Sully008
05-20-2015, 08:25 AM
Here's my review on the Zack and Jerry big brake upgrade:
A little history on my car, it's got Trilogy #196 on it with 440rwhp. I was never impressed with the stock brakes on this car. The pedal always felt soft and braking didn't occur until close to halfway down the travel.
I upgraded to Powerslot slotted discs, Hawk HPS pads and TCE SS lines front/rear, hoping to cure my issues. No luck. I even had the Master Cylinder replaced and had the IDS bleed done on it. Nothing made the brakes feel any better and I was always afraid in a panic stop I'd be slamming into the back of cars.
Anyways, I installed the big brake kit 2 weeks ago and I wanted to get some real driving time in before I posted my thoughts on it. I drive the car pretty much every day, to and from work in city traffic, with some highway speed romps here and there.
Here's the list of parts I used on my car:
Calipers:
Centric 14162127 and 14162128
Rotors:
Centric 12661089SL and 12661089SR slotted only.
Pads:
Bendix D731 CT (front)
and the new SS lines from TCE.
Install was pretty straightforward so I won't bother with posting any pics. There are lots of great shots from other members.
After reading some others experiences with the kit, I was a little dismayed thinking that my braking wouldn't be any better.
But... I'm happy to report that my braking is much improved over what I had! Pedal feel is much more firm, with pad contact on the discs closer to the top of the pedal travel. I've actually had to readjust my braking style for the better feel. I had to really step on the pedal to get the car to stop before. Now if I hammer on the brakes the car will suck my eyeballs out. There have been several instances that I've had to panic stop already. It really is a night and day difference. I could attribute some of this to the new Nittos I have on the car, but I had been running the old brakes with both the old worn tires and the Nittos. Braking remained the same.
Overall I'm very happy and pleased with this upgrade. I've purchased a matching set of Bendix pads to replace the rears, as they are still the Hawks. Big thanks to Zack, Jerry, Todd and anyone else who had a hand in this for getting this kit together.
A couple of notes on my specific install:
- It seems I needed to open the discs more than .03" that Zack had done to get them to sit flush on the hub. It could be a difference between the parts I used and his.
- Clearance between caliper and wheel is very tight (as noted). The passenger side caliper knocked the weights off the wheel. I'll have to get that fixed.
- I did not bed/burnish/whatever the discs and pads. I did a couple of easy stops from 20mph-0, 30mph-0, but that's about it. All I was checking for was any wobble, vibrations or pulling. None so far.
- Because of the pad not fully covering the disc, there's now an ~0.5" ring of rust forming on the inside. I'm going to see if I can mask off the disc and paint that part with silver caliper paint.
Other than that, I'm glad I spent the money to do this upgrade. It was well worth it for me. For 10 years I'd been driving with what I considered mediocre brakes. Now I think I've finally addressed that issue.
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p59/Sully008/Homage/Marauder/2AFDEA36-3071-488A-9B76-F2B890F5AE9B_zpslsrohfqq.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p59/Sully008/Homage/Marauder/1FA4BD9F-7059-46CB-8DB9-E1ED9626D127_zpszuypisr2.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p59/Sully008/Homage/Marauder/94BE855B-DA48-4A9F-BAF7-9F808E5970DB_zpslot9f6x4.jpg
A little history on my car, it's got Trilogy #196 on it with 440rwhp. I was never impressed with the stock brakes on this car. The pedal always felt soft and braking didn't occur until close to halfway down the travel.
I upgraded to Powerslot slotted discs, Hawk HPS pads and TCE SS lines front/rear, hoping to cure my issues. No luck. I even had the Master Cylinder replaced and had the IDS bleed done on it. Nothing made the brakes feel any better and I was always afraid in a panic stop I'd be slamming into the back of cars.
Anyways, I installed the big brake kit 2 weeks ago and I wanted to get some real driving time in before I posted my thoughts on it. I drive the car pretty much every day, to and from work in city traffic, with some highway speed romps here and there.
Here's the list of parts I used on my car:
Calipers:
Centric 14162127 and 14162128
Rotors:
Centric 12661089SL and 12661089SR slotted only.
Pads:
Bendix D731 CT (front)
and the new SS lines from TCE.
Install was pretty straightforward so I won't bother with posting any pics. There are lots of great shots from other members.
After reading some others experiences with the kit, I was a little dismayed thinking that my braking wouldn't be any better.
But... I'm happy to report that my braking is much improved over what I had! Pedal feel is much more firm, with pad contact on the discs closer to the top of the pedal travel. I've actually had to readjust my braking style for the better feel. I had to really step on the pedal to get the car to stop before. Now if I hammer on the brakes the car will suck my eyeballs out. There have been several instances that I've had to panic stop already. It really is a night and day difference. I could attribute some of this to the new Nittos I have on the car, but I had been running the old brakes with both the old worn tires and the Nittos. Braking remained the same.
Overall I'm very happy and pleased with this upgrade. I've purchased a matching set of Bendix pads to replace the rears, as they are still the Hawks. Big thanks to Zack, Jerry, Todd and anyone else who had a hand in this for getting this kit together.
A couple of notes on my specific install:
- It seems I needed to open the discs more than .03" that Zack had done to get them to sit flush on the hub. It could be a difference between the parts I used and his.
- Clearance between caliper and wheel is very tight (as noted). The passenger side caliper knocked the weights off the wheel. I'll have to get that fixed.
- I did not bed/burnish/whatever the discs and pads. I did a couple of easy stops from 20mph-0, 30mph-0, but that's about it. All I was checking for was any wobble, vibrations or pulling. None so far.
- Because of the pad not fully covering the disc, there's now an ~0.5" ring of rust forming on the inside. I'm going to see if I can mask off the disc and paint that part with silver caliper paint.
Other than that, I'm glad I spent the money to do this upgrade. It was well worth it for me. For 10 years I'd been driving with what I considered mediocre brakes. Now I think I've finally addressed that issue.
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p59/Sully008/Homage/Marauder/2AFDEA36-3071-488A-9B76-F2B890F5AE9B_zpslsrohfqq.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p59/Sully008/Homage/Marauder/1FA4BD9F-7059-46CB-8DB9-E1ED9626D127_zpszuypisr2.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p59/Sully008/Homage/Marauder/94BE855B-DA48-4A9F-BAF7-9F808E5970DB_zpslot9f6x4.jpg