Disc Brake Kit: Brackets vs Ghia spindles

[Bruce]

[air-h2o-air]

NO Bruce I do get it...you seem to NOT get it....aluminum as the example I gave above...works fine for Strange, Wilwood, CNC, Aerospace and many other brake companies...stopping cars at speeds over 200mph.

As stated above, when a dual piston caliper is not centered on the rotor...it will put the force you are describing on the caliper mount...thus causing caliper mount failures. caliper mount flexing, etc etc. No matter if caliper mount is steel or cast iron or aluminum.

Far too many folks bash companies for their products being inferior...when the only inferior is the person installing

[Bruce]

The centering of the caliper has nothing to do with this. If you alter the position of the caliper one side or the other, the forces applied by the pistons are exactly the same.

If aluminum is such a great caliper mounting material, name one auto manufacturer that uses a thin Al bracket.

Your drag car example is hardly relevant to a street car. Most serious drag cars have tiny tires that would look more at home on a motorcycle and that can't develop a fraction of the traction of what a street tire can. Then they're mounted to a pie plate wheel with very low rotational inertia. They rarely work hard as most tracks have close to ½ mile of shutdown. And they only have to do the job once. That 200mph car you quoted has a parachute that does most of the braking.
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[air-h2o-air]

Bruce, please explain how the caliper mounting point can be on the same plane as the rotor friction surface. For your logic to occur..there is NO pad or caliper on the inside of the rotor friction surface...correct?

FYI...the previously mentioned aftermarket brake kits with alum calper mounting brackets are used on the street as well...and the installers who center the caliper on the rotor dont have bracket problems

FYI...Ive dont use my chute and stop JUST fine with the aluminum brackets...and have not had a bracket failure in 20+ yrs....WHY? because my caliper is perfectly centered on my rotor!

Help us all to understand your logic.

[okubricko]

Hey there, I saw a post that you had made stating that Porsche 924 spindles can be used on Supers and then the 924 disc brakes can be used as well (along with a "flip kit" modification).

I was wondering if you would be able to give me a little more insight into this conversion. Basically, what year 924 would be good for the conversion??

I've struggled with the super's front end and what works, especially since mine is a '73 and there were different configurations going around with the two and three bolt. thanks.

[itskyle]

I understand using sports car disc brakes especially up front, they are usually beefier.

But, for those of us on a budget, wasn't using early 80s rabbit disc brakes an option?

Kyle
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69 or 72 Autostick Bug current
66 Bug (We both miss it)
74 SuperBeetle Auto Stick (I miss that car)
73 SquareBack, Straight Stick (Wife misses this one.)

[H2OSB]

It would be a lot more effort that it's worth (to use Rabbit bits). Most of the kits available are essentially what the "S" cars in Europe had, which are basically Ghia brakes. They work well.

You will ALWAYS be better off with spindles that eliminate that extra bolt on item to mount the calipers, however, that doesn't mean the kits with the bolt on adapters are faulty. Super Beetle guys have pretty much always had use kits with bolt on adapters because the disc brake spindles are as rare as hens teeth.

Ghia spindles would be more desirable but if those kits are a little too spendy get one of the kits with bolt on adapters, install them and be happy with your improved brakes.

johnL (aka H2OSB)
www.superbeetlesonly.com

[johnanddes]

Wow 2 years goes by fast. Well, I finally bit the bullet this year and decided to go with the CIP1 kit with brackets. After installing and bleeding I wish I did this conversion when I asked 2 years ago. Night and day stopping difference. Thanks to all who answered. Brackets are holding up okay but after the conversion I received some ghia spindles in a parts bin so if those brackets have any issues, I’ll be set. One thing I noticed though on the calipers (they were universal) is the bleed screw was wwwwwwwaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy too tight. I had some crap calipers in my bench stock so I robbed those bleed screws. I had to use vice grips to get the bleeders out. All is working flawlessly though.
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John

1969 documented numbers matching bug
1968 F250


Keepin the ISS from colliding with space junk

[awreed]

Congrats on your install.

Just to add to the original question, Multi69s hit the nail spot on when he warned against aftermarket, non original crap. I recently (yesterday) pulled the CB dropped spindles off my '70 to raise the car back to stock. Couldn't find my old VW spindles, so I bought a pair of unused re-pop Ghia spindles.

The new "Ghia" spindles, so far, have turned out to be complete crap, and I've yet to even get the car on the ground. The thrust washers won't seat far enough on the spindle, so the end play on the wheels cannot be properly set. After bolting on the calipers, the passenger side needs much thicker shims to center on the disc than the driver side; the CB spindles were exactly the same.

The spindles look good, but the machining was far from perfect. CB makes a quality product if you're looking to go low.

At this point I think I'd rather have stock VW spindles with brackets than aftermarket crap. I'm not even sure I want to drive with these on my car- assuming I can make them work.

CB spindle on right, Ghia on left.

[johnanddes]

If you want the stock beetle (sorry not the ghia ones) i have a couple of sets that i got over the years. A set has your name on them if you want them, just oay the flat rate. Shoot me a PM
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John

1969 documented numbers matching bug
1968 F250


Keepin the ISS from colliding with space junk