Compiled brake information

[jamal]

To start, you can put almost any set of Subaru brakes on any other Subaru. If you want WRX brakes on your L or something you pretty much just have to buy some and bolt them on. There are some exceptions, however, mostly relating to the rear, which are explained later on. And also in this thread

Additionally, the 05+ sti has a different bolt pattern (5x114.3 vs 5x100) so those rotors are not compatible with other models.

If your car has rear drum brakes, a disc swap is fairly more involved. I'm not entirely sure on the process but there are more details farther down.

I would also be wary about trying to exchange stuff with the 08s. The rear backing plate is completely different so to the best of my knowledge nothing is interchangeable.

So, if you're wondering what brakes you have and what other brakes are out there, I've made this big list of most of the different brakes found on modern Subarus. The information came from a lot of places like the DBA catalog (click the rotor size for spec sheets provided by DBAsteve), cars101, and various threads/FAQs here and on scoobymods. This is mostly just about US model cars. Generally brakes were the same around the world but there are a few little special exceptions that are linked to later on.

Disclaimer: While I have tried to make this post as accurate as possible, there are some mid year revisions. I also can't be positive all the year ranges listed are correct, especially for pad shapes. In some cases, it is necessary to call a dealership with your VIN number or physically compare parts.

Front Brakes

242x16mm
Smallest Subaru front brakes, found on FWD non-abs Imprezas (93-96). The caliper and bracket are similar to those for early 260mm brakes with a shorter bracket and they use the same pads. These things fit under 13" wheels.
Applications:
93-96 Impreza 2WD.

260x24mm
This is the most common front rotor size before 2000. It was found on many Imprezas and Legacies and uses a single piston caliper and bracket. Somewhere around 96/97 the caliper/bracket/pad design changed. These fit under 14" wheels.
Applications:
90-99 Legacy non-turbo/-GT/-Outback
93-01 Impreza AWD (non RS)

276x24mm
This uses a two piston sliding front caliper and there are three caliper/bracket designs. One for the 91-94 Legacy SS/TW, an early Legacy 2.5GT/Impreza RS bracket (~96-99), and a Later RS/GT bracket (03+). It's possible to exchange some of these calipers onto taller WRX brackets as long as the pad shapes match.
Applications:
91-94 Legacy turbo
96-01 Legacy GT
96-01 Outback
00-04 Legacy non-GT
98+ Impreza RS/TS/2.5i
98+ Forester

294x24mm
295x25.4mm
This is the WRX front rotor. It uses a two piston sliding front caliper or the Subaru fixed 4-pot. The sliding caliper, bracket, and pad were changed in 03 and that's something you need to be aware of when upgrading from RS brakes or purchasing pads. The 4-pots are only on the 06-07 WRX in the US, though they were on many older non-US STis and WRXes (the black calipers with Subaru across them). Generally 16" wheels are required with these brakes but there are some 15" wheels out there that work. Also 16x6.5 Subaru wheels do not clear 4-pots.
Applications:
01 Legacy GT LTD?
02-04 Legacy GT
05-09 Legacy non-gt
01-09 Outback
02+ Impreza WRX (including 08, which uses 2-pots)
03+ Forester
Baja

Here is the description on the different DBA rotors in this size:

Originally Posted by WRXBrakes

DATA

DBA 1 piece:

Standard series - p/n 650 - fits 2 or 4 piston WRX w/294mm rotor

4000 series - p/n 4650 - Again fits all 2 or 4 piston 'WRX' applications. However - some street pads w/ shims on them may not fit w/ the shim as the rotor is intentionally a bit thicker to add heat mass. Take shims off - run a few weeks - if it gets noisy wait till they can fit.

p/n 4000 - Original 4000 series rotor w/ tapered HAT section to clear OUTBOARD ABS tone ring. This ABS system is all pre-2000 MY afaik.

5000 series:

p/n 5000 -the OG - fits 4 pot WRX (pre-USDM 2 pot)

p/n 5010 - fits 2 pot OR 4 pot front WRX calipers. This rotor was made when it was realized that the caliper bracket from the USDM WRX hit the rotor hardware on p/n 5000. Thus 5010 has a different design- the hardware is recessed for clearance.

Added bonus points: This rotor is also available in 5x114.3 to make it possible to swap an 05-07 STi to the subaru 4-pots for rally. Not sure where to find that rotor but I would start with rally shops.


