So twice now I have done rear brake jobs on my or my familys Subaru and ran into a weird issue

 

In this case it was 2003 impresa rs

Last was probably 04 wrx of my son

 

So I mount the rotor and tire and as I start tightening the lug nuts, the tire gets harder and harder to spin...until

it totally will not spin at all

 

Take a look at the pic of the new rear rotor....that raised lip on the inner edge of the drum opening (for the shoes)...as I tighten

the lugs....this rams into the face plate surrounding the brake shoes

 

It took me awhile to figure out what was wrong the first time....this time I recognized the problem immediately

 

Take them off and grind the raised lip down flush with the rotor disc surface

 

Autozone rotors.....I doubt they gave me the wrong parts but.....?

may need to readjust your parking brake shoes first, retract them for install and then expand them back out so they're adjusted properly with the new rotors?

or it sound like you may be saying something is wrong even beyond that?

 

i'd keep the OEM rotors if you can or get a set from a yard, ignore all the crazy rust. i'm still rolling 260,000 miles on my original rear rotors, i never replace them, the stock rotors are robust pieces of metal.

i resurface if i have to but i've never had to on a rear rotor...well i probably have once or twice and am forgetting but it's rare. 

this "lip" - if it's on the new ones and not on the old original rotors then it's probably no supposed to be there?  i'm not seeing it clearly on the picture...any side by side shots?

Autozone rotors...

 

 

Could be your answer there...