DrKrazy Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Okay Project Cheap stops like living heck...would be scary if someone cut me (or my wife) off and slammed on the brakes. The whole system is in good shape not worn down really, in adjustment (on the rear), and no leaks. I plan on doing the rear disc conversion, but am curious if that really helped all that much for other people. I can't get the tires to lock-up no matter how hard I try, and stopping distance from even 40 or so is pretty damn far on regular braking...maybe 29's were just too big for these brakes to even think about stopping the car well. So did those rear disc's help out alot? Or what else have you done to improve the braking on your rigs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbrat Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 I've put rear discs on 2 different lifted rigs, and had 'em on 2 other lifted rigs, and loved them. much better stopping than with the drums.... IMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoahDL88 Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 You are on the right track with the rear disc brakes, you might also try stainless steel lines, won't help with the stopping as much as improving brake feel dramatically. you may be able to find better brake pads, which would be the cheapest way of improving brake feel, "racing" pads will help a little.... if you can find them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingbobdole Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Ditto on my wagon... Braking feel is more like just slowing down.... Checker sells ceramic pads for the xt6.... maybe they do for Gls too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Replace the front when you do the rear conversion. And then bleed the system. Amazing what a complete once over on the brakes can do. And yes, my lifted wagon had a much easier time stopping my mud terrains after the rear disc conversion. I highly recommend it. -Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 discs, and stainless lines!!! and yes, replace the pads on the front end too, you wouldn't beleive how much it helps, and is soooo easy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rossta86 Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 I havn't been on the board in a while, to the point of that my pictures of my lifted brat were deleted off of the members album section(no hard feelings as i have not been around here in a while) To go on i still enjoy reading this forum from time to time, but enough with the reminescing(spelling), the rear disc brakes helped enormously on my subaru. With rear drums on my brat, if i would skid to a stop, the brat would end up sideways. Now with the disc my brat it stops much much straighter. I can't say that it stops straight as an arrow, but i can guarentee you that you will be very happy with the improvement after going from drums to disk in the rear. I feel much safer in an emergency stop with my rear disk than i ever did with my rear drum brakes, I definetly recomend the upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zefy Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 heh now i can't wait to get the rear discs for my 79... stopping right now is somewhat of a challenge at times... i've gotten all 4 wheels to lock up not it, but that was on wet, with kumho power crap tires on it... with the new tires it isn't so bad... but heh... when i drive down hills(long ones... lots of em here...) by the bottom i can sometimes smell the brakes, and they don't work all that well... i've been told drums kinda stop working when they get to hot... i downshift as much as possible... but ya... 26 year old synrcos in the trans doesn't like it to much... i double cutch pretty much all the time(unless slowing down is of the upmost importance... ie... kittens on the road... ) but ya... double clutching requires me to take my foot off the brakes... so thats kinda redundant don't ya think? i'm working on my "sport shifts"... but my throttle pedal pad thingy keeps slipping off... making me either rev to much, stop to much, not stop at all, or not rev at all... working on my LFBing too... same results... way to much or not nearly enough braking... mind you i do this on empty roads... i'm going to shut up now and wait for my turn at getting some rear discs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstSubaruGLwagon Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 OK ,, so where do we look for the best infomation on this conversion?????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadsubaruguy Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 ita actually really easy to do, all you need is the rear disc trailing arms and some time... its just a straight swap.....and it improves braking alot..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustyrider Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 OK ,, so where do we look for the best infomation on this conversion?????? Have you seen this yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrKrazy Posted November 3, 2005 Author Share Posted November 3, 2005 I thought all you really needed was the backing plates, hubs, rotors, and calipers..where is that rear disc conversion guide I saved...So from what I'm hearing it's rear discs (knew that) and new lines. Going to start looking into better brake pads for it I guess too. Would like to get it stopping alot better so my wife can drive it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaws dawg Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 discs, and stainless lines!!! and yes, replace the pads on the front end too, you wouldn't beleive how much it helps, and is