996 turbo brembo caliper advice

A

alexw32

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Sorry if this has been asked before but have searched for the answer to my problem.
I have bought a set of 996 turbo brembo calipers to put on my s3. I know all about discs sizes, part numbers etc so not asking any stupid questions hopefully.
I have only just read that the bleed nipples and crossover pipe need swapping so the small piston is on the top. They have been sat in my shed for months so can not send them back and I have now realised the crossover pipes in mine are seized in.
Has anyone else had this issue when trying to swap them over? If so how did you get them out?
 
you tried soaking with a penertrating fluid i guess?
 
Yeah sorry forgot to say. Tried that and they wouldn't shift. The nut on the pipe just rounded off. Tried mole grips aswell but no dice.
I had the same issues with the bleed screws. Managed to get them out eventually but had to have one of the threads helicoiled.
 
tried heat at all?
failing that drill it out??

just dont go too deep and damage the seat.

i had to do this on my old boxster calipers

what a pain :(
 
before you go too far are they 996 fronts?
 
No not tried heat. Spent ages sanding them down and repainting them so was trying to avoid damaging the paint. Might have to though as rather install them properly. I was thinking about drilling them and using a stud extractor but as you say worried about damaging the seat.
 
very jealous

so small piston first in terms of rotation and bleed nipples MUST be up!!! and thats why you are reversing?
just confirming

i would try drilling it
maybe try a slow speed or some sort of impact
 
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Yeah apparently small piston should be up the top but that would leave bleed nipples on bottom. I did read they will work the other way round but not be as effective.
Not too confident drilling them myself if I'm honest so that leaves taking them to an engineering shop or sell the calipers and get some that fit straight on without swapping the nipples/crossover pipe over.
 
well only you can decide this bud

get the new nipples and cross overs you need priced up
and a cost to get them removed and make your decision ?

have you changed all the seals etc?
 
Yeah think i will ring a few engineering shops tomorrow and get a quote. No I haven't changed the seals as they didn't seem to be leaking.
 
Ignore Karl :laugh: (Sorry mate!)

Failure to swap then side to side (top to bottom) will give you uneven tapered pad wear and overly grabby brakes.

Nipples HAVE to be at the top also. it's not ideal, it's essential.

When swapping a caliper from a trailling to leading or visa versa, you MUST flip the calipers to get the piston orientation correct.
 
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i had issues removing my bleed nipples, tried welding a nut onto it thinking the heat from the weld should help but that didnt work, i then found someone with a drill press and they used that. for the cross over i would attempt to weld a spanner to the nut get the blow torch out to help free it up and squirt some wd40 at it when its hot.
 
I'm gona have a crack at heating them up at work this afternoon. Deff want them swapped over. If i'm doing it i'd rather do it right first time and not have to take them off again at a later date.
 
they are ****** good brakes mate
id have them!
like you say
do ot right
do it once
and for what they cost id consider new seals
ive done a few calipers now and if i can do it you can lol
 
Well after some heat, more penetrating oil and a lot of swearing they still wouldn't budge with a spanner. Had to cut the pipes off and get a socket on but they came out eventually. Unfortunately two of the threads have stripped so need to get them helicoiled and get new pipes made up.
 
just know they will be worth it in the end lol
 
They better be after all this lol. Has anybody on this forum fitted these by any chance? Just wondering what are minimum wheel sizes I need to clear them?
I am picking up a set of Porsche turbo twist alloys Saturday so being Porsche wheels hopefully they will clear. I know I will need adaptors but they vary from 15mm to 40mm.

Wheel sizes are - Front: 7.5J ET50 - Rears: 9J ET52.
 
i think (think) 335 will fit under 17s but those calipers are large
also ET is higher than ideal but as you say adaptors are needed
 
Yeah will be using 334mm discs. Sorry forgot to put those wheels I bought are 18" so assuming they will be ok? Just unsure which size adaptors I will need.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm running the same set up with the 911 996 turbo fronts

BBS 18x8 wheels fitted which are 5x112 ET 43

I'm using H&R 25mm spacer/adapters and there's easily around 4mm clearance between the calliper and wheel. Not enough to get a sponge behind to properly clean the calipers as I found out :(

I ended up sending mine to a brakecalliperrefurbs.co.uk as recommended by the VAG brake legend DaveB, as I just knew there'd be some problems with reversing them as they had been sitting in my mates garage for nearly 10 years!

