All,
I did some searching on here and have not seen any recommendations for agood brake kit. I was planning on going with the steeda 14" kit with 4 piston calipers. Ibelieve the price point is reasonable and it uses the factory ABS.

I also have the steeda competition front fascia so Ialso plan on running the brake duct when I get the new brakes.

I have also looked at the baer brakes as well as the roush performance kit.

I have sold the Mrs. to spend about 2750 or so, what are the thoughts out there? Does anyone have any experience with these kits?

In the future, I plan on getting about 500-550 hp worth of modsand I want to be able to stop.With that in mind,I will put the brakes in before the HP.

 

Well, then save some money a buy the GT500 upgrade instead.

 

I am with Lito here. Doesn't the GT500 now come with 4 piston Brembos? I have them installed for over a year now, and far better than the stockers. Keep in mind, that if you go 13" or largerbrakes, your spare tire will likely NOT clear caliper in either outside diameter or depth.

Jaz

 

Well "Best brake kit" is a very relative term. You really didn't say what your intensions are for upgrading your brakes,having 500 hp doesn'teffect the braking ability of your car the gas pedal controls that.

Best for what application? Are you actually going to use these brakes for a race purpose or just to look good and brag about themin a parking spot? If you are going to use them in a race setting, i.e. open track event, Auto-X then just upgrade your pads and buy a higher temp brake fluid. That costs way less then $2700.

If it is only for show then you have done your research on that and you have stated what you would get. Buy the steeda; you already stated you thought it was a good price for what you want to spend.

 

Hi OkieNGa,

You need to do a little bit of homework and learn what makes your car stop. Some of the best most clearly written factual articles I've seen on the internet can be found on the StopTech site in their white papers, click on this link to go to the StopTechwhite paper TOC.Once you take the time read, understand and consider what these short articles are explainingyou will see some of thepeople posting here don't knowmuch about brakes. Brakes don't stop your car TIRES do.A BBKcannot reduce the single stop braking distances when tested against the stock brakes assumming they are in good condition to begin with!

Now you have to decide what you think is wrong with your stock brakes and considering what you have learned decide if spending the kind of money a fancy BBK will cost youis worth it or not. For almost any use short of a dedicated road racer you don't need the 4-6 piston calipers with the fancy names painted on them nor doyou need gigantic rear brakes. You can get more improved braking performance out of improving your suspension,wheels and tires than ANY BBK on the market bar none.

Stay with me a minute and consider what I think is the best way to go for a street car no matter how much power your engine makes. Upgrade your stock pads to a higher friction pad material like EBC's Yellow 'R' compound pads front and rear. Replace your soft O.E. rubber brake lines with Teflon tubed stainless steel covered brake lines and flush your brake lines and fill withRBF600 or ATE Super Blue or Gold raceing brake fluid. Install spindle mounted brake ductswith a 3" hose andducts mounted in the nose of the front bumper cover. These brakes will last longer, fade less and more importantly recover much faster than any of the big brake kits installed without cooling. Your car will accellerate faster, handle better and ride better than any car with a BBK installed due to the lower weight of simply upgrading your stock brake system. To top it off your car will also maintain completecompatability with the factory ABSbecause it is based on the stock calipers and rotors.

I hope this helps you figure out some of the marketinghype and ignorance being put out about the very expensive for the performance gainsbig brake kits.

Cheers!

 

Hi OkieNGa,

All of the BBK's being sold are compatable with your stock ABS and most are relying on the factory ABS to helpget their brake balancing right.FewBBK makers actually engineerand size their BBK caliper's piston area and fluid volume requirementsto balance properly with the stock master cylinder andrear brake piston area values. Some make a serious effort to get it just right most get close and call it a day whichwith thefairly fastABS systems in the S197GTseems to workpretty well based on the GT500, Baer, StopTech, Roush and Saleen and SteedaBBK equipped cars I've test driven. Some work better thanothersbut all of these seem to work fairly well.

Once you get over being enamored ofpretty BBK's you need to also know there are other issues with goingwith a BBK aside from the fact that you don't stop any sooner of shorter after spending the money to buy and install them. I forgot to mention thatwith almost all of the big brake kits you can install easily on an S197GTyou will need 18" or larger wheels/tires andeven then notall 18" wheels will clear the caliper faces andmay require 20" wheel/tires. This wheel clearance problem ispretty much the norm for all 4 or 6 piston caliperson the market as used in BBK's with 13.5" or larger rotors. You have to ask the wheel maker if their wheelsfitcorrectly on a BBK Brand X or GT500BBK or you may have problems when you try to fit the front wheels to thehubs and hit those shinny new calipers. Even if the BBK makerclaims they will fit you had best download and printoutthe BBK clearance templates and carefully check for yourself to be sure they will clear properly. AFAIK the only BBK that will work with any virtually 18" wheel is Baer's 14" GT Plus Kit which usesthe PBR 2-pistoncalipers from the C5/C6 Corvettes along withlarger diam.2-piece 14" rotors.

Hope this helps some more.

Cheers!

 

the steeda, roush, saleen and stoptech calipers are all the same and are made by stop tech. there is a huge price difference in the name printed on the side but they are all the same at least the 14" 4 pistion caliper kits that people are referring to.

 

I put upgraded pads (Hawk HPS) new rotors (powerslot slotted) because I hot spotted my others and flushed the fluid.

This made a huge difference in the ability to brake. I can stop faster and the pads/rotors don't get hot like they did in the past. It's not as in depth as F1 Fan suggested, but a slightly cheaper way to do it. The initial bite when driving isn't great when they are cold, but after the first brake application, they work much better. I didn't measurebefore and after but by the seat of the pants gauge, they work much better.

The front rotors can be changed in about 30 minutes. This includes jacking the car up and removing the tires.

Pads took me a longer, but it was a learning experience and I can not change brake pads in about 5 minutes if the calipers are off the car.

Eventually I will get the SS lines and change fluids, but now, this is fine.

 

go to tirerack.com and read some of the tire tests they do on their bmw 330i cars. i remember in one example they switched the oemgoodyear rsa to a kumhosummer tire and the car stopped 9' shorter in their 50-0 tests.

 

anyone have any idea if a +36mm offset 18x9in wheel will clear those stoptech,roush,saleen,steeda 14" 4 piston kit?