Hi all,
I've been toying around the idea of upgrading my brakes. I do roughly 4 track days a year and think I'm ready for a brake change.

I do club events for fun only, and don't race competitively. However, my last track day...I was out braked by quite a few cars. I'm really looking for better stopping power on the track and something that'll work day-to-day as well. I plan to swap pads between track and daily driving.

So here are my questions:
1) Can I get away with doing the front only right now?
2) Which brakes are recommended?
3) What size brakes - 11, 12 or 13"? I have the stock 17" S-Lites on my car right now.

My race buddy has the 13" Wilwoods and has been VERY happy with them. Right now I'm leaning towards the Wilwoods because of cost, but am definitely open to other options.

Thanks in advance for your input!
Gary

 

I have AP Racing and I like them...... Randy Webb rated them very high a few years ago..... pads are expensive..... Detroit tuned kit has been getting a good buzz...... I have to admit I have Brembo envy whenever I see them..... on the back... change pads...Ferodo or Hawk are popular and there are some nice rotor choices....power slots, Brembo etc...... "brakes are good thing to have" - SpiderX 7/28/2006

 

i have the wilwood 12.16 factory kit, and although it is a great kit, and with the track exclusive A pad for the track, it stops me time after time without ever feeling it has given up... however, i do feel that by didnt going with somethin like stoptech or brembo, i feel the quality is a bit.... well, not bad, but not great either (one bleed valve broke after just 1 year, but thankfully coast to coast was a good sport about it)

anyways, if you track, i'd dictate which brake to go with by which wheel size your running.. if you run 17s full time, run stoptech, or ap, or brembo or even the TCE/Wilwood FSE caliper kits, Detroit Tuned also a great kit... otherwise... if you run smaller (like me), you are forced to run the detroit tuned (availiable in 16), or the wilwood (16 or even 15)

i regret not going smaller (to the small race kit wilwoods), or bigger (with stoptechs), as right now im in the middle range, neither here nor there!

as for the rear, you can even go with the TCE rear brake kit, which ups the size in the rear.... but as spiderx already pointed out, rear brakes stock is already plenty, throw on some powerslots or brembo slotted discs with ferodos, and you are probably as good as anybody

 

with the 13" Wilwood kit, I can't fit 16" wheels ... But I don't care, I run 17's

 

I highly recommend the TCE street/sport kit with the 13" rotors. I have this and the rear kit. I do one event per month and I have had ZERO problems. Pad change at the track adds about 5 minutes to a front tire change. Great support from Todd at TCE if you ever need it.

 

I 100% agree with this. I use all TCE stuff and will continue to use it with the race car.

 

FWIW:
Bleeders in the DynaPro caliper are the same top and bottom (bottom not being used but rather the top when on the other side) and I can supply 'blanks' for the lower fittings thus giving you four spare bleeder nipples. The bleeder nipple itselft is intentionally built to be that tiny little 1/4-28 thread part. This is because fitting the larger M10 (or other) bleeder directly to the caliper (which they did for some time) lead to caliper body damages by gorilla torque and constant stretching of the threads in the alum body. The two piece bleeder keeps the brass fitting snug in the body and forces you to simply use the smaller portion. Then if you do break it...well you won't be damaging a caliper body, just replacing the fitting. I suppose it's all in how you define 'quality'. Here they're trying to save you some grief.

The "smaller" kits are exactly what you have in the 12.2" kit now. Only with a smaller diameter rotor and removal of the small spacers on the radial mount studs. We can also supply a HD version of the 12.2 rotor (it's the same casting as the 11.75 "race" rotor but not cut down. Both kits are really the same kit but with fine tuning based on the needs of one customer or the other.

As for rears, I admit the rear kit is far more appearance than function. So what, I say. The rear stock rotor is ample for most anything. The larger rotor should be considered when paired with the 13" front kit for both a more balanced look and balanced bias. Still, it's proven fine with the 12.2" kits and we can produce it in matching rotor and or hat styles with a bit of build time.

I'm off today to work on the rear caliper kit for the 11.75 rear kit too....more on that later. Custom one off for now. Not really sure there's a market for this. But hey, he's wanting to do it!

 

alright thanks todd, now you make me want to get a custom one off BBK to replace mine!

btw, just a bit off topic, it's been 2 months and i still cant figure out why my brakes are still squealing after i swap back to street pads from the A pads, what is the minimum thickness i should be at for the 12.16 street kit? i dont think i could've eaten through the rotor in about 15,000km when the rears have lasted over 55,000km now

and yes, i tried your recommendation of sanding down the rotor and the pad... as well tried anti-squeal on the backing plate, tried using the track pads for a few days on the street at light pedal travel (with lots of noise) to clean out the rotors a bit

 

There will be two rear kits.... one that will be exclusive to his car. He's the machine shop owner and doing mill work on the calipers, making a billet alum bracket etc. etc. and you wouldn't want to have to pay what it would cost. It looks to be a double caliper set up keeping the stock rear caliper as well as fitting the new one.

The other will be a more user friendly part and adapt to the current 11.75" rear rotor kits. This one however will NOT retain the stock caliper, so no parking brake.

As for noise, try some brake quiet spooch on the back of the pad plates and see if that helps. Or you can always go to the Q pads but I'm not in favor of them.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone! I'll be ordering some fronts from Todd at TCE. Any recommendations on size? Again, I have 17" wheels (S-lites) and do ~4 track days a year.

Thanks again!
Gary