Brake Lightness (WRX v LGT v STI)

I took the WRX out for a spirited spin over the weekend and noticed my driver’s side rear caliper is sticking again so I am probably going to upgrade rather than replace it with another used caliper. My rear rotors are grooved so they should be replaced as well. So that got me thinking about my options.

The OEM size in the rear is 266x10mm. I do plan to do more mountain driving this year (along with shifting weight rearward) so an upgrade in size is probably in order. The H6 upgrade is pretty popular and fairly cheap. However I still need calipers to fix my problem. My personal preference is to get vented rotors in the rear.

Which leaves me with either 290x18mm (2-Pot WRX / LGT) or 316x20mm STi rotors. Since I don’t want to deal with fixed calipers and their issues any time soon (costs/wheel clearance/etc…), it looks like 05-09 LGT brakes are the path for me.

The only issue is added weight from the bigger rotors and larger calipers. I can’t find any info on the weights in the rear, however the H6 rotors (290x10mm) weight about 12 lbs so I can assume the LGTs are probably just a couple pounds heavier than those. Now adding 4-5 lbs of rotating mass per rear corner is the opposite of Project +Lightness but brake fade is a party I don’t care to attend to often. Lighter wheels and a carbon fiber driveshaft will more than make up the difference in the added rotor weight. Can’t do much about the unsprung caliper weight though.

Stay tuned.

Rear Rotors

266x10mm (02-04 WRX)
Stock – 10 lbs
Caliper – XX lbs

290x10mm (H6)
Stock – 12 lbs
DBA – 12 lbs
Caliper –  XX lbs

290x18mm (LGT)
Stock – XX lbs

316x20mm (STi)
Stock – 17 lbs
Caliper – 6lbs

Front Rotors

294x24mm (02-14 WRX)
Stock – 13 lbs
DBA 2P – 13 lbs
Caliper – 13 lbs (approx)

316x30mm (05-09 LGT/15+ WRX)
Stock – 19 lbs
DBA 2P – XX lbs
Caliper – 14 lbs

326x30mm (STi)
Stock – 21 lbs
DBA 2P – 18 lbs
Girodisc – 16 lbs
Caliper – 9lbs