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Big Brake Kit for SPA platform

9K views 69 replies 14 participants last post by  JC30 
#1 · (Edited)
I was looking for a brake upgrade kit and was hard-pressed to find any available from the big names. The Polestar upgrade has a 6 pot for the front wheels and none for the rear. I reached out to several companies and Rotora suggest I loan them my vehicle as a test mule for their development. After several weeks, they have completed their work and installed this kit for my V60.
They are looking to expand compatibility with the V90 platform and are looking V/S/CC90 to confirm fitment and tune the brake bias in exchange for some sweet deals.
Any takers?

Note: I do not work for Rotora, just a happy customer

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#7 ·
Just reached out to them. I'm in LA so that would be easy to take my car over.
Thank you, it looks great

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#12 ·
Stopping distance is much better with the new setup. They are 15lb ligher than stock so unsprung mass on each wheel is reduced for better traction over rough roads

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#22 ·
first thing, many companies love to put their generic calipers on all possible cars and not even matching hydraulic system. Caliper piston area not matching original which changes brake pedal feel. (spend too many years in automotive industry from car manufacturer to biggest supplier)
braking distance is heavily influenced by grip= tires. I have removed noseason tires from our R and replaced with pure Summer shoes from Michelin PS4 VOL. Big difference when comparing with OE no season, It is harder to trip ABS.
From pictures I can see you have put some cheap all season Toyo. do you have data to show how much better brakes are?
regarding rear? how about parking brake? In my opionion, all show, no go.
 
#13 ·
I spoke with the company about doing my car. They mentioned about a 50% discount, so that would come out to about $3200 total with the discount. A bit higher than I'd like to pay right now. So if someone wants it and they are in LA hit them up.

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#14 ·
$3200 for both axles? Damn, that's a good deal. I paid more for my other car for just the front axle BBK...
 
#15 ·
Yea if you are willing to leave your car with them for 2 ish weeks.

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#16 ·
Well, I am on East Coast, so that just isn't feasible. Also why do one need to leave the car with them for 2 weeks? Sure by now they have the CAD drawings for the mounting brackets figured out... Installing brake components are 2-3 hours job max if you know what you are doing.

Nice brake for sure. Would be nice if they are selling actual kits that can be shipped, and would be extra nice if they sell ones without the bright red CNC's logo on the caliper. Just not my cup of tea.
 
#17 ·
They don't have a kit designed yet. This would be the first time they have had access to a car. They could probably make something for you if you wanted.

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#19 ·
Is the logo a sticker or engraved?

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#21 ·
The orangey gold one could look good with a polestar logo on it.

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#25 ·
I'll keep this short.
1. I plan to track my wagon after this crazy times
2. Toyos are for everyday driving. Why waste money putting highperf summer tires on public roads
3. Bling is a definite factor

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#26 ·
I'll keep this short.
1. I plan to track my wagon after this crazy times
2. Toyos are for everyday driving. Why waste money putting highperf summer tires on public roads
3. Bling is a definite factor
Awesome man! Sport chassis unite ;-) The bigger rotors are def going to make a difference on the track. What pads did you get, do they have choices? I would also hope Rotora designed their calipers to take some common pad shape so you have plenty of choice.

I'm working on setting up for a few track nights, things are opening up in MA now. It's been 8 years since I've been on a track! There is exactly one almost track pad available for the Volvo sliders. At least there is that. I'll be detailing it in the S60 forum. Will look forward to your experiences there too!
 
#27 ·
Just put in my order for the same BBK as visualv for my V90CC. 6-Pot Forged Calipers with 380X32 rotors upfront and 4-Pot Forged Calipers with 350X29 rotor on the back. The rears include the electronic parking brake module replacement as well. Also included are H2 Ceramic pads for street/light track use. I'm going with the Black "mil-spec" Anodized finish on my car with OEM 20 inch wheels and 15 mm spacers all around from Viva Performance!

In the meanwhile, will also be ceramic coating the calipers when they arrive and all four wheels with a high-temperature ceramic coating (GTECHNIQ C5 Wheel Armour).

