STaSIS / Alcon Rear Big Brake Kit

I recently installed a STaSIS Rear Brake Kit for my B7 S4 and wanted to share a review here, in usual Nick’s Car Blog fashion. It’s a great kit for the car, especially if you have a STaSIS/Alcon Big Brake Kit for the front, as the rotors match and it really rounds out the package nicely. This is a mod I was able to install myself, which gives me extra insight into the product which I’ll share below…

Product Details:

• 28mm larger than stock (302mm versus 330mm)
• 4 lbs lighter per side (13.5lbs versus 17.5lbs stock)
• Twice the range of pad temperatures (better for track pads)
• Stainless Steel brake lines to replace OEM plastic/rubber ones (better under heat)
• Comes with Carbotech Bobcat pads (great street pad, low dust)
• Motul RBF600 Brake Fluid (my favorite, higher temp than OEM)
• Dashing good looks
• Price: $1,195.00 retail per STaSIS

I was able to get a better deal than retail while STaSIS was running a promotion on their braking systems, so I suggest you contact STaSIS directly or talk to Europrice and see what they can do for you on pricing. It’s decent chunk of change but if you have to replace your stock pads & rotors anyway, it’s not a terrible value anyway (I’d expect to spend $400 just on replacing OEM pads, rotors and lines for rear at a minimum).  The rear brake kit is a great mod once you’ve completed the major mods first (tune, suspension, wheels, front BBK) and are looking for the finishing details and/or shaving the last few seconds off your lap times.

Installation Notes

The install is very straightforward – a friend and I did it in a garage in about one hour. The only trick part is having the right tools, as you need a pretty thin wrench to disconnect the calipers and a special wrench for the brake lines – otherwise, it’s a very easy install. Luckily the emergency brake line is long enough to reach even with the extended calipers, making this even simpler than say a B5 S4 where the line does not reach as far. The only other tricky part is bleeding the brakes, which isn’t really tricky you just need two people to do it well (or a power bleeder).

STaSIS provides great instructions that walk you through the process step-by-step, which can be found here: http://www.stasisengineering.com/sites/default/files/install_pdfs/SE111-B30-51-05%20%20%20B6%20A4%20Rear%20Brake%20Kit%20305%20.pdf

Driving Comparison

To be honest, you won’t notice a huge difference in driving these on a daily basis. They look nice, especially behind 19″ wheels, and I notice less dust with the Carbotech pads over OEM pads, but otherwise there isn’t a huge difference for daily driving. The weight savings surely gives a small advantage, but you won’t notice 8 lbs of weight loss in the grand scheme of things.  Even with a 370mm BBK in the front and stock brakes in the back, the brake bias wasn’t noticeable either before or after the mod from a daily driver standpoint. This kit is not a “must have” if you are only doing casual street driving…

Where this kit should shine the most is in a track setting. The rotors are well suited for track pads (side note: Carbotech Bobcats are not recommended for track use, you should pick up a set of dedicated track pads) and the stainless lines and larger rotors should help prevent brake fade and keep things cool. I have yet to test this kit out on the track, but I have several friends who also run this kit and are very pleased with it – all of whom run separate track pads and appreciate that ability more than anything.

Compared to JHM Rear Brake Kits

I had an interesting opportunity to compare this rear brake kit to JHM’s offering, as my friend had ordered the JHM kit for his B5 S4 (note his kit was a 302mm rotor, hence why it looks smaller – disregard that). Both kits feature lightweight 2 piece rotors, utlize the stock calipers with brackets to extend the caliper outward, stainless lines, and vented rotors to help with cooling. Both kits are excellent choices and worth your consideration – I ultimately went with STaSIS primarily to match my front brake kit, and also because it was on sale at the time so the price difference was negligible at best…

• The JHM Rear Brake kit is about $200 cheaper
• Both are equally easy to install (there is no tangible difference)
• The STaSIS kit has a little more detailed finish – most notably the STaSIS logos in the brackets and rotor rings, and the recessed black hardware in the rotor rings rather than silver in the JHM rotors. Neither affect performance…
• The rotor designs are significantly different (pictured above) – the STaSIS rotors are MUCH thicker; however, JHM’s have bigger vents, both of which have pros & cons. I have seen many Audizine threads where people argue passionately as to which design is better, so I won’t make any normative statements and just say you should pick which you think is better. Personally I like the thickness of the STaSIS ones as I think they’ll maybe last longer.

In Summary

Overall, both kits are a great mod for someone who has a front Big Brake Kit and is looking to beef up their rear brakes to handle track pads, reduce weight, or simply replace the OEM rotors & pads with something better. I continue to be a happy customer of both JHM and STaSIS and think either product is a great choice and would typically recommend you pick between them based on what your front BBK looks like – having matching front & rear rotors looks a lot better than mismatched. I believe Brembo also offers a rear kit for this car, although from what I understand it’s 2-3x more expensive as it also contains a replacement caliper (rather than reusing the OEM caliper) and is not compatible with the e-brake, so it’s a less viable option for most.