Coupe Brembo Retrofit

[Xtalgic]

Getting ready to do this swap in the next couple months, Ive already sourced my calipers but having some difficulty deciding on rotors. Ive read a lot of good things about Adam's Rotors which I thinking I'm leaning towards as of right now. The other option are stoptechs. Anyone ever have a set of adams rotors on any of their cars? If so, some feedback please?

 

[84FordMan]

I know Tailwalker was looking at Adams rotors, can't remember if he pulled the trigger on them or not.

I will break down the differences in designs and what to look for in a rotor.

Cross-drilled:
- Allows moisture and debris to be removed off the face of the rotors.
- Also done as a weight savings, rotors are apart of unsprung mass, weight savings make more of an overall impact on the unsprung side moreso than the sprung side.
- Drilled process is formed one of two ways, preferred is CAST, as the metal is poured into the mold, tooling is present to make the holes, metal is formed around the holes. The second method is taking a blank rotor and DRILLING it, these are your cheap eBay rotors and the like, this process weakens the rotor and is more common to form stress cracks.

Slotted:
- Slots will keep pads clean of debris
- Depending on how slots are shaped, will determine how much wind noise they make

*Important note*
- Both slotted and cross-drilled, and combo of both, will eat up pads as their nature is to clean the pads.
- Drilling and slotting also reduces the amount of surface area of a rotor, thereby lowering it's ability to dissipate heat. These will lead to more warping and cracking.

- Yes race cars run rotors that are cross drilled and/or slotted, but once we acknowledge the fact the metallurgy and overall design dollar in their rotors versus ours, then combined with the fact they replace their rotors after each race and you replace your rotors every 50k...

Blank rotors:
- Not all metallurgy in rotors is created equal. Look for mention of "high carbon" when selecting a quality rotor, period, regardless of blank, slotted, drilled, etc.

 

[Tailwalker]

I was indeed looking at Adams, but heard they had warping issues. Stoptech and R1 evidently are made by the same company, with one (R1) being their 'base' line. I picked up the R1 slotted. They were 15 more per rotor than the blanks. Honestly, I bought them more for looks than anything..understanding their usage. I avoided the drilled for the warping and cracking issues, as well as the premature wear of the pads.

 

[Tailwalker]

They arrive today! Hopefully installed by turkey day. lol

 

[Xtalgic]

Nice! So I stumbled upon a site that has the stoptechs at 25% off a piece so i pulled the trigger on a set of slotted, kind of spur of the moment but the deal was too good to pass up! ...Now I just need to pads...

 

[Tailwalker]

Nice! What did you end up spending if you don't mind sharing?

 

[Xtalgic]

$371! Sale ends today.

 

[Tailwalker]

Not too shabby!

 

[chewbakarox]

I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on the Coupe Brembos. Based on the write-up in this thread, I'm hoping the folks that have done some brake work can answer a few questions for me.

1. When refilling the master cylinder with brake fluid when bleeding the brakes, what type of brake fluid can I use? Does it have to be OEM fluid, or any similar DOT fluid?
2. What is the "brake hardware kit"? Is this an OEM part that I can just order for the Brembos?
3. Are the speed bleeder screws a necessity? Or do they just make the bleeding process easier?
4. What size hose is required to fit over the bleeder screws?

Thanks in advance!

 

[84FordMan]

I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on the Coupe Brembos. Based on the write-up in this thread, I'm hoping the folks that have done some brake work can answer a few questions for me.

1. When refilling the master cylinder with brake fluid when bleeding the brakes, what type of brake fluid can I use? Does it have to be OEM fluid, or any similar DOT fluid?
2. What is the "brake hardware kit"? Is this an OEM part that I can just order for the Brembos?
3. Are the speed bleeder screws a necessity? Or do they just make the bleeding process easier?
4. What size hose is required to fit over the bleeder screws?

Thanks in advance!