316x30mm
This uses a two piston sliding caliper similar to the other 2-pots, although brackets and calipers aren't compatible between other 2-pots. 17s are required with them.
Applications:
05-09 Legacy GT
Tribeca (5x114.3 bolt pattern)

326x30mm (5x100)
326x30mm (5x114.3)
STi rotor that goes with the 4-piston Brembo calipers. There are two rotors, the 04 has a 5x100mm hub bolt pattern, 05+ uses 5x114.3. The calipers all mount the same way so you can attach front Brembos to other Subarus without trouble. There were some changes to the caliper over the years that involved some sort of stiffening, so from what I can tell an 07 caliper would be slightly better than an 04.
Applications:
04+ STi

A note about the SVX:
The SVX has brakes that are about the same size as WRX brakes and the SVX has 5x114.3 hubs. However, up front, the rotor hat offset (how close or far the rotor surface is from the hub) is different from that on other Subarus. The knuckle also locates the caliper bracket in a different position. That unfortunately means that you can't just buy some 05-07 STi brembos or Tribeca brakes or something to upgrade your SVX. I'm pretty sure that in the rear things are compatible with other Subarus.


Rear Brakes

266x10mm
The most common Subaru rear rotor. It uses a single piston sliding caliper, of which there are a few variations. Early Legacy sedans (non-turbo) and Imprezas have a smaller piston than Legacy wagons and turbos, and there are a few bracket/caliper revisions.
Applications:
90-99 Legacies/Outbacks with rear discs non-turbo
93-07 Imprezas with rear discs (except sti, 06-07 wrx)
98-08 Foresters with rear discs
Bajas

274x10mm
This rotor is on most 05+ Legacy/Outbacks. The exception is the LGT. Parking brake is 170mm, and I'm not sure on compatibility with other models.

286x10mm
08+ impreza/wrx and 09+ forester (with rear discs), uses a 190mm parking brake and 1-pot sliding calipers. I'm not sure on the compatibility with other cars, but it seems to be the same caliper mounting as other 1-pots.

290x10mm
This is well known as the H6 rear rotor. The Legacy caliper is the same as most other 99-07 1-pot Subaru calipers so you can upsize to this rotor simply by purchasing the brackets and correct pads
Applications:
00-04 Legacy/Outback non-brighton
SVX (5x114.3)

Bonus points: SVX bracket + this rotor in 5x100 = old style caliper H6 upgrade (probably).

266x18mm
This is the Legacy turbo rear rotor. The caliper is similar to the other calipers but is wider to accomodate the vented rotors. I hear it was also found on the v1 WRX (93-94).
Applications
91-94 Legacy turbo

290x18mm (170mm parking brake)
290x18mm (190mm parking brake)
This is a new rotor size for Subaru (in the US anyway). It uses either a 2-piston opposed caliper or a 1-pot slider. The 2-pot will not bolt up to other Subarus without something like the Kartboy brackets or having a new backing plate pressed onto the spindle. There are three versions of this rotor, one is for the regular 170mm parking brake, the others are for the sti 190mm parking brake in both 5x100 and 5x114.3
Applications:
05+ Legacy GT (1-pot)
06-07 WRX (2-pot)
SVX (5x114.3) (only in JDM-land)
Some older non-us spec-b Legacys and wrx/sti models (see rear brake redux)

Note: The LGT uses a different brake line than older Legacies and Imprezas. So I think you need to grind down part of the caliper where the line mounts to get it to work on an Impreza. The LGT lines are a different shape and mount and a different angle and you can't use them.

316x20mm (5x100)
316x20mm (5x100, 170mm parking brake)
316x20mm (5x114)
STi brembos. There are multiple versions of this disc. One for the 04 STi, one for 05-07, one for 08+ and one with a 170mm parking brake drum. There's an explanation how to install rear brembos on other cars a little farther down. 08+ sti rear rotors have a different backspacing.
Applications
04+ STi

320x18mm
Hey that's an odd size now isn't it. I was previously wrong with my thinking the Tribeca uses the same rotor as an STi. It does have the same bolt pattern (5x114.3) though. AFAIK, it uses a 170mm parking brake but don't quote me on that.

So, what does that mean? The calipers and brackets should work on an SVX. Unfortunately no front brakes are interchangeable onto an SVX because of the rotor hat back-spacing.

