Review of my Essex Endurance BBK
08-15-2015, 06:20 PM
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
Review of my Essex Endurance BBK
I promised this to Jeff a few months back and have finally found some time to sit down and write up a quick (and hopefully useful) review of my Essex AP Racing Endurance big brake kit.
First, a bit of background. I’ve owned my 2002 C5Z for three years now and have been using it as a dual-purpose HPDE/street car during that time. My wife and I share the car and we drive it to/from a couple of local tracks (ranging from about 170 miles to about 250 miles round trip). We run in the intermediate/advanced groups and it was important for us to maintain some semblance of street capability. Having owned cars (presently and in the past) that are barely drivable on the street and not wanting to get into the time or expense of a more dedicated track car and trailering it, our goal was to drive this car to the track, have fun, and then drive it home. Those of you familiar with the Seattle area know how traffic sucks so for us it’s not unusual to spend a couple of hours in stop-n-go traffic on the way home after flogging the car at the track all day. So, while this is far from a “race car” it does require a level of flexibility from the brake system among other things.
The fact that we were getting faster and pushing the car harder and after dealing with stock C5 and C6 calipers and rotors for a couple of years I decided earlier this year to make the leap to “real” race-caliber brakes. My thought process went something like this – we spend the bulk of our time on a road course (Pacific Raceways) that is quite unforgiving on brakes and has virtually no run-off in most areas. With this in mind and considering that the wife was also driving I really didn’t want to skimp on brakes. However, I still wanted to “arrive and drive” at the events as much as possible. After a good bit of research I spent some time communicating with Jeff Ritter at Essex. Man, what breath of fresh air. Not only did he take the time to talk to me about my usage (asking questions about the car, what my plans were, what my usage was, etc., rather than just giving me a canned sales pitch for the latest and greatest), but he also went into great detail to include sending me pictures and design specifics. It’s seldom in the aftermarket that you get that kind of honest and detailed data on a product.
Since I was moving from the OEM 17” front wheels to 18” wheels, Jeff encouraged me to spend a few hundred bucks more and go right to the Endurance kit (I was planning originally on the Sprint kit since I am only running HPDE, street tires, and basically stock power levels on my LS6) and I’m so happy that I listened. It was one of those classic do it once, do it right moments, I suppose. I did decide to stick with OEM C6 calipers/rotors in the rear for now and, based on my desire to continue driving the car on the street without pad changes (yes, I’m probably lazy), I decided to stay with the Carbotech XP10/XP8 pad combination that I had fallen in love with, again, for their flexibility.
So here I am after seven track days this year and I feel pretty strongly that this is one of the best investments that I have made in the car to date. The most difficult part of dealing with these brakes has been re-calibrating my brake zone references. I continue to struggle with basically braking too early (nice problem to have, right?). The brakes are providing so much confidence, but I’m trying to come at it slowly. Again, I’m always learning so this may be funny for you guys in prepped track cars with slicks, etc., but it was an eye-opener for me
The interesting thing is that I was using the same pad compound with the OEM brakes as with the Essex Endurance setup so there is really just one variable (well, in the interest of full disclosure, I did add SKF wheel hubs and ZR1 knuckles at the same time, but the old parts were all sound).
At any rate, I cannot recommend the Essex Endurance setup enough. The installation instructions were spot on and complete with all the necessary torque specs and pictures to make install a breeze. Jeff provides an excellent pad bed-in procedure video on the website, spares and part numbers are clearly enumerated and available, and all of my questions were answered with engineering levels of precision (these are obviously folks that know their product as opposed to vendors that simply sell along stuff) and in a timely fashion. I cannot tell you the peace of mind that I feel now knowing that when I hit that brake pedal after coming over the bump into turn 2 at Pacific Raceways at 140mph that it will be a non-issue and I can focus on setting up for turn-in. All of this and I let it cool off and then drive home (well, more like sit in traffic) for a couple of hours.
Thanks Jeff and Essex. You guys rock.
Joe
First, a bit of background. I’ve owned my 2002 C5Z for three years now and have been using it as a dual-purpose HPDE/street car during that time. My wife and I share the car and we drive it to/from a couple of local tracks (ranging from about 170 miles to about 250 miles round trip). We run in the intermediate/advanced groups and it was important for us to maintain some semblance of street capability. Having owned cars (presently and in the past) that are barely drivable on the street and not wanting to get into the time or expense of a more dedicated track car and trailering it, our goal was to drive this car to the track, have fun, and then drive it home. Those of you familiar with the Seattle area know how traffic sucks so for us it’s not unusual to spend a couple of hours in stop-n-go traffic on the way home after flogging the car at the track all day. So, while this is far from a “race car” it does require a level of flexibility from the brake system among other things.
