What's the biggest discs upgrade that anyone has fitted to their Stilo?

I'm thinking about pieces that exist on an existing car ... fitted to the humble old Stilo... not a visit to Brembo or Carbon Industrie for a set of 10" Carbon rotors and one-piece 8-pot calipers...

For example, the Alfa Mito is 4x98 or thereabouts, so potentially could donate its 305mm discs and calipers? Would those fit? What about the caliper frames/mounts, etc?


Ralf S.

got 330mm fronts 276mm rears on mine
https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo/323412-diy-big-brake-conversion.html?323412=#post3220062
still on std jtd150 calipers, stilo pads(fronts needed xmm off each pad, rears needed delta disc skimming to 10mm to fit caliper, never did the 4 pot brembo conv.
as mentioned in the post pads dont sweep the full disc face.
will only fit under 17" wheels ,may need spacers as i had anyway, spare wheel wont fit need full size spare.
sure someone posted larger discs a week or so ago might have been less involved than mine.
all links to photos dead sorry.

Upgrade to the JTD 150 brakes.

Im sure they will be much better on your car than mine... i reckon the 150 should have had twin pots from factory... i can still managed to overheat the green stuff pads and brembo discs i have... it only vary rarley happens but likewise... its not a good feeling when you run out of brakes before abs kicks in... its a bit scary.

I'm thinking about a bigger wheels project (if the Younger Mrs S. ever releases the budget for it.. ) and big wheelz tend to have a lot of fresh air behind them.

The Stilo standard brake setup looks very "sensible and mature" (i.e. ****e.. ) rather than groovy... so it seems a vital necessity to me, that the discs should be absolutely enormous and have a caliper the size of a terraced house. At least!

On the other hand, I'm also not minted and the car is only worth as much as there is diesel in the tank.. so "just" marginally bigger rotors with sexah calipers might have to do.

Standard size is 284mm for a JTD 115.. (whereas I think the 150 had 281mm discs, for some reason). The 305mm conversion sounds potentially realistic... but 284 -> 305 doesn't sound like much of a size increase, even if the Brembo caliper makes this setup miles better. What's bigger out there?

Meanwhile I'm off to read sussexa's thread.


Ralf S.

When I was looking a good base was caprisport on eBay
Search caprisport big disc and you should find caliper kit off BMW and brackets.
Calipers appear reasonable price and looks like all they do is conversion bits and bolts etc (for fords)
Also look on Alfa forum there's a big brake bracket tread in the tuning lounge,
The Mito 4 pots and 305 discs is considered a good package for the Alfa guys.
Also the larger 310 gtv calipers etc
You'd be on your own sourcing and getting it all to fit .
There is a lot of mass difference with the bigger discs, was instantly noticed , forgotten now.
Most Alfa guys reckon the pads make the difference on smaller discs but I got fed up with 3 sets of warped Discs
The jtd 150 discs were smaller for unknown reason but thicker so maybe supposed to take more heat. 36mm vs 24mm.
These deltas are 28mm thick so only just fit 150 calipers and guessing not fit any way 24mm disc calipers

sussexa said:

When I was looking a good base was caprisport on eBay
Search caprisport big disc and you should find caliper kit off BMW and brackets.
Calipers appear reasonable price and looks like all they do is conversion bits and bolts etc (for fords)
Also look on Alfa forum there's a big brake bracket tread in the tuning lounge,
The Mito 4 pots and 305 discs is considered a good package for the Alfa guys.
Also the larger 310 gtv calipers etc
You'd be on your own sourcing and getting it all to fit .
There is a lot of mass difference with the bigger discs, was instantly noticed , forgotten now.
Most Alfa guys reckon the pads make the difference on smaller discs but I got fed up with 3 sets of warped Discs
The jtd 150 discs were smaller for unknown reason but thicker so maybe supposed to take more heat. 36mm vs 24mm.
These deltas are 28mm thick so only just fit 150 calipers and guessing not fit any way 24mm disc calipers

Click to expand...

As I understand it the GTV calipers are the same as the Fiat Coupe and the earlier lug mount Alfa GTA calipers - all are for 305mm brake discs.

The GTAs later got upgraded to radial mount 330mm discs as they kept warping the discs, so Alfa were forced to change them.

Therefore if you can get hold of some 330 radial mount calipers you can just get a set of brackets made up to fit the Stilo hubs. The calipers are hard to come by though.

The Fiat Coupe, GTV, GTA lug mount calipers for the 305mm disc don't fit the Stilo hubs, the mounting holes are slightly wider apart. It's only like 10/15mm difference, not massive, but that means you can't reasonably make up a bracket to fit them. Hence why you can find these calipers very cheap, as they're essentially useless.

It's the Alfa 166 brembos that fit the 310mm disc. You can pick these calipers up rather cheap too. They're lug mount but with massive spacing, so you can use a bracket. I know, because I've done it. Not on my Stilo though, on a previous Alfa 156. The issue you'll have with 166 calipers is that they're beastly things, so need a good wheel for clearance. Anything less than 17" won't fit and might need some small spacing.

The MiTo and Punto brembos are lug mount and I think should be a direct replacement, no modification required, in terms of fitting the hubs. The problem you'll have with these is that people know it and so they're rare as rocking horse poop to find up for sale and any that come up go for big money.

