How To: 2008 STi StopTech Big Brake Kit

[RallySport Direct]

This is a HOW TO install for a StopTech Front Big Brake Kit on a 2008 STi.
StopTech 355MM ST-40(4 piston caliper) Kit


Reason for the Install: After doing a track day, it was apparent that the OEM brake system requires allot of work to get them to perform as needed. The OEM Brembo Brakes, are good. But are not intended for hard track use. Of coarse 2 piece rotors, SS Lines, Fluid, Ti Shims, Brake Ducks, ext. would help allot. But after its all said and done, your almost up to a price of a BBK.

Advantages: The StopTech Big brake kit is amazing. It comes with everything needed. New Hardware, New Brake Lines, and even a little bottle of lock tight! The only thing you to buy is some Brake Fluid. The Calipers, brackets, rotors are all top notch! And are as good if not better quality then the OEM brakes.

INFO: Another Reason for the Brake kit, was to loose some unsprung weight, and rotational mass.
OEM 328mm Rotor weight: 22.16 LBS
StopTech 355mm Rotor weight: 18.1 LBS
So with a bigger rotor, that has better cooling capacity, and larger surface area you are loosing 4lbs of rotational mass and unsprung weight.
per front corner.
Also with a 2 piece rotor, you keep heat out of the hubs. Which in turn help keep them cool, and running longer.

Overlay of Stock on the StopTech

Side shot. The StopTech is wider, and has larger cooling passages.




OEM Calipers: 10.75 LBS
StopTech calipers and bracket: 9.74 LBS
With a larger caliper that has more clamping load, your still 1lb ligher then OEM. So loosing more unsprung weight.

Things Needed:
Rims To clear the Brake Kit. We Tested 2 Different rims, Prodrive GC-05 18x9.5 +44, Enkei NTO3+M 18x9.5 +40. With the caliper now being place higher up on the rim, you actualy gain clearence. With the NTO3+M, we no longer have to use a 10MM spacer(that we had to have with the stock brakes).
Motive Power Bleeder. This makes bleeding the brakes easy. And only took about 10 min to bleed the new brakes. Or you can also get a buddies to help you, and do it the old fashion way.
Brake Fluid. We opted to use the ATE Super Blue, as we have had great results, and the fluid stays consistent during hard driving.
Catch Bottle and a clear tube, so you can catch the fluid coming out of the caliper, and a clear tube so you can see when the air is out of the system.
Sand Paper. This is to get rid or rust build up that is between the rotor and the hub. As ANY rust will not allow the new rotor to sit properly.
Soap, water, rags, and brake cleaner. The Rotors have oils on them, that need to be cleaned off before they are installed.
Tools: All Sockets HAVE TO BE 6 POINT! As with such high TQ on some of the hardware, a 12 point will easily strip some of the bolts!
19MM 1/2 Drive Socket
15MM 3/8 Drive Socket
12MM 3/8 Drive Socket
1/2" socket
7/16" open end wrench
9/16"
17MM open end wrench
Flat head Screw Driver
10MM box end wrench
Torque Wrench 1/2" drive. This is so that you can tighten the new hardware to the StopTech specs.
Misc. extensions.
1/2 breaker bar.
Hammer
5 MM allen wrench (hex)
Jack, and Jack stands.


Install:

1) Break loose the lug nuts. Jack up the car. Set it on Jack Stands. Pull off the rim.


2) Get the 19MM Socket, with a breaker bar and take the Caliper off the hub. The 2 bolts are placed at the bottom of the OEM caliper. By the Axle.
Once you get the caliper off, depending on how much of a grove your rotors have. You should be able to slide the caliper right of the rotor.
We used a 1/2" to 3/8" adapter. I know we said not to. But we did, and well broke the adapter.

6 POINT Socket! THIS IS A MUST!


These are the bolts you are removing.

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Set the Caliper on a Box, or hang it with a wire off the strut to keep the Brake line from Stretching.




3) Take off the 12MM bolt that hold the Brake line on to the Bottom Strut Mount.


You can also see in this image the top bolt where the bolt holds the caliper on to the Hub.


IMPORTANT: DO NOT TAKE THE BRAKE LINES OFF YET! AS You will drain the master cylinder for the brakes, and create a huge issue. The brake lines get removed as the LAST THING!




4) Take off the Stock Rotor. So the Hub is exposed.
Then get your sand Paper, and take off the rust that was between the hat and the hub. Even a little rust will cause the rotor to not sit flush. (the car has 5K miles, and as you can see rust already started to form.

What it looked like after. You dont need to make it look new and shiny, just take off the coating of rust.



5) Remove the dust shield that sits behind the Rotor. Do the the Side diff. of stock VS StopTech Rotor size, this shield will need to be modified. They are 12MM bolts, 3 of them.





