Here are some pics from my prep/install - apologies for those on slow connections! Many thanks to Al ([ref]nfbr[/ref]) from Awesome GTI and Mike from VagBremTechnic for answering all my questions.
Went for the adaptors, HEL lines, new discs, calipers in red and Pagid pads. I guess my main motivation for the purchase was because I wasn't very happy with the stock pedal feel (having recently driven's a friend's 997 in anger and been fairly shocked at the difference), but looks were certainly a factor too, as was the chance to try these on a Z4M for the first time.
I plan to upgrade the rears as well in the future so didn't want to spend a lot of money on a refurb, especially since the calipers are factory-boxed items from Aston Marton. This meant removing the Aston logo and replacing it with a Brembo one (eBay - 90mm). I did this by wet-and-dry sanding the black lettering off, sanding the entire front face to an edge, then applying the Brembo decals and a few layers of VHT clear coat.
The brackets and spacers are just gorgeous, to be honest. So well engineered - shame that they are going to be hidden! Everything came labelled up as well, although you'd have to try quite hard to fit things wrongly.
I tried pretty much everything in the book to get the seized allen bolts out of the existing discs, but unfortunately I have some numpty's past enthusiasm to thank for this mess:
:roll:
I took the opportunity to tidy up the dust guard and hub before fitting the brackets. To clear the adaptors you also need to bend the very lowest part of the guard back through 90 degrees, which is easy to do by hand. I left the old calipers hanging by a bungie cord until it was time to switch them over.
Some pics of the finished install:
Of course, by this point the rears were starting to look pretty crap, so I spruced them up too. Just a quick job, done on the car with lots of masking tape:
So that was it and off I went for a 1000 mile shake down in the direction of Le Mans!
With the exception of a serious moment of self doubt during the bleeding process, everything went smoothly - no issues with the kit itself. It is early days still, but first impressions are that the pedal travel is a little longer, with a more progressive onset of braking force along its length, and overall stopping power is at least as good as stock (which is excellent, in my opinion).
