97 Outback Sport Rotors on a 96 Legacy

[Baddog]

My friend bought Brembo Blanks all the way around and he hasn't done his rear brake conversion yet so he is going to sell them to me. Will they fit on the 96 L's?. I know the rears do.

The 97 OBS had the 2.2 in it.

[Huffer]

What size are the rotors? 10.3"?

[Baddog]

He got them at Napa and I cannot seem to find the fronts on Napa's website only the rears.

[mike-tracy]

Both the 96 L and 97 OBS should have 260x24mm front rotors, and you're right, the rears are the same diameter. The Brembo blanks are a high quality rotor, but I wouldn't imagine they increase your braking performance, if that's what you're after.

[Baddog]

Well I will be pairing them with Hawk HPS Pads. Decided that I would go with a better rotor this time around. I check around on r1concepts.com and the part numbers for the Brembo Rotor's do match for the 96 L and 97 OBS Fronts.

So I was just double confirming this.

[Huffer]

I have brembo blanks on the front and noticed no difference between them and autozone/duralast rotors. Also have HPS Pads.

[Baddog]

How do you feel your stopping power is with this brake setup? These will be paired with 205/55/16 Conti DWS tires on Friday.

No difference in stopping power but how about longevity possibly?

[mike-tracy]

Not what you're asking but I put WRX fronts/H6 Legacy rears on my 98 Outback (partly to solve crappy braking performance while towing, partly because I like the look of rotors filling out the rims) with EBC red pads and the improvement is phenomenal.

On my old 96 L, I put F+R brakes from an EJ25D based Outback (so in other words, what my car mentioned above came with stock) and the pedal feel and braking performance was much improved as well.

Instead of messing with your 260mm rotors, I'd really recommend going with the EJ25 brakes (can be from a 96LSI, 96-99 GT or 96-99 Outback, 98-01 RS, 98-01 Foresters just to mention a few, and have 276x24mm front/same size rear rotor as yours but bigger caliper piston) or the WRX/H6 (294x24mm front/290x10mm rear). The WRX/H6 combo I believe I paid $200 for (all used parts of course).

Oh yeah, the EJ25 brakes REQUIRE a 15" rim, while the WRX/H6 combo REQUIRES a 16" rim.

[Baddog]

Not what you're asking but I put WRX fronts/H6 Legacy rears on my 98 Outback (partly to solve crappy braking performance while towing, partly because I like the look of rotors filling out the rims) with EBC red pads and the improvement is phenomenal.

On my old 96 L, I put F+R brakes from an EJ25D based Outback (so in other words, what my car mentioned above came with stock) and the pedal feel and braking performance was much improved as well.

Instead of messing with your 260mm rotors, I'd really recommend going with the EJ25 brakes (can be from a 96LSI, 96-99 GT or 96-99 Outback, 98-01 RS, 98-01 Foresters just to mention a few, and have 276x24mm front/same size rear rotor as yours but bigger caliper piston) or the WRX/H6 (294x24mm front/290x10mm rear). The WRX/H6 combo I believe I paid $200 for (all used parts of course).

Oh yeah, the EJ25 brakes REQUIRE a 15" rim, while the WRX/H6 combo REQUIRES a 16" rim.

I have 16" WRX Rims. So the WRX/H6 combo will be happening sometime in the near future. I am not sure exactly which years to get the H6 rears off of.

Also what years of WRX rims will fit in the front? 02-05?

What I was getting at at first was how Huffer's stopping power was with the Brembo Blanks and HPS pads.

[mike-tracy]

I have 16" WRX Rims. So the WRX/H6 combo will be happening sometime in the near future. I am not sure exactly which years to get the H6 rears off of.
Also what years of WRX rims will fit in the front? 02-05?


The earlier H6 powered Legacys have the same size front brakes as 02-05 WRX's. I'd look for ones from 2001+. Some non-h6 Legacys had the "h6" rear brakes as well, I'm not sure which, though.

So yeah, any 02-05 WRX front brakes will work, but better to get late 03 or newer WRX brakes because they changed the brackets and pads to accommodate larger brake pads.

If you want to go really crazy, brakes from a 2005+ Legacy GT are the largest ones subaru makes, aside from the STI Brembos of course. But those take a 17"+ rim to fit. :-(