Well then... today i overcooked my brembo discs and ebc green stuff pads.

This is the third time i have cooked them

Originally i had a grabbing calliper on front near side (uk), fixed that by replacing the carrier...

Since this, no grabbing... but i have managed to cook the discs and pads.

Tonight I went to drop my son off home, a 9 mile round trip, all was well until i booted up a hill with a 50mph limit and had to anchor on because of a Learner pulling out too late.. anyhow, rest of journey was downhill, plenty of braking required too which my peddal went soft and lost half inch of travel and then the brakes where smoking and stank when i parked up.

20mins later and they where fine...
Third time this has happened on the same route.

I need a bolt on upgrade asap, without machining or adaptor plates. I did this with my old Nissan micra super s.... any options available for the stilo 150hp?

When was the last time your brake fluid was changed?

I re-bled the whole system with 800ml of fluid... didnt touch the clutch slave or let it seep that low bun ran good 200ml out of each corner...

It was becoming clearer and less dirty by the end...

U reckon i should flush it again and also do the clutch? (Clutch is nice and light for a diesel) my 1.2 was light after a new clutch kit and reconditioned 6spd box but felt heavier after 5000 miles or so... ive had this for 6500 miles and still have a nice light feeling clutch pedal... its always been the same...

No leaks etc. Brakes fine again now and nice and sharp when it wants to be. I believe these peddals are load assisted... feel can change depending on incline, weight, angle etc.

Maybe the system is not so smart and overreacts at times and causes excess heat to build or the same feeling to the peddal occurs... anyhow, mine where smoking the other night and ticking away. They hadnt grabbed... luckily don't feel warped... maybe try ferodo and mintex next?

Are you sure that the brakes aren't binding? Brakes shouldn't overheat normally... and smoking brakes sounds a bit hard-core..

But if you do like to use the brakes,.. then the answer to smoking pads would be harder pads... although I suspect that the more race spec' the pads, the more non-existent they'll be when they're cold.

I'm not really a fan of Green Stuff pads. There's a harder EBC pad (yellow?) but I read about these being too hard (i.e. non-existent when cold)... Have you given Ferodo DS2500 a try?

Also, what fluid do you have? If it's a regular "garage forecourt" DOT4 that's been sitting in your garage for 5 years, then it may be worth upgrading to a new/unopened race-spec' blend.. either DOT4 or 5.1 (not just "DOT 5") with a higher boiling point. Motul do an RBF 660 which boils at 325C rather the more usual fluids' 280C.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Motul-RBF...439586&hash=item2584488db1:g:wQUAAOSw1aFZkxi0


Ralf S.

I have read up on dot ratings... i dont really think i will see benefits with dot 5.1... i dont race around as such... just live in bradford which is full of hills.

Brakes are not binding and yes they where smoking after a spirited drive up and down hills / round twisty bends.

Was thinking of trying mintex drilled discs and ferodo ds2500 next.

I used a brand new bottle of DOT 4. Nothing fancy, GGB (shop4parts) where out of stock of the fluid listed in the handbook (oem stuff).

Would dot 5.1 make a difference (dont worry, i know about dot 5 and why not to use it or mix it).

i would have spent a bit of time on spec pdfs and ended up with castrol react a super dot 4 .
ive have had no issues over the years ive been running it in my jtd150

i recently changed from EBC grooved disks and Apex pads to EBC slotted/dimpled and greenstuff pads, and I can get brake fade quite easily (Milton Keynes lets you travel!). As I hadn't bled when I swapped the disks I wondered if it was that, but after bleeding I still have the issue. I'm assuming getting some forced air into the disks will alleviate the symptoms and am looking at making some brake ducts

The yellow stuff pads are what the police use sometimes. A good dot4 brake fluid and some DS2500 will be fantastic. I have used Black Diamond pads before and for the money are great stuff. The Scooby and Evolution people use both of the pads listed, so can't be that bad.

I thought the green, yellow and red stuff weren't road legal and wont pass an MOT

Dunno how the police can use them if thats the case... unless they have a special exemption or where fitted at the factory... correct me if wrong.

I think ferodos are on the cards next with some drilled discs and another fluid change... hoses are good and like new... dont fancy to change to the steel / braided as i have never seen a set last more than 2 yrs!! Unless anyone can convince me.

I'm pretty sure the pads are not made of illegal material, and as long as they pass the braking tests I can't see how they would fail an MOT

no issues with green, red or yellow stuff pads had mots on all of them.
couldnt stand the yellows just for the mess on the wheels and back on the red much better.
brake feel or performance couldnt tell red or yellow unless track car wouldnt bother with yellow.

On the subject of braided hoses, I have fitted them to every classic and all motorbikes I owned, doesn’t make any difference to the fade, that’s a heat issue but the pedal firmness and feel/feedback are great, as soon as there is abs etc though I suspect the two almost fight each other. On the one hand looking for instant stamp between foot and disk, and the safety systems trying to prevent it, never had any fail and they haven’t all been branded, even made some with kits, always have the plastic coated and I’ve never had an issue, Classics and bike highly recommended.