So the rest of my new brake set up came in today. I already had the LS400 calipers from before that were rebuilt and painted so I ordered new rotors for the front and rear...I ordered the Brembo ones and had a shop that cross drills rotors cross drill for me since Brembo does not offer cross drilled rotors for the LS400....Have to say that they look amazing! I will be having the centers painted flat black.

I also ordered new Stop Tech braided stainless steel lines for both the front and rear along with Akebono ProAct pads for the front, and Hitashi pads for the rears.

Now all I need is my painter to finish up my car so I can get all these installed along with my new SSR wheels, and CX Racing Coilovers! Been a long wait but getting close to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

 

What's with the little mark at the edge of two of the rotors? Hopefully, they didn't start out slotting them and then remember you asked for cross-drilled.

I've got my rebuild LS400 calipers coming this week and get to decide on painting options shortly... Yours are painted, not powder coated?

 

Mine are painted with ceramic paint.

 

LS400 calipers are made out of aluminum so they dont get that hot....I used VHT engine paint on mine it is rated up to 650 F.....but they do have specific paint for brake calipers..etc. at your local auto parts store....

 

G2 paint caliper kit is another option.... I did my calipers with that kit... Nice BBK OP....

 

I hadn't considered the aluminum aspect. Interesting point. 500 degree caliper/engine paint should be more than sufficient in that case, eliminating the need for 900-1000 degree high heat options.

I was trying to decide between caliper paint, engine enamel, 2-part epoxy paint, and powder coating. I called the local powder coater this morning and he recommended against it for safety reasons, unless I wanted to fully disassemble the calipers before baking. (Sorta counter-productive on a freshly rebuilt set.) Then I remembered I still have the remnants of a Duplicolor caliper kit from 9 yrs ago... I don't know if the stuff goes bad -- it doesn't feel gunked up in the can -- but there should be plenty left for the front calipers. I was leaning toward black and the kit is red, but maybe I'll start in on some of the less visible parts of the caliper with it and if I run out or it's dried out, switch to black for a subtle 2-tone look. I have two days still until my calipers arrive.

 

Stupid question for me. Can we use the LS calipers with SC stock rotors?

 

no, the SC rotors are not large enough to engage the pad fully which you need to do.

 

So those 2 little marks at the edge of two of the rotors you were referring to were black marker markings! The machinist marked them to mark starting point.

I rubbed the small marks off of the face of the rotors with my finger but left the side ones so you can see how he marked them...the rotors are in perfect shape but thanks for making me go look them over again and make sure!

 

I figured it had to be some sort of guide mark like that, but I was curious why it was only on two of them. The others must have been rubbed off already? You're welcome for the cardiac stress test.

 

Lol! Figured you were just being a smart *** as usual Dan! Lol

But I'm glad you made me go look again! They are with my wheels and Coilovers at my buddy's shop so was on my mind for a day! Lol

 

You know me too well!

 

i used engine enamel fromt autozone on my TT rotors, hasn't chipped or peeled or anything for a few months now, and clear coated with some regular car clear coat.

 

I've been reading that high heat (500 degree) clear coat is recommended for longest lasting results. When I did the calipers on my other car with the Duplicolor kit years ago, I didn't use any clear coat and they held up pretty well. There are a few paint chips here and there, but you have to look fairly close to see them. I also didn't remove the calipers from the car for cleaning, just scrubbing them up while in place, so I probably didn't get as good of a bond as is possible. So, regular clear coat may well be more than sufficient.

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you can, return those Akebono pads. I owned that same set of ProActs on my LS setup and found that not only do they not sweep the whole face of the disc like the oem pads, but they overheat very easily as well. The cross drilling won't help in the dissipation of that heat either since it's just cosmetics and to save some weight. I learned the hard way, after a few months of running the ProActs, I tossed them and installed a set of EBC reds. They dust a lot more, but they sweep the full area and they stop much better once they're bedded in.

It's not super obvious in this photo, but if you look closely, you can see the outer area near the edge of the disc where it's starting to rust because the pads aren't large enough to make contact with the full swept area.



Better shot of it with the pad hardware removed, notice that line of rust on the edge where the pad is supposed to make contact but doesn't.