350on19inchVolk

350on19inchVolk

I dinn't mean any disrespect to the people at Stoptech. They do seem very knowlagable in braking. I have personal talked to Bob Lee and he was an awsome guy and very helpfull.

Stoptechs biggest attribute is marketing. They marketed there product to be very similar to Brembo on purpose. There goal is to make customers think there are getting a comparable product for less the cost. This marketing strategy is great, but they are intentionally misrepresenting the product by making the consumer think that it is an "improved" version of a Brembo kit.

For example:

Stoptechs calipers, the ST40 and ST50. Intentially made to resemble the Brembo F40 and F50 calipers. On the car it is almost impossible to tell the difference just by looking.

For Brembo, the F40 and F50 calipers are named from the cars that they were designed from. Why would Stoptech name there calipers ST40 and ST50? Maybe to trick the comsumer into believing the are getting the same quality product? When in fact it is not. Brembos calipers are made in Italy. Stoptech is made in Taiwan. The "patented" stiffining bridge was designed to fix a problem with flex due to the poor manufacturing.

Again, I AM NOT TRYING TO BASH STOPTECH. I am just trying to educate people in the difference between the two companies.

dvlad

8-pot? damn.....do u have any pics?


dan

krinkov

heh, well guess what, I just saw an add for TEN pot calipers in GRM for THE NEW MINI!!! a 10 pot calipers on a 2700 pound car, jeez, you gotta draw the line somewhere

Jason

Honestly, I wonder if people realize that larger brakes also carry the performance hit of both unsprung weight and rotational mass.

Those rotors are't light by any stretch of the imagination.

RANDY350Z

How much for the rear Brembo brake kit? And how long for installation for the front and rear set?

seanrulz

Man....I want that Cross drilled/Slotted rotors so bad... I have a Track model, and Brakes are simply great, no need to upgrade. However, I don't like the plain rotor. I want the twin plate, cross-drilled/slotted rotors as shown in the pic of that silver Z. Anyone know where to get it? or the links? the Price etc? I want 13' for front and rear.

DZeckhausen

How can you educate people on the difference between Brembo and StopTech when you haven't got a clue about the StopTech product line? I'm a dealer for both Brembo and StopTech products, so I will try to clear up some of the misinformation that is spread throughout your post. I suggest that you stop listening to whomever it was that told you all these "facts" because it's only going to make you look silly.

Let's address the caliper naming convention first. StopTech has no ST50 caliper and they never will. They make an ST10, ST20, ST40, ST45, and ST60 caliper. The first digit after the "T" refers to the number of pistons in the caliper. So, for example, the ST10 is their single piston, mechanical parking brake for applications like the Dodge Viper rear kit. The ST40, with which you are all familiar, is their 4-piston caliper. The ST45 is a variant of the 4-piston, modified to work with 15" rotors. The ST60 is their new 6-piston caliper. Unlike the Brembo F40 and F50 calipers, the StopTech ST40 can have any of a large number of different caliper piston sizes depending on the application.

Now that you understand how StopTech names their calipers, you can understand why I chuckled when I saw your comment about StopTech's "ST50" caliper!

You made the comment: "The "patented" stiffining bridge was designed to fix a problem with flex due to the poor manufacturing."

This is not true. In laboratory tests, where calipers were fitted with strain gauges and pressurized, the StopTech ST40 exhibited slightly less flex than the Brembo F40 and F50 WITHOUT the stiffening bridge installed. With the bridge in place, the StopTech caliper showed MUCH less flex than the Brembo or any other caliper tested.

As to the visual appearance of the StopTech caliper being similar to the Brembo caliper, that's because there are only so many ways to package a 4-piston caliper. If you took an Alcon 4-piston caliper, painted it red, slapped a Brembo logo on it and took it to the track, most people would mistake it for a Brembo. In my opinion, the Brembo caliper has slightly better visual appeal, but that's mostly due to the logo design. The StopTech 6-piston caliper certainly does not resemble anything in the Brembo stable.

Brembos calipers are made in Italy. Stoptech is made in Taiwan.

StopTech's caliper castings are done in Taiwan. Those castings are machined in Lomita, California on a computerized milling machine. The hats, brackets, and hardware are all American made. The rotors are made by Pilenga, in northern Italy, the same ISO9001 certified foundary that makes rotors for ATE and other well known companies. And the seals are made in Denmark. Quality control at StopTech is exceptional and includes 100 percent pressure testing of all calipers and brake lines. They don't test samples from the production line. They test EVERY part.

StopTech has not set out to copy anyone. They have pushed the state of the art in braking in several areas. They have patented rotor vanes and directional hats that flow more air than any other rotor, including Brembo. They have calipers that are stiffer than any other. And they are the only brake company that track tests every new application in order to optimize caliper piston size for shortest stopping distance and to test compatibility with ABS and dynamic stability control systems. For an example of the sort of testing they do, check out my write-up on the 350Z platform testing from December: Testing the 350Z brake kits

In case you've ever wondered what a caliper half looks like right after it comes out of the milling machine:




And here's the milling machine in California that cranks out these calipers:



A different milling machine is used to manufacture the hats and brackets.

If you have any other questions about the StopTech or Brembo product lines, feel free to ask here or give me a call. Since I sell both, I'm not biased toward one or against another. They are both excellent products, otherwise I wouldn't sell them

DZeckhausen

Both the Brembo and StopTech calipers and rotors are usually significantly lighter than the stock systems they replace. Stock rotors are 1-piece iron. StopTech and Brembo are 2-piece floating rotors with aluminum hats. In most applications (other than the huge Brembo 380mm x 34mm rotors) the bigger diameter 2-piece rotors are a pound or two LIGHTER than the 1-piece rotors they replace. And the aluminum, 4-piston calipers are usually about half the weight of the iron, floating, 1-piston calipers.

DZeckhausen

StopTech does have a silver caliper option for $200/pair. Here's a photo of them on one of my BMW Z8 customer's cars:





The silver caliper option adds about 2 weeks to your delivery time, so plan accordingly when placing your order.

For $270/pair, Brembo will make you calipers in virtually ANY color.

CanAmBob

Dave Z has already corrected some of the bad data from 350on19inchVolk... but wait there's more.

...There goal is to make customers think there are getting a comparable product for less the cost. 350on19inchvolk

Actually we believe we have better products at less cost.

This marketing strategy is great, but they are intentionally misrepresenting the product by making the consumer think that it is an "improved" version of a Brembo kit.350Zon19inchVolk

Thanks for the marketing kudos but we do not represent that we are selling an improved Brembo kit. I believe our Engineering is our greatest strength. We have improved on basic brake caliper design, regardless of the manufacturer, and we are the first and only company making and testing brake upgrade kits to insure optimized front to rear balance on 2 and 4-wheel upgrades.

...The "patented" stiffining bridge was designed to fix a problem with flex due to the poor manufacturing.350Zon19inchvolk

The patented stiffening bridge was designed in from day one and not as an afterthought. StopTech improved on the open top caliper design common in AP, Alcon, Brembo, Wilwood and other caliper brands.

Again, I AM NOT TRYING TO BASH STOPTECH. I am just trying to educate people in the difference between the two companies

350Zon19inchVolk, what you wrote in your two posts is inaccurate and not exactly complimentary. I am interested in learning who gave you all the bad data.

Bob Lee
StopTech LLC