Got a great deal on the BBK from Loren@Rotora. Local Volvo dealership is charging $500 ($250/axle) for the install, which is not terrible, in my opinion.

And now the wait begins! And the process of gathering up the courage to break this news to the wife! :saber:

Hopefully, when I get time to get the kit installed in the coming weeks, I'll make a 1-to-1 weight comparison thread of the kit compared to our stock setup.

:rave:
 
#29 ·
While the topic of Brakes is being discussed, anybody knows how much brake fluid is needed for the vehicle? While installing the BBK, I also plan on having a brake fluid flush done and needed an estimate of how much brake fluid would the system gulp down. Thank you!
 
#30 ·
In general 1 liter should be enough for a complete flush. Any brake fluid is fine for the street, I would get a liter of Typ 200 ATE, it's high temp stuff, but long life not full on racing grade. Might as well use good fluid in them fancy brakes!
 
#36 ·
Pentosin DOT4 LV or ATE SL6 are low viscosity fluids that I know.
BTW. called dealer and asked about change and was told " we change it if it is getting darker or at 40k". I asked about performing water content test like it is done in Europe. i was told "NO, we dont perform any tests" Every professional car service in Europe has brake fluid tester.... this is really third world country regarding infrastructure, vehicle safety, and maintenance. Ex. in Germany car will NOT pass inspection if brake fluid does not meet minimum boiling point of 180C (356F)
I told them I will change it myself after two years since 40k is way too long based on my driving habits, even Brembo recommends 2-3 years interval.
 
#37 ·
Mine was last changed along with my 40k mile service. I currently have 65k on my vehicle and installing a BBK, so figured, might as well have the fluid flushed and use an aftermarket product. Thank you for the information! I'll look at the two fluids you have mentioned.
 
#42 ·
Volvolic has been SUPER helpful in taking a bunch of measurements so we can do some math to see how this kit has been spec'd by Rotora. So far it looks not bad though a couple of compromises. We look forward to your install and review!

I see how they deal with the parking brake now, they add what looks like an in-line hydraulic pump that you attach the stock actuator to. It's a clever solution, although the reason why parking brakes use cables and now motors is that they can work in the event of complete hydraulic failure which obviously this bypasses. That's probably a pretty rare event though, and I have always wondered how scary it would be to use one of those electric ones in a true emergency, the only options you have being ON and OFF compared to the old hand or foot operated ones you had some variable control over.
 
#43 ·
Thanks, Power6. I also plan to measure and compare the exact surface areas of the brake pads (BBK v/s Stock setup). I'm waiting to go into work so I can plot them on a graph paper and measure them manually, due to their non-conventional shapes. I hopefully plan to come up with enough characteristics to compare the two systems and make a thread once the install is done.
 
#45 ·
So an update about the BBK install.

The installer found out the rear caliper bracket would no fit in the available space unless he grinds down the kunckle (which we don't want to). So he has been in contact with Rotora (Loren) and they are working on a solution.

I'm guessing either an incorrect bracket was packed in my Kit or the bracket, which we know, fits the V60 does not fit the V90CC (which would surprise me, but might be a possibility).

Luckily the installer had not removed any of the stock brake components and was trial fitting everything before disassembling, so it was not a big deal, and the car went back to stock in minutes.

I'll keep the group updated about further happenings.
 
#46 ·
So I had my car worked on by Rotora. The kit is installed but needed 10mm spacers front and rear to clear the oem wheels. I had to go get the viva performance spacers as the supplied spacers weren't great. So overall they do fit, I haven't had time to put it through it's paces. But it does look cool.


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#50 ·
I was looking at the goldish yellow they had but couldn't decide. So I went with the red. I'm pretty happy, they had a nice light metallic blue. But too late now.

I was thinking exhaust but I don't want to ruin it's highway cruising noise level.

Thank you for posting your car, it got me thinking about big brakes. I believe the fronts are identical to your V60.

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