Full Front and Rear 08-12 STI Brakes Swap
 

The keys to the swap are to move the bleeders on the front calipers from the bottom to the top. This involves removing an allen head bolt and swapping it for the bleeders from the bottom. The other key is getting the DBA rotors that are dual drilled for 5x100 and 5x114. The only hard part is cutting off the rear dust shield as it won't work with the new larger rotors and it doesn't unbolt like it does in the front. I used a set of tin snips as I couldn't get my cut off wheel in there at a good angle. The brake lines are setup for the OEM calipers, but you can easily find a good angle to tighten them down to the caliper. The dimensions of the rear hat are correct for the BRZ parking brake, so that works perfectly as well. My wheels are 18x8 +42 and there is plenty of clearance in the rear, but not much clearance in the front.

2008-2012 STI Front and Rear Calipers
2008-2012 STI DBA 4000 Series T3 Rotors
2008-2012 STI Hawk HPS Pads
BRZ Goodridge G-Stop Braided Stainless Steel Brakeline Kit
ATE Super Blue Racing Brake Fluid

http://brz.ridedomain.com/front_driver.jpg

http://brz.ridedomain.com/front_passenger.jpg

http://brz.ridedomain.com/rear_driver.jpg

http://brz.ridedomain.com/rear_passenger.jpg

http://brz.ridedomain.com/driver.jpg

http://brz.ridedomain.com/passenger.jpg

http://brz.ridedomain.com/front_wheel.jpg

http://brz.ridedomain.com/rear_wheel.jpg

Always welcome any comments or questions.

Will the fronts clear 17" wheels? Looks good!

Great work! :clap:

Some install pics would be nice. Also, how do they feel compared to the stock brakes? Have you given them a good pounding yet?

I haven't given them a good pounding. Pedal feel is good, and I would definitely swap to some more aggressive pads at the track. I meant to take pics during the install, but once my hands get dirty then that plan normally goes out the window. I can probably pull the wheels and take some more pics and take pics of the removed dust shields.

I think it would be close. Looks like a little less than an inch of clearance from the top of the caliper to the barrel of the wheel.

Looks good :thumbup:

Looks hawt!

where'd you get the calipers/rotors? I'm thinking of getting this done to my BRZ once it arrives.

Thanks

Fantastic!

Well done!

Very cool.

I got the four calipers used off a member on NASIOC for $1400 (definitely better deals out there, but this was the only set of 08-12s I could find for sale used), rotors/pads from a vendor on NASIOC for $700, and the brake lines were about $100 from Tire Rack. I had the ATE fluid as I use it for my SpecE30. I definitely feel it was worth the $2200 investment. I also looked at all the Subaru parts stores online, and the best deal I could find for the calipers brand new was $2200 if you want to go that route. I figured the $800 savings was worth going used.

Tip for the rear dust shield: drill out the spot welds. That's what I did when I changed my WRX rears from stock to the "H6" upgrade.

I didn't remember seeing any spot welds to drill out. I will have to take a closer look.

Blarg. They may have changed that with the whole rear suspension. I'd check 3GWRX.com or NASIOC to see what the Impreza rear spindle assembly looks like as ours should be identical to that chassis model. I drilled out the spot welds on my GD chassis WRX, but that may have changed.

Nicely done. I liked the stock brakes on my old STI, I can only imagine how good they'd be on a lighter car like the BRZ.

I had 17s on my 2010 STi so I would think it'll work on the BRZ too. Just make sure your wheel spokes can clear Brembos.

It may have been covered but what changed on the 08+ Sti calipers? Car looks awesome too, nice job.

Car looks really solid, brakes fill up the wheels nicely and the drop is perfect!

Did you get a chance to see the weight difference? I'm thinking of changing the rears

Internally? Probably nothing. That was the year the new chassis debuted, with the new multi-link rear and new rear knuckles. The change was presumably to accommodate the new structure in the rear (bolt spacing of the calipers changed while fastener size remained the same). 08+ STI brakes are actually still pretty expensive. You can fit 04+ STI fronts AND rears, but the rears from any GD chassis STI (2004-2007) will require a special adapter bracket that you can find from several vendors (Ken @ KNS Brakes being my favorite and possibly the designer of said bracket). GD STI brakes are cheaper. I actually have a full set leftover from a project I never got done on my WRX.

Looks great!!

You're adding weight over stock by going to the Brembo calipers/rotors. The calipers might be aluminum (still heavy and big) but god those discs are huge and heavy.

Do you have a DBA Part number for the rotors used or did you get them custom drilled for the 5 x 114.3???

Looks really great man. I plan to follow suit shortly.

Can anyone more knowledgeable than me comment on the result that inverting the tapered pistons on these will have?

How much you have in the project

Your avatar needs to eat a cheeseburger but still :wub:

Calipers are aluminum. I think someone posted the numbers and you are definitely adding some weight to the front and the rear with this setup. If you are worried about it, you can offset some of it by going with a more expensive aluminum hat rotor.

If you swap bleeders, than the pistons are in the same orientation as they are on the STI so you should get nice even pad wear.

As long as the DBA part number has a -10 at the end, then it is dual drilled for 5x100 and 5x114. Here is the part number for the rear rotors:

DBA 42656S-10

I mentioned it earlier. I have about $2200 total invested in the project. If you wanted new calipers it would be closer to $3000 invested.

She is probably ready for a womens bikini fit show im sure she had one after the show

Looks great man! I can't wait to get back in town and meet up!

I meant to say calipers LOL. Rotors are all iron obviously, unless you're springing for 2pc rotors ($700 a pair IIRC).

And if you're buying used calipers you have a good chance at fucking that up. The fasteners on the opposite end brake bleeder ports SHOULD be red Loctite'd in...so you would want to torch them before trying to get 'em out and swapping. Since it's an all aluminum caliper...every single one of the threads on them is very fragile; most actually have had the mounting ears mangled.

They were definitely red Loctited on mine, but I didn't use any heat nor mess up any of the threads or heads on the bolts. I have definitely used a torch previously to heat up red Loctite on some wheel studs to remove them, and it works great.

Damn that sucks the rear is basically just for looks, maybe a bit better modulation and better cooling at extremes but IMO the stock rear brakes are very good as is.

I like seeing OEM stuff used. Any idea of what all the parts end up running?

From what I've seen, it appears that the stock rear brakes aren't getting utilized as much as they could be (see the pictures @Dave-ROR posted of his stockers).

@King Tut has said that it ran him just over $2000 with used calipers and to expect closer to $3000 with new calipers.

Great write up as usual ;)

Glad to see your BRZ is looking better than ever now.

I still like the simplicity of pad swaps and the availability of pad options for the STI rear calipers. Go with a more aggressive rear pad if you want to get more use out of the rears.

I think what the other guy meant is that the STi calipers are rear mounted in relation to the rotors vs the BRZ which is front mounted. Due to this and the fact that the STi has tapered pistons, you'd have the brakes basically backwards from it's design causing tapered wear.

I don't think that is something that is switched by just swapping the bleeders, is it? Brakes really aren't my area of expertise, so I'm all ears.

Looks great either way, I may go this route! :thumbup:

blarg