Brake Discs

[rolling_project]

Hi,

Brake discs have been mentioned on another thread and this has prompted me to ask....I was thinking of ordering some soon. I read here that the rear american disks don't fit? But the guy I bought my car from suggested they do. The ones I have found on ebay from america seem a good price for a set of 4, but if the rears don't fit then I will hold fire. What do I need to order? Has anyone else ordered them from america and is it possible to ask them to make up the rears so they do fit? What is the difference? Or where in the UK could I order them and how much can i expect them to be? and pads? Can someone explain the colours and what I should go for?

Thanks everyone!!

P.s. my gearbox is rebuilt (many dollar) and going back in the car tonight / tomorrow. So by the weekend I will be rolling again!

[b3lha]

The USA cars have solid (rather than ventilated) rear disks as standard, so the calipers and pads are different. Presumably, if you fit disks designed for a USA car then you would also have to change the calipers and pads to match.

Andy had some really nice brakes on his SVX. I can't remember whether he did all four or just the front ones.
http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8856

[rolling_project]

Thanks Phil,

the ones I have seen from america on ebay are drilled and grooved. is that different to ventilated? I'll check that other thread. thanks.

[michael]

motorsportwarehouse also has euro rotors available.

[Andy]

I only had the fronts, but rears are also available. Just follow the links on the original thread.

[blueji]

Try expressparts.co.uk they are brake specialists and I got mine from them, front are made in Japan and you can tell with the top quality finish and the rear are Bradi, Italian I think.
Just quote them your reg no. of your car and they will do the rest

£135.00 inc net day del

sorted out my bad vibes as well!!

John

[svxistentialist]

Originally Posted by rolling_project

Thanks Phil,

the ones I have seen from america on ebay are drilled and grooved. is that different to ventilated? I'll check that other thread. thanks.

Phil already mentioned the difference.

The front discs we have are ventilated. This means they are not cut from a solid metal plate. There is an air gap between the inside and the outside surface. Hence the term ventilated, made like a sandwich to let heat away faster. The original equipment surface with both front and back discs on the SVX is smooth.

The rear discs [or rotors as they call them] are solid on American cars. Therefore they are thinner, so they need a caliper that has a narrower gap. US rear discs will not work with our cars, unless as Phil says you also buy a set of US calipers. This would be madness, as it would be a costly and a retrograde step. However cheap you can get US discs on eBay, you still need English or Euro or Japanese rear discs.

Drilled and Slotted: This is what can be done to discs to keep them from glazing, and to get rid of brake dust and sometimes heat. It is mostly a surface treatment for the friction side of the disc. The term ventilated means hollow inside, hence thicker.

Joe

[michael]

"they are thinner, so they need a caliper that has a narrower gap" Are you sure? Some cars caliapers can accomidate either vented or solid rotors. I can't believe this isn't a more common upgrade on U.S. SVXii. Can the front caliapers be used on the rear? Oops! sorry for the hijack.

[michael]

Bump for curiosity.

[intelisevil]

Let's flip this question . . . Can we put UK spec rear calipers and rotors on our US SVXi? I think a 'stock' upgrade would be neat to have!

Now that I've started a hijack, let's continue . . . Will UK spec glass headlights fit on our US SVXi without modifications?

Thanks,
Dan

[ItsPeteReally]

Originally Posted by michael

Can the front caliapers be used on the rear?

Not a good idea!

Disregarding the question of whether the front calipers can be persuaded/encouraged/butchered to physically fit at the rear, there is the much more important issue of caliper piston area and the effect this has on brake balance.

If the same calipers were fitted to the rear as the front then the brake balance would now be, by definition, 50%/50%. Far too much braking effort to the rears, and the harder you braked the worse the problem would become.

Although its true that you could, perhaps, rely on the ABS to stop the rear wheels from entirely locking up every time you put the brakes on, the balance of the car would be totally ruined; even gentle braking whilst driving in anything other than a straight line would tend to put the car into an oversteer condition.

Life gets entertaining enough without such additional problems!

[ItsPeteReally]

Originally Posted by intelisevil

Let's flip this question . . . Can we put UK spec rear calipers and rotors on our US SVXi? I think a 'stock' upgrade would be neat to have!

Now that I've started a hijack, let's continue . . . Will UK spec glass headlights fit on our US SVXi without modifications?

Thanks,
Dan

The UK spec rotors/calipers probably will fit and work (but I can't be 100% sure).

The UK glass headlights should fit but will dip the wrong way! (not a good idea). Perhaps the continental Europe headlights are glass too (I Dunno), if so, then that's the better option.

[Andy]

Have just ordered EBC discs and Redstuff pads for the Forester from

www.ebcbrakesdirect.com

I will let you know how they are.

[svxistentialist]

Originally Posted by intelisevil

Let's flip this question . . . Can we put UK spec rear calipers and rotors on our US SVXi? I think a 'stock' upgrade would be neat to have!

Now that I've started a hijack, let's continue . . . Will UK spec glass headlights fit on our US SVXi without modifications?

Thanks,
Dan

Dan, as Pete said, they will fit and they will work OK, the rotors and calipers I mean.

Headlights will fit too, and work, but you have two problems. The English lamps dip to the wrong side. I mentioned this a long time ago, and was told by a US member it is just a matter of twisting the bulb holder through 90 degrees to have it dipping right for the US. This makes sense, and I'm sure it is possible. Continental headlights are also glass, at least I am certain German ones are. I don't know about other countries, but can't see why they would go to the trouble of using two types. They would work straight away.

Your second problem is the bulb types. They have different sockets over here. I believe you use bulbs called 9006 or something like that? You would have to convert your bulb-holding sockets to take these.

There is a third complication. Euro and JDM lights have a secondary parking light bulb which is within the headlight body. I understand that in California anyway, your parking variant lights up a secondary bulb in what we know as the front indicator. We only have the front indicator bulb in the front corner lamp. You would probably need to reroute the wire for that parking light as well.

All of this is do-able I'm sure.

Joe

[ItsPeteReally]

Originally Posted by svxistentialist

Headlights will fit too, and work, but you have two problems. The English lamps dip to the wrong side. I mentioned this a long time ago, and was told by a US member it is just a matter of twisting the bulb holder through 90 degrees to have it dipping right for the US. This makes sense, and I'm sure it is possible.

I'm not so sure

There are two components to the dipped beam solution. The first component is the dual filament bulb. When the dipped beam filament is on, the filament is higher than the true focal point of the reflector; throwing the beam generally downwards.

The second component is the ribbing whithin the headlamp glass itself, this acts as a fresnel lens which also directs and focusses the beam. The British readers of the forum will certainly recall the continental touring kit stickies (a bit like an eye-patch) that were stuck over the ribbed portion of the headlight assembly in an attempt to stop everybody on the other side of the English Channel madly flashing at you. Now the fashion appears to be to stick a secondary ribbed lens over the entire lamp housing.

Whilst it might be possible to get somewhere by twisting the bulb itself, I fear that such a solution may prove to be very sub-optimal.