Possible Brembo upgrade

Jarocki

Jarocki

Petrolheads
ISDC Club Member
Hey everyone. I'm considering upgrading my brakes to Brembo or equivalent. I have been running through pads & discs on the legacy estate automatic. Really not sure why as it's my daily driver with normal driving to and from work on motorways. Wondering about the process involved about sourcing/costs etc. I have Advan RS wheels and pretty sure there is no issue with clearance. Appreciate allt eh advise/information from people that may have made this swap.
 
Jarocki said:
Hey everyone. I'm considering upgrading my brakes to Brembo or equivalent. I have been running through pads & discs on the legacy estate automatic. Really not sure why as it's my daily driver with normal driving to and from work on motorways. Wondering about the process involved about sourcing/costs etc. I have Advan RS wheels and pretty sure there is no issue with clearance. Appreciate allt eh advise/information from people that may have made this swap.
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When my Forester was auto it ate pads too, now that it?s manual, engine braking means that I?m not on the brakes half as much. I?ll possibly look into brembos myself in the future but for now I?ll stick with the 4pot/2pot ones - I have to rebuild and repaint them all in the next 3 weeks though.

Happy days on the NCT too man
 
Hi man,

Front brembos (Calipers) usually go from ?400-500 you sometimes will need mounting point threads repaired and also they give issue with bleed nipple snapping ,to do correctly , Stahlbus in Germany make a product that eliminates this issue, the 4 bleeders cost about ?140 plus fitting.

Then discs , no point using second hand as you?ll get vibrations , these are about ?120 for a plain or up to ?300 for a fancy pair .

Then pads , normal road pad is about ?30 and a good fast road pad ?200+
 
As Baz detailed, the cost escalates fairly quickly and depending on the condition of the used Brembo, its hit or miss at times. I faced the same decision recently and decided to look into other options which were new upgraded brake calipers, discs and pads instead.

Depending on your use, a refresh of current setup with braided lines, higher temp brake fluid and better uprated pads will transform the braking power. I had the above with Carbon Lorraine Rc5+ pads on the wrx and the only place it showed a lack stopping power was on track when pushing it, and that was after a significant bump in power.

Subaru Impreza Wrx SL Wagon 2004
#hmblwgn
www.instagram.com/hhphoto7
 
Thanks for all the advise. Yes i guess the main issue for me is the Auto is eating through discs and pads. Vibrations when braking have appeared on 3 sets of discs now and the pads seem to wear quite quickly. I don't necessarily need the improved braking power but would like to avoid having to change discs quite often and thought this might be an option.
 
Jarocki said:
Thanks for all the advise. Yes i guess the main issue for me is the Auto is eating through discs and pads. Vibrations when braking have appeared on 3 sets of discs now and the pads seem to wear quite quickly. I don't necessarily need the improved braking power but would like to avoid having to change discs quite often and thought this might be an option.
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You probably have an issue with a caliper sticking or wheel bearing by the sounds of that .
 
Very possibly wheel bearings too
Had a similar issue on my auto B4. Replaced discs as they were warped, and the new ones warped then too, could feel vibrations within two months I guess

Bearing was the issue, replaced that, new discs again and no issues after
 
Fozzy said:
Just a quick note - it?s practically impossible to warp modern discs. When people think hey are warped, it?s ususally an uneven build up of pad material caused by the disc seating unevenly - this can be due to bearing/hub issues, caliper issues or grit/dirt between the hub and disc.

Excellent article here : https://www.apecbraking.co.uk/Resources/TechniciansGuides/Understanding-Brake-Judder.aspx
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Yes can be any of these issues, being auto (holding the brake at lights Instead of using park) you can get pad stamp on the face of the disc causing vibrations but also the other issue is measuring lateral runout when fitting a new disc , if it?s above 0.07mm you will get vibrations after some 800-1000km .

The surface of the hub needs to be thoroughly cleaned before fitting the disc and if the runout is out of spec, rotate the disc until it?s in spec, if not there is a bearing/hub issue .
If it?s slightly out and the bearings ok you can get the disc machined on the car with a pro cut lathe (Budget Tyres Dublin has one)
This should give smooth braking for the life of the disc with road use

Here is a picture of checking lateral runout on my Impreza with a new disc.
Needs to be done otherwise your wasting money .

Sorry if this comes across as a bit of a lecture but I?m trying to help [emoji1303]

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I suppose i may aswell give my two cents on brakes as I have upgraded to a big brake kit from the sti gold brembos to start with the car had plain discs when I got it and standard pads a fair bit of difference than I was used to as its first Subaru I have owned they are a great set of stoppers but only as good as the pads you put into the as regards less fade. I then bought grooved and drilled discs as I got a deal on all four came with red stuff pads good initial bite but would drop off after a lot of heavy braking. Grooved discs are noisy and will annoy you they take along time to quiet down as in groove fills in a bit. Should of went for plain or j hooks. So I went for Ap 6 pots with ds 2500 pads all round great bite probably need to push peddle a bit harder to get them to work aswell around town. but push car on down hills hard on brakes etc very good no fade apart from when I cooked them in Germany but are a great set of brakes difference probably not a huge amount only really noticed at top end of pushing it on. Pads are squeaky when hot doesn?t bother me but so are most performing pads are a bit squeaky. There was a good bit of time put into setting them up for run out which as baz says very important. I ended up getting them as I was buying pads discs and was going to tidy up brembos wasn?t much in the difference. Unless you?re driving the car hard spirited runs and melting pads I?d get a good disc pad combination can make a good bit of difference. You?ll never really loose money on sti parts but most are of an age that might need refurbish so be careful if buying that it doesn?t end up costing more than planned. Try a wheel over a brembo to be sure Incase it doesn?t fit as they are quite bulky and don?t want to be looking for wheels too. You could pick up Ap 4 pots brand new as a kit with no worries but will cost more then second hand brembos. What about wrx 4 pots get them handy enough and cheap easy to do seals etc should fit under your own wheel no hassle. Buy once buy right do a bit of research what you?re needs are and don?t waste money. I bought mine paid more but knew they would be hassle free apart from the lad I bought them off he?d break your heart and if you got another heart he?d break that too. Hopefully it helps a bit get a spin in mine or some else before you buy. If you do buy most important get someone who knows how to install properly as most places won?t put time in
 
thanks very much for all the great advice and about the run out. Yes all makes a lot of sense. There is not much left on the pads. about 30% so when these do need to be done i'll make that decision.
 
There?s a set of brembos of fb for sale this morning I seen in uk cheap enough look clean
 
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