RacingBrake Carbon Ceramic Rotor Install

[MrSkute]

Hi All,

Starting this thread to document my experience with the RB rotor conversion as well as a how-to for anyone as annoyed by brake dust as I.

Before beginning do yourself a favor and register at the service portal and pay for a subscription so you can view and download the service manual. This will provide you with step-by step instructions and include important details such as torque values and which bolts must be replaced as part of the installation.

To start, the ordering process was smooth and since I'm also in CA they arrived very quickly. They certainly look awesome:

The first thing I noticed when reviewing the service manual was that the caliper bolts are one time use and need to be replaced. This seems easy enough but it turns out non of the US dealer websites have any Emira parts available so you need to call to order the parts. My local dealer is only able to order parts on Wednesday and the parts arrived about a week after that. They are very proud of these bolts and they cost ~$40/each.

I also contacted RB around this time because the front rotors include some hardware (4x spacers) but no instructions on where/what they're for. Given the front rotors are 10mm larger it's fairly obvious that these are spacers to push the the caliper out 5mm. The team at RB confirmed this and around this time I also suggest that they include new caliper bolts given the premium product. The folks at RB agreed and sent me new caliper bolts for the front but not the rear. I also suggested that they include 5mm longer caliper bolts to have the same thread engagement as stock but the team at RB assured my that the factory bolts are plenty long enough. I'll probably buy 80mm bolts just to be safe.

From here I began the install; make sure the parking brake is off. The first step in service manual instructs you to open the brake fluid reservoir so you can compress the caliper pistons. There are three T30 Torx screws that you need to remove in order to prop the hood up. They are behind some plastic flaps which somehow went missing during my PPF so they were readily accessible to me. I suggest opening the hood while the car is still on the ground as the middle screw is tough to reach. Once the hood is up the reservoir is behind a black plastic cover held in by four twist fasteners.

From here it's time to jack the car up and get it settled on jack stands. I'm using an impact gun to remove the lug bolts but if you're not you may consider loosening them before you get the car off the ground. I jacked from the side using a hockey puck against the rail and then positioned the jack stands under the factory jack points.

With the car in the air you can now unscrew the brake fluid reservoir and start the install.

 

[MrSkute]

I decided to start with the front left rotor. The rotors themselves are directional so be sure to confirm you have the correct one. They are marked as you shown below.

From the factory one of the bolts is keyed and you need to use the adapter included with the car to remove it. Once the wheel is removed you have a very normal looking brake assembly.

First you'll want to remove the brake pads. To do this you need a punch to remove the two pins holding the pads in place. You can see them above but here's a few other pictures.

In addition to the pins there's a spring that will be removed as part of this. The three components removed look like this:

At this point you can simply remove the pads from the caliper. Mine slid right out but you may need to use a screwdriver or similar tool to gently pry them out. They slide out away from the caliper/rotor through the space you created when removing the pins and spring.

Next it's time to remove the caliper itself. You'll want to support the caliper so it doesn't drop or hang by the brake line, etc. I used some electrical wire I had laying around and attached it to the top of the suspension.

Next you need to remove the two caliper bolts and throw them away. These are on really tight and take some work to remove. There's one on top and one on the bottom of the rotor. Here are pictures of them from behind the caliper looking towards the front of the car:

The two bolts are E14 star so you'll need an E14 socket to remove them. Once removed you can slide the caliper off the rotor as it will be held up by the wire or whatever you used earlier to secure it to the suspension. The last step in removing the rotor is to remove the set screw shower below.

You will likely need an impact gun or hand impact driver to remove this. Once it's loosened the rotor may want to slide off so be prepared to hold it while you remove the screw. After removing the screw the rotor is free and may simply pull off or you may need to give it a few whacks with a rubber mallet depending on how long you've had the car, etc.

 

[MrSkute]

Next is essentially time to do everything in reverse order. Here's where I've run into an issue and I'm waiting to hear back from the RB team for how they want to proceed. The set screw (what we removed in the last step) hole in the new rotor hat is misaligned and you cannot re-install the screw. The screw is there just to keep the lug holes aligned when installing the wheel and doesn't play any role in braking. Therefore, I could simply ignore it but the rotor would be free to spin and may rotate when installing the wheels making it more challenging to align the lug holes. In addition, for $12k, I expect proper fit and finish.

To be continued...

 

[Eagle7]

Thank you for taking one for the team on this. My set is sitting here in boxes. I'm waiting for the weather to warm up to do the install, so this thread is going to be very helpful! They just sent me the 4 M12x1.5x75 bolts for the front, which I'm assuming is in response to your experience, so thank you for that. This set screw alignment thing is going to be interesting to see how they work that out. From the picture it looks like the alignment is off just enough to prevent the screw threads from engaging. Is that the case? Otherwise, you could just get a different set screw with a smaller diameter head than a button screw, and it would work. My Alfa Romeo has the same set-up. It's literally just there to keep the lug bolt holes aligned. It's not a load-bearing screw.

 

[ADC]

Thanks for sharing! Interested in hearing how you find these (versus low dust/ceramic pads on the standard rotors).

@Eagle7 , am I imagining things, or did you also fit these rotors?

EDIT: perfect timing. ninja'd by a few seconds

 

[Eagle7]

Thanks for sharing! Interested in hearing how you find these (versus low dust/ceramic pads on the standard rotors).

@Eagle7 , am I imagining things, or did you also fit these rotors?

I just got them but haven't done the install yet because it's been too cold. It's still below freezing at night here.

 

[MrSkute]

From the picture it looks like the alignment is off just enough to prevent the screw threads from engaging. Is that the case?

Yes, that’s exactly what’s happening. I know I can ignore it but want to give RB a chance to investigate. I have an I4 so maybe the hub is different (that would be weird). I haven’t checked the rear yet.

 

[cryptovince]

Thanks for this. I've got a V6 auto and I have a set myself still in boxes. Life circumstances, including a lot of home repairs/renovations have prevented me from finding time to get these installed, and this thread definitely helps.

 

[harleyujoe]

maybe they will tell you to use pencil grinder with burr tip to open hole enough to put screw in ??

 

[kitkat]

I wouldn’t be replacing those bolts but that’s just me.

 

[Eagle7]

I wouldn’t be replacing those bolts but that’s just me.

Which bolts? The caliper mounting bolts or the set screws?

 

[Foxy87]

SID on the front, coil on the back. Have never seen this

 

[kitkat]

Which bolts? The caliper mounting bolts or the set screws?

Calipers mounting bolts.

Same thing with a bunch of the bolts in the suspension.

Unless the bolt is torque to yield or the nut is a locknut, in bad shape or aluminum — I’m reusing it.

Don’t care what the lawyers in the second manual wrote.

 

[Orchardbike]

Calipers mounting bolts.

Same thing with a bunch of the bolts in the suspension.

Unless the bolt is torque to yield or the nut is a locknut, in bad shape or aluminum — I’m reusing it.

Don’t care what the lawyers in the second manual wrote.

Exactly. Same brakes and bolts as my Evora and I removed them and refitted hem about 5 times without issue.

 

[MrSkute]

SID on the front, coil on the back. Have never seen this

The bike originally came with an air shock but I wanted to try out the Push elevensix.