***Definitive 147/156 GTA brake upgrade thread***

Brake upgrade is finally underway. As this is typed the new brakes are being fitted. A picture I took before I had to leave them to it.

http://www.brabovent.nl/brakes.jpg

I can't wait to pick the GTA up this evening. Would be nice to approach a trafficlight without the wobbly effect.

Price is not yet decided. No reply from Italy nor the importer.

Originally Posted by jwq

I bought my 147 GTA with the 305 mm discs. I actualy had no problems with them at all, even with driving the car hard on the racetrack at Assen.
However, when i heard about the brake upgrade I decided to try for it anyway and contacted my dealer (Maasland in voorburg). After checking with the importer (still Fiat at the time), I received the upgrade for 300 Euro's, not bad, seeing I didn't really have any problems myself...
Since then I've also ugraded the brakelines (braided steel/teflon ones), moved to DOT 5.1 brakefluid and Pagid blue 4.2 pads.

Picked up the GTA and the brakes are perfect. Lots op stopping power although I haven't tried full breaking ofcourse. A little bit of running in is better.

Take a look at the picture:

http://www.brabovent.nl/brakes4.jpg

The brake pads where Ferrodo type 4446 ??

Calipers had brembo imprinted on the back and Alfa Romeo on the front (ofcourse).

It was amazing how light the calipers were. I would have expexted them the be heavy?

October 7th at Zolder is gonna be the real test.

Originally Posted by guezen

Brake upgrade is finally underway. As this is typed the new brakes are being fitted. A picture I took before I had to leave them to it.

http://www.brabovent.nl/brakes.jpg

I can't wait to pick the GTA up this evening. Would be nice to approach a trafficlight without the wobbly effect.

Price is not yet decided. No reply from Italy nor the importer.

I am sure you will be much more pleased with them. Definate improvement over the 305's!

Since my upgrade, i've had them on the track 3 times. No sign of fading, Very easy to dose, and even though the the stock pads are not the most agressive, they seem to take the punishment really well.!

Going to the track tomorrow, and after that, i expect the pads to be worn down. But by then they will have lasted 4 trackdays and about 6000 km. Not bad really.

BTW the 330 calipers weight about 30% more then the 305's. The disks too. So all in all i think you add a good 4 kg pr wheel of unsprung weight

Check the link below for data.

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/showt...920#post536920

Originally Posted by Peter K

I am sure you will be much more pleased with them. Definate improvement over the 305's!

Since my upgrade, i've had them on the track 3 times. No sign of fading, Very easy to dose, and even though the the stock pads are not the most agressive, they seem to take the punishment really well.!

Going to the track tomorrow, and after that, i expect the pads to be worn down. But by then they will have lasted 4 trackdays and about 6000 km. Not bad really.

BTW the 330 calipers weight about 30% more then the 305's. The disks too. So all in all i think you add a good 4 kg pr wheel of unsprung weight

Check the link below for data.

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/showt...920#post536920

Those upgraded 330mm discs,are they solid discs or are they floating discs and alloy bells.Im just curious.Thanks.

He there,

As you can see in the picture on:

http://www.brabovent.nl/brakes.htm

it looks like a solid disc. Nothing special I guess. Just bigger than the 305 ones. And for the moment a whole lot brighter.

Originally Posted by Alfadublin

Those upgraded 330mm discs,are they solid discs or are they floating discs and alloy bells.Im just curious.Thanks.

Originally Posted by guezen

He there,

As you can see in the picture on:

http://www.brabovent.nl/brakes.htm

it looks like a solid disc. Nothing special I guess. Just bigger than the 305 ones. And for the moment a whole lot brighter.

I wonder whay A.R didnt just give all you GTA brake upgrade owners a Brembo alloy bell and floating disc setup.Its lighter than the solid 330mm disc and better too.Much better.I have these on my 147.They are even lighter than the solid 305mm GTA discs.

Do someone know where to buy floating 305x28mm discs ? Or the article nr ?

I'm not sure that I would agree that the advantages of the alloy bell (less weight and less likely to warp), would outweigh the advantages of the substantially bigger 330mm calipers, pistons, larger pad area and bigger discs?

Don't get me wrong, alloy bell is better than the same diameter non alloy bell.
You can get alloy bell discs for the 330mm ones as well,
Autodelta do them I believe, or at least Jano had told me last year that they were going to do them, and showed me one of the 355mm ones
for cars that have 18" wheels - Nice!

These would be way overkill as standard for normal road use though, and add to average maintence costs for those who don't need that amount of thermal capacity.

Cheers,
TB

Originally Posted by Alfadublin

I wonder whay A.R didnt just give all you GTA brake upgrade owners a Brembo alloy bell and floating disc setup.Its lighter than the solid 330mm disc and better too.Much better.I have these on my 147.They are even lighter than the solid 305mm GTA discs.

