Boxster Brake Upgrade - Red Without A Brush

[Gundo]

Wanted to post a quick one with pics and all of my recent brake upgrade on my 97. I got the kit off ebay from Ric at Suncoast - great deal at $1550. My understanding is that Ric CANNOT match the $1550, but can offer at a pretty competitive price - much less than the $3250 retail. The brakes fit perfectly under my stock boxster design 17" wheels - some had been worried about clearance.

Here we go -

This is drivers side front - went on no problem, the kit was complete with stainless lines, new caliper bolts and calipers with pads and sensors. The rotors are sweet - and much bigger than the ones I took off. Only tough part was that just about every brake line fitting was seized tight, and the brass nuts on the lines is really easy bugger up.

Here's the driver side rear - some have been worried that the e-brake would not fit correctly. I suppose this could be true if you use and S kit, but this kit is designed for a 97 to 02 non-S boxster, so no problems. I didn't even have to adjust the ebrake.

This pic is just an extra 'cause I like my new jack.

All done, here is the wheel back on, with my new rubber too...

Here is the front end, looks great, the red is super bright.

All-in-all, a hugely worthwhile upgrade. I swear they feel stronger than my old brakes. The stainless lines made a difference I'm sure, but the brakes have a larger swept area, and potentially less stopping area. Definitely less fade, as the calipers are way bigger.

Edited April 21, 2004 by Gundo

[Orient Express]

Gundo:

Not to rain on your parade, but you have installed at least one of those calipers upside down!

The bleed valves must be pointing UP! to properly get all of the air out. The calipers are set up for left and right use. The key is that the bleed valves are up. If you can't make that happen on all 4 wheels, then your vendor has sent you a wrong caliper.

this one is upside down:

chances are the one on the other side is upside down as well.

[Gundo]

Dude - you are so right. I totally screwed up.. The others 3 are have the bleeders are on the high side. Guess I need to call Suncoast.

Brakes are super solid right now, so I've got them bled as best I can, I would expect them to get better.

Thanks!

[Aceman]

Hi Gundo,

I'm looking to upgrade the brakes on my 2000 Boxster. I don't want to spend a pile of cash.....so this kit sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. Can you give me some more information on where I can obtain the kit. I tried looking for the Suncoast kit on eBay but I couldn't find it. I also had a brief look on the Suncoast website but I couldn't find any info there either.

By the way.....the new brakes look great on your car!

Thanks,

Adrian

[Highlander]

Dude - you are so right. I totally screwed up.. The others 3 are have the bleeders are on the high side. Guess I need to call Suncoast.

DON'T PANIC

The calipers are symmetrical. All you need to do is remove the bleed nipples from the bottom and the connector bar from the top and swap them. You don't even need to remove the caliper.

Good Luck,

Graeme

[Tool Pants]

Not to rain on your parade, but you have installed at least one of those calipers upside down!

I did not even notice that. Orient/Gary is a concours judge and has S brakes on his 996 so he is good with things like that.

If you swap the cross-over tube with the bleed nipples and mar the red coating then Gary might take off points. :o

[Orient Express]

That is OK, I will only take a quarter point off. :D BTW I found that Testors Model Paint Red #1103 is an exact match for Porsche caliper Red. I use it for touchup from rock chips on the calipers.

Good luck on getting the balance tube off without scratching up the nuts.

[Tool Pants]

Ok, the pointed bottom part of the Porsche crest on the center cap points to the rubber valve stem.

In which of the 5 holes do you put the locking wheel bolt. The one closest to the valve stem??

I have removed my caps, bolts, and wheels so many times over the years that I do not remember, or I will lose points.

Long time ago someone said the guards red touch up paint is the same - but I do not know if this is true.

[Gundo]

Thanks guys for your help - definitely a robust thread.

In fact, I spoke with Suncoast about this issue, and their advice is the same, switch out the crossover pipe and bleed screws.

I like the solution and will do my best to get those darn fittings off without buggering up the paint.

If you are a concours judge, then you must be disgusted looking at my dirty wheel wells, undercarriage and suspension bits....

[Tool Pants]

Put some tape around the the fitting for the tube. Use a flair nut wrench if you have one.

Hope the fittings are not cranked on very tight or your points are in jeopardy. But there is Testors.

[Orient Express]

In which of the 5 holes do you put the locking wheel bolt.  The one closest to the valve stem??

Jeff:

The locking stud goes in the 5th hole. One some wheels that is the same side as the valve stem, in others it is opposite.

As far as cleanliness in the wheel well, here is what the orient express looks like after 30,000 miles.

Edited April 21, 2004 by Orient Express

[Gundo]

Well, I spent about an hour last night switching the crossover tube and the bleed screws. All went fine, but boy, those compression nut wrenches would have been very handy. I used some electrical tape over the painted compression nuts and didn't really bugger up the paint too bad. They came out pretty easy.

The harder part was switching the crossover pipe. It is assymetrical and is bent such that it cannot fit the lower part of the caliper without being bent a bit. So I bent it as needed, but am not 100% comfortable with the quality of my pipe bending. Next step is to have Suncoast send me out a replacement part to make sure its perfect.

Superbly detailed wheel wheels by the way!

[steve_wilwerding]

One question:

What sort of brake rotors are used on the back? I assume they are some sort of special rotors that work with the existing e-brake but also work with the big reds. So, I assume when it's time to replace rotors, you'll need to special order the backs. Is that correct?

[Gundo]

The rotors are special in that they are standard S rotors that have been milled to fit the ebrake. My understanding is that there is not much that has been milled off, but yet, they will be special order when its time to replace them, but given the rate I put miles on the car (97 with 32K miles) I don't think this will be a problem.

Good point though, it may be worth ordering an extra set to have on hand in case Race Technologies disappears....

[steve_wilwerding]

I don't know if it be worth ordering an extra set or not. I was just asking because I'm thinking of doing the same thing and it is something to think about.

Thanks.

[mrmickeymouse]

Not to sound uninformed, but what is the difference between S brake Calipers and standard calipers, maybe some sort of adaption on the Boxster carrier is needed. Might that be cheaper in the long run....

I bet milled rotors are going to be steep in the long run compared to S Brake rotors, maybe another vehicles rotors may work, I have read a recent article in Excellence were a Volvo throttle body was used on a 914, never even conceived such a setup...

Food for thought...

[jefla]

I'm about to do the brakes on my 2000 base w/ 40k miles, and very will likley do what Steve did a few years ago. Is there any new thinking and are there newparts package options etc., since this thread was last alive? I like the black calipers off 996s. Any reason not to just go with OEM 996 parts for the front and use aftermarket drilled rotors for my stock rear? Can someone help/direct to a parts list?

Also, if I have to paint rotor hats what kind of paint should I use?

(Steve, learning that some of your calipers were upside down must have really been a drag! Darn good thing Orint's out there.)

[Samir]

I found this thread while looking for something else and it sparked my curiousity. What was the brake system that was installed? It looks quite nice. :notworthy: