Coupe Rear Brake Upgrades

[Sonic]

Just thinking about available rear brake upgrades for the coupe and thought i'd put it all in one place...

I remember having 996 323mm on the front with the urS4/6 280mm vented rear setup and it was balanced perfectly under breaking, ideal for road use, however the RS6 365mm setup i have upfront is epic but means the car tends to dive under heavy braking so i'm looking at alternative options.

Rusty has his trusty 300mm / 314mm budget upgrade with uprated discs, carrier and pads but the same caliper.

Then there is the S2Central.net 280x22mm vented rear upgrade with urS4/6 caliper, A/S8 carrier and pads. Pete Reeve had the set available for sale here.

The main problem is the handbrake mechanism on the coupe, so beyond this a separate handbrake caliper is required.

The next stage that i've been looking into is the 4-pot 996 monoblock caliper, 330mm discs, customer carrier and R8/Gallardo handbrake caliper from VRS which comes in at around £1500 with second-hand 996 calipers, new handbrake caliper and carriers, discs, pads and labour.

Are there other options/upgrades that people have looked into or fitted?

[andy10v]

John B's rear 996 upgrade thread, cost about £1000 IIRC

http://www.s2forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62766&highlight=rear+996

[mac2226]

Just about say that andy johnb handbrake setup and boxster rear calipers with Vrs brackets 330mm discs. With porsche cayenne 6 pots on front hopefully it will squat not nose dive as fronts are 330mm discs only

[twoqu]

In theory a 330X22mm should be achievable.
I think VRS had the brackets although it would be possible to add a spacer to the other 300mm brackets. Quite common on Porsche conversions.
That would leave the HB caliper brackets. Perhaps if you asked nicely Bambridge cold knock a set up to accomodate the increase in diameter.
So for perhaps a liitle increase in cost you could have a substantial increase in potential. Assuming of course you can accomodate them within the wheels you have otherwise more £££ to add. Of course there might be other issues to overcome.
Shame the HB brackets could not accomodate both 300 and 330mm somehow as that would allow some flexability. The biggest costs are the calipers. If its possible to adapt both the caliper brackets and the HB brackets to accept the larger disc then thats worth considering although in the scheme of things the HB brackets were not that expensive but the caliper brackets are!

I would also think its possible to run either 330X22 disc with spaced 280mm carriers using a bracket like Rusty's conversion. Or perhaps even a 312mm with machined 330mm disc and RS4 carriers. Depend if you want to reuse any/all of what you have got or spend £££!

[geryS2]

is there any rear upgrade that doesn t require another caliper for the handbrake ?

if no for the coupe, what about for the S2 avant ?

cheers

[Sonic]

Yes, Rusty's upgrade doesn't require another caliper.

For the avant there are lots of options because the handbrake isn't a restriction like the coupe.

[twoqu]

Somebody on here has run the whole 300mm conversion on a Coupe but the handbrake cables looked very tight. I am not sure whether the larger 330mm carrier accepts the later S4 caliper or whether that makes the HB cable issue worse.
Guess the question is whether you want integrated HB or seperate HB caliper. Unfortunately the cost increment is considerable

[Error404]

B5 RS4 rear rotor, hub & carrier with URS4/6 caliper is all bolt on.

I am working on Phaeton rear caliper with 312x22 rear disc, custom handbrake cable.
There is also a 330x22 disc option, but IMHO unnecessary.

not sure what all the fuss is about the handbrake cables, its easy to get them custom made with stainless internals etc, or use avant cables and reroute them. You can make anything work with a bit of thought

[twoqu]

Yep but on that basis you might as well integrate the electro handbrake calipers and not have the issue of cables ever again. Unfortunately you would have all the wiring/ecu gubbins to contend with. Still, not unsurmountable if you had the patience. Unfortunately these are not simply on/off.
Certaintly the RS4 set up would be another option if you can stand the price of the discs. This would also alter the rear track so may cause issue with the current wheel/tyres. The biggest issue is the budget and whether you want OE sourced components or bespoke.

[Error404]

Yup with the RS4 rear hubs IIRC it widens the rear track by around 6mm.

I've never really understood the use of electro-handbrakes, its a bit of a gimmick in my view although it is amusing to sneakily pull the tab at low speed though, on my mates B8 it applies all the brakes with maximum force
my point to folk was really don't let the caliper handbrake lever orientation put you off its an easy problem to solve

[Sonic]

I was just trying to evaluate what options are available that have evolved over the years, and more specifically for my scenario, what setup is there that will balance the fronts but not break the bank

A rear 330x22mm setup with 4-pot 996 brembo calipers and separate handbrake mechanism is epic, but at £1500 is not cheap... but nothing of quality ever is!

Oh the dilemma I just want to get the car painted really

[Cottis]

I want the same thing. In the process of swapping an old Movit kit for a new AP setup on the fronts. I expect nose dive will be the same as before or possibly even worse. Don't get me wrong, it stops beautifully and is fine in the real world but would rather it hunkered down on all corners rather than doing an impression of Louis Suarez. It would probably be kinder on the suspension too. Like you say though, £1500 could be spent on many other things but I guess there is always something to spend the cash on.

[twoqu]

The issue for the Coupe is that there are no carriers for the Lucas caliper that match the available discs really. So you either have to make a bracket for the carrier to accomodate the increased disc diameter taking into account the offset difference or machine the disc down to suit the carrier.
I would think either a 330mm disc/suitable adaptor bracket/S8 carrier/Urs4/6/A8 caliper would work. There are even brackets for such conversions for other models but they use the 269mm carrier rather than the 280mm. Even Thruppu has done a similar thing on an UrS4. However the discs used have different offset. I don't thnk there is a bracket for the S2 unfortunately.
Or a 330mm disc shaved down to 312mm with RS4 carriers/UrS4/6/A8 calipers and a few spacers. Much the same issue as per the S8 carriers. I think I measured it as too within 1mm axial.
Both would be a sub £300 conversion. Assuming no issues with brake hoses and cables again. Last time I checked RS4carriers were cheaper than the S8 ones!
If the handbrake cable issue is easily solved, and its the tightness of the radius into the bottom thats the problem then the whole 300mm S4 conversion makes sense. Perhaps wait until Alex has solved the problem before purchase!

[mrtat2k9]

on my coupe and 90 i have the avant 300mm s4 rear brake upgrade off this forum works great with 996 front set up bolts on fit

[John B]

I was just trying to evaluate what options are available that have evolved over the years, and more specifically for my scenario, what setup is there that will balance the fronts but not break the bank

A rear 330x22mm setup with 4-pot 996 brembo calipers and separate handbrake mechanism is epic, but at £1500 is not cheap... but nothing of quality ever is!

Oh the dilemma I just want to get the car painted really

Yeah......dilemma!

All i can say (apologies for repeating myself.....) is the rear 996 upgrade is great.....apart from looking blurdy cool it really does give the hunkered down braking.

One thing that has been driving me demented recently is a noise from the front left. I could not understand it having replaced hub bearing, CV joint, disc, pads.....everything......guess what.......it was the 323mm disc with a small amount of rust round the edge rubbing on 996 calipers that had been freshly powder coated together with an aggregation of brake dust It was only when i took the disc out and noticed some rubbing....doh! I think i might get the discs shaved by 1mm or so, which is not contacted by the brake pad. HTH someone before they go bonkers too.