improving brakes
 

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice, I've got a nice turbo 2000, MY00, and I love it, planning on doing some track days in the spring, but the brakes aren't brilliant, I've changed the discs and pads, and they are better, but by no means great for track day driving.


I understand having read some posts that the classic brakes aren't great anyway, but is there any way I can improve them without going down the big brake conversion route and spending hundreds if not thousands on that, and all it entails, bigger wheels, different offsets etc.


Would be grateful of any advice.


Matt

Just go for a set of Subaru 4 pot calipers for the front, they can be picked up for as little as £80 for a set needing tidied up or about £150 for a good set. I did it on my UK turbo and it made a decent improvement, cost me £130. Have a look in the for sale section for some. Most people sell them with discs and pads included.

Hi, thanks for the quick response, does that require me getting bigger wheels or discs etc,or altering any offsets, or is it just a case of changing the calipers and bleeding the system?

Sorry if I come across a bit daft, I am still learning.

replace the old rubber hoses when you swap the calipers.

You'll need discs/pads to suit the 4 pot calipers but everything just bolts straight on, no messing about. You'll not need to worry about wheels either, unless you've got 14s lol.

I thought a MY00 had four pots already?
Have your calipers got Subaru in white embossed on them?

hi yes they do have Subaru written across them, and two pronounced round sections, which Subaru is written over.

Yes the 99 on cars do have the 4 pots on , what discs and pads did you fit , there are loads of pad types available so you need to choose the right pads for your use to get the best out of them

Did you replace the disks and pads yourself? if so did the pistons move freely?
Any friction stopping the pistons moving will impede braking performance. If this is the case I'd get them refurbished with SS pistons by Godspeed before going for bigger brakes, etc.

I had a garage fit the brakes, got some mintex discs and pads, the garage didn't mention anything about pistons being stuck or anything. would replacing the brake fluid make any difference, or do I need to upgrade the pads?

Don't the '99 and '00 come with 4 pots as standard in the front?

If you have fitted standard discs and standard Mintex pads then they won't get any better than what they are now , you need to at least change the pads.
You also need to check the pistons are free , just because they have been fitted by a garage doesn't mean they have been checked out properly , but the Subaru 4 pots are prone to seizing because of rusting pistons
Cheers Ian

much appreciated ill check the pistons are free, any suggestions for good pads? mainly road use, with occasional track day, standard car at the moment, but looking to remap in the near future to hopefully get around 260hp ish

Track days ouch. Id go back to Ian above and ask him for some decent discs too otherwise you will be warping them.

I went through the whole thing of disks, pads lines etc and was never happy with them till i sacke them, went with 6 pots in the end. well worth the money since a decent set of pads and disks will be 400 ish anyway.

http://shop.scoobyclinic.com/index.p...product_id=521

What size wheels do you have ?

To Matt and Natasha , I tried 3 sets of std discs and all warped in my driving case. Personally I found the std WRX brakes not up to the job on my 265 Hp car , so I did the brakes and suspension before putting the power up to over 300 hp. Probably if you use a WRX on 218 hp and drive sensibly to UK motorway speeds the std brakes are OK , personally I don't feel safe with them.

Well main thing is your happy , however from the ad these are renamed
Stoptech 6 pots , I found them in Germany at 875€ but not with brake lines. Above supplier throws in unknown brake pads all of which is not a critic to quality, Id just like to know what they are, then the disks are 330mm. What I would mention here is they are not 2 piece. The heat is best kept out of the wheel bearing with 2 piece as more heat is disappated through the alluminium. Warping is reduced as the disc can cool more evenly , ( never leave you foot on the pedal after a motorway exit ). Technically http://www.racingbrake.com/v/main/tw...or_upgrade.asp these are some of the best I have seen. https://www#youtube#com/watch?v=ZMOCEfH7-zw

Mine are from Godspeed , at 335mm 34mm weight is similar to the smaller standard full steel disk 292 mm and 25mm thick, although Godspeed disks are not full floating on the hat. The conversion costs less than half of the 6 pot , ok I will here admit the std subaru 4 pots are not going to win prizes but personally I have found that I can now come down from 150mph off the motorway then drive hard through the lanes without warping and retaining fully brake capability. I am actually surprised just how well the Sub 4 pots keep going , as the system as a whole was downright diabolical before I made this change.

I think that a key point here is keeping the heat out of the caliper.
See http://www.godspeedbrakes.co.uk The brackets used on the Big brake conversion move the caliper of from the wheelhub. So the heat sink bridge is reduced again. Would a 6 pot conversion on 335mm be better still , sure but then they would not fit under the 17 wheel. More expense for 18inch / tyres.

You pays your money and takes your choice , I rather pay a little less but still get pretty good brake performance for less. Best regs Linksfahrer

iirc they are two piece disks, check out the yellow pic in the link, these wern't the kit i had but they have used these on their race cars to give em a full work out :D

if you can find stoptech 6 pots for that price buy em, they are mega money over here

Nice APs on that link , but you needed 18inch OZ's also nice when you have some cash. Not so sure about the pink wheel nuts though :rolleyes:

which link?

The wrx 4 pots will overheat the calipers if your a serious trackday driver (forget what combination your recommended)

Tidgy Im looking at your link to the RA photos :wonder:

o, hang on you've gone into the pics of my car haha, i ment the scoobyclinic link. i've got a 330mm set of 4pot AP's that easily go under 17's :D

I'ts my previous car that had the older 6 pots on, under 17's as well

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...0072009198.jpg

current Ap's

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psad92d7e7.jpg

Yes but tidgy, you can't drive for sheet, so no real difference really :D

Busta As you don't have my combination you can't really judge , trust me I have pasted it on these for 3 laps of the ring on 300+hp last summer with no issues and I know exactly what you mean on the Std 4 pot , just driving streets Id previously managed to warp 3 sets of std disks and the fluid was useless afterward.

By the way what did cause me to stop at the ring last summer were the std rears as they were glowing red and cooking the mintex pads so the F-R balance was all over the place. So I was moving pretty fast before then.

Why this is so Try to bear in mind that the calipers are extended out away from the hub on the adapters and that the heat sink transfer into the hub is reduced due to the aluminium hat. Once I get the rears improved this summer ill have another go. Best regards Ralph

final thing that made me change was killing the pads and disks on the isle of mann, then killed the box using engine to brakes when they were cooked lol

see what I mean about the pink wheel nuts :lol: otherwise both setups look awesome though. :thumb:

I may yet end up going to a setup like yours , but Im trying to do something cheaper on the rears with H6 disks and some 2500's pads first, Much as Id like to go tracking every week its not top priority.

My big problem is the TÜV , currently I can swap everything back to std in 15 minutes. Everything else is a pain/expense getting it written into the cars paperwork.

there red :p


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