Is it worth uprating UK spec brakes?

[T2 MSW]

Very true

[Burna]

You won't like the race pads on the road, they make so much noise and don't really work till hot

 

Thanks for the advice mate, I'll give them a go before Dragonball and see how I get on with them.

[dangerous brain]

Two very clear schools here though, the trackday people that need consistent repetitive hard braking, and others that only really pile a lot of speed off in one go hauling a car down at the end of a motorway slip-road or short stabby oops I need to get rid of a lot of speed quick braking on the road.

The former may well require aftermarket brake calipers if the pads they are using don't cut the mustard, the latter would be going considerably beyond anything legal or sensible on the road to need to go any better.

[Chris Wilson]

Totally agree, very different usages, needing very different approaches. On track they are very heavy cars and need careful brake prep to be reliable lap after hard lap.

[RobUK]

the latter would be going considerably beyond anything legal or sensible on the road to need to go any better.

 

 

You dont know burna I'm guessing lol

[Burna]

Totally agree, very different usages, needing very different approaches. On track they are very heavy cars and need careful brake prep to be reliable lap after hard lap.

 

The Num brothers have a trackday booked at Anglesey on the 18th April. It'll be interesting to hear the outcome of the comparison between Bignum's 4 pot Brembos, and Lilnum's 6 pot K-Sports. Both are running Performance Friction Pads.

 

You dont know burna I'm guessing lol

 

I'm an angel

[Chris Wilson]

The full Anglesey circuit is a real brake punisher.

[T2 MSW]

The full Anglesey circuit is a real brake punisher.

 

Awesome fun doing it though. Was good to see your Zeus round there.

When I did Time Attack they shortened it to include the corkscrew - now thats a fun series of corners

[Burna]

The full Anglesey circuit is a real brake punisher.

 

It'll be interesting to see who starts to get brake fade first, but Lilnum is more aggresive with his brakes.

[T2 MSW]

It'll be interesting to see who starts to get brake fade first, but Lilnum is more aggresive with his brakes.

 

With even UKs, braided brake lines and something like RBF660 fluid on a track you should not get brake fade. Ive been on days when both Si and James have been there an no one has ever had problems with brake fade. One of the reasons is none of us ride the brakes, your on and off them on a track.

 

More likely to run out of pad material than suffer brake fade

[Burna]

With even UKs, braided brake lines and something like RBF660 fluid on a track you should not get brake fade. Ive been on days when both Si and James have been there an no one has ever had problems with brake fade. One of the reasons is none of us ride the brakes, your on and off them on a track.

 

More likely to run out of pad material than suffer brake fade

 

Good point

[Dnk]

Wouldn't a better test be one driver driving both cars for say 10 laps each ? especially more so if one is

more aggressive in their application of the brakes

 

For spirited road use stock UK brakes are more than up to the job, they didn't let me down on my last track

day either but that was Silverstone national circuit which isn't so bad on the brakes

Edited March 18, 2015 by Dnk (see edit history)

[sideexitsupra]

Just to add to the original question. My car was running around 400hp and had J specs on the front with Porterfield R4 pads. Stock rear.

 

Now the car never made it to a track but they were phenomenal for road use. Yes a bit dirty and they made noise at low speed/light braking, but never once did I think they were not up to the job..

 

I know UKs make a difference, but I had comments that this set up felt as good as UKs by people who should know.

[dangerous brain]

My aristo which is a heavier car again with UK specs was fine on the road but suffered quite horribly from brake fade at Zandvoort and Castle Donington at the end of the straights. Trying to scrub off about 80 mph in as short a distance as possible is really not easy on any brakes and once those brakes have been heated up by a few laps they really don't like it. However I have never found that issue on any road road use ever.

[Pig]

Good thread - Interesting read.

 

Over the years, I have been through many different pads and disks.

 

Comparison below based on decent brake fluid and braided lines - Driving the car on the road hard.

 

Standard disk / standard pads - Fade and Warp too easily

Standard disk / Fast road pads - Fade and warp too easily

Cheap Grooved (interesting to have learnt about grooves on this thread) / Race pads (Performance Friction) - Fine for road use, 1st stop not great but fine afterwards but the disks warped and cracked.

Expensive Grooved / Race pads (Performance friction) - Brilliant!

 

Over all, I have used UK brakes on road and on track and providing you have the right setup they are more than man enough for the job. I just WISH I had bought more sets of performance friction pads as they are perfect for road & track IMO. They are so good that I put a new set of disks onto old pads which will ruin the disks but its worth it to keep them in use.

 

I am dreading the day these pads run out of life as I don't believe there is anything comparable on the market at the moment.