The fact that we were getting faster and pushing the car harder and after dealing with stock C5 and C6 calipers and rotors for a couple of years I decided earlier this year to make the leap to “real” race-caliber brakes. My thought process went something like this – we spend the bulk of our time on a road course (Pacific Raceways) that is quite unforgiving on brakes and has virtually no run-off in most areas. With this in mind and considering that the wife was also driving I really didn’t want to skimp on brakes. However, I still wanted to “arrive and drive” at the events as much as possible. After a good bit of research I spent some time communicating with Jeff Ritter at Essex. Man, what breath of fresh air. Not only did he take the time to talk to me about my usage (asking questions about the car, what my plans were, what my usage was, etc., rather than just giving me a canned sales pitch for the latest and greatest), but he also went into great detail to include sending me pictures and design specifics. It’s seldom in the aftermarket that you get that kind of honest and detailed data on a product.
Since I was moving from the OEM 17” front wheels to 18” wheels, Jeff encouraged me to spend a few hundred bucks more and go right to the Endurance kit (I was planning originally on the Sprint kit since I am only running HPDE, street tires, and basically stock power levels on my LS6) and I’m so happy that I listened. It was one of those classic do it once, do it right moments, I suppose. I did decide to stick with OEM C6 calipers/rotors in the rear for now and, based on my desire to continue driving the car on the street without pad changes (yes, I’m probably lazy), I decided to stay with the Carbotech XP10/XP8 pad combination that I had fallen in love with, again, for their flexibility.
So here I am after seven track days this year and I feel pretty strongly that this is one of the best investments that I have made in the car to date. The most difficult part of dealing with these brakes has been re-calibrating my brake zone references. I continue to struggle with basically braking too early (nice problem to have, right?). The brakes are providing so much confidence, but I’m trying to come at it slowly. Again, I’m always learning so this may be funny for you guys in prepped track cars with slicks, etc., but it was an eye-opener for me
The interesting thing is that I was using the same pad compound with the OEM brakes as with the Essex Endurance setup so there is really just one variable (well, in the interest of full disclosure, I did add SKF wheel hubs and ZR1 knuckles at the same time, but the old parts were all sound).At any rate, I cannot recommend the Essex Endurance setup enough. The installation instructions were spot on and complete with all the necessary torque specs and pictures to make install a breeze. Jeff provides an excellent pad bed-in procedure video on the website, spares and part numbers are clearly enumerated and available, and all of my questions were answered with engineering levels of precision (these are obviously folks that know their product as opposed to vendors that simply sell along stuff) and in a timely fashion. I cannot tell you the peace of mind that I feel now knowing that when I hit that brake pedal after coming over the bump into turn 2 at Pacific Raceways at 140mph that it will be a non-issue and I can focus on setting up for turn-in. All of this and I let it cool off and then drive home (well, more like sit in traffic) for a couple of hours.
Thanks Jeff and Essex. You guys rock.
Joe
Last edited by Fulton 1; 08-15-2015 at 06:24 PM.
08-15-2015, 07:00 PM
#2
Le Mans Master
I promised this to Jeff a few months back and have finally found some time to sit down and write up a quick (and hopefully useful) review of my Essex AP Racing Endurance big brake kit.
First, a bit of background. I’ve owned my 2002 C5Z for three years now and have been using it as a dual-purpose HPDE/street car during that time. My wife and I share the car and we drive it to/from a couple of local tracks (ranging from about 170 miles to about 250 miles round trip). We run in the intermediate/advanced groups and it was important for us to maintain some semblance of street capability. Having owned cars (presently and in the past) that are barely drivable on the street and not wanting to get into the time or expense of a more dedicated track car and trailering it, our goal was to drive this car to the track, have fun, and then drive it home. Those of you familiar with the Seattle area know how traffic sucks so for us it’s not unusual to spend a couple of hours in stop-n-go traffic on the way home after flogging the car at the track all day. So, while this is far from a “race car” it does require a level of flexibility from the brake system among other things.
The fact that we were getting faster and pushing the car harder and after dealing with stock C5 and C6 calipers and rotors for a couple of years I decided earlier this year to make the leap to “real” race-caliber brakes. My thought process went something like this – we spend the bulk of our time on a road course (Pacific Raceways) that is quite unforgiving on brakes and has virtually no run-off in most areas. With this in mind and considering that the wife was also driving I really didn’t want to skimp on brakes. However, I still wanted to “arrive and drive” at the events as much as possible. After a good bit of research I spent some time communicating with Jeff Ritter at Essex. Man, what breath of fresh air. Not only did he take the time to talk to me about my usage (asking questions about the car, what my plans were, what my usage was, etc., rather than just giving me a canned sales pitch for the latest and greatest), but he also went into great detail to include sending me pictures and design specifics. It’s seldom in the aftermarket that you get that kind of honest and detailed data on a product.
