Caliperfexion Brake Caliper Studs

Tomster said:

When these first came out, I got a set. They were installed in my old OW trackpack. I do not recall seeing the (blue in this case) aluminum anodized parts with them. Is this a new feature?

Anyway, yes, (epiphany) Tob, was extremely helpful during my install. I recall driving to the parts store to get a monster torx bit to remove the OEM studs and Tob had a lot of advice and information. A nice conversation as well as a great guy.

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MarcSpaz said:

Howdy! I will do what I can to explain... though, I need to clarify that I didn't say they were "necessary". I said that these are a must for cost savings and easy of changing the pads.

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Lets cover cost savings first.

I track my car. HPDE's and track days. No competition, just for fun. My expectation is that I will track this car 8 to 10 days a year.

I tracked the car for 2 days and the pads were worn to the point were they would not pass tech inspection. Based on my results, I will need to replace my front brakes at least 4 times a year.

You MUST remove the front calipers from the steering knuckle to replace the pads. There is a back-strap preventing them from being swapped with the caliper installed. There are several problems associated with this task.

One issue is that the bolts that hold the calipers on are 1 time use TTY bolts. You have to buy new bolts every time.

The bolts are held in with loctite and torqued to about 135 lb-ft. Every time you remove the bolts, you pull a lot of soft aluminum out of the steering knuckle, and then you highly stress the remaining aluminum threads when you torque the new bolts back in. After just a few brake changes, there is not enough aluminum left to properly torque the caliper bolts, and then the steering knuckle needs to be replaced.

After hearing about this, I bought the SS studs. After changing the pads just once, and seeing just how much aluminum came out, in my opinion, there is no way I would get 3 or 4 pad changes before I need to replace the knuckles.

I do my own work. Here is a quick breakdown of 1 year of use for me, if I used all stock parts.

Pads - $250 x 4 = $1,000
Bolts - $32 x 4 = $128
Knuckle = $500
Alignment = $140
Total year of use = $1768

Compared to using the studs with the guide sleeves...

1 Time Stud kit = $160
Pads = $1,000
Total year of use = $1,160 for the first year. $1,000 a year every year after that.

The literal bottom line is, you save about 75% annually compared to factory parts.

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As far as ease of changing the pads... man, they are priceless.

Normally, you pull the tire, spend time trying not to wreck your steering knuckle while you use a breaker bar or huge 1/2 drive ratchet to remove the bolts. You can't use an impact wrench or air ratchet, because the friction being overcome faster makes more heat, softening the aluminum. That leads to thread failure sooner. Then you have to find some way of hanging the caliper without breaking the brake line or caliper while you swap the pads, compress the pistons, clean the loctite out of the bolt holes on the steering knuckle while trying not to wreck the threads, toss some new loctite on the new bolts, and hope you don't blow the threads out when you torque them down. Massive pain in the rear.

When the studs are installed, you pull the tire, take the nuts off the studs, thread the sleeves on, slide the caliper up the sleeves, put the rotor off to the side while you do your pad swap. There is plenty of room, no worrying about bungee cords or wire tires, frees up hands and keeps the caliper stable while you easily compress the pistons and swap the pads. You put the rotor back, slide the caliper over the rotor, unscrew the sleeves, and torque down the nuts.

Hope this helps.

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Tob said:

Hopefully, Caliperfexion will have thread-on stainless guides to make sliding your wheels on the car easier so that you don't boink a caliper or tweak a vertebra. Maybe some time in 2021, dunno.

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Tob said:

Hopefully, Caliperfexion will have thread-on stainless guides to make sliding your wheels on the car easier so that you don't boink a caliper or tweak a vertebra. Maybe some time in 2021, dunno.

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