'00 BH & Brakes for Towing

[Mikey97D]

I've been towing a borrowed motorcycle trailer with the Subaru for a couple months now and over the weekend finally got my own trailer. The trailer is a 5'x8' and I think it roughly weighs the same as the motorcycle trailer with a bike from the feedback in stopping bringing the trailer home.

I'd like to upgrade the brakes. BE-Fresh's thread got me thinking about what options I have by just using a newer year rotors and calipers. Or should I just change the brake pad material? Other options like WRX calipers & rotors?

Kinda sucks because the brakes are relatively new on this car.....but I'm sure I'm going to wear them out quickly with the trailer.

[Huffer]

You could upgrade the rear brakes to shift the brake bias more to the "middle" - when towing.

[Mikey97D]

You could upgrade the rear brakes to shift the brake bias more to the "middle" - when towing.

Thanks for the idea. Question - upgrade the rear brakes without changing the proportioning valve?

[LegacyRob]

Get some slotted rotors and hawk pads at all 4 corners. I got mine from raceshopper.com

[Huffer]

You could upgrade the rear brakes to shift the brake bias more to the "middle" - when towing.

Thanks for the idea. Question - upgrade the rear brakes without changing the proportioning valve?

Yep - just get vented, slotted rotors and more aggressive pads.

[Mikey97D]

Well, it didn't take me long to wear out the front brakes. As much as I'd like to splurge and get hawk pads & rotors on all fours, I've got more responsibility on it way! My wife has taken a year leave from work and we're expecting our 2nd child in March!!!!

I'm looking at getting CMax front pads at Autozone, but they have two different front rotors listed. One is a 10" and the other is 11.5". Anybody know which one? I'd like to get the parts before taking anything apart.

I will get the slotted rotors for the rear when the time comes to change the rear brakes.

I won't be riding this thing much next year.....
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2009/09/MikeatKPTREnduro2009-1.jpg

[Huffer]

Should be the smaller 10.3" rotor... though I'm betting you could use the larger one because the brakes on the later BE/BH were bigger.

You can always buy both and return one set...

[Mikey97D]

thanks Huffer!

[Mikey97D]

I bought both rotor sizes. Pleasant surprise, my car has the 11.5" diameter rotors. Now I just need to return the small rotors.

[Mikey97D]

I bought both rotor sizes. Pleasant surprise, my car has the 11.5" diameter rotors. Now I just need to return the small rotors.

Christmas Weekend I finally got around to changing the brakes. The pads were down to .125' of material so it was time.

I got the rotors from Autozone. They are listed in the computer as 11.5" diameter. They didn't fit my car after actually taking the rotors off (new rotors were too small) and the actual rotor was then measured to be 11". I never got a chance to measure the actual size of the Autozone rotors. So I believe their part numbers are off for MY00. AutoZone was very nice and took the rotors back even though I was past the 90 days and did a lot of different part numbers to find one that would fit. It ends up the '99 Outback fit my car.

Hope my experience helps someone else before they start the job.

[rougeben83]

Yeah, you need 11.4" non-vented rotors for the rear (aka the "H6" rear brake upgrade that wrx owners refer to). I had a set from autozone, cost about $25-30 each. To get the right part, the safe bet is to go with a later year (02-03) when at the parts counter. Changing to a more aggressive pad in the rear should also shift a little of your brake bias to the rear; something like porterfiend rs4 or hawk hps would help. You really can't use a proportioning valve on the subaru brake system its like a 2-channel system that has more than one proportioning valve to begin with.

You can't upgraded to a vented rotor unless you change the caliper to the 05+ LGT or 2 pot rear brake from an 06-07 wrx (among other subaru models); that will cost significantly more than just changing the rear rotors and pads.

One cheap upgrade you can do apart from brake pads and fluid is to go 11.4" wrx rotors in the front. Some BE/BH's got this already (especially later years), but your best bet is to check the diameter of your current rotor it maybe 10.7" like on earlier legacy's.

In terms of brake feel, lines would help. The next step(s) from there are going to be pretty expensive (4 pots, brembos, hybrids, aftermarket kits, etc.).