Next to the new rotor you will see why you need to take it off and bend it.

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6) Take the Shield and the hammer.
If you look, you can see that the shield has a lip on it. With the new rotor being 1" bigger, this lip needs to be ether a) flattened out, or b) cut off. We made it flat


This is what it will look like.


7) Put the Shield back on the hub, and tighten the hardware to about 10-14ft lbs.
Important: Take the New Rotor and put it on the hub. Then Move the new rotor back and forth and look for contact between the shield and the rotor. Wherever you see contact you will need to bend the Shield away from the rotor. As this contact will cause issues and unwanted noise.


8) Next is attaching the new StopTech Bracket to the hub.
Things you need. That are included in the kit.
Hardware (use only 2 per side) Washer goes on top of the bolt.

LockTight


Apply some LockTight on the bolt.


And put the bracket on to the hub. So that the 2 bolts that the caliper attaches to are on the inside of the hub (toward the inside of the car). They are 19MM


Now Start to thread in the Hardware.

Tighten both the top and the lower bolt to as tight as you can with out putting to much weight into it. So that both the bolts have about the same amount of pressure.
Get the Torque wrench and tighten the hardware to 75-80Ft/lbs.

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It should now look like this.



9) DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! CLEAN THE ROTOR WITH SOAP AND WATER, WIPE IT DOWN, AND THEN CLEAN THE OUT ROTOR WITH BRAKE CLEANER! Failure to do so, will cause the pads and the rotor to not seat properly.

10) Take the proper caliper and the 5mm allen and take out the 2 bolts that hold the bridge to the caliper.



Remember that the air feed is facing down on the bridge.

10) Now put the rotor on the hub, and the caliper on the bracket.



Now tighten the 2 bolts that hold the caliper to the bracket. (washers sit on top of the caliper between the bolt and caliper).



Get the 1/2" 6 point socket.

[IMG]http://theattack.rallysportdirect.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/img_0200.jpg[/IMG

It should now look like this.

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Now Torque down the Bolts to 40ft/Lbs



11) Now insert the new pads. Friction material toward the rotor. The pad must be perfectly straight going in. If its a little to one side or the other, it will require allot of force to put in. They should go in by hand, with no hammers or high force needed.




What it looks like after.


Now insert the bride and the hardware.
AIR DAM FACES DOWN!


Insert the hardware. With the washer being between the caliper and the head of the bolt.


Tighten the Allen bolts to about 8-10ft/lbs (hand tight)

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12) Brake Lines. (WE ALREADY HAD BRAKE LINES ON OUR STI, So we did not exchange them for the ones supplied with the kit)

When installing new brake lines.
This is how the brass washers sit on the banjo end.


How it sits on the Caliper. Tighten it to 14ft/lbs. 9/16" 6 point socket.


Attach the line to the bottom of the strut. 12MM socket.


Brake line, to solid brake line.
Top is a 17MM, and the bottom is a 10MM. On the top use a 17MM open end wrench. On the bottom, YOU MUST USE A 10MM BOX END WRENCH. IF NOT YOU WILL STRIP IT!
Pop out the retainer clip the holds the line to the chassis. With a flat head screw driver.


Important: Once u take this fitting off, brake fluid will start leaking fast. Make sure you work quickly, as to much time will cause your Master Cylinder to drain out. (THIS BRAKE KIT WAS DESIGNED TO WORK ON THE 1993-2007 Impreza, in 2008 Subaru changed the fitting on the solid brake line, so eater a) you must use a Technafit Brake Line b) Wait for a couple more weeks for StopTech to come out with lines c) use your stock line until StopTech has one out specifically for the 2008) We are using the Technafit lines, and we have NO ISSUES!

Now Attach the new Line to the Solid line on the car, and clean up the brake fluid ASAP with soap and water. As the Fluid WILL EAT THE PAINT OFF THE CAR, AND OFF THE CALIPER!

MAKE SURE YOUR BRAKE LINES ARE NOT TOUCHING THE STRUT! AT ANY STEERING ANGLE!


13) NOW DO THE SAME THING TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CAR Change the OEM Brakes to the New Brakes.

14) Bleeding the Brakes.
We use the Motive Power Bleeder to make it a quick, and clean.
Hook up the power Bleeder to the Master Cylinder.


Then Fill the canister 1/3 full with brake fluid. And pressurize the Can to NO MORE THEN 14PSI


Attach the Clear hose to the inside valve on the caliper. And get your 7/16" wrench on the valve.


Open the Valve about 1/2 turn and watch the fluid. The fluid will take a second to start coming out. But you will notice that at 1st it will have allot of air bubbles. Keep the valve open until the fluid coming out has no air bubbles.

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After you do the inside, do the outside of the caliper.

15) After you bleed the new calipers. Bleed the entire system, rear to front. Making sure all the fluid is air free. Keep an eye on the Power Bleeder, so that you have above 6PSI of pressure, and plenty of fluid.

