So I'm checking out my brakes in preparation for Powercruise and noticed a handful of caliper slide pins are stuck. So get them all out via heat and swear words, and go pick up some new ones at O'Reilly's. Get home and the new front ones are significantly longer than the old ones, and the rubber boots they suggested for the front are also a different style as well. Rears look similar (both pin and boot). Prior to going to the store I checked prices on Amazon and noticed that I had ordered all this same stuff in 2017 sometime, and now seeing this length issue it jogged my memory of an identical issue I had with the online purchase. I'm pretty sure I said f it at that time and cleaned them up and put them back in... But now they need to be replaced. Anybody ever had this issue before? I know the 02-03 WRX had a weird issue with brakes and certain manufacturing dates, but I thought that was only in the rear. And how the hell do I find the right parts if every site suggests these wrong ones? Thanks for any help. I'll try to get a pic up tomorrow. -Cody
So, just another random note. I looked up caliper brackets on Rock Auto and for the 02 WRX, the front bracket has a "pocket" that the slide pin boot goes into, and the bracket itself is also able to be used on either side of the car. For the 03, the bracket is left or right specific and also has a "collar" that the boot slips over the outside of (the same style that mine has, apparently). Now, how to get the correct parts...
Was gonna delete this whole thing as I've figured it out myself, but maybe some random info will help somebody. After some mind numbing parts researching and comparing I've found that I have 04 style caliper brackets on my car. I looked up the 03 WRX brackets on O'Reilly's website and they matched what I currently have (as mentioned above). However, the slides and boots didn't. I noticed that in the parts specs that they fit "from 01/2003". So for the hell of it I looked up parts for an 04. Boom. Same caliper brackets but now the correct slides and boots. So went back to O'Reilly's this morning and did some exchanging for the correct stuff. Again, I'll post pics in another post when I've got a little time to put into it.
This is why I confine myself to the dealership parts department for virtually everything. I can't remember the last time I bought a car part at one of the chain stores. Glad you got it figured out. LOL'd at the prior experience and the faulty memory...you're getting old.
Yep, Subaru changed the pads/calipers sometime between mid-2002 and mid-2003 depending on model (even more exciting, as the Outbacks went from a 276 to 292mm rotor). Was a problem even at the dealership, because if at some point in it's life, someone bought pads/rotors/calipers, they might have unknowingly converted from one system to the other. You got the right idea, just have to look up a year newer or a year older to get the alternate part number.
Yeah, I swear since having the kid my memory is toast. Kinda sucks sometimes. I'm only 34 and already have to resort to actually writing notes in order to remember things. Haha.
You can visibly tell the difference right off the bat too. The older style pads have larger tabs that fit the calipers. Not 100% sure but from a quick glance it looks like my 03 WRX pads are the same as my 11 OB
