Got a few "why" questions...

- Why, when plenty of tuners have been doing brake upgrades more effective than the Movit 993 kits, would you put up with the hassle of trying a new kit when there are already better kits out there (Alcon)...

- Why not start with the easiest and most impact-effective S8 modifications (e.g. mirrors)?

- I understand that you want to improve the performance of your A8, but why don't you tell us what you're shooting for so we can help out instead of only showing us the results of various mishaps?

Trying to be helpful,
Cameron

Are there brake kits ready to go on a 2000 A8? There were none that I could find. I can tell you the pluses of the Movit kit;

Factory tested and raced braking system that is proven.
Reasonable cost.
Fits within pretty much any size wheel.
No permanent mods to the knuckle.
Easy availability of pads and rotors.
Made by Brembo, only has Porsche's name on one side, Brembo on the other.

I may get mirrors but I am not concerned with looks THAT much but performance more. I wanted bigger and better road tires and good brakes, neither were visually oriented decisions. Mirrors won't really gain me anything. I am not trying to make an S8 out of my car, only a better performing car. I just happen to love the S8 wheels even though I didn't end up with them.

I want a unique and powerful A8 that has only high quality parts installed. It must drive as smooth and nicely as a factory car. I will very likely not touch the motor, maybe the exhaust. Probably after brakes, wheels, exhaust, and possibly some S8 visual cues that will be it. The hard work is over now. By the way, the Movit kits are excellent, I have tried them before and they are truly excellent brakes, read any car review of Porsche and scan to the part where they talk about brakes.

Thanks for your concern.

Movit kits are a good value, I've driven them and read the reviews.

Interesting part is that your reasons for choosing are basically the same as why I chose Alcon.

Your picks:
Factory tested and raced braking system that is proven.
Reasonable cost.
Fits within pretty much any size wheel.
No permanent mods to the knuckle.
Easy availability of pads and rotors.
Made by Brembo, only has Porsche's name on one side, Brembo on the other.

My picks:
Raced braking system used by RENNTech, Vortrag, Saleen, AudiSport, APR, and many rally teams
Reasonable cost (not low, reasonable)
Does not require 18" wheels
Bracket can be removed to return to stock
Alcon, Coleman, Brembo, etc. rotors available, tons of Pagid compounds available (yellow, 421, orange, blue, etc.)
Made by Alcon, has the Alcon name in red enamel

There are kits shipping for A8's (Alcons), though I couldn't say the model years of the cars involved. My guess is there are 2000's asking for brake upgrades to Alcon four- or six-pistons, though.

Cameron

The brakes changed considerably from 99 to 00 on the A8. (What do you drive Cameron, sorry but I don't know?) We are finding this out as we get the brackets designed for my car. It is pretty sweet though because Movit and Ultimate Garage are swinging me a kick ass deal because I am working with them, taking photos, writing up intstuctions and information. That kind of thing is fun for me. I would have certainly been happy with Alcon, Brembo, Baer, etc. All are truly excellent braking systems to be sure but I just ended up with Movit mostly because they had a picture of my car on their web site :^ ) The typical cost of a Movit kit is $2800. Do you happen to know the cost of Alcom kits on average? Thanks for your information, I beleive we like the same things.

In answer to your question, here's the stable, several changes in the past few months:

- 1967 1/2 Lotus Elan B Comp (white/blue/black)
Bought, Bruce, of Bruce's Fish in Seattle (12/99)
- 1996 A4 2.8Q (white/gray)
Serving duty as a grocery hauler
- 1997 A4 1.8TQ (modified) (white/black)
Bought, Todd Candey of Vortrag Motorsports (11/99)
- 1996/7 911 993/C4 Widebody (white/black)
My daily driver
- 1999 A4 1.8TQ (white/gray)
In the shop with electrical glitch
- 1993 911 w/ touring tail (yellow/black)
Bought, a friend at Microsoft
- 2000 TT 180 (silver/black)
My father's to-and-from Microsoft commuter
- 2000 TT 225 6spd (Aud/Perf/Comf/FullLeat)
On order
- 2000/1 996 Turbo (Lit/Leath/Carb/SpBad/etc.)
On order

