Road test/product reviews...My version of Consumer Reports
 

I got a few miles on my car today, here are some early observations on the new stuff:

1. New Elephant Racing bushings and monoballs in the rear-a huge difference in the feel of the car, it really tightened up. I used to get some jiggles going over some train tracks near my house, they're gone. These compliment the fronts poly-bronze nicely. I'm even more convinced that the poly-bronze bushings are the single best improvement I've made to the car. I wish I'd have done the rears sooner. Maybe any new bushing feels good?

2. I also installed Elephant front monoballs. I had to delete my Weltmeister strut bar, as they aren't compatible. I have to say, the front end feels much more solid now than with the bar in place. This has been reported before, and I concur. They are about as easy an installation as you can ever ask for.

3. The 993 calipers work well. The car stops well. I went with BHP pads, and they need to heat up to really work. They are freaking NOISY! They squeal like a PIG. I'm surprized, as I thought they'd be a little less "hard-core" and more street friendly. I've got a set of Pagid Orange for the fronts, I'm going to put them in, and see how much difference. The BHP's are embarassing at stop lights, but the car looks so good, who cares? I'd be hesitant to recommend these as street pads. To quote my wife after I pulled into the driveway this afternoon: "What's wrong with your car"?

4. I really like the wheels I have, but I've got them spaced out in front as far as I can, and I still get some kind of rubbing during LH turns (not RH), and the tires hit the inside fender well at full lock. I'm really bummed about this. I can't figure out what is rubbing-it's not the fender well on the inside, and it's not the fender lip, in fact it doesn't take much LH turn to get the rub.I may just end up going with 17's and be done with it. The wheels are 8 1/2" wide, and the rubber is 225/50. Unfortunately, they've got a big backspace, and I've now got 1 1/8" of spacers up front. The guy I bought them from used 7/8" spacers on a stock SC and had no problems.

So, with the exception of the wheel thing, I'm pretty happy with the upgrades. Here are the gratuitous pics. Note that I'm lazy in that I've not put the rockers back on, but it doesn't look too bad.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1135989800.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1135989886.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1135989962.jpg

Wow, looks great!! What kind of wheels, HRE's or some independent 2/3 piece wheels made from Fuch centers? 16's?

What are the specs for the wheel size, offset, etc....

Steve: They're HRE's. These are the specs based on my measurements: 8 1/2" & 10" X 16", front 160mm backspace w/51mm offset, rear 176mm backspace w/49mm offset.

Lookin' good Ed! Pics of the front monoballs, install, etc?

ianc

Here are a couple of pics of the front monos. The rears, you can't see, and if you could, I never want to again. Does that make sense? Those trailing arm bolts are a beyitch to get off.

Seriously, all it takes is an impact wrench to get the strut nut off, compress the strut, cut the old rubber bushing, knock it down, and slip the monoball cartridge in. You need to drill a hole and stick a cotter pin in. Reassemble the strut nut and washers, and your popping a beer.

The front end really feels tighter with these in place. And I thought that old strut bar was doing me some good....

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1135999731.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1135999815.jpg

As to the brakes, Ed...maybe this helps....it doesn't always work, especially with 4 or 6 piston calipers, but it usually works on 2 piston floating caliper designs:

- on the new pads, take a file and file a 45 degree "edge" ( small) on all 4 sides of the friction material where it contacts the disc.
- install a "sticky" backing on the backside of the pads...an acrylic plastic/aluminum material made as a brake squeal reducer. Usually available in sheet form under the "Help!" brand name label. Stuff is made by 3M. Don't use the "goop" as it tends to pull out the dust seal when you remove the brakes.
- very, very sparingly....apply a light coating of anti-seize with your finger on 3 sides of the pad's metal backing..the sides that contact the "receiver" of the caliper, before you install.

Usually reduces the horrible squeal by 90-100%.....depending on type of brake design.

Wil

Nice Targa Ed. I just installed a duck on mine. I noticed you deleted your strut bar and I've been looking for one. Would you be interested in selling it?

You can modify the Welt bar to work. Simply cut out the part that the strut goes through and use the body bolts only. Or, you could buy an Elephant set up. Would be cheap if you apply what you can get for your Welt bar used.

Beautiful car Ed-never get tired of looking at your targa. Its "got the look". Glad to hear your upgrades went well. I'm very pleased with my Elephant Racing setup as well. The steering feel and level of directness (new word) the car gained with the fresh susp components was incredible.

Thanks Wil, I'll try your suggestions.

FOR THE RECORD, I e-mailed BHP using their "info@...." address. Tim Clark, the owner of BHP e-mailed me with his cell number and told me to call him this weekend if I'd like, he wanted to spend a few minutes discussing this with me and try to resolve. I'll wait til Tuesday, as nobody's going to die here, but I commend Tim on promptness of customer service!

Milt, I thought about that, but I'll probably go with option B.

Mark: The bar will be for sale. I've not thought of a price yet, but PM me if you want to make an offer. I'm reasonable!

Thanks Jon...

Ed, measure the rotor run out on the front. Multi piston caliper and more than about 3-4 thou of run out equals noisey brakes. As rotors get bigger the problem can get worse. I ended up replacing one of my hubs to get some exceptable run out with my GTP's, made them nice and quiet. If you find some runout you can clock the rotor and the hub a few times and that will usually get you to a spot that will have minimum variance.

Cheers

Thanks Jeff. I do have a little I think. When I rotate the hub there are a couple of spots where the rotor scrapes the pad. Nothing real visual, but certainly audible. I'll try rotating the rotor in relation to the hub and see what I get. Is this in the rotor or could it be in the hat that the rotor mounts to? Thanks for this info.

That explains my phantom scraping around LH turns. There must be enough deflection in the hub to enhance the runout in the turn.

THe runout could be in the hub, hat or rotor. If you can't get it around 3 thou by clocking it, you can take the whole assembly to a shop and have the rotor machined while it is all bolted together as a single unit. That said, it will probably only take a couple of tries changing the hub/hat orientation.

CHeers

I tried Wil's chamfer and anti-seize around the edge suggestions-huge improvement. Thanks for all of the help here.

One other thing that helps is the factory anti noise shims. THe have a "Spider' on the back that fits in the piston and have an adhesive on them to hold the pad. Not sure if you have these or not....

Cheers

Catca:

In my original suggestion to Ed, I say use a stick-on backing. Does the same thing and really should be done in conjunction with the other items to get best effect.

I am familair with the spiders..and posted on how hard it was to get these off on a new GT3 without breaking them . Do a search...or maybe I can find and post back here later as an EDIT.

- Wil


EDIT: I found it ---> http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/205324-helped-replace-gt3-brake-pads.html?highlight=GT3

A lot of the 993 guys on Rennlist have yanked the spiders as they seem to be more trouble than they're worth over the long haul.

See my "edit" above...

Wil

I'm betting that those wheels are 8 & 9(maybe 9.5)

How did you measure them?:confused:

Pagid Orange will also squeel like stuck pig w/ or w/o the spyders.

I never use the spyders on any tracked car, they mostly make pad changes a chore, it's the compound and temp that cause most of the squeeling.

keeping them clean also helps a lot.

runout causes a soft pedal and pulsing pedal more than squeel.

I run Pagid Orange with *NO* squeel on my ( 95% street / 5% DE) car...

Caveats ...

1.) I did all the things I suggested that Ed do.
2.) I bedded them in properly...
3.)I have simple 2 puck, floating caliper brake design...more forgiving of squeeks.

-Wil