gk1

The Bira.org Coleman replacement rotors are $850 a pair + membership. Their S4 system 6 uses 993 rotors with 996 calipers for under $2000 (their words). Therefore wouldn't the ECS tuning 993 replacement rotor option for $690 be a good compromise? It should be better than the $850 Colemans since Bira themselves uses the 993 rotor in their upgraded system. You could always get the Porsche calipers and brackets later if you wanted to. Seems like a good way to save $160 and get true Porsche rotors.

DrSmile

Porterfield lists AP594 pads, year 93-98, $169 for R4S and $179 R4. Are those the correct ones?

I'm looking into getting this setup also, seems you can get the rotors/calipers/etc for $1800.

ryans4

and keep in mind, the Porsche stuff is great, but it's expensive, and it's not designed for a 3600lb car.

For example...Stasis offers a rotor only upgrade:

Enthusiast Options: $795
Front Rotor Upgrade: Great replacement for warped OEM rotors:
2 ALCON OEM replacement Rotors - high nickel, 18mm air gap, double heat treated, gas slotted

You can read about it <a href="http://www.stasisengineering.com/brakes.htm">here...</a>

IMO, for the money you'll spend on the porsche stuff, you can get better performing stuff for the S4 for the same or less money.

Keep in mind, the porshce stuff wasn't designed and tested for the S4's. The Stasis Street Sport brakes, Stoptech's and APR's were tested for the S4.

You get what you pay for.

DrSmile

I still fail to see the difference in all the ~$2K kits. The calipers all look virtually identical, and the rotors are all the same size, although I do see differences in hat design. Do different size pistons and different hats really make a real world difference? I'm not sure what "tested on s4" signifies, there are plenty of kits available, borrowed from high performance cars, that have been adapted to other cars very successfully. I wish we could have an impartial real world test, like repeated stop test distances with the Stasis, Stoptechs, and Porsche kits, just like the chip comparisons... Of course they'd all have to use the same pads, which isn't easy to do either!

ryans4

First off, let's agree that the Stoptech and APR kit are pretty similar.

So then let's compare them to the Stasis kit.

First off, Rotor size. I don't mean how big the rotor is, like 332mm, i mean how wide is the footprint that the pad touches (this has to do with caliper selection). The Stoptech/APR and Stasis kit use totally different rotor footprints.

Second off, Calipers. They all utilize 4 piston calipers. So does that mean all the calipers are the same? Not even close. The Stasis kit for example runs offset piston sizes (larger diatmer piston on the trailing edge). In addition, ever change pads in a Stoptech kit vs. the Stasis kit? I know it sounds trivial, but the process is different, cause the calipers are different.

So now that hats, the part you admit must be different cuase it looks different. The hats are completely unique in each kit. Each one utilizes a different means of accomplishing the task of venting air out of the rotors, and keeping heat away from the hub.

You can't just look at the size of a brake kit (332mm) and say, well, these 3 kits are the same becuase they all use 332mm rotors. There is a whole lot more going on.

Do you think that the people that sell porsche stuff actually put it all on an S4 and took it to the track for a day? Or even did like 15 80-0 runs in sequence?

It's your money, spend it how ever you like.

But don't think for one second that all the kits are the same, they are all totally different.

DrSmile

The offset piston info especially. So my next questions of course are:

1) How much are pads for the Stasis kit? Are they commonly available and do companies like EBC / Porterfield make that size pads?

2) You say the calipers are different in terms of changing pads. Could you be a little more specific, namely on which caliper is it easier to change the pads on? What's involved in changing the pads on each caliper?

I'm not trying to be smart *** here, I just need as much info as possible so I can make an educated decision. Your help is much appreciated I assure you.

gk1

for rotor replacement I was told rings for a 993tt are only like $165 a piece. (Pretty cheap if you ask me.) Could be wrong info, not sure. Which makes cost of replacement only $330. If you destroy the Alcons you linked to and they are one piece, then you're out another $795 to replace them. Since the Porsche is about 3300lbs, and I'm sure Porsche greratly over engineers their brakes when dealing with 400Hp adn $70k, I'm sure the Porsche rotors would be just fine with the stock calipers. If you are refering to the Porsche calipers not being up to the task (stock S4 master cylinder), well that I don't know about.

There is very little information on the Alcon rotors you linked. Are they two piece? Do you have any pictures? Do they look like the ones pictured in the track sport section? Any more information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

ryans4

I just wanted to give you another rotor-only option.

You bring up a good point in the replacement cost of rotors in long term maintenance, which is why I went with a 2 piece rotor and hat combination both front and rear.

I'm running the Stasis Street Sport front and rear brake upgrade.

Great stuff.

ryans4

Sorry if I came off a little abrasive, I was just worried that you were generalizing the brake upgrades based on how the kit looks. I just finished doing all my research, which is what I was trying to get across, how different each kit really is.

To answer you questions...

1. The front pad size for the Stasis Street Sport (Audi Brembo Caliper) is very common. I'm running Porterfield R4S's (front and rear), and will probably spend a little and try Pagid's next time around. I'm not sure the exact pad size, but it's a standard 2 pad design, and the pads won't cost you any more for the Stasis caliper than a Stoptech caliper (around 150 a set for fronts, depending on which pad you choose).

2. The Stasis kit is much easier to change pads on, basically, here is how each kit works.

Stoptech: There are 2 5mm hex bolts that hold a (mostly) solid piece of material (not sure if it's metal or aluminum, but you get the idea). This solid piece has the springs mounted to it to hold the pads in place. So you remove the 2 bolts, then the metal piece, and you can slide the pads out and in, and repeat to put back together.

Stasis: There are 2 pins (not sure what they are called, they look like RC car pins that hold the plastic body on the mounts in an RC car). These two pins hold the 2 metal rods in place from moving. There is a spring plate that sits under these 2 rods to hold tension on the pads. Remove the 2 pins (no tools required, just pull on them), and slide out the rods, the metal spring plate is only held in by the tension on the rods, so it is now free. Slide the pads out and in, and replace the rods and pins.

The Stasis kit will take you about 2 minutes to replace pads on each side. And this requires no tools. The stoptech kit takes closer to 5-10 minutes per side depending on how fast you can turn the 5mm allen key to get the bolts out.

May seem trivial, but just another difference.

I don't know a lot about the Stoptech caliper (who makes it, piston diameter, etc.), so I'm not much help there.

Hope that helps you a bit, feel free to ask any more questions.

pointby

I have the 996 caliper and I am assuming they are the same. Pull out a little R shaped clup, remove the rod, a spring clip and out come the pads.
I am running the BIRA system 2.