Brake upgrades
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Joined: Oct 2000
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From: Sydney
Brake upgrades
Has anyone looked into putting together their own Big Brake Kit?
I can get some Wilwood four piston calipers and have some brackets made up but am concerned about rotor thickness and diameter. Anyone know our stock rotor thickness?
Has anyone been through this process?
I can get some Wilwood four piston calipers and have some brackets made up but am concerned about rotor thickness and diameter. Anyone know our stock rotor thickness?
Has anyone been through this process?
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,491
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From: Pensacola
I did a lot of research on brakes - before spending the money on Brake Man calipers.
The Wilwood calipers are more for looks - and they look great. However, the 4 piston calipers do not offer much of an advantage in clamping force over stock. The total combined piston diameter on the 4 piston calipers is only slightly larger than the stock S2000 calipers. The Wilwood calipers are also cast. The process is called pressure casting - which they claim is almost as good as forging. Almost is a generous stretch.
Additionally, never buy two-piece rotors with billet aluminum hats. Billet becomes very soft under repeated breaking (medium to high brake temps) and could fail (a couple folks on the forum experienced this during track days). The only viable materials for the center hat on two-piece rotors are steel (saves weight and stainless works nice), iron (no weight advantage), or forged aluminum (best weight savings without strength comprimise).
The Wilwood calipers are more for looks - and they look great. However, the 4 piston calipers do not offer much of an advantage in clamping force over stock. The total combined piston diameter on the 4 piston calipers is only slightly larger than the stock S2000 calipers. The Wilwood calipers are also cast. The process is called pressure casting - which they claim is almost as good as forging. Almost is a generous stretch.
Additionally, never buy two-piece rotors with billet aluminum hats. Billet becomes very soft under repeated breaking (medium to high brake temps) and could fail (a couple folks on the forum experienced this during track days). The only viable materials for the center hat on two-piece rotors are steel (saves weight and stainless works nice), iron (no weight advantage), or forged aluminum (best weight savings without strength comprimise).
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Joined: Apr 2003
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From: Santa Monica
DavePK is the man to discuss this with. If you do a little searching, you'll find his thread in the R&C forum entitled "DavePKs open source braking system".
He designed and built an incredible setup for his race car using both Wilwood (front) and Pinnacle (rear) calipers. It had f-r bias adjusters, and the most incredible feel of any brakes I've ever used.
The current owner of the car recently dumped the system and went back to OEM since the custom system didn't have ABS. (too many flat spotted tires!) The lack of ABS was definitely a problem on the harder braking tracks, but I really did love the feel of DavePKs creation.
He designed and built an incredible setup for his race car using both Wilwood (front) and Pinnacle (rear) calipers. It had f-r bias adjusters, and the most incredible feel of any brakes I've ever used.
The current owner of the car recently dumped the system and went back to OEM since the custom system didn't have ABS. (too many flat spotted tires!) The lack of ABS was definitely a problem on the harder braking tracks, but I really did love the feel of DavePKs creation.
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Thread Starter
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From: Sydney
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From: Santa Monica
Originally Posted by AusS2000,Jun 28 2006, 06:15 PM
