Adventures in 4 piston brakes

Some of you may know me, many of you probably know my brother-in-law Brett, who used to work the parts counter at Morrie's BP Subaru. I've had me '04 Forester XS for a few years now, and it has seen duty on several Rally America events. I decided that it was high time for some upgrades and figured the 4 piston front calipers would be a good place to start. I did my research, and figured that it was pretty much plug and play. I checked around and ordered my parts: left caliper: check; right caliper: check; pins: 4, check; pad kit: check.

The next week I had my parts. I figured I'd play it safe and test fit everything before I cracked open any hydraulic plumbing. I unbolted the carrier and swung away the whole 2 piston floating caliper assembly in a single unit. I slide the caliper in, no problem with the rotor, spacing looks good. OK, let's try setting the wheel back in place...

Uh oh...

The one dimension I failed to consider: the clearance behind the wheel. The stock Forester wheels were designed to give minimum clearance for the two piston brakes.

I checked the wheels on my wife's '09 Legacy, which has the 2 piston floating caliper setup, and it's stock wheels have nearly an inch of clearance between the caliper and the back of the wheel. Trading would get ugly as the TPS on her car would get irritated if we didn't do the swap "all the way", and all that swapping would be a little expensive for what we'd really get out of it.

So now I'm looking for some stock Subaru 16" wheels that will fit over the brakes... Oh yeah, and I have a deadline: Ojibwe weekend. WRX stock wheels? 2.5RS wheels?

JB

 

You're looking at the 2.5RS 5 or 6 spokes.

I believe that's about it that will fit for 16" OEM wheels.

Or if someone has steelies from an 08 impreza those will clear the 4 pots too.

 

^ Yes the 2.5 RS wheels from 98-01 will clear the 4 pot setup. (well looking dead sexy at the same time)

Otherwise you can get the wheels from an 06 WRX as those came with 4 pots from the factory.

 

I read on Nasioc that the 06/07 2.5i 16" 5 spoke wheels will clear 4 pots too.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1601890&post#7

 

I'm using 08 legacy Gt 5 spoke 17x7 rims and it clears the 4pot. Or find some 3mm spacer to used with your wrx rims.

 

Yep, I'm favoring the 2.5 RS wheels. I don't want to go to 17 wheels.


(OK, that's six posts...)

 

The WRX wheels would be fine but I have desire to go to a 17 wheel (one more reason to not swap with my wife's car.)