are 1986/87 5ktq brakes really different from other years?

[auditude at cox.net]

Hi Martin,

Replies below in the text.

"Martin Pajak" <Martin at quattro.ca> wrote:
>
> >So, the caliper interface of the carrier/bracket is the same, but the
> >strut/wheel bearing interface of the two types of brackets are
> >different?
>
> ??? Carrier to strut is different caliper to carrier is same on G54s.
>
> >Something here isn't right, since Taka wrote that he swapped G54
> >calipers to G60's, and didn't have to swap carrier/brackets too.
>
> I did this on my Ur-q (same as 5kq) and you do need to change caliper carriers to match the G60s.

Okay, I believe Taka wrote that he didn't have to do this.  Probably he did then.

> >If that's true, then why would someone need to get 80/90 strut/wheel
> >bearing housings in order to bolt on G60's instead of the G54's?
> >(this is what I've always heard, consistently)
>
> Because there is no car that uses G60 with the small mounitng bolt pattern. There is no way to bolt the G60 caliper carrier onto 4kq/Coupe struts without custom work.

That is consistent with what I've always heard.

> >I have a set of G60 calipers.  I have G54's on my Coupe GT.  I guess
> >I'm going to just have to dig all this crap out of the storage and see >what fits.  If what both Martin and Taka say is correct, then I should
> >be able to bolt them onto the Coupe GT strut/wheel bearing
> >housing/carrier/brackets, without swapping struts out.
>
> Never said that.  You are not reading this correctly.

I read what you wrote correctly.  It was Taka's post, saying he changed only calipers, and not carriers too, when he bolted G60's onto a G54-equipped 5k.

Here's the first of Taka's posts, the one that made me start to email him to clarify:

http://www.audifans.com/pipermail/quattro/20020725/058618.html

But then I read his second posts, which answered the question I was about to ask:

http://www.audifans.com/pipermail/quattro/20020726/058638.html

I quote here:

"When I upgraded the brakes, all I did was the following:

1. Remove old calipers, brake lines, rotors and pads
2. Install new rubber brake lines, rotors, pads in calipers and bolt
on G60 calipers onto existing caliper mounts (carriers)."

He should have wrote (one way to say it anyway):

"When I upgraded the brakes, all I did was the following:

1. Remove old calipers AND CARRIERS, brake lines, rotors and pads
2. Install new rubber brake lines, rotors, pads in calipers and bolt
on G60 calipers AND CARRIERS onto existing STRUT/WHEEL BEARING HOUSING caliper CARRIER mounts (NOT CARRIERS)."

That's the reason why I jumped all over this thread.

> Let's get this straight Ken.
> -5kt could have G60 or G54 with matching carriers(same strut, wide bolt pattern).
> -4kq/COupe can only have G54 (different caliper carrier, narrow bolt pattern)
> By bolt pattern I mean the space between the threaded holes in the strut itself.

So then everything is the same as I always thought it was.  That's why I was so suprised to read what Taka wrote, and the first couple responses didn't refute what he wrote either.

Taka reasserted it here:

http://www.audifans.com/pipermail/quattro/20020726/058663.html

"As for the original question, yes, the G60s bolt right onto the brackets on an early 5ktq- this doesn't mean that would work on a 4k or other car."

His use of the "brackets" as apparently meaning the solid, non-separate, part of the strut/wheel bearing housing that the carriers/brackets bolt onto, is what I was confused about.  Perhaps "mounting tabs" and "G60s and carriers/brackets" would have been more correct.

> Hope this clears it up.

It does, thanks.

Ken