One thing that wasn't covered was the use of 2-piece rotors. There are a lot of advantages to the design - but here's a word of caution I received from the Brake Man (I have a set of Brake Man calipers) - DO NOT use two-piece rotors that use a billet aluminum 'hat'. The hat is the center section. Billet aluminum does not maintain its strength at high temperatures and may fail. There have been reports of folks spending a lot of money on calipers and then scrimping on the rotors - resulting in rotor failures during track days. If you go with a 2-piece rotor, ensure the hat is either steel (stainless is nice) or forged aluminum.

The biggest benefit from using 2-piece rotors is you can save some weight in the hat, concentrating the mass in the friction surface - where it matters. 2-piece rotors also transmit less heat into the hub and bearing.

 

Are there any downsides to using a performance brake fluid all the time instead of the OEM fluid?

JonasM

 

I second that question about performance brake fluid all the time.

 

nope, you can use race fluid for the street. It may have to be changed more often, though.

 

I found it interesting that in the (road and track) SPEED mag artical "Tuner S2000 Battle Royale (nov/dec 2005) -- only the comptech car had any braking improvement over the stock s2000.

the 80 - 0 braking results:

Comtech ------- 205ft --brembro kit 13"frnt/12.7"rear
05 OEM --------- 207ft
Mackin -----------216ft --project mu 355mm frnt
AEM --------------240ft -- hawk padsfrnt / axxis pads rear
David Karner -- 260ft -- Performance Friction padsfrnt/rear
Greg Park -------279ft -- project Mu 345mm frnt / mu pads rear

seems like the comtech kit kept things balenced front and rear --

really interesting artical for those who missed it...

 

that is interesting. i like how the comptech kit upgrades the rotors all around too. looks cleaner

 

Why you would have to change a high performance fluid more often?

The two main factors that affect brake fluid life is heat and moisture.

A 'higher performance' fluid is designed to handle heat better than OEM - so heat will not be as much of a factor as it would for the stock brake fluid.

Moisture affects most brake fluids in the same way. The limits for water saturation depends on the fluid and the car manufacturer. The typical limit is around 2.0%-3.0% water saturation. Above these numbers you start to see brake system corrosion.

One of the better all around fluids available is ATE. It comes in ATE Super Blue, and in a conventional (oil) color. ATE does not absorb as much water as most other high performance brake fluids and tolerates track events well. I believe it's OEM for BMW.

 

I believe I read the article when it came out - if it's the one I'm thinking of - it was crap.
If I remember correctly, they didn't set things up to accurately measure the true performance of the brakes/pads. There was no scientific method used to measure the results - they just kind of randomly ran the cars through the brake trap without consideration for a number of variables that would affect the results.
To be accurate the test should have used the same baseline setup to ensure accurate measurement of the data:
You need to weigh all the cars and/or ensure the cars are within a few pounds of each other; the cars need to use the same wheel and tire combo; the test needs to be repeated several times - with the interval maintained among the cars; several drivers need to repeat the test in each of the cars to develop a deviation trend among drivers.

Additionally, the non-street pads need to be properly seated in and at the right temp before they provide any benefit.

If I'm not mistaken - the 2005 OEM numbers they posted in the test did not match the latest data they had posted for the S2000 either.

 

Something to read about brake fluid:
http://www.afcoracing.com/tech_pages/fluid.shtml

JonasM Posted on Jun 17 2006, 03:24 PM
Answer is also on the website above.
Race (performance) brake fuids usually have a higher dry boiling point (new fluid) , but a worse then DOT 3 wet boiling point (old fluid).
Keeping it in too long => bad brake fluid.

My personal experiences with the Spoon rotors & pads are
Street use only.

 

Just checked this -- the numbers do match...



I get what you're saying, but the test was "whole car" not just individual components...

Which, if you think about it, is how work in the real world.


All of these cars were setup by their owners and everything was explained pretty well