Originally Posted by ClaSSiC

Do someone know where to buy floating 305x28mm discs ? Or the article nr ?

Brembo,AP Racing or Hi-Spec Brakes might will be able to provide them for you,but you also have to buy an alloy bell to fit a floating disc.Otherwise you cant fit the floating disc to the wheel hub.

Mine are custom machined/fabricated by my mechanic and the discs are 325 x 26mm Brembo Racing floating discs.

how much weight would be saved with alloy bells? (330mm)

Don't have clue, wild guess - less than 20%?

Heres a link to the 355mm allloy bell jobbies that come with the AD 6 piston AP racing calipers.
I can tell you they look bigger in real life!
Hmm but I don't see any link to 330mm discs.
Maybe they didn't get around to making them then, but I know they often have more stuff than is on the Website.

Could be worth an e-mail to them?

http://www.routehelp.com/catalog/pro...roducts_id=505

Originally Posted by Peter K

how much weight would be saved with alloy bells? (330mm)

well..cast alu weighs almost 1/3 that of cast iron.

So lets say for the sake of argument, that a 330 iron disk weighs 16 kgs, half of it being the area replaced by the alu bell- = 8kg less 2/3 = 5.3 kg, hen you add maybe 300 grams of bolts and springs, so it 5 kg or ca.33%...not bad!

apart from the ride benefit of saving unsprung weight, there is also the rotational factor. saving weight on a part like the disk which rotates, is a huge positive. Only drawback is that the area where the weight saving iis made, is in the centre where is matters the least.

Imagine how big a difference Ceramic disks must make! Saving 60-70% of the weight furtherst from center on a rotational part

We must have done 7 or 8 upgrades to customers cars

Can't say where i am though

Think I agree woith the logic but would have thought a 330mm disk would only weigh 3-4kg or so ?

Only mentioned in case you are planning on the Novitec 5000 euro ceramic brake upgrade for the GTA

TB

Originally Posted by Peter K

well..cast alu weighs almost 1/3 that of cast iron.

So lets say for the sake of argument, that a 330 iron disk weighs 16 kgs, half of it being the area replaced by the alu bell- = 8kg less 2/3 = 5.3 kg, hen you add maybe 300 grams of bolts and springs, so it 5 kg or ca.33%...not bad!

apart from the ride benefit of saving unsprung weight, there is also the rotational factor. saving weight on a part like the disk which rotates, is a huge positive. Only drawback is that the area where the weight saving iis made, is in the centre where is matters the least.

Imagine how big a difference Ceramic disks must make! Saving 60-70% of the weight furtherst from center on a rotational part

Originally Posted by pwig

We must have done 7 or 8 upgrades to customers cars

Can't say where i am though

WOW thats a great help.

Originally Posted by Trailbraker

Think I agree woith the logic but would have thought a 330mm disk would only weigh 3-4kg or so ?
TB

Didn't weigh the 330 disks, but just put a 305mm Disk on a scale. =8.6 kg. They are quite heavy! Think 11 kgs for the 330mm is not far off.

the 305mm calipers with pads & pins = 4.4 kg.

ePER list the std 330mm disc as 10.3kg and the caliper with pads etc at 6.39kg

Must just be my big muscles, didn't notice the weight

Wow - 2.3 % of total GTA weight is the front brakes!
Well at least these ones stop the car.

David can I ask how come you know so much detail on all thing Alfa related, are you a mechanic by trade, or just a hugely enthusiastic enthusiast ?

Hmm maybe we should have Hoyg interview you

TB

Originally Posted by David C

ePER list the std 330mm disc as 10.3kg and the caliper with pads etc at 6.39kg

Originally Posted by Trailbraker

David can I ask how come you know so much detail on all thing Alfa related, are you a mechanic by trade, or just a hugely enthusiastic enthusiast ?

Enthusiastic enthusiast, but I have friends that are very experienced Alfa mechanics.

Do you race ?
I'm guessing that you didn't paint the car in your avatar up like that just to get people to move out of the fast lane on the Motorway

Cheers,
TB

Originally Posted by David C

Enthusiastic enthusiast, but I have friends that are very experienced Alfa mechanics.

Hi all, just back from 2 weeks off in the sun.

Can I ask a question of you all? Would it be OK if I asked one of the moderators to remove or move replies no. 28 onwards to another thread?

I personally dont think that they add anything at all in the way of advice about the specific details of the AR brake upgrade or any details of helpful dealers and so really belong on a seperate thread so that any new 147/156 GTA owners can read specifics without having to wade through lots of misleading onfo about alloy bells etc etc.
Especially as this is a sticky topic.

Comments all?