What is your intended use?

Street
Performance street (essentially driving like a fool, hey I do it)
autocross
high speed track autocross
drag racing (yuck, Im sorry if this is the one)
road course track events

I would say yes for the first two since I do not think they make a non-performance pad. I have their slotted/drilled disks and their perf pads in front and they are fine. I didnt like the grip in the rear so went to autocross pads in the rear. Forgot which brand. I could barely get my rear disks warm before I went to autocross pads. But Im picky and have a lot of braking experience and rather enjoy my eyeballs hitting the windshield so I bet you wont care.

I occasionally like to relive road course braking so will run up an off ramp high speed and brake late.. cant get them to fade and I feel confident even when they are cold so I think they are fine. I think they would be fine for a panic brake cold which is important for street driving if you value your life at all.

 

What I said at first was a simple physics equation. You put the piece to it that applied it to real world scenario. Dont need to overcomplicate it.

 

Interesting you should say this. when I was racing scca ITB class I did a lot of testing of rotors. I was chewing up rotors like crazy. I started to pay attention to where the rotors were manufactured. In my case it was Germany, china and one other which eludes me. I did some real-world, same-day testing on a very fast road course (road america) and what I found was as you might guess the chinese rotors were horrible and Id eat through them.. the german rotors came in first place. These were just over the shelf Autozone or what have you rotors. Now, this was in like 1998 so I don't know if things have changed but that is the way it was back then.

That being said, it was extreme brake use with cooling ducts and the whole deal so Im not sure how that would apply to the street. I also did some g force testing but pads were the most influential there. at the time "metal masters" were the hot ticket.. I found some normal premium pads would develop high braking g's but I learned the hard way that they would not hold up to heat when I ran into the back of a neon and nearly got into a fistfight. Those were the days.

So all gibberish adds up to Id avoid rotors made in china (duh). i don't know where powerstops are manufactured and I have them on my car... Brilliant

By the way Im attempting to change the subject

 

Thanks all, and my apologies for not being more specific.

This will be on my '86 which I am stripping down to a "Vette Cart" (everything possible will be removed, and a NASA legal cage added).

My estimate is 2600lbs with 8 gallons gas and my fat butt in it.

It also has a built motor with 390hp/380tq at the wheels.

And, while I'll drive it on the street to car shows periodically, it will mostly be a road course and autocross car.

At first, I'll have 200 treadwear DOT tires but will likely go to slicks at some point.

Part of me says upgraded pads will be enough based on the greatly reduced weight, but with the extra power, maybe a slight upgrade is in order.

I have c5 17"x9.5 wheels on it and don't expect to change those, so I'm thinking the j55 upgrade would be the best option.

Any other thoughts?

 

Wow, you sure left some details out. Lots of arguing back and forth over the wrong solution. In a slick/road course configuration every little bit of upgrade will make a difference. If you want to be fast on a road course one needs to concentrate on brakes I hesitantly say more than motor depending on the track. But yeah, unless you can score a set of brembos with the proper mounts used the j55;s with the pad of the year would probably be fine. Cooling ducts would be critical as well even with an open car.. If possible blowing straight into the center of the rotor. The fabrication can be expensive unless you can do it yourself (tig welder probably).

Id also go with braided lines only because you can hang your calipers from them when changing pads (if you have to remove the calipers to do it).

You will need different pads for autocross vs. road course in my opinion. Good road course pads dont work until they get up to temp.

 

Exactly. Don't over complicate it, Joe. You're going to press on the pedal with the same force for a given braking event, whether the hose flexes or not. Simple physics equation.


.

 

JeremyG, I have a Kart also -an '89 that I've stripped and caged. I cut the w/s frame and halo off before caging and used a polycarbonate wind screen. My kart weighs 2280 w/o me in it and my fuel cell holds 8 gallons. I think pads and good brake fluid are all you'd need for track duty for two reasons:
1. the reduced weight of the car
2. The poor aero of the car. It definitely slows faster from just coming off the gas than my complete '92...and it doesn't want to coast down hills well either.

You might as well try it w/the stock brakes first; the pads are a consumable anyway and fluid is maintenance, so trying decent pads and fluids is barely any more $$ than normal PM/consumables and it may work just fine. We can recall that the Challenge cars used stock brake hardware and held up sufficiently, even with full bodied cars with cages.

 

 

OP, assuming spirited street use, cheap easy = full service flush on brakes. any of the great pad / rotor combos mentioned above. ive never used them but hawk and carbotech are two names i see all the time here.

assuming autocross and lapping, j55’s are just fine. i put c4 grandsport calipers with ss lines and powerstop “track day” kit pads rotors...were amazing for 1hr sessions letting it all hang out. full flush with high temp 700f dot 3 is what i use on my 86 and 91Z

 

I would be surprised if you didn't need a track type pad with slicks.

Tom, is there no air filter on that car?

 

No air filter. I don't love that...but I haven't thought of a decent solution that doesn't look stupid. Not like the car is "pretty"...but I don't want a big elephants trunk hanging off the front.

Suggestions are welcome.

 

fab a k and n on there btwn rad and maf.

 

Can you send the part numbers and where you purchased this? I need all 4 upgraded. Can this be purchased new or only used?

 

Elephant trunk LOL yea I see your point. The three small cone claw intake would look especially good there!

Hmm suggestions, switch to MAP and have a cone right off the TB.

I think that would look the best. Other suggestions I have would be to look at cone filters and pick one that could rest on top of the radiator. There are many shapes now and something like a long cone would look okay I think.

 

LOL! About the claw!

My plan was to change it to Speed density like you suggested and stick a filter on the TB. In the mean time, the engine is a poorly maintained turd, so I'm not stressing about it.

 

I have a set of j55 adapters if you’re interested.

 

Joe, seriously, just stop.

 

Joe, seriously, just stop.

 

I know, I forgot. The C4 section should mainly be reserved for mediocre performance builds and people trying to explain why their $2500 84 Corvette is a better all around car than all of the newer generations of Corvette's, and the guys with engineering degrees obviously don't belong here

 

^Good argument.

There is the counterpoint Joe; everyone should over-spend on a car that has no value, for over-kill parts that aren't needed, for performance that no one will ever reach or exploit.

While your car is cool/interesting (and it gives you a platform to talk down to everyone from)....not everyone here needs or wants or can utilize 4 turbos (for example) to go have some fun. As much as I love geeking out over big bad brakes, I've not yet found a legitimate reason to upgrade the brakes on my Kart b/c the stock ones are way better than good enough.

It's easy to spend others' money and tell them what they should buy....it's harder giving advice as to what is the right thing for their usage/set up.