B-b-ber BREMBOS!

[roseytvr]

ChimpOnGas said:

So, yes chaps they look pretty, but the truth is they've been tarted up for sale and I'll need to sink a chunk more money in the things to get them to where they need to be.

Dave
I had exactly the same issues when I bought mine and ended up doing a full refurb with genuine parts, by the time I had done the whole project had cost me close to £800 but as said earlier this was a major improvement and I did replace all pistons as the guy I bought them off thought paint was a good overhaul! I got my stuff from [e-mail] and found the service first class. The bracket kit sold by "oldphonebloke" on eBay is also very good.
Good luck
Ian

[portzi]

roseytvr said:

Dave
A fantastic upgrade, possibly the best single thing I did on my Griff. The spacer required to fit 16 in Estorils is no bigger than the spacer require to reduce the ET by switch 16 rears to the front. They are a perfect fit.
Ian

AP caliper under 16's spiders is exactly the same wheel spacer required mine is about 6mm width, and also a large machined spacer behind the disc this is 5mm top width tophat spacer but required longer wheel studs because of wider discs with spacer and obviously bigger caliper which also needed mounting bracket machining, all achievable with abit of time and simple engineering knowledge

Edited by portzi on Sunday 28th February 23:00

Edited by portzi on Sunday 28th February 23:02

[ChimpOnGas]

roseytvr said:

ChimpOnGas said:

So, yes chaps they look pretty, but the truth is they've been tarted up for sale and I'll need to sink a chunk more money in the things to get them to where they need to be.

Dave
I had exactly the same issues when I bought mine and ended up doing a full refurb with genuine parts, by the time I had done the whole project had cost me close to £800 but as said earlier this was a major improvement and I did replace all pistons as the guy I bought them off thought paint was a good overhaul! I got my stuff from [e-mail] and found the service first class. The bracket kit sold by "oldphonebloke" on eBay is also very good.
Good luck
Ian

Thanks Ian, David (Andav469) told me he had a leaky piston on his too but none of these stories surprise me one bit, lets not forget these are old second-hand callipers were talking about here, but that's no reason to dismiss the idea out of hand.

I went into all this with my eyes wide open, my Brembo callipers were £200 to buy and as we all know they come off an E38 7 Series BMW which means they must be 15-20years old. I'm then buying them from some unknown EBayer, so I'd already prepared myself for a few issues and made sure there was budget left over to resolve them.

The only real thing I was afraid of was that I might discover something that rendered these callipers scrap, and that's certainly not the case here. Even if my callipers had passed a visual check I am not on the practice of putting used brakes on my car without giving them a complete check over and a fresh seal kit as an absolute minimum.

Brakes are not something to mess about with, my life is way too important to take the risk of just fitting a set of 15 year callipers purchased from a complete stranger without going right through them first.

So why bother with these old Brembos at all?

Why not just buy a brand new set of new four pots from HiSpec, WMS, Wilwood, AP ect ect ect?

Why not simply go new, if after buying a set of these 15-20year old Brembos and having them gone through by a professional they actually end up only being a small saving over the cheaper end of the above options?

Well the way I see it these Brembos are better quality than all the above options with the exception of AP Racing callipers. Lets not forget who Brembo are, they are the worlds largest manufacturer of performance brakes who not only serve the after market go faster crowd but mostly supply OEM manufactures.

Everyone from Aston Martin to Porsche use Brembo brakes with the likes of BMW, Ferrari & Lamborghini being just a few additional examples of high end performance orientated OEM manufactures who select Brembos for their cars. Along side AP Racing Brembo are quite simply the best "OEM quality" performance brake calliper manufacturer bar none. If you see the quality hoops suppliers to BMW and the like have to go through in securing a contract to supply their products you'll soon see the huge difference in quality between a pair of Brembos and a pair of after market performance four pots from the likes of HiSpec and others.

The Brembo callipers I've bought may need a go through but I fully expected that, after that I think they'll prove themselves to be the quality choice at the right price. BMW chose these callipers to slow their 150mph luxury executive express that weighed in at whopping 1.8 tons and BMW insist on the very best quality, longevity and performance from all the parts they use on their cars, they also test everything to the point of failure and beyond.

