802Projects
A nice set of wheels can completely transform how a car looks. I knew I wanted CCW Classics and some kind of BBK (Big Brake Kit). But even making that decision is just a small piece of the puzzle. What width in the front? What width in the back? What size? What color and finish face? Do I want a polished lip on the wheels? What tires am I going to run? What size tires? Will they be stretched or bulged? Will they hit my fender liners? Will I have to roll the fenders? Will they protect the rim? Are the tires safe in the rain? I could probably list 100+ questions I asked myself. A LOT of planning went into this setup. If you do enough searches in Google for the day they will actually redirect you to a page that asks if you're some kind of bot. I'm not even joking.
That was me earlier this summer before placing my order with Peter Kop. He is a CCW dealer out of Massachusetts and also the original designer of the SRT8 Caliper brackets for the Supra. They allow you to run Jeep SRT8 front and rear Brembo Calipers on a Supra. I knew going into this they wouldn't be 100% bolt on. Some Dust shield trimming and caliper modifications would need to be made. This isn't really well documented. That's what this blog is for. I also took several video segments of the process and I've spliced them together. I'd HIGHLY encourage you to watch the video as I discuss it all in greater detail. I show where I made cuts in the dust shields, how I routed the brake lines, what I ground down on the calipers, how I checked wheel clearance etc...
Here is the BBK Peter sells. The calipers are OEM Brembos for an SRT8 (front 6 piston, rear 4 piston). The adapters he made and are sold under ECP (EximiousCustomParts). This is their website, but I just ordered everything directly through Peter: https://www.eximiouscustomparts.com/ The rotors are Brembo replacements for a Lexus IS-F. I opted for Brembo rotors because I am fussy. I think the kits he sells will use Centric rotors. All the necessary hardware (zinc coated grade 8 bolts, washers, crush washers, pads, caliper pins etc...) was included as well as a set of Stoptech SS braided brake lines.
The wheels are 18" CCW Classics in 18x11 rear (+57mm offset) and 18x10 front (+38mm). The center finish is "Brushed Gloss Clear" and the lips are polished. I chose these because it's as wide as you can really go without having to roll your fenders. For tires I went with Michelin Pilot Supersport 295/35/18 rear and 275/35/18 front. I wanted to run the same brand/model tire all the way around. I wanted something that would be safe if I were caught in the rain. I wanted something that would protect the face of the wheels and not have a stretched or bubbled sidewall. Thankfully I was able to find some pictures of the same tires mounted on the same width wheels on some BMW and Porsche forums. Here is a pic of the wheel bolted on my car when it still had stock TT calipers just to show they fit just fine if you just want to upgrade wheels.
Here is the CCW order form Peter Peter had sent me which shows the offsets.
Now the first modification I had to do was with the dust shields. The Lexus rotors simply will not fit with the stock dust shields. They are larger in diameter and seem to sit inwards a little more. Most people just cut the dust shields off entirely as you can't remove them without pressing the wheel bearings out. I opted to modify the dust shields on the car and preserve as much as possible. For the rear I trimmed the lip on the dust shields and snipped the corners where they would interfere with the caliper.
The fronts were not as easy. I had to trim the upper lip just like the rear. I had to cut out a section near the tie rod end and bend it out of the way. Then on the bottom I had to remove pretty much everything aside from a small section just below the hub. I kept the small section so it can act as a heat barrier shield to the lower ball joint. I wish I could of had a piece of shield where the tie rod end is, but it's simply not possible.
With the rotors on I could install the Brembo calipers. The rear bolts onto the adapter bracket just fine. But the front needs to be notched so it clears the lower bolt holding the mounting bracket on. In addition I also added 2 skinny stainless washers as spacers for the front calipers. Watch the video if you want to know why:)
This is showing the front caliper installed from the back side. Notice how close it is to the CCW wheels in the corners. Brembo recommends 3mm of clearance. There is a tiny bit of play with the adapter brackets and caliper holes. You can slide the caliper maybe half a mm in either direction. Trying to tighten everything down with the adapter and caliper pushed inward still isn't enough. You can only fit 4-5 cards between the gap which is around 1.3mm
So to play it safe I ground down the corners of the calipers. I knew this might be a possibility going into the wheel purchase, but I proceeded anyways as I didn't want to run 19" rims. I used a flap wheel on a die grinder, then a scotch bright bad to clean it up afterwards. I used masking tape to mark a rough line of what I wanted to remove.
Fortunately the area I ground down is not even visible with the CCW wheels. The edges of the front calipers are hidden by the inner lip that the rim faces bolt on to. Nevertheless I masked off around the bare areas and sprayed some Duplicolor red caliper paint. It's no where near the right shade of red, but still does a good job making it less noticeable. The correct shade of red is Fiat 199A per Peter. You can find small touchup bottles online, but nothing is listed as high heat. Grinding the calipers down gave me around 10 cards which is just over the 3mm clearance.
For the brake lines there were a few gotchas. The front line provided no way to secure it to the body next to the hard line connection. The octagon hole meant for the stock brake line is too large for the aftermarket stainless one so it will just pull through. I found that taking a stainless washer and enlarging the center of it out to the right size allowed me to slip it on the line and provide a bigger surface for it to not pull through. Then I used the stock clip on the other side.
Here is how the CCW's look in my final test fit before mounting tires.
I was so nervous installing the tires. I have only used my tire machine a handful of times and I'm still a rookie. These were by far the widest, most low profile, and most expensive wheels I've had on it. It was a success for the rear tires. I'm still waiting on the front ones to arrive. The rear tires fit perfect though. No crazy stretch, no crazy bubbled sidewall, the rubber sticks out beyond the surface of the rim providing protection. All that research seems to paid off.
The front tires finally came so I got them mounted and installed. I was worried about wheel weight placement on the front as the calipers are close. Fortunately they were pretty well balanced. One wheel didn't require any weights and the other only required a single 0.25oz weight on the inside edge of the rim where there is plenty of room.
Overall I'm happy with the wheels and BBK. They completely change the look of the car. I can tell the brakes do bite better than stock, but I have no way of measuring the improvement. I do hear a rubbing noise up front if I hit a bump. I'm trying to track it down but going to revisit it after I adjust the ride height and get an alignment. I already jacked up the the opposite side in the rear and bounched up and down on the front strut towers and to my frustration, nothing seems to hit/rub. Turning the front wheels full lock, the front section of tire comes just about as close as you can to the front splash shield without touching it. I am running new oem splash shields. If I could change anything about my setup, maybe I would have been better off going with an 18x9 front rim with a 265/35/18 tire. That would have given me some more room up front.