Let's see if we like the same things, some favorites:

Hotel: The Peninsula, Hong Kong
Restaurant: Lucas Carton, Paris
Performance: Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare Rep., Chicago
Opera: The Monkey King, Westminster Theatre Co., Hong Kong
Small Theatre: Ruth-Paige Dance Theatre, Chicago
Large Venue: Supra, Monaco
Intersection: 4th and Market, San Francisco
Novel: Paris in the 20th Century, Jules Verne
Sports: Soccer, Skiing, Polo
CD: 10,000 Maniacs, Unplugged
Song: Anna Begins, Counting Crows, Aug. & Ev.
Movie: THX 1138
Car, Overall: Audi TT
Car, Styling: Lotus Elise
Car, Heritage: Chevrolet Corvette
Car, Technology: Ferrari 360 Modena
Car, Value Buy: 1997 NSX-T

Cameron

Hotel: Super 8
Restaurant: Taco Bell
Performance: NFL or NBA
Opera: Hate singing
Small Theatre: TV at home.
Intersection: The one by my house when I am coming home.
Novel: Any factory repair manual
Sports: See performance
CD: Jackson 5 greatist hits, South Park Chef Aid
Song: Mr. Blue Sky ELO
Movie: Steve Martin's The Jerk
Car, Overall: C5 Corvette
Car, Styling: Most any Audi Sedan
Car, Heritage: Chevrolet Corvette or Harley
Car, Technology: Any late model Audi
Car, Value Buy: C5 Corvette

Nope, I guess not as much in common as I thought.

nt

nt

My picks:

Hotel: The Driskill Hotel, Austin, TX
Restaurant: Auberge du Soleil, Rutherford, CA
Performance: U2, Wembely Stadium, London (1987, The Joshua Tree Tour)
Opera: I have tried, but I just can't get into it.
Small Theatre: "Les Liasons Dangereuses", The Ambassadors Theater, London
Large Venue: I dislike large venues.
Intersection: Promenade des Anglais, Av. de Verdun, and Quai Des Etat-unis, Nice, France.
Novel: "Down and Out in Paris and London" by George Orwell (not really my fave, but its good, and it seemed appropriate to this list) :-)
Sports: Auto Racing, MC Racing
CD: Moby, "Play"
Song: Smashing Pumpkins, "Tonight, Tonight"
Movie: Heat
Car, Overall: Audi S8
Car, Styling (real car): BMW 750iL (w/ 007's 18" wheels, natch)
Car, Styling ("fantasy" car): Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona
Car, Heritage: Porsche 911
Car, Technology: Porsche 959
Car, Value Buy: '93 UrS4!

Bart, your car looks beautiful.

Jimmy Pribble
'93 UrS4

Talk to Autobahn Performance about S8 retrofits...they just upgraded an S8 setup to a Movit kit as the S-brakes did not perform as expected.

As we found out with Bart's car, the US market and Euro market are 1 year out of synch. For A8's through 99 with cast iron knuckles, there's one kit. For Bart's 2000 A8 with aluminum knuckles, the calipers and brackets are different. No knuckle mods are required with any Audi kits. All Audi kits are TUV approved (I don't think this is true with the Alcons). With regard to the calipers, they are indeed manufactured by Brembo but to Porsche's specs (different thru-bolts, pistons and seals). Porsche's rotors are much more durable with better cooling than Coleman or other aftermarket units.

It's too bad we have such low speed limits in this country or we'd get a better perspective of which kits hold up in the long run. Movit has thousands of kits on the roads in Europe and does weekly testing at their local track, Hockenheim. They sell more Audi kits in a month than most tuners sell in a year....an average of 1 Audi kit per day since the beginning of the year. Expect to see interesting new kits later this year from Movit including more rear applications and hopefully new Ceramic Composite disks (1/2 the weight of stock rotors with 100k+ mile service life) with nice yellow calipers capable of 13m/sec2 deceleration numbers. SD<p>Steve D'Gerolamo