It has been a while since modding vehicles. But planning to do some joy tracking next year and want opinions on brand of parts to get for s2000.

Which brand do you recommend for:
1) Steel braided brake lines?
2) Hi temp brake pads?
3) Slotted rotors?

Thanks!

 

1) Steel braided brake lines? - doesn't really matter - stoptech, technafit, goodridge
2) Hi temp brake pads? - square pads (same compound frond and back) - novice (hawk hp+, project mu HC800+, carbotech ax6); intermediate (carbotech xp8, carbotech xp10, project mu club racer); expert (project mu 999, hawk dtc 60; hawk dtc 70; carbotech xp10; carbotech xp12)
3) Slotted rotors? - don't waste your money on this, get a good set of quality blanks bosch, oem, DBA; save money for front brake duct kit instead
4) fluid - castrol SRF, torque rt700

 

I'm using russell lines...and I like them because they come with an extra teflon outer jacket.

Pad choice depends on your driving experience. Start with something like Stoptech SP or Hawk HP+.

Blank rotors. Centrics have been working great for me. I buy gangs of them from rockauto (they also sell Centric Stoptech SP pads). I think I had one pair last like....8 days or something insane. That's a long time.

Castrol SRF is nice...but I can't think of many people that need it. ATE or Motul works just fine. Honestly....Valvoline synthetic DOT4 works fine too if you flush it after each event.

 

I've alsl found Castrol GT-LMA fluid for like $11 at certain carquest stores.

 

^ Generally good advice here. I Have a few notes though.

3) Slotted rotors are fine for the street and light track use. If you're a serious track racer, they are going to crack, but for moderate use they are no worse than blanks. I bought slotted rotors myself and find they provide better bite than blanks I came from. Downside is that your pads are going to wear faster.

4) Specialized, high temp racing brake fluid is great for mid to high level track work. The downside is that this fluid generally degrades much faster than regular fluid and you'll have to change your fluid more often. Not really a huge caveat, but just be aware.

 

I'd get the SOS lines if you really want brake lines. I've seen the SOS and the goodridge in person, the goodridge felt cheap to me.

 

There is absolutely no way a slotted rotor can "bite" or grip or perform better than a blank. It's not possible, you guys really need to stop drinking the koolaid. The slot just reduced the available surface area and weakened the rotor while costing significantly more than the comparable blank.

Stoptech street performance pads are a downgrade from stock, they are terrible, much like slotted rotors you will get worse performance.

Brake lines - there are only a few actual brake line manufacturers - the SOS line looks like a galfer produce but I could be wrong. Anyway, quality lines are quality lines.

 

Slots are going to give you higher friction coefficent between the pad and the rotor. Upgrading rotors (same pads) I can immediately confirm this to be the case. Ultimate braking performance is probably about equal though. And I have no idea where you're getting this idea that ST pads are "terrible" and a downgrade from stock. It's just not true. These are the same pads Stoptech uses on their $2000+ BBKs.

With the slotted rotors and ST pads, I can fairly easily trigger ABS on heavy stops. This is something I was almost never doing on OEM hardware.

 

From what I've read the Goodridge have "generic" fittings, while the SOS were specifically made for the s2k.

 

you are going to have to explain to me how reducing rotor surface area increases coefficient of friction

....and then you should explain it to these guys because they are doing it wrong:




...oh and these guys, too:



Stoptech street performance pads are absolutely the cheapest piece of crap you can buy. I have the pads for in between track days driving around on the street. I bought them because they are cheap but I fully intend to never drive them to their limit since I can already feel their initial bite is crap and their maximum effort is weak. unfortunately stop tech doesn't have a mU vs temp graph to confirm this or have any documentation as to the performance of the pad, but just because it comes on a $2000 set of bbks, does not make it any good.

Go find the fast track guys and look what they are running on their cars - most of them are running Blank Rotors + Race Pads + braided lines + fluid. Some, myself included are running brake ducts. Running BBKs is a nice to have, if balanced correctly, they reduce unsprung weight and supposedly in the long long long run, they may eventually be cheaper in terms of pad life. In terms of sheer performance, they aren't going to stop you any better than the stock braking system.

an example of a mU vs temp graph:


this is not as useful as you cannot see the relation between mU and temp: