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Old 09-09-2017, 07:09 PM   #67
asagaai
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Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Newcastle
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Default Re: Shockworks 6 pot alloy calliper upgrade

Ok my mini review.

Weights-Between OEM Brembo/Shockworks (SW).

OEM Brembo rotors -12 kgs + OEM Brembo Calipers with bracket-5.2 kgs=17.2 kgs.

SW rotors- 9.95 kgs + SW Calipers without bracket -5.7 kgs + bracket (estimate-say 1.3 kgs) = 16.95 kgs.

Fitted- First Drive

Wow- no braking power and soft pedal.

Break in Last Night

Take it to country road with no other users. Break pads in-start feeling the brutal gripping power of calipers. Calipers at high speed due to clamping power reach limits of front tyres and bring in ABS- where OEM Brembos at those speeds did not reach limits of tyres bringing in ABS.

Do some uhm higher speed runs-Brutal clamping that causes front tyres to really grip the road, and due to front bias braking there is a yawing effect of energy from rear to front because the rear OEM brakes are now underpowered.

Harder I drive the car the more the brakes clamp and grab. Go into a fast corner where I suffered previous baaaad brake fade and the SW brakes clamp hard -real hard -on a slight bend-unsettles the rear with that energy rear to front yawing effect.

Drive home outer suburbs and let brakes cool- still a slight softness and sponginess that has me uneasy.

Second Day

Wake up early- decide to take for a drive, brakes normal driving still have a spongy pedal and on initial application do not seem to bite like OEM- need a bit of effort and then clamp - hard if you want.

Take it for another high speed country run and left in no doubt these brakes have huge clamping power and the harder you go the more they clamp with NO brake fade-engine power is now weak link.

Came back suburbs- normal driving- still a spongy doughy pedal- and start thinking perhaps the master cylinder has not enough juice to power the extra fluid in 6 pistons and the extra fluid has more compression.

Then decide to check over calipers, pop off nipple cap and the bleeder valve is dribbling- both sides. Car up- both wheels off, and all 4 bleeder valves were under torqued and 3 were dribbling. More concerning was that the wheelnuts were pretty loose as well- and with the driving I had done in the remote areas to break in and test

Take for a drive- and now the pedal is firm and in normal traffic has a feel closer to OEM Brembos, but if you clamp hard there is more feel ie-you push in and can feel the clamping taking effect- and the more you push the more it clamps.

A bit like driving a car with 322 rwkw you can modulate the throttle and feed in the power. Like these brakes. Standard OEM Brembos are a bit more either on/off without that feel- this is a bit of an exaggeration but the 4 piston Brembos do not have that depth of feel.

In terms of driving the steering feels slightly heavier more solid, but I felt no difference in suspension performance up front. The different more solid and heavier steering I ascribed to extra weight, and driving home I was estimating by the difference in weight of the steering wheel that the SW kit must be some 3 kgs per wheel extra weight at least.

Doing the calculations, the SW kit is lighter, so I can only explain that the SW rotors on the outer circumference is heavier where it has more gyro effect, the weight savings alloy hat is in the centre and so has less gyro effect.

Conclusion

The OEM Brembos are great for normal driving and reasonably spirited quick blasts.

But- if you drive fast and do high speeds with repeated heavy braking, track or want to track, and want to feel brutal clamping that mashes tyres and activates abs at speeds you probably have never had abs activated at, and need brakes that get stronger the faster and harder you drive them-then these are for you.

They really are racing capable calipers for heavy track work (not sure how the dust caps would stand up) and are brutal and you pull forces that approach a nauseating force. Last night I came home feeling really sick-I blame my empty and weak stomach.

The only real downside is that you will need to upgrade the rear brakes to 4 pistons to reduce the front brake bias these calipers and rotors result in.

Thanks Brett for these monsters- now what about the rear so I can reduce the front brake bias?

PS- ha ha- just notice in the photo below the front tyres are showing scrubbing mashing effect of the brutal braking -gunna need a bigger front tyre.
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Last edited by asagaai; 09-09-2017 at 07:26 PM.
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