UTGS400

I am looking at replacing my front (and maybe rear) brakes to either a four piston or 6 piston setup. What would you reccommend that would fit the L-Tuned 18's? Oh, and I am trying to keep the price down...I really don't want to spend the money to do this right now, but I figure I might as well considering I need new rotors and new pads anyway.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

6 pistons there are only ap racing (on my car) and endless. the ap racing will fit under the ltuned 18s but the space between the spokes and the caliper is way too small to be safe. i don't like to use spacers so i won't suggest that. endless is pretty big too

for your ltuned, you can get stoptech 4 pots, that's very nice setup and the 14" will fit under your rim. the price for 14" is around 2200 and the price of 13" is around 1600.

you can talk to neo or me more about the brakes if you want

UTGS400

Is it worth $600 to got from the 13's to the 14's?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

imho it's worth it, it looks so much better and theoretically it helps braking a lot more too (more tq).

Neo

iTrader: (3)

StopTechs and Rotora are your only two choices. From previous, you know I have the same wheels and I did enough testing to know which will fit. The APs will be so tight it may rub slightly. I don't think you can even get a piece of paper between the rim and caliper. Not doable without spacers.

In case you are wondering, I went with StopTechs.

UTGS400

Neo,

Did you end up going with the 13's or 14's? And did you replace the rear brakes as well?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

14". and for the rear i believe he is getting new rotors and pads and lines. there is no caliper upgrade for the rear anyway

Neo

iTrader: (3)

That is true. There is no rear caliper upgrade unless you go with the full 4-corners upgrade.

redgs4

Only downside -- other than price -- of the 4-corner upgrade is I can't get drag slicks on the back.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

yup, true, forgot about the 4 corners. but you will have to make sure you get 4 corners at once, and not getthe front and then the rear later. not sure if you can do that

Neo

iTrader: (3)

You are right. No can do. I believe the piston sizes are different in front for the 4-corners and the front-only systems. They did this to make sure the front-rear balance is correct which makes sense to me. redgs4 can probably confirm for sure.

redgs4

Yep.

UTGS400

As of right now, I can’t justify spending an extra $600 without gaining any significant performance.

After talking to Steve, I am leaning towards the Rotora package mainly because it comes with the slotted, cross-drilled rotors included. From what I have read, it cost $100 more to add cross-drilled to the StopTech package. In the end, I would save a minimum of $150 to go with the Rotora. The only problem I have is with the color selection. IMO, a Cinnibar GS with red calipers would look tacky, and the blue calipers would cause my car to look like a lego. If I go this route, I will probably end up with the blue calipers.

Is there anything special about the StopTech package that would make it worth my while to spend the extra $$? (Besides the color selection) And are the StopTechs still on pack-order.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

Here are some of my reasons for going with StopTech. They may or may not apply to you or may not be as important to you.

In no particular order:

1. Color. I did not want to spend that much and have to "settle" for color or have to paint them myself. I don't have a problem painting my calipers but it does not seem right for me to buy aftermarket and have to paint them on top of their already powder coated calipers.

2. Size. Rotora does not have a 14" rotor/ 4-piston kit. They do have a 4-corner kit that is 14", but it is a 6-piston front/4-piston rear setup. These are obviously more expensive AND they do not fit the L-Tuned wheels.

3. Support. I have talked to both StopTech and Rotora reps and they are both pretty helpful. If you look at the website for info though, Rotora's website is thoroughly lacking compared to StopTech. I did not even know about their 6/4 setup until I called them. Their fitment template does not print correctly. I had to spend a little time to iteratively resize the pdf to get the correct scale. All the other manufacturers' templates had no problems. For me, this is about the details of the support. Although it does not point towards the quality of the brake systems directly, it does show where the company is in terms of the aftermarket support.

4. Rotor design - The kit Steve is selling has a 1-piece rotor design whereas the StopTech is a 2-piece. Again, Rotora does have a 2-piece rotor (that I found out in talking to them) but it is not in the kit that Steve is selling. It is more expensive. The theory is that the 2 piece design helps two-fold. One, the rotor hat is usually lighter aluminum vs cast iron so it reduces the weight of the system. Two, the 2-piece design helps airflow keeping the rotors cooler. On the street, these factors may or may not come into play, but I sure feel better that I got the "better" system when I went aftermarket.


If I can think of more, I will come back and add to this.

All that said, members who have Rotora and StopTech are all happy with their purchases and are impressed with the better braking power. I don't think you can really go too wrong with either system. Just look at what you may want or need and go from there. Steve has the 4-piston system on his son's car and the 6/4 on his Supra. I don't think he would do that with a bad product. I went with StopTechs because of the combo of color/size/fitment and Rotora does not have a matching system.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

the extra weight of the 1 piece rotor i say could be quite significant. those are unsprung weight and it's what, 3 times the weight? so say the 1 piece rotor is 5lb heavier, we are talking about 15lb extra lb on the car, that's quite a bit.

and also, the 14" will definitely have a better stopping power than 13". just imagine, with a very fast turning plate, do you think it's easier to stop the car by grabbing the outside of the plate, or by grabing very close to the center? with that said, i am not saying rotora has bad stopping power, i am just saying the stoptech should have more stopping power at 14"

i don't know about the weight of teh calipers, but i suppose they should be close to each other?