Hi guys, got an Impreza sti v4 1998 import,

It has 4 pot calipers front (uk style) & 1 pot calipers at rear, (jap)


Looking to change to big spec brakes. I mean the whole lot, calipers, discs & pads, money ain't an option, Just a death trap on my Scooby,



Can anyone suggest what brand would be good, and also if anyone has a similar car with a big brake conversion,


Many thanks. Mark...

 

there is only one really, AP brakes, 330mm discs if you've got 17" if you have 18" you can have the 355mm discs.

 

I'm concerned that you feel your 4 pots seem like a death-trap. Does it have dog **** ebc pads at the moment? Do the 4 pots look like they've seen better days? Perhaps a calliper refurb and decent pads will transform them...

 

I'm currently running on Mtec discs, & mintex brake pads, calipers seem fine to me, when I blead my brakes and changed the discs & pads, but the car throws me from 1 side of the road to the other when doing high speeds on straight roads, not to mention the whole car shakes and the amount of vibration and shaking from the steering wheel.... Just not happy with the whole situation just now, not sure what to do. Thanks again,

 

2nd hand set of Brembos off a newage? Some braided lines, new Godspeed discs and pads and some fresh 5.1 fluid. Would've thought that would be your best bang for buck option

 

Mtec disks are cheap ****. Bin them for a start. Your standard four pots are prob sticking aswell. Get them refurbed and use good disks and pads and they will feel ten times better.

 

My car was pulling to the left when breaking hard. I got some reconditioned calipers from Scoobyworx. I believe it's quite common for the original calipers to stick, however the reconditioned ones are stainless steel and won't rust/stick.

I'm also running Godspeed pads and disks and it stops great. If you're doing track days you may want uprated pads though.

 

I went down the refurb route on my 4 pots, wish I hadn't! They've started rusting at the bolts and they are a pain in the *** to fit pads with the sliders that stick, the pads also stick due to the thickness of the powder coat. They are just a cheap caliper! 2nd hand brembos are about £450, so it's a no brainier if you are also changing discs and pads

 

Hi Ian,

The 4 pots are a really good calliper when in good condition and working as they should. The bolts will always rust again eventually as that's the nature of metal. You can't use stainless bolts due to the nature of the tensile strength required in them. If the pads are sticking in them it's very easily put right. A dab of copper slip on the pins stop them sticking and same on the pad edges which touch the caliper. If they are too tight you can file the powdercoat on the caliper a little or the pad edge which is usually rough with the paint they are coated with. That has always been enough in my experience to ensure no problems with sticking.

An experienced mechanic would do what's required when fitting them to make sure they work as they should. If your local to us I'm happy to take a look strip down and clean the brakes and refit them working as they should for you :-)

 

They're fine and the bolt rusting doesn't worry me, I did file down some powder coat to fit the pads and also took a bit off the pad back plate, and also filed out where the sliders go through the caliper. I'm very happy with the performance and workmanship, it's just obvious hat the Brembo is a superior caliper and considering the cost difference it's the route I would go down if I did it again. Saying that I would probably just buy an Sti, if they did a wagon version!! 😀

 

Brembos are better? Maybe, but are they cost-effective better?

And the rears...don't even get me started on those, where the bolts that hold them on rip the threads out of the caliper...IF you can even get them to turn!

 

I kind of agree but dont on this, If you set a brembo pair of calipers on standard discs and pads against a set of 4 pots in full working order using top quality discs and for example DS2500 pads then the 4 pots will win all day long.

That said both setups running the same discs and same pads the Brembo setup will win hands down

It all comes down to overall cost, if you recondition your 4 pots and buy discs and pads of the best quality it will set you back around £488,thats for reconditioned 4 pots and our 8 groove discs with ds2500 pads

If you choose to upgrade to brembo's bearing in mind most second hand sets i would always advise to recondition to make sure threads are ok and lugs arnt corroded badly and to protect them further from corrosion they are prone to, your looking at around £400 for the used calipers and £583 for the same discs and pads and the calipers reconditioning so around £983 total.

Its a huge difference and if you recondition your 4 pots and choose the right discs and pads then 4 pots win the arguement every time for cars not been pushed to limits on track regularly.

Obviously people sometimes may drop on cheap good condition Brembo's which may make it cheaper to upgrade calipers but generally its as i say above

Then there is K-Sports for not much more than Brembo's will work out but they also have thier posatives and negatives as replacement discs are expensive when required with them................

 

Exactly