ST165 calipers

[Paul in the Port]

Afternoon all

I've been looking at brake upgrades and one i see recommended often is the Celica ST 165 / 185 calipers on standard mk1b disks.

There seems to be both single and twin piston calipers though from the searches i've done. Is the twin piston setup the better one to go for?

I'm going to need new disks and pads all round anyway before MoT time next month by the looks of it so is there any other options i should consider?

Long term aim is to go for a 3L conversion so maybe upgrade the rear with the mk2 calipers with the mk3 front disks too??

[ulysess1966]

I did the ST-165 conversion following some advice from Paul Woods a few years ago. The calipers are a direct replacement for the AW11 ones, but they are twin piston and definitely do the business, but not so much as to upset the brake balance and so on. I painted mine red and added drilled and grooved disks I got from a supplier in California. I ended up getting talked into D+G rotors for the rear wheels as well in the end.

The ST-165 calipers are not easy to come by, I was lucky and only paid £60 for the pair and they were in good order. The disks were about £200 including the shipping for all 4, so the whole conversion was about £250, but it looks and works very well.

[aw11rally]

I did a twin pot st165 conversion on my last Mk1. Very easy to do, the only problem I had was getting hold of pads. EBC are easy to come by but in my opinion they are useless, be it green, red or yellow, I've tried them all.

What I did was get some ferodo ds2500 for the subaru 4pot caliper and modified them slightly (needed about 5mm off the top of the pad, easy with a bench grinder). The results are excellent, great feel, good initial grab and very heat resistant BUT now very prone to locking the front, not a huge problem and something that can be fixed in a number of ways.

The only thing that puts me off st165's is the fact that WMS 4 pots are such good value! I will deffinitely be going WMS on my mk1.5.

[jon_st205]

Go for the 280mm UK ST182/ST185 single-pot upgrade IMHO. The extra clamping of the ST165 twin-pot is wasted on such a small disc.

Jon

[Paul in the Port]

Cheers guys

Do the ST182/185 calipers fit under the 15" mk3 alloys still?? Isnt it just the ST205's that dont fit without going to 16"??

Just had a proper look at my disks and i think that both rear and one front will fail an MoT so may as well go the whole hog i think!!

[Paul in the Port]

Well that was timed nicely. Just picked up a pair of ST185 calipers of a 93 K plate car in good working order for £35. Just hope they're the 277mm disk version rather than the smaller 255mm one - but at the price i'll take the chance.

Any way visually to tell??

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 500wt_1182

[Gary ST165]

Visually i can confirm that those are ST185 UK spec / JDM spec '91 -'93 single pot calipers for 277mm x 25mm front discs

I own both ST165 & ST185

[Paul in the Port]

Visually i can confirm that those are ST185 UK spec / JDM spec '91 -'93 single pot calipers for 277mm x 25mm front discs

I own both ST165 & ST185

Woohoo - that was very fortunate then - thanks Gary!! I'm not in a huge rush to fit them so will still trial fit before ordering disks and pads. Any recommendations for pads at all? I've used Mintex 1144 and Hawk Performance Black on my old race car - but that was half the weight of an MR2

[Gary ST165]

i usually just buy cheapo red stuff pads of ebay ( not RRP) .
my grooved discs eat pads, and then the discs warp easily when trying to stop 1500kg of 4WD Celica. Hence i usually buy new every year. I would love a BBK! or a lightweight AW11

[cogboy]

Any recommendations for pads at all? I've used Mintex 1144 and Hawk Performance Black on my old race car - but that was half the weight of an MR2

Mintex should be good, or Ferodo.

I agree with aw11rally - stay away from EBC pads. I recently had an E36 BMW 328i bought with Red Stuff pads on the front and they were terrible. Needed quite a bit of heat to work. If doing A road blasting worked okay for short stops, as long as only on the pedal for a second or two. Trying to haul the car up from big speeds they were absolutely pathetic. Overheated and went away leaving nada. On many occasions I didn't think it was going to stop at all. I ended up buying new discs and Ferodo pads for it but wrapped it around a lampost before I had a chance to fit them - (accident not brakes-related.)
My and aw11rally's MR2 rally car was bought with EBC Green Stuff pads on the rear, and they were pants too.

[Paul in the Port]

When you mention Ferodo - do you mean the FC308 or DS2500's?? Halfords sell the cheaper FC308's I think and they should be pretty cheap.

Cheers

[cogboy]

When you mention Ferodo - do you mean the FC308 or DS2500's?? Halfords sell the cheaper FC308's I think and they should be pretty cheap.Cheers

DS2500s. I've got them on the front of my MR2 road car and they're very good. The car used to belong to aw11rally and I think that they're ST165 2pots and modified Mk1 Subaru Impreza-fitment pads.

[cogboy]

I think that they're ST165 2pots and modified Mk1 Subaru Impreza-fitment pads.

Yes they are. Read the earlier posts from aw11rally on this thread.