Maybe someone with the FSM for your MY can chime in otherwise you can view and download the FSM pages from the Subaru Stis website.

 

I just tried the brakes on my parents' 2017 Outback. I could get them to wind in with pliers, and the cube tool I have from 1999 didn't fit. I just put it all back together rather than break anything.

 

It is just so conflicting...

I see so many people say you must have a scan tool to wind them back. Others say no. All YouTube videos, people wind them back, then all the comments screaming their car is gonna blow up.

I normally trust MrSubaru on YouTube. He recently had a video doing brake change. He did use a scan tool and said you must. Yet, he changed the brakes and never even lubed the caliper pins or greesed the brakes lmao. So I'm not sure who to believe!

 

@sonofjack1337 - I have serviced the brakes on my '19 a few times, mainly to clean and lube the pins and slides, and to check the (very low) pad wear. Here's my feedback on the various methods...

Mr. Subaru isn't infallible. Subaru does not say one must use the Subaru Select Monitor, and, in fact, provides an alternative method. For those lacking access to a Subaru Select Monitor, the 2019 shop manual says one can wind the piston back using a special tool. See the screen shot further below. (I thought you'd downloaded the manual?) The second tool mentioned, the adapter, has the two pins to engage and rotate the piston. Poor choice of words by Subaru when they say "push back the piston". I use a tool for my angle grinder to do the same. It has two pins that mate well with the piston.

There is a caution elsewhere in the manual about removing the rear cover from the ebrake motor. You probably saw a video or two showing someone removing the cover and inserting a tool to unwind the piston that way. Not recommended.

Lastly, there's the method where one hooks power leads to the brake connector to unwind the pad. I've not used that method, but can see where it might come in handy after a ridge eventually appears on the rotor's edge. The ridge could make it difficult to slide the caliper off. Will cross that bridge then. I don't know if the pad can be safely nudged in a bit with a screwdriver as done with traditional non electronic, brakes.

When done, you'll need to engage and disengage the e-brake a few times. The manual says to do it five times.

 

@boureesub,

Thank you so much for this! Ha, I did download most of the manual! I guess I skipped some stuff though. They make it SO hard to download a large amount of the manual!


Do you mind linking the tool you use to wind back the piston correctly?

I currently have this tool, hoping it could work?

Amazon.com

 

Downloading the manual was tedious, that’s for sure. I have no link for the tool I use. It’s just a two- pin spanner that came with my angle grinder. I'm sure one of the items you have will work. A pair of needle nose pliers will work in a pinch.

The hardest part of working on the rear brakes is getting that spring back in place. Takes a little fussing, at least for me.

 

@sonofjack1337,

That is the tool set I used when replacing the rear rotors & pads on my wife's 2016 outback. Had very little issues with the tool and resetting the electronic parking brake. Well worth the ~$30.

 

Hello all. I have a 2020 Subaru Forrester. It has over 100,000 miles on it and this the first time I have had to change the brakes. The question is how difficult is it to change the brakes on this car? I have heard stories about how some cars have electronic firing mechanism for the antilock brakes that have to be jumped, etc. I have changed breaks in the past but not on this car. If it is a standard change, no problem. If it is more challenging, do I attempt?

 

@Liuhisn Your post has been moved to this existing thread.

The results of this search may also help: Search results for query: 2020

 

My personal two cent’s worth based on working on my own 2020 Sport.
it is recommended to use the scanner to put the e-brake on service mode to retract the actuator behind the caliper in order to avoid damaging the caliper.

for those poor sap like me don’t want to buy a scanner to replace the brake pads, there are two options:
Separate the actuator from the back of the caliper and wind back the actuator shaft carefully and don’t let containment in the process then use the piston press tool to push the pistons in making room for the new pads. or,
Remove the actuator electric connector carefully expose the two metal tips and attach two alligator clamps to the connectors on the actuators with a 12 V battery/jump start pack, you can wind either up or down the actuator by reversing the polarity. Then you can push in the pistons in the calipers.

some people on YT uses a tool to twist the piston to rewind the actuators. I got two beefs about it: the piston rubber seal can be stretched out when the piston rotates. Using the piston to push the actuators in might damage the actuator.

I have tried the battery method and was able to retract the actuators without damaging any hardware or tripping an error code.
Do what you feel comfortable to your forester. The decision is on the individuals.

it is also recommended to release the e-brake before power down the forester so keep that in mind when jacking the car on a slope.

 

Performed this maintenance yesterday. Brake pads and rotors. Thank to @boureesub for the snippet from the shop manual.

Rented a toolkit from O'Reilly, same as @sonofjack1337 linked in their post.

Rear brakes ended up being smoother than the front. Tool worked better than expected on the rear calipers. Front brakes were troublesome secondary to some over-tightened bolts, but overall simple.

Suggestion: Get yourself a 7mm hex socket for the rears. Using an allen wrench was a pain. Doable, but a pain.

 

Same here, my rear brakes went on fine.

The front bolts were TIGHT as hell. I had to use an impact gun to get them off.