love tracking this car; brake calipers and wheel studs issues
 

I have been tracking my BRZ now for two seasons and I love it. I mainly run it at Summit Point big circuit, and I run the hell out of it. I feel very comfortable with the car now. I have been running it with R-compound (Khumos v710's) tires, Motegi racing wheels, ATE Blue brake fluid and Hawk HP Plus pads. The rest stock.

The brakes get really hot though. I change tires at the track and the last couple of times I would break a wheel stud or two. Not sure if the heat, or me being sloppy, but certainly something that had to be addressed.

When we checked the car for the wheel studs, we realized the front rotors were shot and also the driver side front caliper rubber seal cover was cracked.

So time for some upgrades. I am going to change the wheel studs to ARP extended wheel studs and Muteki open racing lug nuts. That should take care of that issue.

For the brakes, for now will keep the OEM calipers, but need to change the caliper seal kit as the heat cracked the rubber cover of one of the front calipers (see attached picture).

For rotors, I will go with the DBA 4000 TS Slotted rotors for the front, and wil l replace the back rotors with a new set of OEM rotors, I do not think I need anything else for the back.

To prevent the heat buildup, I will need to vent the front rotors, so I am going with the TF Brake Duct Cooling Kit. It has a nice aluminum plate to bolt onto to the back of the rotor assembly, so I like that it will be securely held. I do not want anything dangling at speed :o.

It seems that the front brakes were not really designed to take the heat of constant hard braking. But that is a minor complaint; this car is just awesome at the track!

Looks like you're doing everything right.

ARP: Check
Open lugs: Check
Brake ducting: Check
High temp fluid: Check


Some other ideas that might improve the longevity of some items:

1: put a little anti-seize on the wheel studs. It helps if you need to take the lugs off when things are really hot.
2: Wrap your ball joints/tie-rod joints in heat reflective tape so the heat from the brakes doesn't destroy the grease in them or destroy the boots around them.
3: Titanium backing plates can help as a thermal barrier between the inside brake pad and the pistons which can go a long way to keeping those dust boots in your calipers in tact.
4: HP PLUS!? I would definitely recommend a race pad considering your time on track and tire choice. Porterfield R4, Hawk DTC-70, Raybestos ST43 or 45. etc etc. Changing pads at the track requires a 14mm wrench and 5 minutes of your time... Might as well.

http://porterfield-brakes.com/index.php

I have been autocrossing my car for two seasons now and have broken two studs on the drivers side front wheel. I now keep extras in stock just in case.

Lubricating wheel studs? Sounds like you're going to end up with your wheels falling off. Lubrication of a fastener will change the fastener preload and torque required.

Obviously that is an exaggeration and your wheels will likely not fall off, but please don't just say "slap on some antiseize and go about your business."

Just slap a little anti-seize on your lugs an go. You'll be just fine.

Edit: I have to elaborate some so people don't think it's a bad idea.

Porsche recommends it in their factory manuals:
"Thinly grease thread, shank and under head (between screw head bearing surface and spherical cap ring) of the wheel bolts with Optimoly TA (aluminum paste). Do not grease bearing surface of the spherical cap facing the wheel. If heavily contaminated, clean bolts first with a lint-free cloth."

Personal Experience:
At the race track when wheel lugs are torqued to spec on dry studs what often happens is they bond themselves to the studs after the heat/abuse of the race track and when try to remove them it is very very difficult. So much so that I've broken a stud right off while trying to loosen a lug. This is where I learned of the necessity to use a little anti-seize on the stud threads. If you're changing/removing wheels in between sessions at the track (aka: when hot), it's something you're going to want to do. I've been racing with anti-seize on my studs for almost a decade now and since then I haven't broken a stud since.

Anti-seize is not oil, it's not moly.. it's just a soft metal (nickel/copper) with a mild lube as a carrier. It's does very little to affect the torque value especially when it's not being applied to contact faces of the things being torqued together.

Just some more fun reading:
http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/7...-the-question!
"As a technician for over 20 years I have done many different things, mostly based on employer based requirements.
Now a few years ago I was working at a Firestone Mastercare. Well we got Modern Tire Dealer magazine and in that publication for the record one of the tire/wheel/whatever groups did proper investigation and found that "silver" nickle based anti-seize is fine and even recommended as it does not change torque values by any more than 5% but actually normalize the fastener torquing.
And if you ever look at any properly maintained semi or trailer you will see anti-seize on the wheel studs.
So silver nickle based anti-seize is ok and even recommended this will keep things from rusting, prevent things from binding or galling."

The other thing to consider is that a closed wheel stud is such that it keeps the elements away from the stud and it's threads. When running open lugs, the studs are exposed to the elements and corrosion will eventually occur so for a daily driven application where open lugs are part of the equation it can keep the corrosion down as well as keep the lug from corroding to the stud.

The car in nearly stock form sans minor things like tires/alignment is so good on smaller tracks. Brakes are an issue on any car in this pricerange. Seems like you have all the important stuff nailed down, maybe consider SS lines in the front as well.

Interesting pattern of people snapping wheel studs. Are you using an impact gun?

I think it would be great if someone could do a DIY on how to do this, or at least take a photo of the suspension area and highlight which parts specifically need to be wrapped.

Not to put them on. I do that by hand and use a impact to screw them on the rest of the way. I finish it with the tq wrench

You can see it around my tie-rod in this picture. It's just heat reflective tape so it cut to fit your application.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...c/DSCN2734.jpg

I'm cheap.. I use the "aluminum foil tape" but you can also use tape like this, which is probably better but...

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Gasket-6323-Inferno-Reflective/dp/B000VTYPFG/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380219415&sr=8-2&keywords=heat+reflective+tape"]Mr. Gasket 6323 Inferno Shield Heat Reflective Tape : Amazon.com : Automotive[/ame]

i've snapped a ton of lugs on this car..

That doesn't sound good. Do you hear anything while driving? Are there stronger bolts available?

To be fair I did on one account I heard something as I was leaving a event. I needed to get to a tire place so I could get new race tires mounted for the event the next morning. They called me back after they broke the stud. They said it was frozen on there but I had just put them on that morning.

2nd time I was taking tires off after a dealer rotated them and one snapped.

Are there stronger non-extended studs? Would rather still be able to use my OEM wheels and lug nuts when I'm not at the track.