Hotchkis Sway Bar, Cadillac ATS Brembo, and R1 Concepts Geomet Rotors Install

[Silent...]

Last Wednesday I had a set of Hotchkis Competition Sway Bars (#22110) installed. A big thanks to Rob at Hotchkis. (First two pics below)

And then today, a friend helped me with the installation of a set of R1 Concepts Premier Series Geomet slotted rotors. I was going to go with one of their eLine series but these upgrades were on sale. Along with the new rotors were Cadillac ATS 4 piston Brembos. (Pics 3-5 below) Thanks to rocknroll_jeph for the additional information. He put on a set of Cadillac ATS Brembos last August http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showth...=326653&page=3. A few other members have posted up their upgrades using this option as well.

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I installed a GM Strut Tower Brace, which I painted white. We've seen them before, so I'll spare you the picture.

Most of this was in preparation for an HPDE event with NASA at Sebring International this coming weekend. I consider them mild upgrades that will translate nicely to the street. I've already had a couple of days feeling out the new sway bars and what a difference they have made. I'm very curious to see how the car handles with them on the track. At the last event I pushed my brakes to the limit as far as the stopping power of the pads plus single piston calipers. After breaking in the Hawk HP Plus pads today and letting them cool off, I performed some tests of the breaking performance. There is a substantial improvement in the braking. More to come after next weekends HPDE event.

[BlazeNGlory]

Nice upgrades. Been thinking about the slotted rotors and ATS Brembos. Were these simple bolt ons or is there more to it?

[Silent...]

Originally Posted by BlazeNGlory

Nice upgrades. Been there joint about the spotted rotors and ATS Brembos. We're these simple bolt ons or is there more to it?

These were simple to swap out. The ATS Brembos bolt right to the stock caliper mount. The dust shield had to have about an 1" of each ear (looks like two ears pointing back towards the rear of the car when you take off the stock calipers) trimmed off. I trimmed about 1.25: just to be safe using a reciprocating saw. But you can use a hacksaw to do it. Then I touched up the cut ends with some paint. And swapping out the rotors is as easy as unscrewing the T-30 screw that holds it in place. You may need a mallot or hammer and a piece of wood to help the old one's off. A wire brush would be helpful to clean up any existing rust.

I already had stainless lines. The old calipers were secured up out of the way while we mounted the new ones using new mounting bolts. We switched over the lines quickly and the bled the passenger side first, followed by the drivers side. The brembos have two bleeder screws. I ready in one thread to bleed inside and then outside and in another thread to do it the other way. We bled the insides, then outsides, and then went back to each just to be sure. So two times on each bleeder for each caliper. And keep an eye on the fluid reservior as you bleed so you don't run dry.

My purchase list

Caliper Front-Passenger
https://www.amazon.com/ACDelco-172-2...calipers+front

Caliper Front-Driver
https://www.amazon.com/ACDelco-172-2...calipers+front

Caliper Hardware Kit
https://www.amazon.com/ACDelco-18K19...TGMZBRWDEP9EQM

Pads - your choice depending on what you want to do with the vehicle. I have these for non-HPDE days - https://www.amazon.com/ACDelco-17D10...4816KKYRWW5GQB

Rotors - Contact R1 or look for their thread in the vendor classified section for the new Geomet Rotors. There are other options out there so again, do your research and select what fits your budget.

And you'll probably want to banjo washers (X4 - 2 per side) and banjo bolts. The calipers don't come with them. I had some extras from something else. You could probably take the brembo calipers to a parts store to get the right size or use a website like Rockauto to look them up.

[BlazeNGlory]

Sorry for the atrocious autocorrect posting. I appreciate you deciphering my intentions correctly. Thanks for the response. Seems pretty straightforward.

[rocknroll_jeph]

Hey! Great write up and thanks for the call out. I'm so glad you got it all put together! It is looking great.

[wsmith]

What size calipers are those?

[Silent...]

Originally Posted by wsmith

What size calipers are those?

The calipers fit the stock V6 front rotors. Not sure of the rotor size off the top of my head.

[Silent...]

Report from Sebring international raceway...this setup I have for a v6, kicks a##. My instructor, who is a time trial guy, is blown away by the combination. Will post up videos later in the appropriate forum section.

[Silent...]

Videos posted.
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showth...346014&page=24

[ir0nman11]

Very helpful write up. Thanks for posting!