As such theses proven OEM quality callipers are to my mind the very best you can buy at any price, I'm neither surprise or disappointed they need going through by a professional because anyone that thinks it's a good idea to fit a set of used callipers bought off Ebay without checking them over needs their head testing.

After my Brembos have benefited from a professional going right through them I freely admit the may not end up being that much cheaper than a set of new after market four pots from the likes of HiSpec, but what I'll end up with will be as good as new and deliver OEM levels of quality and safety.

I have looked at all the brake calliper upgrade options and personally there are only two manufactures I would consider for my car, AP Racing & Brembo.... because these are the only brands that are proven offer OEM levels of quality and performance.

The words "Cheap" & "Brakes" should never be used in the same sentence

[ChimpOnGas]

Just to add my Brembos are going off to Godspeed Motorsport for a proper going through, at least 2 new pistons are required and if they are going to be stripped a fresh seal kit is a no-braner. Godspeed Motorsport come highly recommended and gave me a lot of confidence when I discussed the calipers with Ben on the phone.

One thing he did say that rang true with me was, "if the dust seal grooves have been used to lever the pistons out, they were probably seized in solid, and that means there a strong likelihood further corrosion damage will be revealed when they are stripped".

This makes perfect sense to me and the description of the Godspeed pressure testing rig they'll be using after the refurb gave me even more confidence I've chosen the right people.

Ben also has a Sierra front hub in the workshop so may also be able to supply the TVR community with laser cut brackets to mount the E38 calipers to Chims and Griffs. I'm not in the business of messing about trying to save a few quid here and there because when it comes to brakes I want to know they are spot on come the day I call on them to save my life.

What I should end up with after all this is a set of Brembos that are as good as new, but most importantly a set of front brakes I can 100% trust.

Edited by ChimpOnGas on Tuesday 1st March 11:32

[Rib]

if anyone is planning this, I have a set sat in my shed I never got round to fitting before buying the Tam

[ChimpOnGas]

NB: Ebayer refunded me £45 as a gesture of goodwill against the broken dust seal grooves on two of the pistons, meaning my pair of pretty but slightly defective Brembos cost me just £165.

But I'll probably need to add at least £100 to get them right, so that's £265 for sorted Brembos plus the wheel spacers, plus pads, plus the converter bracket kit, plus discs, plus brake fluid.

Total spend: £440

A big brake conversion like this using reconditioned OEM quality Brembo four pots for under £500 still seems like good value to me. The nearest brake upgrade kit I can find that would come close will be almost double that figure.

Bargain, but importantly all done without compromising quality or safety

[spikep]

Does anyone know the part number of the pads for the Brembo calipers and a good place to get them from?

thanks Spike

[ChimpOnGas]

spikep said:

Does anyone know the part number of the pads for the Brembo calipers and a good place to get them from?

thanks Spike

I believe these are the ones, well I hope they are

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350719990182

Dave.

[spikep]

thanks Dave.

I will have a look tonight as my works computer will not let me on ebay.

[BarnFind]

Sold my Estorils and replaced them with 16 inch TVR Le Mans wheels all round and fitted AP racing calipers

[SILICONEKID345HP]

Andav469 said:

Of course they fit, you just need to add a wheel spacer, also an adaptor bracket is required too.

Your gearbox doesn't fit without some additional linkage, the engine doesn't fit without a spacer bracket on one side.........

Yes but it is changing the offset so very different to gearbox linkage and engine mountings.

[roseytvr]

SILICONEKID345HP said:

Yes but it is changing the offset so very different to gearbox linkage and engine mountings.

No it's not daz, it's the same size spacer you need for rear 16 inch estorils when fitting them on the front so ET is identical to OEM 15 inch wheels

[chris_rand]

Hi All

Hope you don't mind me jumping in on this thread.

I have a Chim 5.0, not had it long. The front brakes have been upgraded to Wilwood , it seems to stop well but my experience of these cars is very limited.

My question is, is it normal just to get the front brakes upgraded and leave the rears standard?

cheers


Chris

[butch890]

Rib said:

if anyone is planning this, I have a set sat in my shed I never got round to fitting before buying the Tam

Email sent

[butch890]

Rib said:

if anyone is planning this, I have a set sat in my shed I never got round to fitting before buying the Tam

Email sent

[ChimpOnGas]

chris_rand said:

Hi All

Hope you don't mind me jumping in on this thread.

