Brake upgrade

[mr_g]

If I buy front and rear loaded calipers and rotors from a 2004 legacy gt they will bolt right up without any fitment issues or modding correct? how much bigger in size are they compared to my stock front and rears?

Also the 2002-2005 impreza wrx front and rear loaded calipers and rotors will fit without any issues correct?
Are the 02-05 impreza wrx brake setup better then the 04 legacy gt brake setup which one is better?

Which brake setup should I go for or should I just stick to my stock ones and buy them all new?

I see some people like to mix it up with different fronts and rears but I just want to make it easy and get a brake setup from a same car all around.
I dont want the auto parts store to give me a weird look wondering why im ordering parts from two different cars thats not even for my car.

I am just looking to get some standard oem like but if there are performance ones for about the same price then it doesnt matter to me which I get.
I just wanted to ask and confirm/verify before I buy it and save me the hassle of what works and doesnt.

[Huffer]

Answer 1: 2004 Legacy GT brake calipers & rotors will bolt up to your 1998 Legacy GT. It's the same brake upgrade I have. There is one small issue with the rear caliper, there are mounting tabs on the 04 caliper that require that you either grind them down, or rotate the brake line when bolting it back onto the caliper. It's not a big deal.

Answer 2: The 02-05 WRX brakes are the same as the 04 Legacy in terms of size.

Answer 3: You should buy what you are comfortable dealing with. If you want a no brainer, just buy what came on your car stock. If you want a bigger rotor, then you can buy the 04 Legacy GT stuff.

Answer 4: There aren't any braking performance issues with going with the 04 Legacy hardware. There is a weight component though, the bigger brakes are heavier.

[mr_g]

Do the 02-05 wrx rear calipers have the mounting tabs on them too?

[Huffer]

Probably not. As far as I can tell, the tabs are there because of the shorter brake line the 04 Legacy has.

[98legwag]

I put 04 wrx brakes on my 98. It is a good upgrade and everything bolted right on. As Huffer said they are heavier.

[mr_g]

Awesome thanks for the info guys I appreciate it helps a lot. I will be going for the wrx brake setup.

Since all the 02-05 wrx brake setup work does it really matter what year wrx I choose? I was thinking of just getting the 05 brake setup since its the last year.

I figure since they are the same there shouldnt be any major big difference in prices between all the years right?

I dont know if this is correct grammar/punctuating or not huffer but I tried, sorry for being stupid. Feel free to edit my post in any way you want. Dropped out of high school and got my ged so I never really learned sh|t :-? .

[mike-tracy]

The 02 WRX's use the older style n/a pad, so I guess if you wanted to get performance pads in the future 03-05 are a better bet. Also, do you have a sedan or a wagon? Because the wrx rears have the same rotors, but the larger, wagon size rear pistons, so they wouldn't be an upgrade. If you have a sedan I highly recommend replacing the rear calipers with WRX or wagon ones or your brake balance will be screwy.

[mr_g]

What you said is confusing to me. So I just need to get 03-05 wrx brake setup all around and I should be good then correct. Yea I have the sedan model.

[Huffer]

Mike just confused the waters. You can get performance pads for any make and year. Just buy the complete setup front and rear for the brake size you want. I went with the 04 legacy gt because it's easy to remember and it works. You do what you need to.

[mike-tracy]

Mike just confused the waters. You can get performance pads for any make and year. Just buy the complete setup front and rear for the brake size you want. I went with the 04 legacy gt because it's easy to remember and it works. You do what you need to.

But but but it made sense in my head, lol. Sounds like you two know what is going on.

[mr_g]

Are the 04 wrx sti brakes the same as the wrx?

[mike-tracy]

Are the 04 wrx sti brakes the same as the wrx?

04-07 STI (08+ are also by Brembo, but painted black):
http://www.japanpowerinc.com/images/PartPics/100_STI_002_tmp.jpg

02-05 WRx:
Looks like what you have now, just larger.

06-07 Wrx:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2012/07/pileofparts-2.jpg

NOTE: the Gold or Red brakes above can be fitted to your car, the fronts bolt straight on, the rears require a ~$225 bracket set from Godspeed or Kartboy respectively. Additionally, the STI Brembos need $pecial rotor$ for the rears (p/n: DBA 2657) that have more material in them to fit your parking brakes. Or you could get the ebrake shoes from Godspeed that are thick enough to work. $$. Or you can go without an ebrake. :) 04 STI has the same bolt pattern as our legacys, or you redrill the 05-07 rotors to match.

The Red 06-07 WRX brakes in general require 16x7 rims or larger, although some specialty rally 15" wheels work. The gold Brembos require 17x7.5" rims or larger.

I have the red WRX brakes (actually made by Sumitomo), and they feel fantastic compared to stock. They use the same front rotors as 02-05 WRX's, and the same rear rotors off an 05+ legacy GT (same diameter as 00-04? Legacys but ventilated like your fronts). No issues with parking brakes, although I had to remove the rear dust shields and slot the backing plates.

[98legwag]

Are the 04 wrx sti brakes the same as the wrx?

The 04 STI has the same 5x100 bolt pattern as most other Subarus. The 05+ STI was 5x114.3. This will affect the brake rotors too.

[Huffer]

Good grief you guys like to complicate things.

[Regardie]

Here's more complication. I bought but have not installed 02 wrx rear calipers and 04 Legacy caliper brackets and rotors to get around the grinding down the nubbin on the Legacy caliper. I will have to remove the dust shield.