Fixed brake calipers are great until a wheel bearing gets worn.

Racing cars with fixed calipers you will learn about pad knock back and to pump the brakes before getting to the corner.

I am curious how they will do on the X!

 

Well, Ive only had them on for a couple days now, and I love em. I just wished I did it sooner. In a couple weeks, Ill post back with some time in with the new setup.

 

Do you notice "more" peddle travel after cornering hard or hitting big bumps? Do the brake seem excessively grabby with the new calipers?

 

Less pedal travel. Firmer pedal. Not excessively grabby. Just more of that when you press on the pedal, it stops rather than being afraid of not stopping. Im very confident in braking now.

 

Sounds great! Might be the next big X mod around here!

 

Some topics to ponder when considering upgrading braking in general are:

Do you have enough brakes to lock all 4 tires?
Once you have enough brakes to lock all 4 tires (or, preferably, threshold brake right before the point of lock up), it's impossible to brake any harder than that. At that point you are limited by traction, not by brakes. So if one has enough brakes to lock all 4 tires, then upgrading brakes won't help, only improving traction e.g. by upgrading tires will help.

If you do have enough brake power to lock all 4 tires, how repeatable is that?
This speaks to resistance to fade. While some vehicles have enough power to do a couple of hard or panic stops in quick succession, after that they start to experience fall off and/or mushy pedal feel, at least until they cool down.

Front <--> Rear Brake balance / bias
Most vehicle-specific aftermarket kits are designed with the other stock vehicle brake components in mind e.g. number of caliper pistons (F&R), diameter of caliper pistons (F&R), rotor swept area & overall volume (F&R), master cylinder size etc., so perform reasonably well, but not all perform ideally for all applications.

So, while I am sure the SSBC monster calipers perform well (and I actually quite fancy a set myself), some people may be able to get away with just doing some of the more standard cheaper, pads, rotors, lines, fluid upgrades, depending on their intended vehicle use etc.

I am a fan of slotted & vented rotors, and of cyro treated rotors. I am not really a fan of drilled rotors, even those with blind holes. At some point you are just reducing the swept area of the disc, and if the slots are designed correctly, there is no need for drilling.

Anyway, I suggest those thinking of upgrading their calipers might want to consider upgrading their pads, rotors, fluid, lines etc. first, if they haven't already done so, to see if that is sufficient for their intended use. If it isn't, then by all means upgrade, and these SSBC calipers sound like they work well, but if it is sufficient, then you'll have saved some money.

To the OP, just out of curiosity, I have a few questions regarding the SSBC kit:

- does it use the stock front rotors or bigger (diameter or thickness) rotors?

- I saw mention of needing to use larger Hummer H2 replacement pads. Are those pads larger just by surface area or by volume as well (i.e. similar thickness to or thicker than stock pads as well)?

- how does the front <--> rear brake bias / balance feel?

I am glad that you are enjoying the kit & that it seems to be working well for you.

 

what size wheels do you have ?
What part number are for these calipers ?
Where did you get them ?

 

Xbox, with the wheels and tires I have on my X, I could never even lock up any of the wheels. Ever. Since day one, even in the rain and a massive panic stop, I could never get the abs to activate. The one thing I have disliked on my X is the brakes. Until this week.

The hummer pads are larger in both surface area and in thickness.

These calipers are designed for stock sized rotors.

The balance as of today-- front obveously have alot more bite. The X doesn't nose dive or anything like that. But I can feel the difference. Also, I have not done milling and new pads in the rear yet. I also have a leaking rear hub seal on the r/r which drips a bit of gear oil onto that rotor. That will be fixed next week when I get all the parts for the back end.

True BIG BRAKE KITS like stop tech and ap racing are about $4000 just for the front kits.

4real, The tires are BFG 325/60/22 (37.4"). Rims are powdercoated XD 22x10 wheels.
part number for the calipers I think is the A193, then I had the optional red powdercoating. I got them from AJUSA.COM. The list price is like $1500? I paid $894. Delivered. Dont forget, thats just for 2 calipers only. Plus $145 for the Russell braided brake line kit=5 lines.

 

Racer, The only thing more awsome than those new big sexy calipers is the fact that your wheels are open enough to really show them off!
I will be hanging new axles under my EX soon and will be doing a complete flush of the brake system at that time I am also wanting to go with new braided lines, where did you get your Russels from? $145 sounds like a decent deal for all 5 lines.

 

Same place I got the calipers from. AJUSA.COM I think he gave me such a good deal because I just ordered everything at the same time. The ones I got are for a lifted truck. I think its for a 4-8" lift. They fit perfect. But then again, my new calipers have the brake line fitting down about 4" lower than the factory calipers.

 

Thanks Rob!

 

Heres a pic of them looking through the wheel

 

I need new pads and I've got some pretty bad shaking while braking, its been mild until yesterday when I came down an 11 mile 12% grade... even the torqshift couldn't reign back my 10k trailer and I was shaking from my teeth to my man ***** by the time I got to the bottom.

I've heard that porterfield R4's are rotor eaters, from autocross friends. I didn't even know they made them for the excursion. I wonder, if the hummer pads are that much bigger, if someone with access to a CNC machine could start making brackets just to run the hummer calipers on stock rotors. That would be a big step up and probably a lot cheaper than aftermarket calipers.

Those brakes sure are pretty but I'll never be able to justify that kind of expense on my hauler.

 

Anyone ever try Carbotech pads?

• Carbotech Performance Brakes

 

I was just doing some searching and came across this thread. Some good points and some misinformation in here. Xbox seems to know his stuff but I would like to point out a few things.

Modern carbon based pads do not out-gas. Out-gassing was an issue about 25years ago when pads switched from asbestos based to organic based. Then PFC (I believe) developed the first carbon based racing pad and the rest is pretty much history.

There is no performance reason to drill discs other than saving weight (such as speedway racing). Like xbox said, you are just reducing swept area and creating stress risers for cracks to originate. Slotting discs does serve a purpose but it also has drawbacks. First, slotting increases disc/pad temperatures due to an increase in leading edges. The edges do offer increased initial bite, but will wear out pads faster and can fade street compounds easier due to higher operating temperatures. Also, a straight slot (most common) is prone to pad hop which is why current spec racing discs use curved, staggered or other various slot designs.

Going to a larger pad actually increases stopping power very little, contrary to popular belief. It increases pad life (volume). Clamping power (hydraulic pressure and caliper stiffness), leverage (disc size) and pad compound (friction) increase stopping power. All are limited by available traction.

Cryo-treated discs I haven't really formed much of an opinion on. Testing has shown no significant performance advantage, but I also know of lots of people that swear by it. Placebo? I don't know. I guess if there wasn't anything to it then it would have faded out by now.

Ok, back to lurking I go.