We discovered something concerning about the N18 (AWD) LS460 calipers on my SC430 brake upgrade thread. While the AWD calipers bolt up and appear to work, there's about .5" of pad not being used.



If you have this kit and used the N18 instead of the K17 calipers, you should go check yours.

I wrote a little about the differences in the caliper:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc4...l#post10750552

XAT has now updated their product page to exclude the N18 calipers for the future.

 

That's terrible, did you use the rotors from the AWD LS460 too? I'm pretty sure that implied in any brake swap from car to car.. Rotors and calipers as a set. And not many do it because of the difference in lug bolt pattern. I just went with the old LS400 swap after reading about the LS460 setup. Too much $$$ to get it done right IMO. Any pad overhang will make screeching a constant problem as they wear. Hope you get this worked out. I think you just need the LS460 AWD rotors..

 

LS460 rotors have a different bolt pattern so I think they are ISF rotors

 

Yes, the kit uses ISF rotors, I should have posted the link for anyone not familiar:
https://xatracing.com/xat-lexus-ls46...and-sc430.html


this is the rear kit:
https://xatracing.com/xat-racing-sc4...430-ls430.html

i have a pair of the K17 ls460 front calipers on the way to swap.

 

Just out of curiosity, what is the total price per axle of these kits? I know it is substantially less than an aftermarket BBK, but I’d like to know exactly how much less.

In December, I ordered the APP front and rear 345MM big brake kits in titanium finish for around 6K. Front is 6 piston, while the rear is 4 piston. If I had picked the normal finish I would have saved about a grand,

I know I could have purchased an entry level front and rear kit for around 3K (KSport or Rolloface). I can’t imagine that a front and rear LS kit is too much cheaper than this.

Will

 

I just picked up the front calipers for $170 shipped on ebay, they had 52k on them. Rockauto has brand new, powder coated powerstop upgraded rear calipers for $170 ($85 each). I went with centric rear rotors for $90/pair. I went with the fancy brembo fronts for $160/pair, but you could just go with centrics for less. I think front Porterfield R4-S pads were $90, rears were $70, but there are very good pads that are cheaper. Stainless steel lines were $50 for each set. The relocation brackets are 170 for each set.

So lets see... That's about $1200 and that's being very choosey about which brands. you could probably get it done on the cheap with similar results for a grand.

The end result being 4 piston fronts, 2 piston rears, all aluminum monoblock calipers. 14.2" (360mm) front rotors (cross rilled, because all ISF rotors seem to be), 12.7" (324mm) vented rear rotors. For a DIY budget setup, it's pretty impressive stuff. I'm sure the kit you bought would shave some time off at the track, but for street use this is pretty capable.

Just as a side note, you'll need RCA blocks to fit the calipers, I assume that would also be the case on aftermarket calipers since they're also very large?
Also, I went with a 19" rim to clear the brakes, but YMMV depending on your specific rims, I assume the same applies to large aftermarket calipers.

 

That price is actually a hell of a lot less than I thought it would be. I was in no way knocking the DIY BBK setup, I just figured it would be more expensive that it actually is.

I have no idea if you have run RCAs with aftermarket BBK setups, but I assume you do. I have both RCAs and Nagisa Auto Caster arms, so it is a moot point for me.

My front BBK should be here by the end of next week, while my rear kit is scheduled to ship from Japan on 4-24.

My car is a track/show build, hence why I bought an actual “track oriented” BBK, but I am definitely interested in a DIY kit for one of my other cars.

Will

 

I didn't think you bashing them. It's was a good question. Your build sounds like it's going to be awesome!

Just for fun, here is a pic of my install. I painted both calipers a semi-gloss high temp black, nothing fancy:


Those are the N18 calipers I first installed, the K17s will be replacing them, but they look the same.

 

Thanks for the comment on my build. This is the first high-dollar build I have done. I’m planning to sell my 2000 BMW M Coupe aka clown shoe to buy another car for a build. I have thought about doing a SC430 JGTC replica build.

I really like how your wheels fill out the wheel wells - like a race car. I HATE the stanced look! What is your wheel/suspension combo?

Will

 

Thank you! I was aiming for a specific look. I'm lowered 30mm front & rear with RCAs. Wheels are 19x9 ET 10 (with 20mm spacer) front, and 19x10 ET 25. Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 245/35/19 front, 285/35/19 rear. I had to do quite a bit of fender rolling and liner trimming to get it all to fit without rubbing, but it was worth it.

Added bonus, the ride is really comfortable because there's a fair amount of sidewall.

 

You did a great job on your fender work. I’m on an iPhone 11 and did noticed the fender mods until I read your comment.

 

Good read, I have all the parts ready for this and didn't know about the caliper differences, luckily im good with my junkyard calipers. Also from what I've seen people are having issues with the rear kit from them not utilizing a good chuck of the rotor with the LS430 pad.... Not even sure ill do the rear kit with how much rotor isn't used.

 

Where did you see that info on the rear?

Here is a pic of the rear setup on mine:


There's maybe a mm or so at the very top-center that isn't utilized. It's a pretty good rear upgrade for a few reasons:
1) 2x43mm pistons vs 2x35mm
2) aluminum monoblock calipers vs steel
3) 12.75" vs 12.1" rotors
4) vented rotor vs solid rotor

That being said, the vast majority of braking is done by the fronts and the rears weren't terrible to start with.

 

I agree on paper it looks very solid and for the price great.

here are some photos of the issue I saw on someone else’s setup. Xat commented saying it’s a pad issue, I’m probably still going to install myself since I have the rear setup ready too.

 

ohhh, ok, I see what he's saying, he wishes the caliper was big enough that the pads would contact the entire depth of the rotor. It's not that the pad isn't making contact (you can see in my pics that it's completely on the rotor).

I spoke in pretty great detail with XAT about rear setups, the challenge is that there really wasn't a readily available larger rear caliper that mounts up correctly. The beauty of the LS430 calipers is that they're radial-mount (meaning they mount perpendicularly to the rotor). This allowed them to work. And from my caliper research, the LS430 has the largest pistons of any rear lexus setup of that era.

If you really wanted more rear braking power for some reason (again, the front does like 75% of the braking), you could probably go with a wilwood caliper and find a rotor that would fit. But I imagine the price would skyrocket and the gain would be minimal. (Though bigger rotors would sure fill out the wheels nicer. His wheels are bigger than mine and that makes the rotor looks small, lol)

Side note, I just went to that guys insta and that GS400 is sick.
https://www.instagram.com/will_gs400/