The stock rotor is 286mm x 1o vs the STI 316mm x 20mm rotor, that’s a substantial difference! The DBA conversion rotor uses the WRX’s smaller 170mm e-brake vs the STI’s 190mm. The DBA rotor is vented and the stock WRX one is solid and only 10mm thick, this alone is going to make a big difference!
The heavy iron stock caliper is on the left and the STI/Brembo caliper is on the right. The Brembo caliper is much lighter.
You can see how the stock caliper floats and the Brembo caliper is fixed with two pistons.
You can see here how the STI pads are a lot bigger and have more surface area than the WRX pads.
to install the bigger STI-sized rotors the stock dust shields have to be modified to clear the outer diameter of the bigger rotor.
8 comments
aren’t DBA rotors super expensive? like BBK rotor price kinda expensive?
Not the one-piece ones.
For the fronts you have plenty of options like from Centric and it’s child subsidiaries. It’s a standard STi fitment part. DBA is an “OEM plus,” level upgrade.
The rears are of course more tricky. Another option for that is the Kartboy rear brackets (San Diego company, makes all things in-house) , to get to a two pot rear caliper and still keep the dust shield I believe? Going that route nets you not having to buy a special rotor over time.
I’m in the process of piecing together a super budget brake upgrade myself for my VA WRX. I looked at going with OEM STi calipers front and rear but came across a set of brand new Cadillac CTS-V front calipers from a local Chevy dealership for $200 and found a company from that makes brackets to mount them. All in, it should be less than $2,500 front and rear even factoring the rear STi setup. Excited to see how this works out in comparison.
One of my friends has gone this route and he likes how it worked out.
Although not in the same league as the STi brakes, the 2006-2007 WRX had 4-piston front/2-piston rear fixed calipers. The 2002-2005 had the sliding calipers, and the 06-07 package is a popular swap for the earlier years as a mild upgrade.
Love the content and will probably look into getting some used calipers to do this on my 05 Saab 92x Aero! Awesome write up with great details!
Hey I’m driving an Australian delivery 2001 WRX will I have any issues with this upgrade?