow).

-EBC Red Stuff pads all around.

-Goodridge stainless steel lines.

-Replaced rear calipers.

-Painted front and rear calipers (red).

-Painted front and rear brackets (black)

The result? Have you ever walked into a door that's locked? That about says it all.

They were a bit squealy at first but that's died down pretty much. My ABS light goes on and off from time to time, but I had issues with that in the past. THESE THINGS STOP!!!!! The stainless lines made a world of difference. It was a good thing that I bled the shiat out of the brakes. The old stuff resembled mud. I'll be swapping it out for the super blue fluid when I get the extra loot too.

I sand blasted all the caliper mounting brackets and painted them with hi temp black & clear. They look pretty good IMHO.

I had a bit of trouble at the parts store though. First, before I sand blasted the front calipers, I called Checker and asked if they had rebuild kits for them, which they said yes. I then proceeded to blast them to my liking, being somewhat careful of the seal/piston areas. Nonetheless, I wanted to redo the seals cause I couldn't trust the sand not f*ing things up. I want to the store and behold! They quoted me on the wrong parts and couldn't even get the right ones. So I cleaned the living crap out of the seals with brake cleaner and compressed air. So far, so good. No leaks yet so I'm hopefully in the clear.

Then came the rears. These were totally rusted and blasting seemed to be futile. I ordered a new set and painted the fronts while I waited for them (more on the paint later). Two days after they were supposed to be there I called the store and asked them what was up. They never recieved the calipers on their truck. So they assured me they'd be there once they found out what went wrong.

When I went to pick up the new ones, they came with the brackets, which was the first sign of trouble since I didn't order the brackets. They looked a bit small too. But, I took them home and tried them against the old (painted) brackets and sure shit, they were the wrong ones. Back to the store I went. The parts guy was really surprised/sorry I had the wrong ones. He was very apologetic and took care of the mess. A couple days later I came back for some wipers and asked what the status of the new calipers was. Behold!!! They just got off the truck that very hour, a day earlier then I was told. Yay for me I got my shit.

I painted all the calipers with a caliper paint kit I got at Checker. It was a brush-on kit by Duplicolor and it worked very well. The supplied brush sucked so I robbed some of my brother's art supplies which created very nice results. I think they each have 5 to 7 coats on them. They look like they've been powder coated and I'm quite happy with them.

All in all, I'm happy with the looks/results of my new brakes. This thing stops before the dime and has the gear to shine. I just need new wheels to show off my work a little better. That will come in time. Thanks to all who chimed in with their thoughts and I'm trying to figure out how to get some pics for ya.

[Legacy777]

Sounds like a nice setup. Got any pics