The same reason I'm doing the C32 brake upgrade: stopping "too fast" is always, always better than not stopping soon enough.

Trying to keep up with Nick in the twisties last Saturday with his 6-piston calipers was a futile cause. Better brakes would have allowed me to go deeper into the corners than I could with my stockers. 5 minutes into the run, my rears wera audibly howling from the heat. Fronts had faded as well, but not as dramatically...

 

OUCH!!!!!!

 

boilerupxfire the answer comes in many forms!
1. i hope to run the texas mile someday and with less than 8 seconds to stop i would hate to come up short
2. watching les in his vids and riding with nick in his 55 the twistys are a ton of fun and i know what happens when you cant stop. (see my totalled 32 as proof!)
3. it is the coolest setup ever!
4. i have been collecting this for close to 2 yrs and you wouldnt want to know what i have wrapped up in it! lets say the bbk costs more than this setup!

lastly NICK (children hold your ears) yes my ***** are the coolest around!

 

I've done a few versions with my brakes and frankly the pad selection and tire width are the biggest contributors to short braking distances. With street/track pads and stock rotors (330 mm) I had more stopping power than grip. With R-compound tires and street/track pads I had a good balance but still more stopping power than grip. On a high speed track I overheated my pads and for that reason I now have a Stopteck BBK 355mm and ST-40 calipers. After using several types of Dot 4 racing fluid, several different pads, different sizes of rotors and calipers, different sizes of tires, now I can tell you that the biggest advantage to a BBK is cooling. I can beat the snot out of my brakes and not have fade or boil the fluid. Gut check time folks. If I had installed brake ducts the BBK would have been unnecessary. The only advantages to a BBK are:
you need less pedal pressure to stop
you have a much larger heat sink so you may not need brake ducts
could be much lighter than the stock components.
A BBK will result in $3000 worth of drool and unintelligible babbling.

Les

 

les all of that is true . the difference for me is i have much much less than 3000$ in my setup, the rotors in front weigh 9 lbs less than stock and being 2 piece i can replace the outer rings for 200$, i increased the size of the fronts by 10mm and the rears by 30mm allowing for more cooling space. lastly nicks car was able to scrub off 100mph runs to less than 30mph in what seemed like a matter of feet not yards, no science simply butt feel. is car will make the earth slow down when he stands on the binders with street tires.
i will be staying with the akebono ceramics for the rear for now but the fronts get hawk hps pads as the rotrs have a brinnell hardness of 207 to 277! once r/b makes the 2 piece rears( still in design stage) ill switch to them and run hawks all around
and finally its the sickest looking setup i have ever seen!!

 

There is a reason I have steve's old setup on my car now, so I understand this, but its not like he is replacing the brakes on a civic. The SLK32 calipers, especially when paired with higher end rotors, pads, lines, and fluid is a pretty potent setup

I am simply jelous LOL

 

well heres a small update on the progress of my upgrade.
the slk32 front rotor and caliper weigh in at a hefty 43.5 lbs per side. by comparison the slk55 6 piston calipers with the r/b 340mm 2 piece rotor weigh in at a slimming 28.5 lbs ! thats 15 lbs per side for a total of 30 lbs rotational weight removed!!
now the rears were a bit different. slk32 setup weighed in at 22.5 per side and the 4 piston setup with 330mm rotors weighed in at 25 lbs adding 2.5 per side. this was all weighed without pads so everything is equal. total weight added was only 5 lbs (2.5 per side) for 3 extra pistons and 30mm more rotor per side. NOT TO SHABBY!! all the calipers are now on their way to houston for a gloss white powdercoat then back to me for a full seal rebuild and install. stoptech 4500 burst psi stainless steel lines installed also. pics to follow!

 

Awesome! You will love the difference in braking.

 

Steve, you're famous! StreetPlayersTV Episode 1

Nice video done up by Simon B and his crew. Simon has been a long time friend of Eurocharged, and is one of the biggest emcees in Chicago.

 

of course i messed up the interview ! got my production numbers all screwed up. oh well the sls stole the show anyway!

 

I don't know if it was the SLS, or Tracy modeling in front of the SLS....Straight to the point


....or maybe it was this shot of Tracy that made the video.

 

well it took a long time and after a disaster of a powdercoating job the calipers were sent to rob for a fantastic ceramic thermal coating done in gold. heres a few pics and ill finally have my 32 back on the road!!

 

They really look Awesome! What happened with the powder coating??

 

Steve they will look super on your car. Rob did the same gold coating for me on the CAI tubes and the IM's.

 

jimmy it was a combination of the wrong person for the job and too much powdercoat. as much as 1/32" in places. p/c so thick i couldnt install the pads. rob did an amazing job getting them back to raw and the thermal coating them.

jim i will be doing my intakes and manis as well just gotta get all my other projects finished in time for the dragon. my gold on these arent the ceramic coating alone but tinted gold so they wont change color. right now i need an alignment badly and im hearing a definate clunk in the driveline from the wavetrac install. prolly torqueing the driveshaft in the air but i need an alignment rack to do it right.

 

I'm glad it worked out. They really look awesome!

 

alittle tip for thise that do this mod. the rear caliper brake lines will be to short for the new calipers as they are over twice as long. use a set (stainless steel stoptechs in my case) of the front lines for the rear. plenty long and work like a charm

 

OK Steve. That explaines why your gold is more golden than my gold. It will be an awsome contrasting color with your green.

 

Those are looking great Steve! I'd love to have a set of those SLK55's calipers on my XF.

 

Guys, you should see these now that the wheels are on

Stunning, to say the least.