Since I was moving from the OEM 17” front wheels to 18” wheels, Jeff encouraged me to spend a few hundred bucks more and go right to the Endurance kit (I was planning originally on the Sprint kit since I am only running HPDE, street tires, and basically stock power levels on my LS6) and I’m so happy that I listened. It was one of those classic do it once, do it right moments, I suppose. I did decide to stick with OEM C6 calipers/rotors in the rear for now and, based on my desire to continue driving the car on the street without pad changes (yes, I’m probably lazy), I decided to stay with the Carbotech XP10/XP8 pad combination that I had fallen in love with, again, for their flexibility.
So here I am after seven track days this year and I feel pretty strongly that this is one of the best investments that I have made in the car to date. The most difficult part of dealing with these brakes has been re-calibrating my brake zone references. I continue to struggle with basically braking too early (nice problem to have, right?). The brakes are providing so much confidence, but I’m trying to come at it slowly. Again, I’m always learning so this may be funny for you guys in prepped track cars with slicks, etc., but it was an eye-opener for me The interesting thing is that I was using the same pad compound with the OEM brakes as with the Essex Endurance setup so there is really just one variable (well, in the interest of full disclosure, I did add SKF wheel hubs and ZR1 knuckles at the same time, but the old parts were all sound).
At any rate, I cannot recommend the Essex Endurance setup enough. The installation instructions were spot on and complete with all the necessary torque specs and pictures to make install a breeze. Jeff provides an excellent pad bed-in procedure video on the website, spares and part numbers are clearly enumerated and available, and all of my questions were answered with engineering levels of precision (these are obviously folks that know their product as opposed to vendors that simply sell along stuff) and in a timely fashion. I cannot tell you the peace of mind that I feel now knowing that when I hit that brake pedal after coming over the bump into turn 2 at Pacific Raceways at 140mph that it will be a non-issue and I can focus on setting up for turn-in. All of this and I let it cool off and then drive home (well, more like sit in traffic) for a couple of hours.
Thanks Jeff and Essex. You guys rock.
Joe
First, a bit of background. I’ve owned my 2002 C5Z for three years now and have been using it as a dual-purpose HPDE/street car during that time. My wife and I share the car and we drive it to/from a couple of local tracks (ranging from about 170 miles to about 250 miles round trip). We run in the intermediate/advanced groups and it was important for us to maintain some semblance of street capability. Having owned cars (presently and in the past) that are barely drivable on the street and not wanting to get into the time or expense of a more dedicated track car and trailering it, our goal was to drive this car to the track, have fun, and then drive it home. Those of you familiar with the Seattle area know how traffic sucks so for us it’s not unusual to spend a couple of hours in stop-n-go traffic on the way home after flogging the car at the track all day. So, while this is far from a “race car” it does require a level of flexibility from the brake system among other things.
The fact that we were getting faster and pushing the car harder and after dealing with stock C5 and C6 calipers and rotors for a couple of years I decided earlier this year to make the leap to “real” race-caliber brakes. My thought process went something like this – we spend the bulk of our time on a road course (Pacific Raceways) that is quite unforgiving on brakes and has virtually no run-off in most areas. With this in mind and considering that the wife was also driving I really didn’t want to skimp on brakes. However, I still wanted to “arrive and drive” at the events as much as possible. After a good bit of research I spent some time communicating with Jeff Ritter at Essex. Man, what breath of fresh air. Not only did he take the time to talk to me about my usage (asking questions about the car, what my plans were, what my usage was, etc., rather than just giving me a canned sales pitch for the latest and greatest), but he also went into great detail to include sending me pictures and design specifics. It’s seldom in the aftermarket that you get that kind of honest and detailed data on a product.
Since I was moving from the OEM 17” front wheels to 18” wheels, Jeff encouraged me to spend a few hundred bucks more and go right to the Endurance kit (I was planning originally on the Sprint kit since I am only running HPDE, street tires, and basically stock power levels on my LS6) and I’m so happy that I listened. It was one of those classic do it once, do it right moments, I suppose. I did decide to stick with OEM C6 calipers/rotors in the rear for now and, based on my desire to continue driving the car on the street without pad changes (yes, I’m probably lazy), I decided to stay with the Carbotech XP10/XP8 pad combination that I had fallen in love with, again, for their flexibility.
