On my Z, I had Stoptech brakes. These brakes were mis-installed by a popular corvette tuner in Houston. While the tuner denied responsibility, Stoptech representatives agreed they were improperly installed and obtained a refund for me and had a new kit installed correctly by LG Motorsports. Stoptech's assistance was phenomenal. Further, the brakes worked flawlessly on the track.

For strict racing applications, AP Racing is top notch. Brembo and Stoptech are also great. You go with either 3 of them and you will be pleased.

 

Have you checked out alcon BBK?

 

i have had all the kits..... hands down brembo is the way too go!!! ...i stop selling stoptech for low quality reasons before they were sold to another company ..i never delt with them again.... brembo is brembo ...im mean they dont come stock on porsche ferrari and lambo and other for being low quality ...and thats not even considered their good kits like what your talking about ,GT kits which are awsome when put with the right pads !!! ap does make good stuff too....

 

Someone mentioned Baer Brakes and I decided to check them out. 6 piston calipers and large diameter rotors, all for surprisingly cheap. I'd give them a quick check too.

And I'm surprised we have a Brembo rep on here. Nothing against Gary C. when I say this, but I have to comment: what do you expect a product rep to say? His statements read like a product buffer because they are.

 

He seems to be very knowledgeable and fair, but yes, his comments should be taken with a grain of salt, just like any other rep on the board.

 

Of course they are taken with a grain of salt, but you can't deny the knowledge he has. I'm more looking into testimonials of people that have had these for long...what's the wear like, expected changing frequency depending on driving style, etc.

Also, about Baer, there are no BMW applications as far as I know, and this is what I will be looking for when I get the m3.

Lastly, I haven't looked into Alcon, but I will now. How reputable are they? Do they make good BBKs?

 

Wow, my first post on the board.

I have to ask you GaryII since you seem to know brembo very well.. I was wondering how the brembo kit for my car (mkv gti ) retailed for 2700$ and for a mazdaspeed3 its half of that....and they both have 4 pot calipers so Im assuming the caliper is the same....and the rotors are identical, I have a hard time believing that the braket is 1000$ more expensive for my car than a mazda...just a question

cheers

matt

 

Here is the kit for the new VW GTi (MKV)...
http://www.brembo.com/CatalogoHPGT/D...24A&idLingua=1

Here is the kit on your Mazda Speed3...
http://www.brembo.com/CatalogoHPGT/D...04A&idLingua=1

Open the link...
Click on the " >Detail " tab, next to the "Assembled Disc"icon.

The difference in price comes from the differences in the rotors.

As you can see, the VW kit uses a 2pc. full floating disc.
The Mazda kit uses a 1pc. cast disc.

When we have a 1pc. disc available, or can produce the quantities necessary to create one, the 1pc. cast disc option will always be less expensive.

With the 2pc. discs you are starting with a very high quality outer disc that comes directly from our Racing Division.

The race version disc is bolted to a vehicle specific billet aluminum hat/bell.
The hardware used to connect the two components is our patented "McLaren" hardware.
That provides the full floating ability while minimizing the chances for noise that is associated with a floating disc assembly.

The two piece discs offer additional benefits such as weight savings, preventing warpage, full floating action, increased longevity, and are much more expensive to manufacture. If you look at any of the vehicles where we do offer the options in both 1pc. or 2pc. rotors you will see an approximate price difference of $1000-$1200 dollars.

 

make sense, but rotor warpage.. the rotors never technically warp do they, people refer to them as warped but its really uneven distribution of pad material...

 

True they don't have any direct applications for it, but so long as the bolts match up, all would be well.

I've fit Chevy brakes on a Ford before. You can take brakes not implicitly stated to work for one car and make them work on another.

 

Rotors can warp.
1pc. rotors especially.

The phenomenon of warpage occurs when a disc heats up and expands to a point where it cannot return to it's original shape. This can also be described as DTV, Disc Thickness Variation. Both of these issues are felt through the pedal and steering wheel even at cool temperatures (known as cold judder).

The point of going to a 2pc full floating disc is to allow the outer disc to expand freely without being restricted by the hat and creating distortion when over heated. Since a one piece disc is restricted by the bell/hat portion of the disc, it is very possible for warpage to occur.

The uneven pad deposits that you are talking about also results in a similar cold judder situation. It's hard to identify the difference unless you can remove the disc from the car and check it for excessive run out. Uneven pad deposits are generally a result of not properly bedding in the brakes after installation. It usually occurs within the first 500 - 1500 miles. it can also occur if you overheat a street pad at the race track or during "track like" usage. (Canyon driving...high speed panic stops...etc...)

Your typical auto mechanic will generally blame any type of judder situation as warping. Racers and enthusiasts know that pad deposits are a possibility and a quick to jump to that conclusion. This is usually the case with a 2pc. type disc. We usually can diagnose the problem by reviewing the driving style, usage, and conditions around when the problem originated.

 

Pretty skewed thread all over the place. Can't go wrong with any of them, I think.

I have Stoptech's (ST-40 BBK) on my S2000 and absolutely loved them.

 

I'd have to disagree with that, especially on late model vehicles with more advanced ABS, traction control, and proportioning built in.

There is generally a range in which you can improve and slightly deviate from the original bias dictated by the OEM braking system, but too much and you'll end up with a braking system that can be severely out of balance.

 

Even further off topic....
I love that Prodrive wheel.
Do you have a full side shot of the S2K?

 

Gary, with the floating rotors, when it's time to get new rotors, do you just replace the rotors, or the rotors and hats?
If you can just replace the rotors, who can do that?