Drums
Some cars have rear drums that are like 9." I don't really know anything about Subaru drum brakes so it would help if someone filled that stuff in.
Some of them are: Legacy and Impreza Brighton models, Some 95-99 Legacy L models, some foresters and I think 02+ Impreza TS and OBS. (I'm not sure exactly)

To swap out drums, at the least you will need new parking brakes, backing plates, discs, calipers, and brake lines. It is usually best to get a whole knuckle/hub/parking brake assembly out of a car with rear discs. If you want to put rear discs on your front wheel drive Subaru, you might have to parts from a 90-94 Legacy, since they might be the only FWD Subarus with rear discs and the FWD rear hubs/spindles/struts/etc are different.

Installing rear Subaru 2-pots or Brembos on a non 2-pot car:

The Subaru and Brembos have the same backing plate, which is different from all the other Subaru rear disc backing plates. So calipers don't swap between the two. Additionally, the STi uses a 190mm parking brake drum. Pretty much everything else uses a smaller 170mm drum. That means if you take a set of rear brembos and put them on your WRX, the parking brake will not work.

However, there are Subaru 2-pot rotors (290x18mm) with a 190mm parking brake hat and Brembo rotors (316x20) w/ a 170mm e-brake so you can put either setup on either car. There are also Kartboy brackets that will adapt the 2-pot calipers to any other Subaru, and since both rotors are available in 170mm parking brake variety, you can swap either one onto any other Subaru. Here's a thread about fitting the brembos to other cars with the new Kartboy brackets and DBA rotors.

Here is the rear brake redux, which has more information about the older rear brakes that came on STis and fancy Legacys in Japan.

Some D-plate numbers

Originally Posted by stoptech

The Friction Materials Standards Institute (FMSI) is an association that assigns numbers to different pad shapes that are used as a guideline for pad manufacturers to refer to, and bring a common numbering system to the brake pad aftermarket. Virtually every pad manufacturer will either use the FMSI number in their numbering system or have a readily available interchange to cross-reference their part number to the FMSI number.

I should note that the caliper bracket, and not the caliper, is what determines pad shape. So while there are a few different pads, in some cases the calipers are the same.

Front 1-pots

D470:
1990-1995 Legacy
1993-1996 Impreza

D722:
1996-1999 Legacy
1997-2001 Impreza

Front 2-pots

D563:
1991-1994 Legacy Turbo
1995 Outback

D721:
1996-2002 Legacy
1998-2001 Impreza RS
1/2002-7/2002 WRX
1998-2002 Forester

D929:
2002-2009 Legacy/Outback (non-gt)
2003+ Impreza/Forester
8/2002-2005 WRX
2008+ WRX

See this article for clarification on 02-03 shapes

D1078:
2005-2009 Legacy GT
Tribeca

Rear 1-pots

D471:
1990-1999 Legacy
1993-1998 Impreza
1993-1997 SVX

D770:
2000-2004 Legacy
2005-2009 Legacy GT
1999-2002 Impreza

D1004:
11/2002-2005 WRX
2003-2007 Impreza

D1114:
2005-2009 Legacy 2.5i/outback
2008+ Impreza/WRX
2009+ Forester


FHI 4/2-pots
Front: D647 (or D1170, D460, D1182)
Rear: D461

STi Brembos
Front: D1001
Rear: D961

Missing information:
- non-us market vehicles
- 2010 Legacy/Outback info

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[coolcougar]

Great Job. Thank you!

[ButtDyno]

Someone suggested stickying this, and hey, it definitely deserves some time up there for folks to see it and add to it.

I'm open to a more attention grabbing thread title as well

john

[Kostamojen]

Good thread.

Might want to include the technical bolt pattern #'s in there too, and maybe even include Tribeca brakes and the older drum brakes.

[stoney98]

where do the TS/RS fit in? Thanks.

[jamal]

for front, they're listed as 02-06 non-wrx, non-sti.

I'm not really sure exactly which cars have rear drums so if anyone wants to chime in on that it would be good. Also with the tribeca stuff.

[stoney98]

my TS has two pot front, rear drum. The OBS have the same. I ordered up a set of WRX rotors for an 03 WRX and they were too big for the TS bracket.

[jamal]

yeah it's 276mm compared to the 294mm wrx rotor.

[WRXBrakes]

Some edits
LGT fronts are 316 x 20

I am pretty sure the RS fronts are 276 x 24 - same thickness as WRX - just smaller diameter

Early RS have a different rear pad - same as 2G DSM rear

WRX 4 pots = D460 which must be the same as the newer D number

There may be a few more in there - 2000 Legacy has been incorrect before.

