jd888jd

iTrader: (4)

Trying to get myself to change my Factory Brembos...


From OEM Brembo to Stoptech BBK or Rotora BBK, a big downgrade in terms of..

a. Quality
b. Brand
c. Performance
d. Looks

regardless of 4 piston or 6 pistons.


What you guys think Pros and COns ??

BlackTrack

iTrader: (25)

What is the reason for the change? The OEM brakes are more than enough for this car.

stealthMR

Unless you go racing like BlackTrack....probably not worth investing in BBK.

If you want better braking performance, change the brake pads and fluids and get SS brake lines. That should be enough.

willitas34

iTrader: (4)

He has run them for a few seasons now, last season being a championship one, I am sure Ryan has input on how the stock evo X brembo's have held up for him

WickedX1

hey hey , well ill give some insight on the stock brake setup , the stock OEM brembo setup is IDEAL , for street / track / roadcourse / time attack . I can assure you it will hold up for any sprited driving like i listed above. A change in brake pad would be great according to your driving habit and or use of the vehicle itself. Read up on Different Brake Pad Materials and friction composites itll for sure help your choice. As far as the OEM rotors they are ideal for this setup , but keep in mind if you slap on an AGGressive pad they will chew up the rotor quite a bit faster then lets say a street pad/ oem pad. The stock system consists of Front 4 piston brembo calipers, and 2 piston Rear Brembo calipers, these calipers have substantial grab force. Adding SS/aka stainless steel brake lines willl also develop almost no brake fade and a nice precise brake pedal feel. Enough of my ramble , but stock system is very good and more.

kijima

The standard Calipers are fine... to a point.

After 15 plus laps you can have the pedal fall to floor and that is caused by the piston seals deforming under heat and changing the fluid, pads and rotors will only prolong it before this happens. This is the difference between a high performance road caliper and a competition caliper. A race caliper removes heat more efficiently, a road caliper is exactly that...designed for the road. While the Brembo's are good, they are a long way off a competition caliper and for good reason too. The Brembo has dust seals, the pistons are closer to the pad, and the materials used between a competition and road car caliper are quite different, that’s why one has an aluminum piston and the other stainless steel.

For those that Track their car hard, you'll first notice the calipers changing color and if you are at a track which is hard on brakes you can even turn the calipers black. (Trust me on this, I've done it) This in itself isn’t a bad thing but it does show you that the Brembo wasn't designed for motorsport; rather it's a high level road car caliper. That all sounds a little doom and gloomish but for the most part and for most people the standard calipers are fine, for road and track usage. Ideally I can't see many people here doing more than a 'sprint' style of track day, and not let’s say 1 nonstop hour of racing.

First thing I would do is remove the backing plates from behind the rotors on the fronts to improve cooling, remember this important lesson - 'The brakes don’t stop the car, your tyres do!" What your brakes are there to do is remove heat efficiently and removing the backing plates will give your brakes better thermal capacity. Putting on some cooling scoops that bolt on to the lower control arm feeding cool air into the middle of the rotor are also a good thing and aren’t stupidly priced, so I'd recommend taking that step.

I'd then think about doing a brake fluid flush, maybe going to something like Castrol SRF being a high temp fluid but remember brake fluid is hygroscopic so you will need to have a brake fluid change in your maintenance schedule every 6 months if you want the best out of your brakes.

Pads are all important, so going to something like a Ferodo DS2500 will serve you well for a dual purpose brake pad, and the upside is not only are they better than the OEM pads but cheaper as well. Rotors are the last thing you'd do if you still were not happy if you've done everything else so far. Rotors can be tricky and you need to be very careful about what pads you use with what rotors, not everything is compatible...

Personally I'd stay away from anything that is cross drilled as I've seen numerous cross drilled rotors crack and explode in Tarmac Rally. Going for a slotted rotor is a good thing as it helps in removing the 'gassing' that can occur (the other type of brake fade) having an Alloy hat mounted rotor is also of a benefit because alloy is a very good thermal conductor drawing heat away.