So here I am after seven track days this year and I feel pretty strongly that this is one of the best investments that I have made in the car to date. The most difficult part of dealing with these brakes has been re-calibrating my brake zone references. I continue to struggle with basically braking too early (nice problem to have, right?). The brakes are providing so much confidence, but I’m trying to come at it slowly. Again, I’m always learning so this may be funny for you guys in prepped track cars with slicks, etc., but it was an eye-opener for me
The interesting thing is that I was using the same pad compound with the OEM brakes as with the Essex Endurance setup so there is really just one variable (well, in the interest of full disclosure, I did add SKF wheel hubs and ZR1 knuckles at the same time, but the old parts were all sound).At any rate, I cannot recommend the Essex Endurance setup enough. The installation instructions were spot on and complete with all the necessary torque specs and pictures to make install a breeze. Jeff provides an excellent pad bed-in procedure video on the website, spares and part numbers are clearly enumerated and available, and all of my questions were answered with engineering levels of precision (these are obviously folks that know their product as opposed to vendors that simply sell along stuff) and in a timely fashion. I cannot tell you the peace of mind that I feel now knowing that when I hit that brake pedal after coming over the bump into turn 2 at Pacific Raceways at 140mph that it will be a non-issue and I can focus on setting up for turn-in. All of this and I let it cool off and then drive home (well, more like sit in traffic) for a couple of hours.
Thanks Jeff and Essex. You guys rock.
Joe
I read this and thought that is the exact same experience I had with this Endurance brake package. I have been running my DD/Track car
at Portland International Raceway for ~3 years now with stock calipers and the Carbotech 10/8 pads. I switched to the Endurance pkg. earlier this year (with 12/10 pads) and the added stopping power is ridiculous. Like you, I started stopping WAY too early. Now I'm braking ~100 ft. later than with the stock brakes.If you track your car these brakes are a must.
08-15-2015, 09:09 PM
#3
Racer
Thread Starter
Wow. Nice write up. Thanks. I could have sworn I wrote this.
I read this and thought that is the exact same experience I had with this Endurance brake package. I have been running my DD/Track car at Portland International Raceway for ~3 years now with stock calipers and the Carbotech 10/8 pads. I switched to the Endurance pkg. earlier this year (with 12/10 pads) and the added stopping power is ridiculous. Like you, I started stopping WAY too early. Now I'm braking ~100 ft. later than with the stock brakes.
If you track your car these brakes are a must.
I read this and thought that is the exact same experience I had with this Endurance brake package. I have been running my DD/Track car
at Portland International Raceway for ~3 years now with stock calipers and the Carbotech 10/8 pads. I switched to the Endurance pkg. earlier this year (with 12/10 pads) and the added stopping power is ridiculous. Like you, I started stopping WAY too early. Now I'm braking ~100 ft. later than with the stock brakes.If you track your car these brakes are a must.
08-17-2015, 02:28 PM
#4
Le Mans Master
My track tires are Toyo R888. Very sticky on track. Barely DOT legal for back/forth street use.
08-17-2015, 02:36 PM
#5
Supporting Vendor
Member Since: Oct 2002
Location: Cleveland OH
Posts: 50,209
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St. Jude Donor '11,'13
What tires are you using?
__________________
Adam Adelstein
Amp’D Autosport.com
Internet's largest retailer of Carbotech Performance Brake Pads.
PH:216-780-8825.
Email: sales@ampdautosport.com
Web Site & Direct ordering http://ampdautosport.com/
All major CC and Pay Pal accepted.
Check out Promo code:z28
Adam Adelstein
Amp’D Autosport.com
Internet's largest retailer of Carbotech Performance Brake Pads.
PH:216-780-8825.
Email: sales@ampdautosport.com
Web Site & Direct ordering http://ampdautosport.com/
All major CC and Pay Pal accepted.
Check out Promo code:z28
08-18-2015, 08:58 AM
#8
Supporting Vendor
Thanks for the thorough review and kind words Fulton! bI'm glad the brakes are working so well for you!
The comment you made about our kit providing confidence is one of the most common threads I see in customer reviews of our BBK's. I always tell people that what they're doing with our kits is basically taking the brakes out of the equation as far as "things to think about." That allows them to just focus on driving and hitting their marks. It's amazing how much your lap times drop and your consistency increases as you repeatedly dive into turns with confidence.
Now we need some pictures please!
The comment you made about our kit providing confidence is one of the most common threads I see in customer reviews of our BBK's. I always tell people that what they're doing with our kits is basically taking the brakes out of the equation as far as "things to think about." That allows them to just focus on driving and hitting their marks. It's amazing how much your lap times drop and your consistency increases as you repeatedly dive into turns with confidence.
Now we need some pictures please!
