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Holy unsprung weight! I thought the stock ones were heavy!
Actually they are. Somewhere around 15 kg. But that's a price for better braking and I am very happy that I payed it. Just the other night I missed a raccoon barely a foot before I hit it. Just a touch less braking power and pure guy would be badly hurt. It could be something else too.
P.S. There is three way better solution, weight, longevity and braking power: ceramic brakes. I just have to sell my house in order to buy them.
What color are you going to paint he calipers? I have found a place that powdercoats calipers for 300 bucks (all 4 of them) They will do whatever color you want and they have tons of examples on their website
I went for silver for the calipers and the carriers (and the spring and the bracket for the hose). Was thinking about light gray or black too, but went for silver. Not a big fan of any other color. Red is ok though if its something like Brembo that has that color from the factory.
It's not only for looks, but just as much for easy cleaning too, as the used untreated aluminum calipers and cast iron carriers needed to be sand blasted to get rid of all the dirt and rust.
The winter is getting closer and I changed to winter wheels yesterday. Was thinking to change the brakes at the same time, but decided I couldn't wait any longer. The discs took about three weeks to arrive and they are now just being painted as they where untreated. Didn't want them to rust immediately.
While changing wheels, I used the opportunity to try the big carrier and caliper on as a test to see if it would fit together with the 18" winter rims.
Along the way I took some pictures.
First one showing the 19" summer wheel and my small brakes.
Then a couple showing the bigger carrier and caliper together with the small disc.
And then one with the 19" wheel. Added a light in the front so the gap would appear better.
And last but not least, the big question, will it all fit with my 18" wheel?
And the answer is YES, and with bigger margin than I thought it would. Not that the gap is big, but I was actually more than 50% sure that it wouldn't be any room at all.
Will let the discs dry for some more days before putting it all together.
Does the ABS and ESP coding not need to be altered for the S8/W12 brake setup? It's important that these systems are told that the braking system performance has been altered otherwise it might command an innapropriate input in an extreme situation. Stuff like this usually gets overlooked as everything appears to work normally until you really need it and then it may actually end up making the situation worse (especially the ESP). The OEM's have different calibrations in place for the different setups for a reason...
I will be looking at this specifically with my next brake project. If I recall correctly, there are something like three general coding groups--the smaller std. set up, the bigger W12/S8/Euro "armoured" set up, and the ceramic (rotor) set up. ABS ultimately kicks in at lock up to mitigate a lot of the classic front/rear bias issues--alongside better brakes and tires generally, and less suspension lift. The ESP related area with more finesse to what it does is an area to try to keep optimized with the right coding. Fortunately most of these options brake wise were shipped in A8's/S8's in various configurations and markets, so factory coding has been thought through. Mix and match of the various set ups front to rear not so much as far as I know.
Does the ABS and ESP coding not need to be altered for the S8/W12 brake setup? It's important that these systems are told that the braking system performance has been altered otherwise it might command an innapropriate input in an extreme situation. Stuff like this usually gets overlooked as everything appears to work normally until you really need it and then it may actually end up making the situation worse (especially the ESP). The OEM's have different calibrations in place for the different setups for a reason...
Interesting question Dave. I've been reading a lot about putting bigger/better brakes on a "normal" car, like RS4 brakes on a A4 or S4, but never seen it mentioned any coding needed at the same time. Anyway I'll keep it mind when the snow and ice are covering some parking lots and play with some over- and understeer situations, and other evasive maneuvers. And maybe some without the ESP too.
from my W12, so far with the current 385mm stock set up. I'm in the ABS controller, but notice in the background of the main screen it is aware I have a certain ESP version level (5.7) of an all wheel drive.
Also notice you code directly for the brakes at the fifth digit, but then it also overlaps at the sixth digit if you happen to go all the way to ceramics on any motor (including diesels), in which case it codes like a W12 for that digit. And why, I don't know, since you also code to the brakes in the prior digit. Given some of the choices, I get some sense it may have to do with front to rear balance, more so with the overlay that for non ceramic TDI's the code choice also seems to depend on which wheelbase for the V6, and more so when you realize there are SWB W12's in Europe. With that one exception read into it, the motor code choices/digit stays separate from the prior brake code digit. Indirectly, I think in the last digit you are coding for AWD vs. FWD when they ask for transmission choice--since a Multitronic would be a (non-U.S.) FWD V6 if I remember when multitronic comes up from the C6 A6 side. Makes sense to me for weight distribution parameters, and interaction of throttle and brakes for ESP and traction control (EDL).
Finally, the mixed set up case (like front change only) isn't covered.
So it's clear that there is different coding and consequently ESP/ABS parameters to suit the different brake sizes. SSP 285 has some info on the different setups, but from what I can deduce the following is what each digit corresponds to
0x?xx: Brakes
1 = 2FNR 42 AL 18" (PR-1LJ/1LK) - S8/W12 big calipers, big discs
2 = 2FNR 42 AL 17" (PR-1LL/1LM) - V8 big calipers, medium discs
4 = FNRG-60 16" (PR-1LG) - V6 small calipers, small discs
7 = Brembo M6 AL 19" (PR-1LW) - Ceramics
So from this it's clear you should change the ABS/ESP coding to suit your setup, but also that you must do a complete change of the system front and rear as there is no calibration settings in place for a mix and match setup.
Looks like a few folks here have perhaps compromised the safety of their vehicles by not considering the electronics side of things properly. BE WARNED!!!!
10-13-2014, 08:29 AM
