STi Brembos: Completed

[JeromeSt]

I've seen a lot of posts where people have either inquired about or attempted to fit STi Brembos without adapters of any kind but the consensus has always been that while the calipers bolt up to the knuckle, there is not a suitable rotor to make it work. As it turns out, this is no longer the case.

I won't bore anyone with the story of how I got here, but it involved a lot of research. The solution I landed on is to use Hyundai Veloster N Sport Package rotors. They meet almost all of the criteria to fit better than any other rotor I tried or spec'd out, measuring 345mm in diameter by 30mm thick. It's still not a perfect solution, but I'm willing to tolerate 2~3mm of pad material hanging over the top lip of the rotor. The parts list is below.

o PowerStop remanned Brembo 4 piston (STi) calipers:
 Front Left: L3698
 Front Right: L3699
 Rotor: Brembo 09.D626.11
 Pads Brembo 54039N (Front)

When I did a dry fit of the rotors and calipers, I noticed that the rotor was not centered in the caliper body. There are two ways that you could address this: Put a washer between the caliper and knuckle to stand it off about 2mm, or you could make a shim to fit inside the rotor hat and push the rotor outward by the same amount in lieu of the washer trick. A final fitment note, I would not recommend running a wheel smaller than 18x8. These rotors are massive. They barely fit behind my wheels, as you can see in the photos.

As for the rears, I forget his name, but there is an Aussie on here that mentioned that you can use GD STi back plates to fit the 04-07 STi calipers and rotors. This is true. What makes this a bit tricky to work out is the fact that SOA lists multiple backplates for the STi. Consulting with my local dealer, I was able to figure out which ones were the right ones. As a bonus, the STi and SVX use the same parking brake hardware, so you can reuse all of that hardware if you want. Rear parts list below.

 backing plates
• 26704FE000 and 26704FE010
 Calipers: 26292FE002 and 26292FE012
• Rotors: Brembo 09.7813.21
• Pads: Brembo 56048N

I opted for used rear calipers that I sandblasted clean of paint and resealed to give them a matching raw look to the PowerStop remanned calipers I used in the front. They're not easily visible behind the wheels I run, so I don't care if they're painted pretty colors.

When these are paired up with the Apex stainless steel brake lines, the result is, in my view, excellent. I didn't notice a big difference in pedal effort, but I did notice an increase in response.

Since the car that I did this work on was hit by a distracted driver, I'll likely end up swapping all of this to the white car I purchased, so if anyone would like a detailed write up, I'll probably do one then.

[irox]

Awesome! Great job. Thanks for the write up.

Would a slightly larger diameter rotor help solver the brake pad over hang?
If so, what diameter would be best?

I wonder if we could get them custom made, or if there is another rotor would could be turned down to fit.

It is great that there is a bigger brake option for the SVX that works with 18" wheels. I remember a company selling a big brake kit for the SVX but it required 19" wheels, which in my eyes seems hard to make work with the SVX.

Also, do you have any pictures of your whole car? I really like that paint color.

Also, very sorry to hear you car got hit.

[Mike621]

Thank you for sharing the write up! This is excellent news as the topic of BBK has been discussed with some frequency but not often acted on. I have tribeca rotors up front and some WRX calipers, but not quite as high performance as your setup.

[Blacky]

Good job! Looks great.

[JeromeSt]

Originally Posted by irox

Awesome! Great job. Thanks for the write up.

Would a slightly larger diameter rotor help solver the brake pad over hang?
If so, what diameter would be best?

I wonder if we could get them custom made, or if there is another rotor would could be turned down to fit.

The possibility of getting custom rotors made is probably a tall order for such a small market. The logistics of casting and machining them would be expensive for just a few examples to be made. I believe the ideal dimension to use the Brembo 4 piston calipers is 350mm x 30mm, but no such rotor exists on the market that also meets all of the other criteria (hub bore diameter, overall height, etc.) as of 2024. However, there are two-piece rotors that would work if there were a suitable hat to attach them to.

Brembo actually makes their technical drawings of every rotor they sell available on the open web, so figuring out the dimensions you'd need to make it work would (hypothetically) be as simple as designing the hat to match the dimensions of the STi rotor and adding the attachment points for a friction surface of suitable diameter and thickness.

The trouble is that the cost to do this would be almost as much as I paid for everything to put this together from the sources I used. For that, I'm more than OK with a couple millimeters of pad overhang.

Originally Posted by irox

It is great that there is a bigger brake option for the SVX that works with 18" wheels. I remember a company selling a big brake kit for the SVX but it required 19" wheels, which in my eyes seems hard to make work with the SVX.

It really depends on the design of the wheel itself. Method makes a set of 16" wheels that they explicitly state clear the 4 piston Brembos on an STi, but I can guarantee that there are still people out there that would tell you that you can't run smaller than a 17" wheel. You just have to make sure the radius of the wheel barrel is larger than the radius of the caliper relative to the centerline of the axle.

Originally Posted by irox

Also, do you have any pictures of your whole car? I really like that paint color.

Picture attached. The color is not original to the car, unfortunately. I don't know which of the previous owners had it repainted, but if I had to guess, it was the one before me. The chronology of this car that I was able to piece together is that it was a mono black car until at least 2006. It certainly wasn't a bad color choice. Silver/black over dove grey was pretty striking.

[JeromeSt]

Originally Posted by Mike621

Thank you for sharing the write up! This is excellent news as the topic of BBK has been discussed with some frequency but not often acted on. I have tribeca rotors up front and some WRX calipers, but not quite as high performance as your setup.

This setup is probably overkill for most, but I live very close to some choice driving roads and plan(ned) to take it up there when the weather warmed up. My first venture up into the mountains with the SVX was a pleasant surprise; these cars handle very well for their weight, but there's no getting around the fact that the stock brakes weren't intended for spirited driving. Near the end of my run, I started noticing brake fade, and kind of knew that I needed something more.

My Legacy wagon has STi brakes at all four corners, and I beat on those things like they owe me money. I figure if they're that good on a 3400 pound wagon, they'd be right at home on the SVX. That, and RA wouldn't let me return the calipers.

[Blacky]

Yes, the SVX is 3600 pounds. A chunky beast indeed.