What 334mm discs and pads will you be pairing them with Alex?
 
I try to do as much as i can myself so thought i'd have a go at reversing them. Luckily a friend of a friend is an engineer so he will helicoil the stripped threads for a couple of pints for me. Caliper refurb places i looked up wanted £30 plus i'd have to pay to post them there.
To be honest i hadnt decided on disc/ pads. I wont be driving it on the track and its only running standard power atm. Was thinking maybe just some decent pads and was looking at black diamond discs. Can always upgrade later as i will be looking to increase power at some stage.
 
discs are the least important part fyi so any money should go on pads
fluid also very important
get the cheapest discs you can
nor drilled
grooved ok but no need for lots 15 is excessive
 
daz-20vt said:
discs are the least important part fyi so any money should go on pads
fluid also very important
get the cheapest discs you can
nor drilled
grooved ok but no need for lots 15 is excessive
Click to expand...

When you've got pretty large/wide discs you'd want to keep the weight down as much as possible really - which the cheapest discs you can find won't offer.

Drilled aren't the end of the world either- have a look what the Porsche 911 991/997/996 GT3 comes with out of factory for example and also the OEM discs made for this caliper.
 
kwistof said:
Drilled aren't the end of the world either- have a look what the Porsche 911 991/997/996 GT3 comes with out of factory for example and also the OEM discs made for this caliper.
Click to expand...


Drilled are the end of the world sadly Kris.

The discs with holes in that you see on the above mentioned Pork are not drilled. They're cast in. very different.
 
I was going to avoid drilled anyway as heard bad things about them. In an ideal world i would get genuine r32 discs but from what i can gather they are very expensive. Dont want to cut corners and get cheap stuff but at the same time dont want to get £500 discs if £250 ones will be fine for what i need.
 
discs are discs
some of the r32 discs are floating
(or called floating)
bit they will all be heavy
if you have a stage 1 s3 you have gone very OTT on the brakes lol
 
Its been remapped by previous owner apparently but no proof. I dont intend to keep it as it is though. Got a fmic, pro 4 manifold, 3" down pipe, decat and water meth kit at home to fit aswell.
I bought them all to do a k04 conversion on my old a3 but just decided to get an s3 instead.
I've pretty much finished building an agu engine for the other car with forged rods, new main & rod bearings, rebuilt head and a few other new parts so will prob chuck that in there too.
 
Its very tempting. What sort of power would they make and would i have to upgrade valves etc?
 
no valves
i have a hybrid and have 330 which seems fairly common
some hitting higher
some lower
but the rev range is also better
rods is all you need i believe
all hardware and ideally wmi
 
Prawn said:
Drilled are the end of the world sadly Kris.

The discs with holes in that you see on the above mentioned Pork are not drilled. They're cast in. very different.
Click to expand...

As I'm sure you're aware mate, there are different types of drilling processes of discs just like there are different forms of 2-piece discs- some more advanced than others.

I mean 90 degree drilled down discs are definitely going to crack within a few cycles of heat - and what a lot of people probably think a drilled disc is when thinking of once...but then you have sinusoidal curved chamfered drilled disc which are the same as being cast in, but still classified as drilled.

Ps it's Chris dude :friendly wink:
 
I had 996 turbo calipers on my passat 3c, just swap position of the bleeder and the connector-pipes.
I used 345mm golf R discs, and thats the maximum diameter that the caliper can swallow
 
alex wright said:
I was going to avoid drilled anyway as heard bad things about them. In an ideal world i would get genuine r32 discs but from what i can gather they are very expensive. Dont want to cut corners and get cheap stuff but at the same time dont want to get £500 discs if £250 ones will be fine for what i need.
Click to expand...


Look at this on eBay:

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=261876527435

StopTech High Carbon Front Brake Discs Golf R32 MK4 - Brand New
 
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