Cold is starting to drift into the midwest so no more trackdays this year. I'm trying to decide whether or not to rebuild my Stoptech calipers this winter. The dust seals have melted (of course) but the brakes seem to be performing just fine. I did four track days this year and I'm hoping to do many more next year. So, is it worth it to rebuild them this winter? Can I wait another season or two? J Ritt, are you out there with an opinion?

 

before you go about doing it yourself, make a call to Stoptech... they will likely do the work for you for cheap...

I had them rework one caliper a few years ago and they didn't even charge me labor, only shipping...

PeteH

 

Very interesting.........

I cooked my Stoptech's dust boots last season, and ran 11 track days this year without a rebuild.....YET!


AND.....they still WORK!

 

Hmm ... I just installed Stoptechs. How can I tell if I cooked away my boots?

So far I have only run 1 event with them ... so I doubt I have cooked anything yet.

 

You can tell you've cooked your dust boots because they crack and then start to feel like paper. If your calipers have started to change color, chances are, you've melted them. At that point, you may also have faded your pads which are supposed to be good to over 1200 degrees and boiled your fresh Motul 600 brake fluid. Then you melt the steel from the backing plate of your still stock rear brakes. BTW, the stock calipers turn gold if you get them hot enough.

I suppose I'll follow Enthuz's lead and just keep running the Stoptech brakes until there's a problem.

 

You can add the titanium shim plates between the caliper pistons and the brake pads. This will either lengthen the replacement time for the seals, or completely eliminate them as a failure point.
If you use the car for street driving, you should change out the seals CAREFULLY (or send them in to be done if you do not have confidence in your abilities) and not worry about them unless they are already leaking.

 

Nick,

how much / where can you get the Ti backing plates? stoptech direct? any of the 'authorized resellers? And these just drop in between the pad backing and the pistons? nothing else to them?

 

List on them is about $75.00. We sell them for $70 for a front set for the ST40 caliper. Yes, they 'drop in' place. They are pretty thin, so they don't add a ton of space, but they are effective.

 

Stumpmj,
In your caliper, you have pressure seals around the pistons. They are down inside the caliper, where you can't really see them. The dust boot (which you burned up), attaches to the piston, and slides in around it in the piston bore of the caliper.

Your seals should be fine after 4 events, so if you maintain your calipers carefully, you shouldn't have any problems with debris actually getting into the caliper. The seals will protect them. When you're changing out crusty race pads, you probably want to spray some around the outside edges of the pistons to get any of the pad debris out from in between the piston and bore wall.

If you burned up the dust boots, you should replace them if you will be driving on salty roads, etc. This will increase the amount of protection for the calipers. If your car is going to store the car for the winter and not really drive it, I wouldn't stress over the dust boots.

Rebuild time varies tremedously. We have guys running Viper Days that go all year without a rebuild (12-15 hardcore track weekends in very fast, very heavy cars). Just keep an eye on them, and keep them cleaned up. You'll be happy as long as they are happy.

 

JRitt, can you post a little blurb on caliper maintence perhaps?? When you say to spray the outside edges of the piston do you mean with brake cleaner? You want to keep that stuff away from the rubber seals right?

btw, I hammered on the brakes all day at infineon last weekend. They are awsome. I wish costco sold rear pads though at the rate I'm going to be buying them..

 

I was about to PM J Ritt about this.

My OEM Brembos need to be rebuilt (there is no dust boot anymore), anyone know the rebuild procedure? The FSM sure lacks quality instructions.

 

Thanks for the info. J Ritt. I figured you'd read just about everything with "Stoptech" in the subject line! How about elaborating on that caliper maintanence procedure?

 

I have all of the parts needed to rebuild the calipers in stock...