Need brake help, posted about a big brake kit on here & everyone is telling me to just get more aggressive pads. Made the same post on a few FB forums & everyone is telling me to buy the BBk. I'm not happy at all with my cars stopping.power & need some help. Bigger brakes or more aggressive pads? What do I do??

 

Start with brake fluid power flush, including cycling the abs pump to get the old fluid out of there as well. The brake fluid will pull the mosture out of the air, and the more water in the brake fluid, the worst the pedal will feel/apply force to the caliper pistons.
Note, brakes should be power flushed every 2 year, per the manual.

Now find a stretch of road with no one around ,and tell me the force you need on the pedal to get into the abs system, and what pads are in play, as well as tires.

Hence even base pads should be able to lock the tires up to get into the abs system, and to stop faster, its not the brakes if you can get into the abs system with moderate brake pedal pressure, but the amount of grip of the tires to hold the tarmac before they break free to slip instead.
And if you really want tell if brake system is up to snuff, put someone over in the passenger seat,since on track with someone over there, tend to seat belt welt there chest in a mater of a few laps from normal hard breaking on road coarse (plus get them sick, since pretty much the same as riding a paint shaker as well)

Hence brakes systems that grips more, just means less pressure on the pedal before you lock the brakes up, and will not stop you faster.

If problem is that you dam near have to 2 foot the brake pedal to lock up the brakes, then someone installed crap base brake pads, like the Duralast ceramic pads, that lets just say don't have either the needed coefficient of gripping power to start with for any summer performance tire, nor the heat working range for when the brakes are being used over and over again to heat pads/rotors up to prevent brake fade.

Bottom line, unless you are running R spec track tires, and on a wide body car, Big brake kit is not going to stop you any faster, and just get into the ABS system faster with less pedal pressure isntead.

 

Already run Motul RBF600, have SS lines, slotted PowerStop rotors & HPS 5.0 pads. Reality us, in the NC/TN/KY Appalachian mountains, your on the brakes way more & usually harder than a race track. I can lock the brakes up, but after 30-40 mins of hard running the back roads they just lose stopping power some, not at 100% anymore. I need better repeatability with more bite.

 

HPS 5.0 are a street pad. Not suitable for a performance application. Low cf and low temperature range.
And mountain runs may be much for these pads, but certainly are not harder on brakes than a race track, where they'd be useless on the 2nd lap.
Then there's cooling/ducting.,,,which is a whole other thing to explore

have fun

 

You definitely need to be running on a track. It’s legal, fun, safer and will be a very enlightening experience.

if you’re as good as you say you are, get a good brake kit. AP Racing is great, I run a stoptech trophy kit and it is amazing as well.

Go over to the road racing section on this forum for some info on getting on track and sign up for a good hpde day

 

I never said anything about being good, so please dont put words in my mouth. Im asking about better brakes & how to spend my $$.

 

I was taking cues from your statement that you are harder on your brakes than those on a race track. Typically, the best and fastest drivers can be found on the track, so I was assuming (my bad) that you are a good driver who pushes your brakes very hard.


I have a full stoptech trophy kit with srf fluid and spindle ducts fed from fog light ducts with shrouds and have no problems with brake fade or feel. I typically podium at the time trial events I’ve run. So, based on what you’ve said, you should start with a quality big brake kit, pads and a good, full system flush (that cycles your abs pump).


If you don’t want to jump into the deep end, start with the full flush. SRF is arguably the best. Then go to more aggressive pads. If they’re fading, you need bigger brakes with more mass or better cooling or both.

what brakes are you running? If not z06/gs, that’s a good upgrade but they also can overheat if you’re pushing them really hard.

 

That's an interesting statement! My track experience sorta agrees with this.

Tom

 

Just need brake pads that will have a higher working temp, so you don't get into brake pad over heat fade instead. The trick since you still using them for street driving, need to be able to work well at lower normal driving temps as well/

And the first time you set DD brake pads with not high enough working temps on fire for the way you are driving the car, you kind of figure out the needed working temp range of pads in a hurry.

 

Might get more response in the Road Race/Autocross section.
My $.02:
If pedal feel remains solid, but the car won't stop, you're experiencing pad fade.
Pads operate best within their designed temperature window. If you poke around, you can find that data published for most of the performance compounds, and choose one with a more appropriate range.
Keep in mind that they still need to stop the car when they're cold!

When the pedal gets softer, then goes away, that is more likely to be boiling brake fluid.
In addition to better thermal capacity, big brakes are also beneficial with pedal modulation. For when you nail that brake point down to the last 3 feet....

My additional opinion:
Until you've had the car out on the track, you're only pretending to go fast.
But once you learn what the car can really do, you may find the canyon roads aren't very satisfying anymore.

 

Before going to the expense and work of a big brake kit, I would try Porterfield R4S pads.
Especially since you seem to have all of the other bases covered.
https://porterfield-brakes.com/