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The build begins - lowering & brake upgrade


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What started out as an upcoming brake job due to warped rotors got a little out of control after I curbed 2 of the wheels.

Started installing the PowerStop Evolution brake kit, H&R springs and KYB struts & shocks last night. Finishing it off with 20" Verde Empire wheels and 275/45-20 Yokohama Parada Spec-X tires,

Christmas in June at my house

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Edited by edgesportguy
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Rears & hitch done - finally!

 

Forgot what a PIA doing the rear springs was when there's some rust on the bolts (even after 2 days of penetrating oil). Thank God for air tools & some beers to bolster the patience. Putting a hitch on this thing was a nightmare! I thought I was never going to get all the backing plates & bolts into the frame rails UGH!

 

Worst things of the project.
- Fronts would have been a breeze if the dealer hadn't given me the wrong top plate for one strut. Ended up installing one strut with wrong plate for that side, and couldn't get the other side in, Both had to come back out and apart. Aaaargh!!!
- Getting the lower control arms off the rear spindles was a bear

- Wasting an hour scratching my head and then starting to polish up the old stainless steel slides for the front pads because I thought PowerStop gave me the wrong hardware & boots for the calipers. They just put them in the wrong box! Happened to finally check the box of pads for the rears and sure enough the hardware bags were just swapped.

- Tearing the outside edge of the piston seal on one rear caliper and having to replace it (they don't sell just the seal!} Thankfully caliper was only $65 at AutoZ and had it the next day
- Threading the backing plates and bolts into the rear frame rail's for the hitch almost driving me to the point of losing my mind (what's left of it...)

 

Best things - the end result!

It was all worth it. The stance is perfect; the handling is great; Yoko's are sticky and considerably quieter than the Pirelli's; the PowerStop brakes grab like crazy: better acceleration thanks to the 7lb per wheel weight savings and love the ride. Got a total of 2" drop up front & 2.25" in rear with the springs & slightly smaller diameter wheels. Measures 31.5" up front and 31.25" in back at the fender lips now and only a 2% mph difference on the speedo from wheel size.

 

Not the cheapest project, but considering new wheels, tires, tire psi sensors, camber kit, upgraded brakes, H&R springs, struts & shocks and alignment I think $2,800 was pretty reasonable. TireRack definitely had the best prices on everything (even the springs & struts) and their service was great (JC Whit for the brake kit. Got 10% off & free shipping and TR didn't carry them)

 

 

A few FYI's for others taking this on

- Borrow an impact wrench & compressor from a friend if you don't have them :-)

- Have some beers on ice and stereo to listen to

- Prepare to make a mess of your garage

- Always remember Murphy's Law

- You don't need a coil spring compressor providing you buy new struts and the top plates for them and put them in as whole assemblies versus taking the old ones apart. All 4 H&R springs are short enough that they don't need to be compressed to install.

- You do need the special tool to screw the rear pistons back into the rear calipers. Good old C-clamp works fine for fronts, but Do Not try & use it on the rears

- Spending the $125 for new top plates and rubber isolators for the front struts worth every penny in case you want to go back to stock down the road. Easy swap if you used some anti-seize on everything when putting it back together
- If you're not able to get either rear control arm bolt out I found removing the shock, taking the nut off the outer lower control arm at the spindle along with the 2 bolts for the upper link and loosing the front trailing arm bolts to be the easiest way to get the rear springs out. Spring compressor doesn't make a difference and more of a PIA to try & use it. As A Word of Caution - Do Not forget to put a floor jack with just a hair of tension under the rear control arms before taking the bolts out; and then lower slowly to just let the old springs eventually drop out.

- Plumbers torch with a MAP gas canister comes in handy for the spindle nuts if they're really frozen on - but don't overheat and start melting the rubber bushings

- Be ready to give the old rotors some good whackings with a heavy hammer to get them off if you're not reusing them

- Getting to the driver's side top rear shock nut is a pain but doable without removing the interior panel. Un-clip and remove one end of the powered piston, snap loose the small trim panel surrounding the bottom where it goes into the panel, pull out the panel a bit and then you can snake you're hand in and use a long extension on an impact to get the nuts on & off

- Polish off ANY rust or replace the caliper slide bolts If there is any

- Make sure to do the bedding process for the brakes per the directions to minimize chance of warping

- Immediately get a alignment. I used 2 6ft peices of trim bungeed to the front wheels, a measuring tape and a level when assembling to put the camber and toe to as close to zero as possible

 

- If not inclined to do this yourself a shop should only charge you about an hour additional labor than doing just the shocks/struts & brakes. The only additional labor is swapping the rear springs.

 

- Enjoy the results!

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Edited by edgesportguy
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P.S. I'll post a thread on the Morimoto HID kit I put in too (Awesome lights)

 

Next project is to install the stereo system I built for my last '13 Edge Sport... did I mention I have a tendency of getting a bit carried away?

 

 

and lastly - yes there is no siding on part of the garage. Too many projects at once :-(

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Edited by edgesportguy
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I

 

Love that pic of the "golden" rotors :) Did you measure thickness of the rotors at various points around the circumference? Have had one or two reports of there being variation.

 

Really looks well put together!

Thanks. Didn't check thickness but run out on the rotors was minimal and I think it was more from me not doing a thorough job of getting all the surface rust off the hub faces. Very slight pulsation when I first took it out seemed to completely go away after I bedded the brakes and let them cool down

 

The EBC brakes had only slightly better reviews but not enough for me to justify spending $700 on them

Edited by edgesportguy
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