Suggestions for Brakes upgrade wanted...

[spytech]

Hey all-

I am planning on running Road America with speedseekers in Oct so I want to upgrade my brakes (currently totally stock).

I autox once/twice a month, car is still street driven - looking for some suggestions on what some good upgrades would be (ie: brands of rotors, brake pads, fluids, etc).

I plan on doing ss brake lines and better brake fluid already - wondering what pads to use, as well as if I should upgrade my rotors.

[speedpup]

PFC 01's pads or Wilwood H would be my choice. Race pads are not good for street long term so you need to switch. Casrtol SRF is tops in fluid. DRM ducts and LGM spindles are a great help for cooling also. DRM SS pistons for the front. I went with the Wilwood kit from LGM and love them depends how much you want to spend and how hard you run it. Start with the minor mods first. NAPA rotors @ 25 ea are great.

[DJWorm]

The OEM brakes can be upgraded easily and need to be for track use.
The rotors are the weakest link.

Here are the basic upgrades
- Cryo the rotors
- slot the rotors if you are not limited by rules
- either PFC-01 race pads or KFP Gold magnum pads. PFC will eat the rotors more and are not suitable for street. The KFP's are carbon/kevlar, rotor friendly have great initial bite when cold and have a broad temperature band and quick release. They are excellent AutoX and street pads and good for the track. They also have ceramic backing plates built in. I recommend them highly.
- either Motul 600 or AP600 fluid. AP is a touch more expensive and is not compatable with any other fluid. It is less compressable and modulates better. It is also friendly to the seals in the system.
- You must initially bleed the ABS with a Tech II analyser when you install the racing fluid
- Goodridge 3AN SS lines with AN connectors (DO NOT get the ones with banjo connectors)
- Speedbleeders
- Mallett or Pegasus Brake bleed bottle
- Doug Rippie Stainless Steel Caliper Pistons
- Doug Rippie Brake Duct extension
- LG Motorsoports Spindel Ducts

Optional:
Seine Systems MPS mister

[G35/Z06]

Willwood 135/8". 6 piston front, rear 4 piston. Stock master cylinder. Green Stuff street pads. Tons of stopping power and no fade. Good luck. Gary

[Grim Reaper]

Toss stock rotors, replace them Porsche units.

[sleepless]

Castrol SRF brake fluid is the best. The DRM brake duct kit with either the LG or Phoenix spindle duct addition are excellent. I use PF97 pads. I currently use stock rotors, however, will probably go with Powerslot or slotted Brembo rotors when the stockers wear out.

The Z06 definitely does NOT need a big brake kit.

[UstaB-GS549]

I'm running Carbotech XP8 in front and Panther Plus in rear. This combination seems to be almost equivalent to Hawk Blue/Black combination. I'm using Valvoline Syn-Power brake fluid.

This combination was good for 40 minutes continuous at Blackhawk in May this year. The weather was cool that day & probably helped out. I ran the stock pads at GingerMan this spring and they gave it up after one lap. I like this Carbotech/Valvoline arrangement so far because:

1. The pads are a lot cheaper than PFC or Hawk. I have a small budget.
2. The dust seems to be just carbon black and rinses off easily. Claybar is or CLR is the only thing that will remove Hawk/PFC dust.
3. The fronts dust about the same as stock pads & rears maybe a little less.
4. I left the pads on all summer. They squeak a bit, but stop just fine when cold and don't eat the rotors like PFC or Hawk.
5. The Syn-Power brake fluid is sold at everywhere for a little over $2 a bottle, has a better wet boiling point than AP-600, Wilwood & PFC and has a 502 dry boiling point. It's a little better than Castrol LMA wet and dry.
6. Rotor wear seems minimal and there are no heat checks in the surfaces yet. The spare set of fronts I have been dragging around all summer are starting to get rusty.

Motoul would be the next step up, but it is $12 a bottle + S&H and is only available mail order. Castrol SRF is the best but at $70/ liter is better be. My belief is that if you are going to have to bleed brakes periodically anyway so you might as well bleed the cheap stuff. That is just my opinion and other have different philosophies.

I'm going to run a Road America with AROC in October. I may get a set of XP9 for the front and XP8 for the rears.

You can have the best pads and fluid in the world, but if they don't get cooling air they will give it up. It's probably smarter to invest in good ductwork. The best is an arrangement that forces air into the eye of the rotor so you don't have different inside and outside surface temperature and the cracking that goes with that.

You could run the stock brakes. All that means is that you will have to lift earlier and not brake as hard going into 1, 5 & Canada Corner. Have fun.

[spytech]

Thanks for the responses guys

I ordered the goodridge ss lines, upgraded fluid, and hawk hps pads from thelapd.com for starters. Was looking at the cooling stuff they have too - may invest in that as well

Thanks again!

[dmtnt]

Originally Posted by Grim Reaper

Toss stock rotors, replace them Porsche units.

Unless you've got money to burn, keep the stock rotors. When they wear out, replace them with NAPA $25 replacements. The Porsche rotors will probably last maybe 2-3X longer than stock, but are at least 10x the price! Braking performance difference is neglible between the 2.

[Grim Reaper]

J,

I would say the Porche rotors will stop better, being a little bigger and are also built better to get rid of heat. Enough to buy a few feet before the turn in. A few feet is a lot when you are playing with prepped cars.

Besides they look sexier and meaner. hehe.

I think the DRM ducts that we both have, are probably worth more than anything for consistancy.

How do you like your R2's, compared to F1's. Have you had a chance to track them yet.

[atoyf]

Listen to DJWorm, he knows his shit very well. I went that route and loved the braking power - had waaay to much braking power for stock F1's.

Open road track days proved