Impreza Hawkeye WRX Brakes

[aruck]

Morning,

I need new pads on front and new discs and pads on rear of my 2006 Hawkeye Impreza WRX. Can anyone give me an idea of how much this is likely to cost me?

Is the standard equipment ok or is there a similar priced alternative that people recommend?

Is it a stupid idea to look at buying the equipment and fitting them myself? I've never done anything with brakes before.

Can anyone recommend a garage local to South Cheshire/Crewe/Stoke area?

Thanks,
Adrian

[ScoobieWRX]

For the rears i would recommend a set of EBC Turbo grooved discs with a set of their Redstuff pads for everyday driving or alternatively yellowstuff pads for harder driving. All in they will cost about the same as or depending on where you purchase from could be a bit cheaper than the standard OEM discs and pads from a Subaru dealership. In fact they probably will be cheaper than the standard fare.

Fitting them yourself is pretty straight forward however if you haven't done them before and aren't really confident then you should save yourself a big headache by letting a garage fit them. Once you've bought them a competent garage will be able to fit them without any problems and just charge you only for labour. They should last a long time on the rears as the front brakes are doing most of the work.

As for the front pads, so long as your front discs are OK get some Performance Friction pads (PF-Z). I haven't used them before but hear lots of excellent recommends from people i know that use them on track and everyday driving. I need to get some new discs and pads myself all round pretty soon so i'm going to be changing from the EBC's that i've used for a long time now to Performance Friction discs and pads all round as i would like a change and they'll need doing soon anyway.

You can buy your discs and pads online and have them delivered to you, and shopping around for best prices is a good idea.

HTH

[aruck]

Thanks. Rear discs definitely need doing; they look knackered. Front discs don't appear to be particularly worn so not going to bother changing them.

Any recommendations for suppliers?

[ScoobieWRX]

Just type in to a yahoo or google search engine EBC Discs and you'll get a multitude of online sources. In all honesty the majority of the time it comes down to price and speed of service. Try Graham Goode Racing, TSL, and have a look on eBay too.

There are loads. Same for Performance Frieciton pads as well.

[Animal]

Can you fit Performance Friction pads to standard WRX brakes? Thought you needed STi brakes / 18" wheels. Does this apply to blobeye WRXs (say a '54 plate like mine) too?

Best,

Animal

[ScoobieWRX]

Performance Friction Pad codes for WRX's with 17inch wheels and 4pot calipers front and 2pot rears.

These are the 01 Race/Rally compound for WRX:-
PAD CODES
Fronts - 0460.01.15.44
Rears - 0461.01.16.44

They don't do discs for WRX's only STi's to fit 4pot Brembo Brake calipers but still fit under 17" rims as found on standard STi's, or bigger setups fitting under 18" rims, and they do PF-Z's for STi's not WRX's but then i'd rather have the Race/Rally pad and they work properly from cold without needing to be warmed up.

You could purchase some upgrade aftermarket discs from another good quality manufacturer and still fit the PF pads on the ront and rear, which is what i will do, however, i will probably go for a 2nd hand set of Brembo front Calipers and some PF discs to match.

I just called up Performance Friction so this info is accurate and up to date. Amongst their distributors are Demon Tweakes in Wrexham, Co-ord Sports in Tipton or Zen Performance in Wellingborough. There are others as well, you'll have to go out and find them. Retail prices for the WRX pads via PF direct in the UK are 141.91+VAT (fronts) and 108.98+VAT (rears). You may well get a better deal via a distributor/reseller.

HTH

Edited by ScoobieWRX on Wednesday 29th July 16:08

[OzCupra]

Adrian

What sort of use does the car get? Weekend trackday toy or daily driver?

Whilst PF brakes (from my experience is probably the best on the market, we swapped from DS3000 to them on Group N and WRC cars when I was working at Prodrive) the compounds suggest above whilst are very good are their race rally compound and you may find them a bit on the hard / harsh side for daily driving.

EBC's I would steer well clear of as the results IMO on subaru's aren't that good.

I've fitted a set of DS2500 to a freinds 06 WRX with standard discs and this has transformed the car, as its used for a daily driver they good pedal feel and aren't to harsh on discs nor do they need any heat in them to actually work.

For something a little obscure but also am getting great results with are pads and discs from X-Spec motorsport (use their trackday / fast road pads) if you need the contact details for them drop me an email / PM

Hope this helps?

Gavin

I'd spoken to PF many a times about doing a different compound for road / trackdays with the 4 pot calipers but there wasn't a big enough market in their opinion to make this option.

[ScoobieWRX]

They also do a 97 compound which isn't quite as hard as the 01's.

I suppose the ideal setup for fast road/daily driver on a WRX with whats available from PF would be a set of Brembo 4pot's up front with Z compound on 330mm discs and 97 or 01 compounds on the rears to even things out. I think that would work well.

[scoobydude]

I'd personally go for some Diamond grooved discs all round and green stuff pads. I'd avoid red stuff pads unless it's for a track day. The red stuff pads don't work at all well unless you heat them up a lot IMO.

[ScoobieWRX]

RedStuff are fine for everyday driving scoobs, work very well from cold, don't need warming up and are recommended as a direct replacement/small upgrade for OEM pads. YellowStuff pads need a little warming up but work from cold and very well with abuse. I've been using them for the last couple of years and they have been well abused on occasion.

EBC don't recommend GreenStuff for Scoobs.

[Dover Nige]

I'd speak to Alyn at AS Performance and discuss your requirements with him. Great prices and service.

http://www.asperformance.com/

For the record I went with Pagid 4-2-1's from him on standard discs on my 07 STI.

[scoobydude]

I once smashed an STI up because the red stuff pads didn't work when cold and I went straight ahead when I really wanted to go round the corner. I'd never fit red stuff pads to a road car ever again. Yellow stuff pads would be okay. I cant believe anyone whos actualy driven a car with cold red stuff pads would advise using them.

[Stu R]

scoobydude said:

I'd personally go for some Diamond grooved discs all round and green stuff pads. I'd avoid red stuff pads unless it's for a track day. The red stuff pads don't work at all well unless you heat them up a lot IMO.

Redstuff are more akin to OEM stuff these days, where they used to be their performance pad they're not by a long stretch now. Regardless, I'd still recommend yellow stuff.