Brakes for an '05 STi?

Brakes for an '05 STi?

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Discussion

Ekona

Original Poster:

1,652 posts

201 months

Monday 13th February 2012
quotequote all
Hi folks,

TL;DR - What front brakes for a late blobeye STi?


The wife's car is a late '05 blobeye STi with (I believe, please correct me if I'm wrong!) the 5x114 PCD wheels and brake setup on it from the hawkeye cars, and the front brakes are going to need doing sooner rather than later. It's currently running Performance Friction discs and pads from the previous owner which are nothing short of utterly outstanding, however given the fact that the car mostly does the schlep up and down the motorway between home and work for her it's almost pointless spending £900+ on the same again.

Is there anything that works well on this setup without costing the earth? I've been looking at the Black Diamond discs with Yellowstuff pads as an option for about £350 all in, as I've used the BD discs in the past on an MR2 Roadster and they were fine and the current generation of Yellowstuff pads were pretty impressive on my old VXR220. That said, if there's something out there better for the same or a touch more money then I'm happy to go for that instead, or if the suggested setup above isn't going to make any difference over the cheapy EBC discs & pads then I may as well save the cash.

The car literally does 95% motorway drive for her, and 5% B-road blast when I get a go. Any and all suggestions gratefully received smile

ScoobieWRX

4,863 posts

225 months

Monday 13th February 2012
quotequote all
Ekona said:
Hi folks,

TL;DR - What front brakes for a late blobeye STi?


The wife's car is a late '05 blobeye STi with (I believe, please correct me if I'm wrong!) the 5x114 PCD wheels and brake setup on it from the hawkeye cars, and the front brakes are going to need doing sooner rather than later. It's currently running Performance Friction discs and pads from the previous owner which are nothing short of utterly outstanding, however given the fact that the car mostly does the schlep up and down the motorway between home and work for her it's almost pointless spending £900+ on the same again.

Is there anything that works well on this setup without costing the earth? I've been looking at the Black Diamond discs with Yellowstuff pads as an option for about £350 all in, as I've used the BD discs in the past on an MR2 Roadster and they were fine and the current generation of Yellowstuff pads were pretty impressive on my old VXR220. That said, if there's something out there better for the same or a touch more money then I'm happy to go for that instead, or if the suggested setup above isn't going to make any difference over the cheapy EBC discs & pads then I may as well save the cash.

The car literally does 95% motorway drive for her, and 5% B-road blast when I get a go. Any and all suggestions gratefully received smile
Rather than YellowStuff try BlueStuff as they are better from cold. Used for endurance racing. Very long lasting and effective!!

As for rotors...try these chaps.

http://www.mtecbrakes.co.uk/index.php?main_page=in...

Excellent service, great quality rotors. Get the drilled only as the slotted and drilled are too noisy for everyday use. I've got them on the Jag and although they are brilliant for the money they are even too noisy on that so next time i'll just get the drilled. And they look superb!!



Ekona

Original Poster:

1,652 posts

201 months

Monday 13th February 2012
quotequote all
Will take a look, thanks!

JollyGrnMonster

887 posts

196 months

Monday 13th February 2012
quotequote all
Seeing the thread title my recommendation was going to be performance friction lol

Try "as performance" as they often have stuff at good prices.

Simon

paulmoonraker

2,850 posts

162 months

Wednesday 15th February 2012
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I use Yellow Stuff on standard discs (same car as yours). Great for fast road and track. However, I do find that are a bit vacant when they are really cold, but this seems to disappear almost immediately (I could be imagining this hehe).

kin quick

207 posts

210 months

Thursday 16th February 2012
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DS2500 pads and a decent set of discs, job done! good cold and hot bite, last a long time and not too much dust, bit more expensive than EBC, but worth it in my opinion/expierance, good all round package!




Ekona

Original Poster:

1,652 posts

201 months

Thursday 16th February 2012
quotequote all
What discs are you using with the DS2500 if you don't mind me asking?

I have found somewhere that sells the rotors for the PF discs separate from the bells which does bring the price down to £400 for th rotors alone, but again I'm not sure it's worth spending that much on her car really. I also need to be sure that the discs are PF ones, they look identical but I need to have a really good look I think and see if they've got anything stamped on them.

Another silly question, when changing discs & pads at the front is it worthwhile buying any other bits that might be needed for the job, such as locking pins or similar? Changing discs & pads is something I'm comfortable doing, it's just knowing the specifics of the Imprezas and whether they've any little bits on there that tend to need changing at the same time.

kin quick

207 posts

210 months

Sunday 19th February 2012
quotequote all
Sorry, missed this, I used to use Tarox grooved discs with the DS2500's, found them really good all rounders and pretty good on track too.

I've just purchased some PF discs and pads and used them a few years ago, got to admit they are awesome and can't wait to fit them. I think anything will feel inferior compared to the PF setup, but there are some really good compromises out there that won't brake the bank (pun intended)