Otherwise - good info!

[jamal]

Are you sure the LGT front rotors aren't thicker?

Yes you're right the RS rotors are 24mm wide.

Oh yeah it seems some 98 Imprezas use the later two pin bracket/caliper but D1186 pads. That's kind of odd.

Also I think my year ranges are a little off for the old rear pad sizes.

[WRXBrakes]

There is a new rear shape on new legacy outbacks - exact application is a bit unclear but it's out there - no aftermarket pads available yet afaik

[rougeben83]

05+ LGT fronts, 4 pots, and a dinner plate

LGT rotors are indeed thicker; 30mm vs. WRX/4pot 25mm

For the record; the 03-04 Legacy GT's got the WRX front brakes, the older years got the same size fronts as GC RS's, and all L's in the BE/BH got those brakes as well. There may have been some overlap on the 02 year, but I'm not 100% sure.

[jamal]

Nice. Here's one of my tiny old L rotors next to my new WRX rotor:


my car stops good now.

One thing I've heard is that some of the 01-02 GT LTD models may have gotten 294mm front discs. Maybe just 02. The 00s for sure have 276mm front discs though.

[WRXBrakes]

yup - meant 30 not the 20 - typo

The conversion from 276 to 294 mm fronts for Legacies is apparantly not clear to the aftermarket - lots of my catalogs are incorrect or differ.

[kaos200]

wow, great writeup!

[orwrx]

STI brembo caliper with OEM 326mm rotor, can I put bigger diameter for the caliper? Where I can find info on how to put rear brembo on WRX with KB bracket? Pls help!!

[jamal]

Originally Posted by jamal

The Subaru 2-pots will bolt to an STi Brembo backing plate and there are 290x18mm rotors with a bigger 190mm parking brake hat. This is so rally cars can easily switch to 4/2-pot Subaru brakes for wheel clearance/group-n rules. So the Brembos will bolt to an 06 wrx backing plate, but need a rotor with a 170mm parking brake hat. Here's a thread about fitting the brembos to other cars with the new Kartboy brackets and DBA rotors. The first sets have been made as of this post. There are also taller parking brake shoes available.

12345

[ci82b4u]

great information, it will be so helpful and a great reference

[Timon]

so what would be the best 2000 legacy sedan caliper/disk upgrade. I'm trying to upgrade on a budget, using better subaru products from wrx or other models.

[not12listen]

ok, i'm new to the subaru ways... so, i've got some basic questions.

can i just bolt on a set of 94 legacy turbo rear brakes (calipers and brackets) onto a 99 rs? i understand that if this works, i would have to swap rotors as well. i just want better brakes.

also, could i take the 02+ wrx front brakes (calipers and brackets) and put them onto a 99 rs? again, i just want better brakes.

i'm hoping that these upgrades would bolt on without drilling or fabrication... if any is necessary, just lemme know.

thanks!

[jamal]

yes, any brake setup will bolt to any car, with the exception of the 2-pot Subaru and Brembo rears.

[scubywagon]

is it possible to put the subaru 4pot calipers and vented rotors on the rear of an 04 wrx and if so, who makes a rotor for the rear that will work with the parking brake set up? don't know if it is possible but thought it would be worth asking if anyone knows.

[ButtDyno]

Originally Posted by scubywagon

is it possible to put the subaru 4pot calipers and vented rotors on the rear of an 04 wrx and if so, who makes a rotor for the rear that will work with the parking brake set up? don't know if it is possible but thought it would be worth asking if anyone knows.

It may be possible, but here's a thread detailing some of the issues involved:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32102

[jamal]

To clarify a bit: Front and rear brakes are not interchangeable.

You would need a custom bracket and rotor made.

[McFrosty]

I just got a set of front and rear WRX calipers to throw on my Legacy. I was told they were from a 2002 or 2003 WRX. So I want to make sure I order the right pads because the caliper design changed at some point in 2002.

The only numbers I've found on the web are these:
Front Calipers:
1/2002-7/2002 WRX: D 721
8/2002-2005 WRX:: D 929
Rear Calipers:
1/2002-10/2002 WRX: D1379/ D770
11/2002-2005 WRX: D1004

None of the numbers on my calipers match any of these. This is what I have found on my calipers:
Rear calipers -
3818
AD38
4 BI
2432
10-14

Front calipers -
(left) 62L T1
(right) 62R T2
TOKICO
2XP

How do I decipher this???