Basically brakes is one area where you need to be prepaid to spend money and having decent brakes is a huge gain in performance itself. It's most definitely not about how many pistons your caliper has that makes a good brake package.

If you want to know more, here is an article which goes into some more depth:

http://www.themotorreport.com.au/992...-stopping-you/

willitas34

iTrader: (4)

^^^ agreed that if you are going to do, say some endurance racing and you are going to be non-stop hard braking, get something more efficient.

But for most track enthusiast, Motul RBF600 flush before every track event, swapping out the stock pads for some track pads, a quality 2-piece rotor and some brake ducting is more than enough on the stock brembo caliper

To each is own though, GL on your quest OP!

NYC-X

iTrader: (3)

Well written sir, but one question about removing the back plates. I know we are talking about cooling efficiency while tracking the car, but does removing the back plates have any type of negative effects during normal everyday driving?? Such as noise.

Toxin

iTrader: (2)

Yes, exactly that. Noise. A lot of it. Ask me how I know.

Sleestack

iTrader: (3)

I'm a big fan of Stoptech and their approach to designing brakes. Nothing wrong with the factory Brembos on my MR, but I like the fact that Stoptech fits calipers for each car model individually. Brembo, on the other hand, takes one of several pre-existing calipers and just uses hardware to fit them on different cars. That isn't to say Brembos aren't effective, just that the approach Stoptech takes seems more sensible.

91TB78

iTrader: (2)

I would think the fact that you have an MR Touring means you will most likely never need anything like a replacement BBK. Spend your money on maximizing your factory setup and spend the residual on other parts.

Sleestack

iTrader: (3)

Not sure if the you are talking to the OP. In my case, I bought a 2010 MR touring primarily for the street and focused immediately on power and suspension. I went with a custom Works tune and full AST suspension. Some people think ASTs are overkill for the street, but I completely disagree. On the other hand, I know there is no need to upgrade my brakes, even if I prefer Stoptechs because the Brembos have plenty of stopping power and I won't be in a situation where I will experience fade.

kijima

More noise? Honestly, I've never noticed the difference as the factory Dunlop’s emit a lot of 'road roar' to hear your pads. As for squeal, that is dependent on your pads and the backing plates are a sealed designed so they aren’t going to help in silencing anyway. Pads are the issue for noise every single time and again, it's not knowing what pad material will work with what rotor. Noise is very much dependant on pad choice, if you are using the standard OEM pads then no noise to speak of.

Now, getting back to the question. The backing plates are there for two fold. Firstly the backing plates are they to eliminate stones (they are called stone guards in some markets) and foreign debris for the between the pad and the rotors. Secondly to keep heat in and it's for this reason I would remove them.

Note: If you live or travel daily on a gravel road then maybe do don’t this, but I'm still yet to see a caliper not work due to a stone being caught in it.

On a cold morning you get in the car, hoof on down the road and go to jump on the brakes and nothing happens! That’s because they are stone cold. To a degree the backing plates keep the heat in, so what you would need to do if in a cold climate is have some understanding of how friction pads work and what temps they 'come in' at and drive nicely for the first 1-2 minutes as it doesn’t take the standard brakes to come up to temp. Competition pads (if you are using something aggressive) will show this up much more. Some of the pads we use in competition motorsport in an endurance application are that nasty that they won’t start working till they reach 250c

Removing the front backing plates in an environment where you need as much cooling as possible, like the track. To me it's a no brainer and a free modification. I'd suggest if you have more than standard torque, doing this, stiffening up the suspension and changing brake pads are a must. As an example, if you are going to add 20% more Torque, then you need to make adequate upgrades in suspension and brakes to support that extra 20%.

91TB78

iTrader: (2)

Sorry, I mixed up you and the OP.

Nothing is overkill if you have unlimited funds!!

kijima

This is setup is something that we would use more often than not when doing an Evo X competition build.



Yes... It's expensive.