90 Legacy AWD 4eat...WAGON!

 

My brakes feel like there's worn spots on them and they kind of shudder like there's a spot on the rotors that has a piece of invincible sandpaper on it. That's about the best I can explain it. I'm sure you've all felt this on old brakes.

 

My question is, should I buy new rotors? Are there performance ones that I should look into? I've seen them on ebay all the time.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Subaru-Legacy-90-05-Front-Drill-Slot-BRAKE-ROTORS-PADS_W0QQitemZ220116913010QQihZ012QQcategoryZ33564QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

What about those?

 

Also, I read on here a long time ago that the slotted ones are no good for this car for one reason or another. I believe Nipper said this. Not 100% sure.

 

What brand should I get? Where can I get them? How much am I looking at for all 4 rotors and pads?

 

The current setup seems to have a lot of heat fading. They aren't working as well as I'd like them to. At least one squeals too. They're very Shiny! Not good. haha.

 

Thanks in advance!

You can always go to NASIOC and pick up a set of WRX brakes. Cheap, under $200 for rotors and calipers. You will need 16" wheels to run these.

how did you like the original brakes? if they weren't that bad, then no need for upgrades. keeping in mind that your brakes suck now because they need maintenance, not because they are poor in design. they will perform much better when everything is properly replaced.

 

probably not a bad idea to just get new rotors if they've never been replaced before. are they grooved or is there any vibration when braking, those are definite signs you need rotors. otherwise they may be fine.

 

from what i've heard going with bigger brakes is far better than "performance" rotors.

 

i've heard many people rave about ceramic pads, particularly the ones at NAPA. haven't tried them myself, but enough people that i know have said good things about them that i will try them next.

Nothing wrong with slotted rotors. They hum (which I thought was pretty cool) and wear out the pad a bit quicker. Cross drilling creates stress concentrations in the rotor as the temperature changes, remove pad to rotor contact area, and reduces the mass of the already somewhat small rotors. The added surface area doesn't make up for any of that.

 

My concern with the e-bay stuff is how straight it's going to be out of the box. I'd stick with the mid-range parts store rotor or better for the front. Brembo blanks from somewhere like tirerack, importrp.com, or buybrakes.com are pretty cheap.

 

I had parts store ceramic pads for about a month. They were okay for normal driving but could not compare to the Hawk HPS pads I had before. Now I'm on Axxis Ultimates which are also good.

 

I also need a little more out of my brakes than the average person and participate in road rallies and go on a lot of fun drives in the mountains. The Axxis, Hawk, and similar pads do need a bit of warming up before they work really great, and will wear out the rotor faster.

 

The only thing that will have a significant effect on stopping distance is the tires. However, going to bigger brakes and better pads does make a difference as far as feel goes, and lets you brake harder at higher speeds with more confidence.

What to buy depends on what you're looking for and how much you're willing to spend. The durlasts from autozone are fairly inexpensive; not sure how true they are or how well they wear.

 

There's a ton of info at stoptech.com about bedding in, etc, what that sandpaper feeling you might have is ('cementite inclusions' or something I think they say?).

 

Been getting good results so far with brembo sport slotted fronts from tirerack and stoptech slotted rears with OEM pads.

 

Oh whatever rotors you get, if you can get ones that have the threaded 8mm holes to drive the rotor off the hub, that may make future removal a lot easier. I had to heat and pound my old ones off with a sledge hammer.

I'm not looking to rallycross or anything. This car will now be mainly for snowboarding I think. I just bought a 98 chevy metro so I'll be using that for my daily driver now.

 

I'll check out tirerack and stoptech. I definately want them to work better than they currently do, but I assume any new brakes will work better than they do now. Yeah there's vibrations alright.

 

I don't feel like buying 16" wheels or I would go with the WRX brakes. I just have stock steelies on them. And I think those are 14" wheels.

 

set of 16" rota wheels with tires 70-80% tread flat black for 250 bucks on craigs list but it's over 3 hours away. Damn.

if you have 15" wheels i think there's a smaller dual piston caliper (90-94 turbo legacy calipers i think??) that will actually work with the 15" wheels as well. i saw someone mentioning that recently on this board.

The smaller 2-pot calipers with 276mm rotors are on a lot of cars.

98-07 Impreza RS

96-02 Legacy GT

02+ Legacy L/2.5i

Most Outbacks, Foresters, Bajas

 

Still, no reason to upgrade. Just put on good pads, flush the fluid replce any cracked boots, and re-grease the slide pins.

 

The brembo pn for the front rotor is 25369 and they're $36 at tire rack.

Dude, go to Pepboys the rotors are 19.99 each. the pads will be around 40 each for the front and back. I am using them now with no issues