I finally received the new rear brake lines with integrated brackets on Friday, so that night I installed the rear half of my StopTech 4-wheel big brake kit.
Rear line and bracket for StopTech big brake kit
Installation was a breeze. In fact, it's the easiest rear brake kit I've ever installed, since the rotor backing plates didn't need to be trimmed or bent. The old brakes came off and the new ones went right on.
StopTech rear big brake kit: 4-piston calipers, 355mmx32mm floating rotors
I took the car out for a spin on Saturday morning, but it was still about 9 degrees out, so I didn't bed the brakes. I just ran a couple of errands and then came back home so I could rush off to attend a BMW gathering with the other car. It wasn't until today that I was able to fully exercise the 300C's new brakes. Now that I have them bedded in, the pedal feel is amazing. Much less play, very firm, and very easy to modulate. No nose dive, since the kit is balanced and the rear brakes are doing the right amount of work. The car simply squats down and stops from any speed. It's especially fun taking an exit ramp at speed.
My car is covered with salt, so I'm going to wash it off before taking any photos. It looks more white than silver! After I clean it up and take some shots, I'll post them here.
I spoke with Bob Lee, general manager at StopTech, and he agreed to extend the sale through the entire month of February, since the rear kit wasn't ready for sale until now. The 300C had an unusual flare angle on the rear brake line fitting and, of course, the custom bracket had to be manufactured. But now it's good to go. See: http://www.zeckhausen.com/Chrysler/300C.htm for details.
Sure looks nice and I bet it performs, but $4,000 ($5,000 not on sale) is a lot of money. I am in sticker shock with all these kits from the manufacturers. I can't believe they got this kind of value invested in R&D for them to cost so much. Maybe I'm wrong. I appreciate the effort that you developed such a kit for this car. Someday when I hit the lotto maybe.
__________________
Robert
2006 Brilliant Black Crystal 300C SRT8
1999 Bright Platinum Metallic 300M PHP
After a long bout of rain and snow and then it being too cold to wash the salt off the car, I finally had a chance to take some photos today. Mud was everywhere and the noon sun was glaring, so these aren't the best shots. But I'll take more when the light is better and I can find a better background.
In the two weeks I've had the 4-wheel brakes on, I've been stopped a couple of times in parking lots and once at a gas station by people who thought I had an SRT8. I'm surprised so many people even know what an SRT8 is, let alone zero in on the brakes as the distinguishing characteristic. As far as I know, the SRT8 brakes will be either bare aluminum or painted silver. The StopTech and Brembo big brake upgrades can both be had in silver or black.
After using them for a while, the brakes still feel terrific. The pedal is firm and there is almost no travel. While the stock brakes were strong, they certainly weren't linear. These feel much more like race car brakes. I can't wait until I have a chance to put my summer wheels on and enjoy some really eye popping decelleration runs.
In the meantime, here you go with some more photos:
Nice work! I like the looks of it, and since you have the Silver, I see people thinking that it is an SRT-8.
Silver is an available color, although I tend to like red better. The way I figure it, if someone knows enough about the SRT-8 to know it has silver calipers, they will probably notice that the logo says StopTech instead of Brembo. On the other hand, if they only know the SRT-8 has bigger, better brakes, they probably would mistake the red calipers as indicating the SRT-8 model. It could go either way.
Of course, the Brembo BBK is also available in silver, black, or red. So if you were really interested in the SRT-8 "look", then a silver Brembo BBK might be the way to go.
Is your car lowered, or do the Pirellis just fill the wheel well better? Sure looks better than mine w/Contis.
The Pirellis are 235/60-18, so they are slightly taller sidewall than the stock 225/60-18 Contis. Perhaps that's what made the difference. Or perhaps it was the uneven surface I was parked on that gave the illusion of a lowered car. Trust me, my car still has that jacked-up appearance when viewed from the side on a flat surface.
I just traded in the 300C for an SRT8 yesterday. So now the StopTech brakes are off the car and boxed up, ready for sale. I'm selling them at $2995, which is $2,140 off list. See the ad in the For Sale Forum: http://www.300cforums.com/forums/buy...els-tires.html
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