couple of things: porsches use brembo rotors and they are "cast-drilled" - and if there as a significant amount of stress related cracking I'm sure the 996TT and GT2 wouldn't come with cross drilled rotors.

big brake kits tend to be more consistent than stock brakes - someone made the point about the tires being the limiting factor - this is true unless the brakes are sorely underpowered for your vehicle in the first palce. But - in a properly set up car - the braking distance will not improve unless you switch to a gripper tire compound/wider tire. However - a big brake kit that is properly designed should give you fade-free braking all day long on the street AND the track - a place where great stock brakes tend to be overwhelmed.

in terms of slotted/cross-drilled/cast-drilled etc. - cross-drilled and slotted do help immensely in taking away pad material form dusty brake pads. More importantly in my experiecne they help keep water from the pad/rotor contact patch in rainy conditions. My TT had a wet-braking initial bite problem until I switched to slotted Stoptechs. I personally feel that slotted have the advantage over drilled because they are a less intrusive sort of modification to the rotor and leave more heat-sink mass left on a rotor, yet still allow for the escape of pad material, gasses and water in certain braking conditions.

when I do buy an S2K - I will not modify the brakes as they are fine for handling the power of the car stock considering how light the car is. One of the reasons I am going the way of the S2K is that like porsches and other much more expensive exotics - its already well-balanced from the factory.

 

oh yeah - couple other quick things: make sure any kit takes into account the existing master cylinder or provides a new one with proportioning valve - or your braking balance may be all screwy after the "upgrade." Another factor is obviously reducing unsprung weight in each corner - but if you want better "feel" consider just stainless lines, better pads and some motul/ap fluid.

 

The Porsche GT2 comes with something they call Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB). They are not using the iron rotors which are more likely to crack when they are either cast with holes or cross drilled. Ceramic rotors are being been used in Formula One but I don't believe they are cross drilled for their use.

dwb1, I have read that the Pinnacle front rotors use curved vanes. What exactly does this mean? Does this do a better job of absorbing heat? Or is it designed to dissipate heat faster? Also, do the Pinnacle front rotors have more mass than the stock rotors (to act as a better heat sink)?

Thanks for the information everyone, this is a great thread.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by S2kRob
[B]BTW, the Wilwood setup looks good, and is good value for the money.

 

The curved vanes that we use on our front kit , were first used on the Ford GT-40 at LeMans . The curved vanes increase the area that supports both flat surfaces , it increases the surface that the air moving through the rotor has contact with and the curved vanes pumps air through the center like a blower wheel on a furnace . We are running this kit on the track with front rotors temperatures in the 600 to 700 range .( with no front air ducting) The cost to going to racing components , is not that much more then look alike parts, that should only be used on the street . We have always felt that supplying the highest quality parts , not the cheapest we could find.
I find it very interesting that Spoon , whose parts cost a fortune , supplies curved one peice vaned rotors, that only have the vanes correct on one side. On the street this is probably no problem . All I recommend is buyer check into what you buy first , if it is cheaper , there are many reasons that the price will equal the value .
If any one is interest in the bias ,of a Pinnacle brake set, up PM Prolene or davepk and ask them, how the bias is at the end of a 130 mph straight!

If the kit you purchase does not have bushings between the rotor and the hat and the bolts or nuts that retain them don't have safety wire , you might want to ask ,WHY!

brad

 

Brad has it right... You have to be able to rely on your brakes at the end of a high speed straight lap after lap after lap, and this Pinnacle System does that much better than the stock system was able to. I do belive that the stock system is sufficeint at the track when stock street tires are used but the stock setup can be overwhelmed when using R-Compound tires. On the stock setup even with Porterfield R4 racing pads and Motul 600 RBF and brake ducts there where many times when it seemed that I was at the edge of what the brakes where able to handle and sometimes I would exceed that edge forcing me to slow down and that certainly did not inspiring confidence in the car. Sofar I have yet to find that edge with the pinnacle system. Is the Pinnacle system for everyone? definetly not. Like the S2000 it is a single minded design meant for performance and not everyone is going to be able to or want to take advantage of that performance.

 

Brad, you knowledge never ceases to amaze. Just to clarify a fwe things though, the 2 piece rotors on the Wilwood kit are safety wire ready, its not as mickey mouse as you may believe. Wilwood's kits are designed for performance not designed for show. Also, the stock master cylinder is used in this kit with no additional pieces or pressurizers. The piston diameter is closely matched to the output of the master cylinder to keep factory pedal height.

In response to someone elses inquiries, the Wilwood kit drops 9 pounds of unsprung weight off each front wheel!!! The first brake kit that actually makes your car go faster


P.S. I do agree however, that the cross drills are merely for aesthetic purposes, but as you eluded to earlier, you give the customer what they want.

Oh yeah, last time i checked, the ceramic brembo kit for the porsches was somewhere in the ball park of $15,000.
8 piston front and 6 piston rear

 

So, can we get the Wilwood kit with just slotted, and not drilled, rotors if we want?

$1300 for what you get is a great value. Lots of 'Dubbers have had great success with the Wilwoods.

 

Finished the install of the "wilwood big brake kit" that I got from docofmind. It took about 5 hours total. With one quarter of that spent looking for my tools....

Safety wired rotor


Mounted on da car. I had to cut off the inner shield for the stock rotor, the new caliper wouldn't fit with it. I read in the NSX forum that removing it from the NSX is on of the first things you should do to help keep the temps lower. Hope the same is true here...


Finished job. The install is so tight that you have to move the wheel weights in a few inches to clear the caliper.

I'll be taking the car to Sebring in a few weeks. Looking forward to giving the brakes a workout!

 

Interesting that Wilwood chose to curve the vanes in the direction they are going. I assume they are curving the same direction as the slots and cross drilled holes.