16) After you changed all the brake fluid in the system. Hop in the car and hit the brakes (after you take the pressure bleeder off the car) and the cap is on the master cylinder, and the valves are all closed. The 1st couple times you press the brakes they will go to the ground. But after you pump it 2-3 times pressure will be fully up and your pedal fell should be very stiff. If it is not, you might still have air in the system.

17) Put your rims on, and torque them down to the OEM spec. We use 85ft/lbs. And enjoy the new look.




18) Braking in your new brakes. 1st time you apply the brakes you should be going VERY SLOW. In case anything happens your able to safely stop. If the brakes are working properly proceed to slowly increasing your speed. And just drive around carefully listening for abnormal noises. They brakes at 1st will not be as good as stock, as the pads will need to wear into the rotors. However they will get better and better the more miles you put on them.

19 After the test drive go back and reinspect everything. Making sure nothing has come loose. Also check your brake fluid level, and look for a drop in fluid level. If its lower then when you left. You might have a leak!
You will notice that there will be a ring on your inner rim where fluid from the rotor has got out, this is OK. As its just manufacturing oil from the rotors. Just make sure its oil, and not break fluid!



This should cover a Big Break Install on a 2008 STi

Before:


After:




Thanks
Kirill
RallySportDirect.com
801-749-4910 ext 1006

[RallySport Direct]

edit.

[RallySport Direct]

Edit

[orvtech]

nice post! you guys make it look so easy

[RallySport Direct]

If you follow the instructions its all there.
The 1st side took about 1.5hrs to do, as taking images took a bit of time.
But the 2nd one only took about 30min to do.

[scoobydorift]

Good write up!

[Ultimate Collision Center]

great write up

[Frank A]

I'm sure its been answered before wrt to the Stoptech kits, but since you photo'd these with an Enkei NT03+M rim, I'll ask. How much more rim clearance do you get with the Stoptech calipers over the Brembos, if any? What size/offset was the Enkei rim you have pictured and did you run any spacers? Are those ARP wheel studs?

Frank

[RallySport Direct]

Originally Posted by Frank A

I'm sure its been answered before wrt to the Stoptech kits, but since you photo'd these with an Enkei NT03+M rim, I'll ask. How much more rim clearance do you get with the Stoptech calipers over the Brembos, if any? What size/offset was the Enkei rim you have pictured and did you run any spacers? Are those ARP wheel studs?

Frank

Frank,

The Enkei rims are 18x9.5 +40 Offset.
With the Brembo Brakes we had to run a 10MM spacer up front to have them clear the brakes.
With the StopTech Brakes we gained allot of clearance. We no longer need to run the spacer, and have about 1-2MM clearance between the inner spoke and outside of the caliper.
The studs are ARP

Kirill
RallySportDirect.com

[Kwinskii]

Great write up! Looks good Kirill!

[Bad Noodle]

Don't you guys have anything better to do then make me jealous

[Texas Money]

curious as to what stopping power the stop tech has over the brembo? are they both 6piston? are the rotors bigger, they look to be about the same. just weighing out the price/performance.

[RallySport Direct]

The rotors are 328MM stock, and 355MM for the StopTech.
Also if you look the rotors are also wider, with bigger cooling vanes.
So they will be able to hold more heat, dissipate it quicker. Resulting in more consistent braking during hard driving.
They are both 4piston kits.
But the StopTech has a larger surface area for the pads over the stock Brembo Pads.
You also loose 4lbs of rotational mass, and 5lbs per corner of unsprung weight.

[Frank A]

Originally Posted by RallySport Direct

The rotors are 328MM stock, and 355MM for the StopTech.
Also if you look the rotors are also wider, with bigger cooling vanes.

Aren't the factory STI rotors 322mm, just like the '07's? Or were the '07's not 12.67" like some of the web sites say?

What is the thickness on the Stoptech rotors, 28 or 32?

Frank

[macfromtk]

Very helpful post! Good stuff.

-Mac

[RallySport Direct]

Originally Posted by Frank A

Aren't the factory STI rotors 322mm, just like the '07's? Or were the '07's not 12.67" like some of the web sites say?

What is the thickness on the Stoptech rotors, 28 or 32?

Frank

You are correct. It is a a 322.5MM OEM. So you are increasing the rotor size by 32.5MM, or about 1.25"

The rotor is 32MM Thick.

[Texas Money]

Originally Posted by RallySport Direct

You also loose 4lbs of rotational mass, and 5lbs per corner of unsprung weight.

that right there would be enough to sell me

[RallySport Direct]

Originally Posted by Texas Money

that right there would be enough to sell me

It was surprising on how much different the front end feels with the loss of the weight.

[wuuusaa]

Excellent write up guys