soooo easy! What Numbchux said. I did a rear disc conversion on my jetta with stainless lines, ceramic pads, DOT 5 fluid, and crossdrilled rotors (all stock sizes). Before the conversion I could do about 3 hard corners then the brakes would fade to nothing. After I did the conversion I couldn't find enough corners to get the brakes to fade out. I'm not sure how cross drilling your rotors will work on the trails though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoahDL88 Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Make sure that if you switch from DOT 3/4 to DOT 5 you flush the lines with alcohol, not your good tequila, but the stuff you get at the drug store. as for cross drilling your rotors, that was only necessary when pads created large amounts of gas that needed to be disipated. new pads don't gas much if any, so cross drilling is mostly for show, along with your Hondar type R sticker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyromanic Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Yea, I'm runing 27 inch tires on a lifted 85 wagon with rear disk conversion, and I'm not happy with it's braking capacity. Where do we find and what do we ask for regarding stainless braided lines? Pyro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganM Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 I was happy with just upgrading to rear discs. New pads and rotors + a good bleeding does wonders if you got the rear discs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam N.D.J. Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 WIth just rear disc, and the stock, non-vented 1982 front brakes, I'm able to stop my 3375Lb Brat on a dime with 29.8" tires, no problem. The brakes on a Subaru are actually a little overbuilt for the car (much like the rest of the car), which is one of the great things about them. I imagine if you have the bigger post 83 vented brakes they would work better than mine. But I like mine cause I don't have to worry about anything getting to the vents, like mud, rocks, small tree's, typical stuff you deal with on the trail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanislru Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 You are on the right track with the rear disc brakes, you might also try stainless steel lines, won't help with the stopping as much as improving brake feel dramatically. you may be able to find better brake pads, which would be the cheapest way of improving brake feel, "racing" pads will help a little.... if you can find them. Good advice there. The other benefit to SS lines in the front is that if you then have/put discs on the front/rear bias will change slightly and involve the rear brakes a bit more. Used to really annoy me having the fronts lock up waaay ahead of the rears when wheeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoahDL88 Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 I'm under the impression that new subaru brake lines work on the older ones, so if you've done the rear disc conversion the new stuff should fit, i'm gonna see about getting a set of Forester SS lines and see how well they fit. Gotta get a job first, there not cheap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganM Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 After properly bleeding; my pedal was rock hard using stock softlines up front and 2' long softlines in the rear (on each side). I know some ppl said my pedal would be spongey or poor response with so much softline; but that didnt turn out to be true. Despite the soft rubber outer shield; they have very rigid cores. If you have a spongey pedal there are some steps to take to improve pedal response. rear drums are manualy adjusted; out of adjustment and your pedal will be slow to enguage. soft lines might be worn out; OEM replacements work great flush and properly bleed hydrolic system (cross directional pattern: right rear, front left, left rear, front right) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 OK ,, so where do we look for the best infomation on this conversion?????? http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/article.php?a=5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subarubrat Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 One of the best changes you can make is your pedal ratio. I changed mine via the fulcrum point and along with the 84+ vented rotors and EBC pads it stops fairly well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoahDL88 Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 One of the best changes you can make is your pedal ratio. I changed mine via the fulcrum point and along with the 84+ vented rotors and EBC pads it stops fairly well. There's EBC pads for our old rigs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam N.D.J. Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 As far as lines go, I doubled up on the stock rubbers to account for my lift, so I have twice as much rubber as a stock vehicle with 4 corner disks, but, my pedal is quite stiff, doesn't take much pedal operation to lock up. Also one of the things that I did was replace the 20 year old brake booster. The rubber inside them will break down, and loose flexability, this will make it hard to use the brakes, it was night and day between the old and new. Just a testiment of how well the brakes work; on my last wheeling trip I got into some messy stuff (i.e. bushes, trees, almost fell off a mountain) and tore out one of my front brake lines. Completely lost one channel. Drove it home without a problem, the braking distance only increased about 5 feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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