03 RX Brake compatibility question!

[trackdaybro]

I've been trying to research this over the last couple of days but there seems to be a lack of or conflict of relevant information, and the Legacy info makes it more confusing.

Essentially, I want to upgrade the brakes on my 03 RX. One of the options I've found is putting on Forester GT brakes. There's a 2000 F-GT getting wrecked and I can get good prices on the parts from it, so that would be ideal. Fitting brakes inside the wheels is not an issue as I have 18's.

From what I can figure out, the F-GT has bigger calipers and rotors, which mean the mounting hardware on the Liberty won't work, so I'd need to also get the backing plates(?) off the F-GT. The other part I'm fairly sure of is that the brake line terminations are different, so I'd need lines off the F-GT as well.

So far I'm looking at:
- New calipers
- New Rotors
- New mounting hardware
- New lines

Is this correct?

I'm a little confused by the lines based on it seeming like F-GT line kits have 4 lines, and Liberty line kits have either 4 or 6, but don't both have ABS?

I was also looking at simply getting new rotors and pads and doing a service on the calipers (the car has a lot of K's on it), but I can't find a definitive answer on rotor size, and perfectrun.jp (http://tinyurl.com/psz6ha9) has an insane amount of variation on the different Endless pads for the Liberty. It's a nightmare trying to figure out which is the right one.

Thanks!

[HyRax]

In most cases with Subaru's, the fronts are bolt-on replacements. It's usually only the rears that might need adapters. The backing plates you will most likely need to remove altogether since they will usually foul on the larger disc rotor. Easiest thing to do is measure the distance between the caliper bolts to see if they match up with the Forrie caliper bolts.

As for consumables for your current brakes, the variation you are seeing is likely the different applications for those pads, ie: street-only, street-plus-track, track-only, etc.

Subaru Liberty's use six brake lines because of the multi-link suspension on the rear (two lines per wheel on the back, one per wheel on the front). Take the opportunity to replace them with braided lines (don't re-use the Forrie lines - they're no better than what you've got on now) - the ends should look no different. The brake lines also have nothing to do with the ABS - that's a separate cable going to an ABS sensor on the hub assembly.