foyler

I've had the car off the road for 6 months or so due to not wanting to pay the extortionate insurance renewal, a sticky caliper and just not having the time for it.

Close to getting it back on road and have never really been happy or confident in the brake performance so considering upgrading the whole set up.
I had a look in the traders area but nothing seemed current or withing budget.
What options have folks gone for, will mostly be for fast road use with the very odd trackday?

noodels

Whats your current set up,wheels,pads,tyres,and budget would be good info for this topic

foyler

Thanks Noodels , its an 04 facelift, oem 17'' wheels & discs, ferodo ds2500 pads, uniroyal rainsport 3's.

Budget...well how long is a piece of string!
Having done some more reading of old threads, it seems a caliper upgrade would be OTT for my needs , very expensive and may require new wheels or spacers so not likely as I also want to keep the car reasonably standard looking.
So would be open to a PF disc upgrade or that dixcel brand that seems to get good feedback, although there seems to be some delays in their most recent offer?
I probably need to get a specialist to look the balance as its always seemed to pull to the left, sometimes very badly and just a little at others.

As I'm in the mood for shopping, how do you find the berk high flow cats, much different noise?
I've the UK exhaust mod done to my OEM exhaust.

Nick Graves

Aside from track-day (and very hard road) fade, the brakes are normally pretty good.

Sounds like yours need an overhaul as opposed to an upgrade.

noodels

Would go the PF in the for sales of Tozerman,seen them used at Snetterton on an S2000 with oem caliper,prob as good as spoon 4 pots with oem discs
would have bought myself but just put oem honda discs on the fronts,& Honda are good discs.
Rainsports though good in wet<had them when I bought my s,>are not upto AD08r Yoko standards,or fed 595rsr-r.
Mike RT4 has 250 quid pads<Pagid RS 29> =amazing non fade 100% been in it at Snetterton lap after lap,<10 laps> but 250 Is lots of dosh !!!!
Just proves its doable with oem front discs and calipers.
HFC ,needed it for oem failure,if yours is ok leave it and spend on brakes,i would rather a test pipe for more gains.

Nottm_S2

I agree with Nick, especially as they are pulling. Refurb all round.

For road you'd typically be fine stock but with a better pad, for track I think pad, fluid, braided lines, cooling ducts.. it really depends on your driving style how far you need to go

On stock I have done track days with just better pads, if you limit to a few laps at a time should be ok. You should do that anyway to show your drivetrain mercy, box and diff get hot

tozerman

cheers Noodles. I am biased but the discs are amazing. With standard Road pads I had no fadeout the Ring whatsoever. Despite baking hot weather and doing 2/3laps back to back. Can't say that about standard discs I am sorry to say.
PM me..

Nick Graves

New set of discs does do wonders for brake feel/performance in any case.

foyler

This is weird, a relative noob comes on asking how much money he should spend on a brake upgrade and instead of posting pics of spoon calipers and floating discs - you guys start talking all this sensible stuff like the OEMs being plenty capable and look into the issues before spending....

I only wish I had someone local who I could trust to properly dig into the set-up!!
Still I'll drop it over to check out the sticky caliper and ask them to run through everything but I did that when I gave them the ds2500's to fit , unfortunately like most non specialist garages they're far too busy & interested in flogging imported diesels and regular servicing.

Given the aforementioned pull under braking and general lack of feel (which I never had with the previous MY99) , what should I be asking them to look at - balance/bias - in case it didn't come across I'm not the most mechanically minded!

richmc

The Honda S2000 was designed and built as a sports car, therefor the OEM set up is as good as you need for fast road and occasional track use, no need for multi pot callipers, drilled or grooved disks (that fall apart) etc.
Pull under braking, sticky callipers, dry slider pins, air/water in the system leaking pipe, leaking master cylinder, faulty ABS system, geometry set up, tyre pressures and condition, tyre brand etc.

Have you considered taking your car to another garage that specialises in performance cars?