[s-cars] I need a guinea pig

[Adam D.]

Taka, et al,

First of all, take my coments with a grain of salt as Stoptech is one of my
vendors, but with the exception of my own comparisons listed below, what I'm
telling you are comments from customers and from race teams that are using
the kit.

First, the rotors:  I'd been impressed with the quality, light weight, and
minimal slotting of the rotors for a while, then I spent quite a bit of time
talking to Don Istook at our grand opening.  Don races a 2000 S4 in the
GrandAM series and uses the same Stoptech system you can get for the street
cars.  According to him the rotors are absolutely phenominal.  Light (for a
steel rotor) and VERY durable.  At Mid Ohio they threw on a pair of used
rotors they thought were trashed.  It was just for a practice session and
they were going to swap them for a fresh set for qualifying.  They ended up
using those rotors the entire race weekend because they simply didn't wear
out or warp.  Keep in mind they generate so much heat under braking that at
one event the aluminum pistons welded themselves to the backing plate of the
pads!  The rotors?  Unscathed.

Second, the calipers:  I count 5 out of the 7 kits you list below using the
993tt "Big Red" caliper.  The Big Red as it stands from Porsche is inferior
to the Stoptech version in  many ways.  The hardware Stoptech uses to join
the two halves together is much beefier (beefier than even the Mov'it stuff)
and they use a metal bridge through bolted to the caliper in place of the
spring pad retainer.  Both these modifications add significant structural
rigidity which should, in theory, increase clamping force and improve pedal
feel.  The through bolt method adds a degree of safety as well.  The head of
the bolt interferes with the travel of the caliper-to-bracket nut.  If it
were to come loose it could never come completely off because the pad
bracket retaining bolt stops it.    Both my business partners have 2000 S4s,
one with Stoptechs, the other with Mov'it 993tt caliper/rotor.  There are
too many variables to make a definitive comparison, but the Stoptechs
consistently have more "bite" and more "feel" to them.  Could be pad, could
be fluid, could be the caliper.  Hard to say.

I've installed and tested enough Stoptech kits to be totally confident of
their performance and quality, and the company's post sale support.  I think
it would be a disservice to the S-cars community (not to mention V8s, 200s,
5000s, etc) to not make this kit available.


TTFN,
Adam Dieckerhoff

Head Tech, Achtuning LLC
Redmond, WA.
adam at achtuning.com
'93 S4
'86 5kcstq
'81 Yamaha XV920RH Euro



----- Original Message -----
From: "TM" <t44tq at mindspring.com>
To: "'Adam D.'" <adam at s4.org>; <s-car-list at audifans.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2002 7:25 AM
Subject: RE: [s-cars] I need a guinea pig


> Adam-
> Not directed toward you particularly, but with the current offerings
> of brake kits, is there really any reason that more are developed and
> what advantages they would have?
>
> I count the following for the UrS:
>
> OEM w/ RS2 brackets- 993tt calipers over 323x30 Audi rotors (w/shims) or
> custom hats and 993tt rotor rings
>
> 2Bennett 993tt brake kit (Stage II?)
>
> Euro-Car Service 993tt brake kits (Stage II w/ Audi rotors, Stage III w/
> 993tt rotors)
>
> Mov'it 993tt or 996tt brake kits (through Ultimate Garage)
>
> BIRA Systems 1, 3 and 6x
>
> Hoppen HP-2 upgrade (don't know if they have a Porsche/Brembo solution
> as well)
>
> I'm sure there are plenty others out there- Tarox, Wilwood, etc.
>
> I know of Stoptech's claims but I was wondering if anyone had done
> real-world
> comparisons between kits to see if their Aerorotors are that much better
> or if
> their calipers are that much better suited with their claims of "custom
> piston sizing".
>
> Not saying they're a bad outfit (they're definitely not), but for the
> $2k+, are they
> significantly better than other options out there for less money?
>
> Taka
>
>