Interesting Video on AP Racing Facebook/Ebay "kits"

[Epoustouflant]

I have a custom AP kit developed by Haimus for the M3 V8 using their RadiCal calipers, slotted rotors and pads.

The differentiator are the bracket and rotor bells using a higher rated aluminum along with the custom painted finished.

Essex also creates and assembles these kits to their specifications - with the caveat that they are exclusive distributors. AP Racing purely manufactures calipers, pads, and rotors unlike Brembo who offers specific applications.

Interestingly, AP has been difficult in providing calipers in an adequate lead time and the requested quantities to Haimus, leading to this product never getting off the ground.

[George Hill]

Watched the video a while back, the calipers are not the issue since they come marked and you can check the serial NR on them, however the rest of the kit is bogus. And a bbk is not just calipers etc, cant take shortcuts especially on something this important, other things maybe but in the long run you pay either way.

Requires to be careful to be a consumer and jumping on good deals. Posted in a other thread but demand for bling bbk is way up, so someone will find a way to satisfy the demand.

A lot of things that matter get compromised.
Metallurgy of the rotors like cheap cast iron vs high carbon alloys.
Cheap stuff warps and cracks quicker and easier.
Proper rotor design, veins matter for efficient cooling.
What material is "assembled" in the kit for pistons, cheap alu vs steel.
Proper hat design and mounting.
Mounting brackets that are off tolerance, don't fit, or require washers/spacers/shims/hacks to fit.
List goes on.

I didn't watch his other videos. IF he bought what was advertised as an Essex Kit then yes I agree he got scammed. But if he bought an AP BBK for his C6 vette, then isn't that what he got? Sure, maybe its not as good as the Essex kit long term but was there anything that was specifically found to be dangerous? I mean didn't Essex say it was their rotor? The difference then being the hat and the bracket? The issue with those being the unknown material (which COULD be inferior, but maybe not), the hats are where the rotor screws attach and can wear and the bracket that is clunky looking and has bolts (which could have been converted to studs)?

What I am getting at is do we know there is something specifically wrong with this kit or just not that good?

If so how do we determine what is bad and good and what is the real world result of that?

And I ask because people (hot rodders) are developing kits and adapting all the time without this innovation the enthusiasm dies so how do we as consumers protect ourselves?

[eacmen]

Biggest safety issue I saw was repeated caliper removal damaging the aluminum threads. Factory kits use studs to mount the caliper to the bracket.

Don't forget the fact that the kit didn't actually fit on the C6.

Not sure I would trust some fly by night company to engineer rotor hats.


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[George Hill]

Biggest safety issue I saw was repeated caliper removal damaging the aluminum threads. Factory kits use studs to mount the caliper to the bracket.

Don't forget the fact that the kit didn't actually fit on the C6.

Not sure I would trust some fly by night company to engineer rotor hats.

Please don't take my comments as defending the kit in question.

I saw him mention that it didn't "fit" but I didn't know what that meant, for some reason I thought it didn't fit with his wheels. Why did it not fit?

The caliper bracket could be fixed by replacing the bolt with a stud, no?