Clarification please

[Sarra]

Okay, my BE had 15" wheels, and I know for fact that my 14" steelies didn't fit over the calipers because the brakes were too big. Now, I have a BK, a LGT wagon. I look up brake replacements on websites like TireRack and the only rotors and pads I can find state that they're designed for cars that can take 14" wheels. I know for fact that my brakes are too large for 14" wheels, as I tried mounting a steelie to see if it was possible. So, does my car have the same brakes as my BE did?

Second clarification point... The WRX front brakes are larger than the BE/my BK's, but are the rears as well? Basically, I would like brakes that completely fill the 16" wheels. When driving on roads with gravel on them, due to the winter weather, I get rocks stuck in my brakes. Not sure if they get stuck between the dust shield and the rotor or between the pad and the rotor, but it happens way more often than it did on my BE.

And last part, if I go with WRX front and H6 rears, how will the bias be effected? I'd like to go for a more 50/50 brake bias, though I'm not opposed to keeping the stock bias, I just don't want to go more front bias than it currently has, seeing how this is a wagon.

[rougeben83]

BE non-GT's used the same front brakes as the BD cars, 10.7in dual piston in the front. The 03+ GT cars got WRX sized front brakes (11.4-.5 IIRC).

All BE cars got 11.4 single piston rear brakes. Bigger than the WRX rear brakes, which are the same size as the BD cars (10.4in w/ a single piston).

If you have a dual piston caliper in the front, you can't use 14" rims. Only cars that had a single piston calipers are small enough to go under a 14" rim (9.x in rotor in the front).

[Sarra]

So basically, my BK has BE sized brakes on it. Okay.

That pretty much answers everything, I'll do the WRX fronts and H6 rears. :)

[BE-Fresh]

BE non-GT's used the same front brakes as the BD cars, 10.7in dual piston in the front. The 03+ GT cars got WRX sized front brakes (11.4-.5 IIRC).

All BE cars got 11.4 single piston rear brakes. Bigger than the WRX rear brakes, which are the same size as the BD cars (10.4in w/ a single piston).

If you have a dual piston caliper in the front, you can't use 14" rims. Only cars that had a single piston calipers are small enough to go under a 14" rim (9.x in rotor in the front).

So our cars have larger brakes in the back rather than in the front? :-?

[studum]

So our cars have larger brakes in the back rather than in the front? :-?

Larger outside diameter because the parking/emergency brake is a separate system in its own drum inside the friction area. The actual friction area is smaller, and teh rotor thickness is also smaller as they are solid discs, not vented like the front.

[rougeben83]

BE non-GT's used the same front brakes as the BD cars, 10.7in dual piston in the front. The 03+ GT cars got WRX sized front brakes (11.4-.5 IIRC).

All BE cars got 11.4 single piston rear brakes. Bigger than the WRX rear brakes, which are the same size as the BD cars (10.4in w/ a single piston).

If you have a dual piston caliper in the front, you can't use 14" rims. Only cars that had a single piston calipers are small enough to go under a 14" rim (9.x in rotor in the front).

So our cars have larger brakes in the back rather than in the front? :-?

Yes, the early GT's and all L's got the smaller brakes in the front. Most of the rotor is taken up by the hat that houses the parking brake, as pointed out earlier. The only thing moving the leverage of the brake caliper out more is to move more brake bias towards the rear of the car (which a lot of wrx owners want, hence why the H6 upgrade is so popular).