May 30, 2002: Brake upgrade

Finally! After wanting these for SOOOOO long, I have new front brakes! :) Allow me to explain.

When I originally purchased my Martz subframe, the 6-piston Wilwood Superlite's weren't yet available. About 2 months later, I started seeing advertisements for them, and I really wanted a set. But, unfortunately, I already had my 4-piston units, so I settled for them.

Now, once I got the car actually on the road, I started having all sorts of front tire rubbing problems. I know I stuffed a lot of tire up there, but I had the Aldan coilovers adjusted to the max height up, and I still couldn't stop the rub. One call to Gary Martz, and I discovered the problem. As shipped, the Martz spindles come with a 1.5" drop compared to the stock ride height. Becauase of that, I couldn't adjust my car up enough to prevent rubbing. (I don't want my car to have the slammed low look, so this was fine by me!).

So, Gary offered to make me a set of standard ride height spindles. Great! Problem solved! But I started thinking... Hmm... If I HAVE to get new spindles, that means I get new brake brackets. I called Gary back up and discussed getting the bigger calipers. He said no problem, I'll just have to pay the difference. GREAT!

The only problem I had was that it took a while to get the calipers, so I waited, and waited, and waited some more... But they finally arrived, and here we go! :) I didn't get a lot of great pictures, but I at least took some...

First, here are two shots to compare the spindle drop. You can also see the difference in the caliper mounting brackets.

Since I had to remove the coilovers, and that's such a pain, I decided to get a set of these cool AFCO coil over bearings. They make adjusting the spring height IMMENSELY easier! :)

Here's are two good shots showing the difference in the size of the brake pads for the 4-piston versus the 6-piston calipers.