 

ONLY criticism of the pads is that they give off a lot of brake dust so they wouldn't be great on bling wheels.

[bignum]

Good comment John, hence the reason and only reason i switched to Brembo calipers, pad choice is vast.

[Guest Mr boost]

I have to defend the K sport brakes, I "upgraded from uk spec" brakes to Ksport 8 pot front with 380mm discs and the 356 4 pot rear, my car is used hard on the track running large bhp.

With stock uk brakes I used to be able to cook them in about 3 laps of Caldwell, the K sport give excellent feed back and have never shown a sign of brake fade or fault.

[jazz1]

I have to defend the K sport brakes, I "upgraded from uk spec" brakes to Ksport 8 pot front with 380mm discs and the 356 4 pot rear, my car is used hard on the track running large bhp.

With stock uk brakes I used to be able to cook them in about 3 laps of Caldwell, the K sport give excellent feed back and have never shown a sign of brake fade or fault.

 

I read good things about K sport and D2.

[V]

 

I swapped from Jspec to UK callipers as the Jspec we no where up to the job.

This is/was the best thing I did on my car. Far better than BPU.

 

I use DBAs Stage 6 4000 slotted discs (PDF 9) http://www.dba.com.au/

with CW Fast Road Pads, braided lines and RBF600 fluid and the package works phenomenally.

 

Use every day in very cold weather is no problem at all.

No noise whatsoever, and no excessive dust – just the same, if not less than my road car - probably not driving it hard enough!!

Track days they need heating up, as expected, and have sustained numerous abuse from 160+ with no let up all.

 

With regards to EBC, I’m just about to try them on my Volvo XC90.

Friends have had them on smaller cars and have liked them and reviews in the US on their SUV’s all come up good (maybe a bit of noise to begin with when they changed just the pads).

So I wouldn’t knock EBC, but I’ll let you know how I get on with them.

They wouldn’t have been going so long if they were crap.

3.pdf

6.pdf

7.pdf

9.pdf

Edited April 17, 2015 by V (see edit history)

[Chris Wilson]

When you have discovered just how terrible EBC pads are I can sell you some of my fast road pads for the Volvo, too

[V]

Hi Chris,

 

That's what I just wrote here!!

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?321340-EBC-Green-and-Red-Stuff-–-for-a-Volvo

[mattdavies]

When you have discovered just how terrible EBC pads are I can sell you some of my fast road pads for the Volvo, too

 

My Red stuff pads, de-lined. So need new Discs and Ordered some CW pads. Was impressed even before they bed in.

 

The other day while clowning around I managed to engage ABS properly with them, Next up. Better Tyres !!!

[supra_ufo]

ive just upgraded to UKs, cant wait to try them now...

[Morpheus]

I have an unused pair of D2 Racing 8 pot fronts with 356mm rotors I bought about 4 years ago, still 'new in box' but didn't want to fit them until I also bought matching rear 4 or 6 pots to keep them balanced.

 

In the meantime, due to failing the MOT with Jspec fronts both binding severely and upon inspection, the rotors having heavy scoring and pitted areas with craters and cracks on the inside faces from asymmetrical overheating, I just bought some UK fronts to get me through the MOT from a very nice man in Scotland called Daniel aka madpanda11 on here and they are easily capable of activating the ABS on a dry road and don't need upgrading in my opinion except perhaps for track use from what others have said.

 

I still have stock Jspec rears that have seen better days so might be looking for UK spec's if they're bigger/better/worth replacing/available cheaply but frankly, apart from potential track fade, I can't see how you'd need better performance for road use. I mean, it doesn't do the suspension or tyres any good for a start to brake so hard that you lock up the wheels in the dry, (or would without the ABS kicking in which is my point).

 

Basically, unlike the Jspec's, the UK 4 pots are appropriately rated for the car and it's weight and simply work properly including emergencies and instead of worrying if you'll stop you just apply as much pressure as you need, to stop.

 

I have a pair of Toyo Proxes T-1R on the front and Uniroyal Rainsport 2 on the back on 19" Team Dynamics Jade R wheels and it handles fantastically compared to the narrower stance/tread stock 17's and the UK brakes just made the car fun to drive again after 4 years of getting used to it.

 

Money spent better elsewhere in my opinion until the UK's actually prove inadequate.

 

Another advantage of keeping the UK brakes is that you can buy larger diameter, wider 18"-19" wheels to MASSIVELY IMPROVE HANDLING even on stock suspension and still fit the old stock wheels over the brakes with proper, no compromise winter tyres when needed.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Morpheus (see edit history)