I have a Chim 5.0, not had it long. The front brakes have been upgraded to Wilwood , it seems to stop well but my experience of these cars is very limited.

My question is, is it normal just to get the front brakes upgraded and leave the rears standard?

cheers

Chris

Yes Chris, this seems to be what most do and without reporting any brake imbalance issues, saying that in my experience people investing good money in modifications seldom come on a forum to say they've just added something to their car that didn't really work all that well.

What you get to see is some cool photos and and a one sided story about how fantastic their modification is working, you will find I am the master of this practice so whatever you do don't believe a word I say

As an incurable salesman I will have you spending money on gearbox modifications and stand alone ECU systems you actually don't really need, I will have you thinking making your TVR burn LPG is the best idea in the world. As a new member of the madhouse gang I am warning you about my ways so you can protect yourself and see all the bull coming well in advance.

Back to these Brembos and the brake imbalance question and all my joking aside, I'm genuinely keen to here what people have found when fitting big brakes to the front only and leaving the rears stock. Have I sold myself this conversion when I don't really need it, will I spend £500 only to find my brakes are imbalanced and wish I'd just left them alone?

Will I be disappointed but still feel obliged to come on here and tell everyone how great my new brakes are when in my heart of hearts I know I should have left well alone?

Reassure me boys, be honest, are these brakes the bee's knees or do they introduce brake imbalance and a pedal that only starts to work half way down it's travel because the little Fiesta master cylinder bore is too small to fill all eight Brembo pistons?

Ah, the joys of Piston Heads and the modifying your TVR

[ianwayne]

chris_rand said:

Hi All

Hope you don't mind me jumping in on this thread.

I have a Chim 5.0, not had it long. The front brakes have been upgraded to Wilwood , it seems to stop well but my experience of these cars is very limited.

My question is, is it normal just to get the front brakes upgraded and leave the rears standard?

cheers


Chris

If you're still on standard wheels, you'll notice the rear wheels are bigger than the front. Subsequently, TVR used larger hubs on the rear with larger discs.

I don't know if other manufacturers with different wheel sizes use different size discs as well, but this may be why only the fronts were upgraded.

15 yrs ago when I had a 500, I remember the rears locking up under braking when the fronts didn't.

[ClassiChimi]

Rib said:

if anyone is planning this, I have a set sat in my shed I never got round to fitting before buying the Tam

Rib you have mail.

[ChimpOnGas]

I believe the Mk3 Fiesta master cylinder (XR2 & Diesel variants) used by TVR on the Chimaera has a 22.2mm bore.

A bit more Googling seems to suggest the BMW E38 that ran these Brembo callipers had a master cylinder with a 20.64mm bore size.

So the master cylinder BMW matched to these callipers has 1.56mm smaller bore, which doesn't sound like a lot but actually is in hydraulic ratio terms.

I would expect the larger Chimaera master cylinder partnered with these Brembo callipers to give a brake pedal that feels hard but requires more effort to slow the car.

Of course the final important element that also influences hydraulic ratios is stroke, and that's where we get into leverage ie the difference in the BMW's pedal length and the pedal length on the Chimaera. This is the information I don't have, so I'm left asking the question of people who have fitted these Brembos to their Chimaera....

How does your brake pedal feel, and what difference did you notice immediatly after fitting the Brembo four pot callipers?

[portzi]

spikep said:

thanks Dave.

I will have a look tonight as my works computer will not let me on ebay.

http://www.nextdaybrakes.com/brembo-front-brake-pads-fits-bmw-728i-28-e38-pn-p06018-pair_p31093490.htm



Shop around abit Spike but l have these brakes and pagid pads on my RS2 . Fit brembo pads instead, pagid are OK but are all different sizes when l fitted them so chucked them and Bought brembo pads much better quality and no break squeel either . No point having a quality caliper like brembo and second rate pads it defeats the object of the exercise quality braking system. And if you thinking about pagid discs again don't bother get Bosch ones, as my pagid ones warped so don't make the same mistakes as l made

Edited by portzi on Tuesday 1st March 19:11

Edited by portzi on Tuesday 1st March 20:06