For any Techs or backyard mechanics who have performed a brake job on an STR before....

How long did it take you to do all four wheels (Rotors and Pads)?

I'm planning to order replacement rotors and pads from Brake Performance so I don't have to stick with the overpriced OEM junk. I asked the shop I take my car to if they would do the installation for me and they told me it would take about 1.5 Hours per wheel....so 6 Hours to install Pads and Rotors. Does that sound right? Sounds long to me...

Thoughts?

 

Eric (whitestr) has done it for sure i think, he should be able to tell ya

that estimate also sounds high to me, maybe its bench time or whatever not real time

-Erik

 

It takes about 10 min to jack up the car and take off the wheel (I use an intergrated jackstand and jack).

Takes about 10 min to pop out the two springs and push back the pistons (I use a spreader that looks like a paddle with a screw on top is it push all four pistons at the same time). Will take a bit longer with other tools since it becomes like a wack a mole game.

If your not doing the calipers the first time with and tools, the two bolts come out pretty quickly (figure about 10 min to get the bolts out and caliper tied up). If your doing it the first time, about 30 min to get the bolts out by hand with a wrench and rubber mallet.

15 min to reassembly calipers, torque, put in pads and pop in the pins and put the wheel back on.

So about 45 min per wheel. Figure about 1 hour for the back wheel since both the parking and regular caliper need go come off.

The brembo system is one of my easier cars to change the brakes on.

 

Yeah it took me about 30 a wheel, but I was rushing to take my car out that night.. I also took my rotors off and had them resurfaced, but I'm not counting the drive there and back.. Definitely a very easy brake job, but doing it without on spreader would be difficult.

 

Just last week done this job on my Wifes STR. If i am honest it did take including getting tools out, clearing up etc about 6 hours. I did however clean and polish the brake callipers....i know a tad sad!! also a bit of time disking off the EBC Red stuff pads slightly as they were just too damn big with the what seemed slightly over excited application of the powder coat at the factory!!! and a fare few mins with one of the brake caliper pins on the park brake which despite giving it a hefty amount of verbal abuse, refused to budge ubtill it met my friend the lump hammer!!! As well as obviously pushing back each of the pistons in the brake caliper, don't forget to wind back slightly the park brake piston (needle nose pliers do the trick) or you won't get them on the new disks!!

Good luck..........(sorry....also included 10 mins to make a cup of tea)

 

So the Brembo system is easier than others? I guess I expected it to more complicated like everything else on the STR.

Thanks for all your input!

P.S.
Has anyone purchased the Dimpled and Slotted Rotors from Brake Performance for their STR before? I thought I read somewhere on here that someone put them on and was very pleased with their price and performance. They quoted $859 for rotors and pads on all four wheels. That is a fair amount less $$ than my Dealer wants for the stock rotors and pads, plus these come with a nice warranty. Just curious.

Thanks again.

 

Mine were the same, and very slightly had to file down the edges to get them to fit better.

I just did the back wheels on my '03 str and it doesn't take very long at all. Longer my first time than it will next time I have to do it, my first time working with that brake system. 4 bolts on the main caliper to remove, watch the brake line connecting the two pieces. Hopefully, your car won't do what mine did and automatically try to apply the brake after you removed it. This caused a piston to pop out and I had to bleed them afterwards. For all 4, I'd guess 1.5-2 hours, maybe less. As for what everyone is saying about pushing the pistons back in, I found it quite easy to just grab them in my hands and squeeze them back myself. Oh, and if you didn't already know, the bolts require a torx shaped bit.

I called brake performance about a set of those slotted/dimpled rotors and they said it's $389 for the back set. With free pads and shipping, your estimate sounds about right. I bought stock rotors from the dealership because I couldn't wait another week, one side had gotten really worn down when I was out of town. Even though they claim my car came with vented and they gave me replacements for what I should originally have had, they were plain old solid discs.

 

There is a las vegas jaguar and porsche store (www.jpamporschejaguarparts.com) that sells genuine jaguar parts at a pretty good discount. I believe list is $444 and they sell it for $333 with I believe 10.75% shipping/handing. Also, make sure you have the dealer check the VIN number since I believe there are two different designs for the Brembos. My required the more expensive $474 rotors for the front.

I did look into brake performance and believe the std rotors were more than the discounted factory price but less than list and their performance slotted or drilled was a bit more then the factory list price. Its the first aftermarket company that I have found but I have always been pretty happy with Brembo branded or Brembo OEM products (with discount is also the cheapest solution). For some reason, Brembo won't sell those rotors directly. If some one has used the brake perforamance rotors for some time, I would be curious how long they last, I only get about 17kmiles on the factory ones.

I have also noticed that the different pads make a pretty noticable difference in how the brakes feel. With the factory, EBC reds, and the Akkebono Euro Ceramics, that I have tried so far, I like the EBC best so far but wears quickly.

On a separate note, I think there are racing series that require brake pad changes during the pit stops. I think the Brembo has some of that heritage in it since is the only OEM brakes I've seen that doesn't require any bolts to remove to get to the pads making them the easiest pads that I have every changed.

Also check out this ZDMAC piston spreader tool

http://www.zdmak.com/wbstore/main.as...CTMP=1&LowCt=0

Lastly, if you do the rears, check the parking brake pads for wear. I had one pad wear away after about 10k miles since it was dragging (dealer won't cover it under warrantee). Wait till you see how much those tiny pads cost to replace...

 

This i want to know as well, I would also like to see pictures of them installed.