Here are a few photos of the 14 hour install job Reedz and I did on Saturday: ART rotors, powder coated calipers, Porterfield pads, and Earl's stainless steel braided brake lines. This is not a job for someone who's intimated by hard work!

First a before and after comparo:





Note the Earl's stainless steel lines and the metal brackets holding them. A big improvement over the stock plastic brackets.




A close up of some of the Earl's lines: ( I haven't been able to locate this photo)



These lines are incredibly well made, with SS brackets that are a huge improvement over the stock mountings.

As for removal of those two flat head screws on each caliper, it was a piece of cake. We were 16 for 16, with every one coming off in pristine condition (Greg Stevens eat your heart out ) Why? We had the right tools: an impact screwdrive with a #3 philips driver and a sledge hammer to pound the thing. If you have these tools, this part of the job is no sweat. Here's James pounding the impact driver.





The Applied Rotor Technolgies rotor next to a stock. The ARTs are cyrogenically treated, slotted, and cadmium plated, with top quality work.



Here's a comparison shot of a powder coated caliper, a hand painted one I took off my car, and a stock off James' car.



The finished product: the rotors and calipers look spectacular on the cars. The silver are on James' car, the red on mine.





James has many more photos, some of which I'm sure he'll post.

 

Fantastic!

Did you drain the brake fluid before changing the lines/calipers?

 

They look great! You have set a new standard!.. now it will be interesting to see if you guys can stand that black dust from the Porterfields.. you may find yourself washing those pretty wheels/brakes a bit more often.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Rick Hesel
[B]As for removal of those two flat head screws on each caliper, it was a piece of cake.

 

Calipers look great.

 

Not to sound overly disrespectfull, but 10-20 percent breaking increase is just silly... 60-0 is like 114 feet. I HIGHLY doubt its possible you stop in just over 90 feet from 60-0 now.

True, they are pretty...but performance?? They onlything you MIGHT have improved is the break-lines, which would only increase in performance under high-temp conditions (eg. non-fade).

Don't get me wrong-- I like spending $$ to make my stook pretty, but you didn't get 10 or 20 percent increase in breaking performance...
$.02,
Aaron

 

Chris,

Yes, the Porterfields do put off a lot of dust. Does it dimish any when they're bedded?

pfb,

We completely replaced the stock brake fluid with higher temp rated stuff, ATE Super Blue Racing fluid, to be exact.

We had the Griots vaccum pump to pull out the old fluid and installed speed bleeders to make bleeding faster and easier.

BTW, compared to James, I'm a slow poke. He's amazing. He did all of his own wheels and both my rear wheels in the time it took me to do my fronts. I was a drag on the whole install .

 

I didn't mean stopping distance -- sorry for not being more clear. It's pedal feel and hardness and a combination of other factors. I don't have clue about stopping distance. The biggest improvement will be in autocross, etc, where pedal fade will be far lower.

 

those calipers look really great.

 

Rick, any chance of getting a pull back shot so we can see the calipers in context with the rest of the car?

Thanks!

 

I don't have any shots from a distance yet, but Reedz may have some.