RacingBrake 4 pot clipers

KenA · Post by **KenA** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 4:34 pm

Just bought them yesterday and will be installing them this weekend. They are beautiful calipers and their pictures don't do them justice. I will update this post with comments on the install and latter with my driving impressions, although I will admit I have nothing to compare them to but the stock calipers. Curently I am running;
RacingBrake sloted front rotors,
EBC green stuff Pads,
Goodridge steel braided brake lines,
MRT master cylinder bracket,
Super Blue brake fluid,
Stillen rear drilled rotors

I will be switching to Hawk HPS pads for the install of the rotors due to avalibility. my point is it will hardly be a scientific comparison but I will do my best to offer some usefull critique.

You can see the brakes on the Mach V web stite "fastwrx.com".
http://www.fastwrx.com/rafobrkit.html

Post by **ElZorro** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 7:29 am

Yea, I definetly want to know how this goes, brakes are probably my next upgrade.

Post by **Sabre** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 9:57 am

Awesome, let us know how the install goes... speaking of which, I'm sure some of us (I can't this weekend, I'm headed to Wisp) would be willing to help if you need it.

Post by **ElZorro** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 10:47 am

Yea, I'm in. I don't have a ton of experience, but I'm willing to trade skin off my knuckles for knowledge.

Post by **Sabre** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 10:48 am

elzorro wrote:Yea, I'm in. I don't have a ton of experience, but I'm willing to trade skin off my knuckles for knowledge.

So that finger grew back from the last time you were helping me? lol

AJ711 · Post by **AJ711** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 10:56 am

I'd move to the aluminum calipers if I had extra cooling for track/auto-x runs. However, I have yet to design/fabricate/put to use some cooling ducts, so I'm sticking with the steel subaru 4-pots.

Mainly as they will accept more heat and resist deforming under high stress. I'm waiting to see how the Al 4-pots respond on a nice hot track day at 9/10 or 10/10 driving conditions before I purchase them.

Good luck with the install.

AJ

KenA · Post by **KenA** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 4:42 am

Thanks for offering to help guys. Normaly I'd jump at the offer but my room mate and I are going to do his strurts the same night and the whole thing is dependent on when my bronchitus lets up. Otherwise they would be on already. I'm hoping I'll feel well enough to tackle them monday.

Post by **Sabre** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 12:16 pm

Hope ya feel better soon!!!!

KenA · Post by **KenA** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 5:03 pm

Thanks for the get well wishes.
Well the brakes are on and feel solid. I don't think the HPS Hawk pads have an initial bite as crisp as the EBC Green Stuff, but they do seem to stop quite well. The calipers look fantastic. I look forwards to showing them off when I can make a meet.
Installation was pretty straight forwards and went without difficulty. All in all installation, minus bleeding, lasted about 2.5 hours. That's a little long but included cleaning and sanding the rotors. The new caliper brackets are light and well made, and fitment is exceptional. The only negative was that the paint on one of the calipers seemed to chip almost without provocation in a couple of spots. This chipping occurred only on the passenger side and the chips themselves are small. I think this may be an anomaly (as I bought one of the first pairs to be sold, the first Mach V sold) but I plan to point it out to the folks at Mach V when I see them next. My scale has the calipers at 5 lbs even each but it's not that trust worthy, actual wieght should be very close though.
I tried a Power Bleeder from Mach V but I couldn't get a good seal and ended up with half a can of Supper Blue on the floor. My engine bay is a bit cramped with the TurboXS top mount intercooler, MRT master cylinder bracket and strut tower bar so it was difficult to torque down over the master cylinder and I ended up bleeding the brakes the old fashioned way. I am going to purchase an extra master cylinder cap and see if I can attach it to the power bleeder so it will be a straight forwards screw on affair instead of the clamp style unit the Power Bleeder comes with.

Post by **Sabre** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 9:49 am

Thanks for the awesome write up! Glad to heat that you're feeling better too. 2.5 hours seems about right. Do you think that the lack of crispness is related to the pads not being broken in?

BTW, mind if we use this in the reviews section?

KenA · Post by **KenA** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 2:00 pm

I followed the burnishing procedure so I doubt it. The pads stop well it's just that the EBCs seemed to grab harder right when initial contact was made between the pads and rotors. It's not necessarily a negative just different. I have a feeling they work about the same but the Hawks may be a bit more linear. I may not be describing the issue very well.
Feel free to re-post this in the reveiw section or any where you think it might be helpful.

ButtDyno · Post by **ButtDyno** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 10:34 pm

elzorro wrote:Yea, I definetly want to know how this goes, brakes are probably my next upgrade.

IMHO *disclaimer, order of brake upgrades should be something like this:

1. summer tires
2. pads
3. fluid/lines
4. rotors (possibly H6 swap)
5. calipers

In terms of single-stop braking performance and bang/buck that is probably about right. Once you do one thing, you can ask yourself "hrm, do I really need more than this". A BBK isn't that useful for autox (KC won nationals in STX with the stock brakes) and you can even track the car with the stock brakes as long as you have tires/pads/fluid. It's only for the hard core trackity folks that the BBK truly matters.

john

Post by **Sabre** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 10:11 am

He's done the tires (Elzorro that is), so I guess brake pads and fluid are next on his list