1. DOT 4 brake fluid, no specific brand required. If you intend to track your car, use Castrol SRF, has the highest wet boiling point and while it's dry boiling point is lower than that of Motul RBF600, DOT 4 is quite hygroscopic by nature and no name brand can fix that, so in reality, the wet boiling point is your realistic brake boil-over temperature.

2. Hardware kit consists of the slide pins (2 per caliper) and a spreader clip (1 per caliper). The slide pins go through the tops of the pads and allow them to slide towards and away from the rotor as the piston extends and retracts. The spreader clip keeps the pad from contacting the rotors until the pistons apply enough force.

The number I supplied is a part number O'Reilly Auto Parts uses, any other parts store can interchange it to their part number, worst case scenario, have them look up brake hardware for a 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 Track with 18" wheels.

3. Not required by any means, but you will need a helper to either sit in the car pumping, holding and releasing the brake pedal or opening and closing the bleeder valves while you operate the pedal, if you don't get them.

4. I have so many scrap hoses laying around, from memory it was either 1/4" or 5/16".

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[chewbakarox]

Thanks for the expert advice!!

 

[chewbakarox]

Can someone also tell me what size speed bleeder screws fit the front and rear brembos? Thanks.

 

[84FordMan]

Can someone also tell me what size speed bleeder screws fit the front and rear brembos? Thanks.

Here are the ones I used:

http://www.amazon.com/Dorman-12706-Speed-Bleeder-M10-1X32-89/dp/B000C5G2O6

Same bleeder screws front and back, just remember there are two per caliper.

 

[chewbakarox]

Thanks again...

 

[chewbakarox]

Got my Brembo calipers and various components ready for installation this weekend (Merry Christmas to me!).

I have one question related to the brake pads and placement of wear indicators. I believe in one of Ed's previous posts, he stated that each caliper should have only one pad with a wear indicator, and that it should be on the outboard side of the rotor. So that means that if I'm looking at the caliper from the side of the car, the wear indicator would be towards the bottom of the rotor for all 4 wheels, correct?

 

[84FordMan]

I think my original issue may have been more to the specific brand I was using, Performance Friction.

I switched up to EBC Bluestuff a few months back and they dropped in with no modification.

Before you go clipping any wearing indicators off, see if it has any trouble dropping in first.

 

[chewbakarox]

First off, thanks to Ed for this thread and all the input regarding fitment and installation. This has been on my to-do list for a while, and I actually found some time to do the install this past weekend. For the most part, the install went seamlessly (had an issue bleeding the brakes, but only because this was my first time doing it). In the end, everything works perfectly and looks great. Thought I would post a few pics.

Front Brembo vs. Mando caliper - Brembo is slightly larger, but as Ed noted, is "slimmer" than OEM which provides more wheel clearance than before


Front caliper/rotor - went with EBC slotted/dimpled rotors


Front with wheels on after bedding pads (wheels are 20")


Rears


Whole car - might have to get new rims that show the brakes off better!

 

[chewbakarox]

A couple other notes/observations to pass along:

1. The EBC rotors were SIGNIFICANTLY lighter than the OEMs. I would say somewhere on the order of 30-40% lighter. Those OEM rotors weigh a ton!
2. Either buy stainless coupe lines for the front or use the OEM coupe hoses. The fittings on the caliper are different between the sedan and coupe. Luckily, my Brembos came with the lines attached so I just used those.
3. I didn't know this, but the OEM front Mando pads are "cut" to reduce noise, just like the stock pads on the coupe. I would estimate only 2/3 of pad area is actually available for braking.

 

[84FordMan]

Looking good!

What are your thoughts on brake feel/stopping power now?

 

[chewbakarox]

Looking good!

What are your thoughts on brake feel/stopping power now?

Haven't had a chance to really push her too hard, but there is certainly more bite, more pedal sensitivity, and firmer/higher pedal. It took a little getting used to, but overall I would say it is much improved.