Best value brake options

[M3mike]

I want a BBK but cant justify spending money on one at this time. My brake light indicator lamp just came on. What is the best brake rotors/pads value for an 80% street car 20% track?

[mrgizmo04]

In terms of actual function over form and performance on track, stock rotors/calipers with good pads (pfc08, etc) and upgraded fluid will do just fine until you start moving up into advanced groups. You can get rotor replacements for free via FCP warranty and they offer some race pads that you can get under warranty as well (Hawk, Ferodo).

There are Porsche 911/Boxter Brembos you can get with the right brackets and comp rotors (which are cross drilled), there are several threads on the forum. I dont know too many folks tracking with these, those who do "graduate" from them and upgrade to something better, primarily because of cross drilled rotors and the small-ish rotors size (heat capacity). Appeal of this BBK kit is getting "free" warranty replacements from FCP for comp rotors and some of the race pads that FCP offers (Hawk, Ferodo), and if you want a bigger caliper that says Brembo on it showing through your wheels.

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[Exclusivs]

^This


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[Speed Monkey]

The peanut gallery chiming in here... Get standard Centric premium rotors, and Porterfield R4-E pads; when you hit the brakes with these pads, it’s like having a BBK when it comes to felt stopping power. Will stock brakes have the same thermal reserve as a BBK, probably not, but I’m just drawing a parallel to your post as it mentions least cost. R4-E will squeal upon braking, but so do the Ferodo pads in my 6 pot calipers. It doesn’t bother me, the noise that is. For something more street friendly, the R4-S is a great pad, and it is noise free, but it doesn’t generate nearly the brake torque that the R4-E pads generate.

[Johnvu]

I had oem brakes with the Bronze guide pins and used PFC-08's and castrol SRF for the track. That set up was more than adequate and had I zero brake fade ar MSR in Houston.

I ended up doing a BBK upgrade to the F80/F82 style Brembos with 380mm/370mm rotorz. Some argue against it because of the added weight but they look fantastic behind my wheels and the stopping power is great. This set up can be cheaper than the Brembos as well if you just source a full set. I made a diy on here if you are interested in details.

Otherwise, the other options listed above are all good as well.

[mrgizmo04]

[SIZE=14px][FONT=Arial]when you hit the brakes with these pads, it’s like having a BBK when it comes to felt stopping power. Will stock brakes have the same thermal reserve as a BBK, probably not

A BBK's main benefit is more efficient conversion of kinetic energy into thermal dissipation from larger heat capacity due to larger volume of material of the pads as well as the rotors. The clamping force is a function of the coefficient of friction of the pad (and is actually independent of the surface area/size of the pad), master cyl fluid volume vs piston sizes, etc. There is a multiplicative effect of the clamping force on a larger rotor size due to application of force further away from the center (think using a longer breaker bar), but we are not talking about that here. And stock brakes absolutely do not have the same thermal reserve as a BBK.

So any pad with a higher coefficient of friction (R4 e, PFC08, ST43, Ferodo, whatever) will provide the similar increased effect on stopping power, assuming your tires don't brake traction forcing ABS to kick in constantly, but not repetitively and will fade after a few hard applications when pushed (since you are converting kinetic energy to heat quicker but the thermal mass is too low to keep up with dissipation). So it will not function like a BBK because stock calipers can only accept the same size/format of the pad.

Sorry Monkey, not trying to sound mean, just providing more accurate info.


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[tnord]

Brakes are at the top of my list of things to address, and I'm not too sure which way to go. One thing I prioritize is how you're going to maintain a given system over the long haul, because I don't plan on selling the car. Will you easily be able to get replacement rotors/pads when the time comes?

One option is to just do the PFC direct drive 2 piece rotors in the CSL sizes, lines, pads. You can increase your rotor size/heat sink while still losing weight. Man those things are expensive though, and I think by the time you're done with brackets, pads, lines, and these rotors you're approaching $2k. I presume you'll always be able to get replacement rotor rings from PFC?

The 996 conversion is a little bit more money, but the bigger calipers seem worth it to me. You're still in the position of limited rotor options in CSL/ZCP sizes, but at least you're using an OE part for calipers that will have a wide pad selection and caliper rebuild kits for a long time. I think I've seen people say this checks out at almost $3k by the time you're done with rebuilding and refinishing the calipers.

Or for just a little bit more....

https://www.essexparts.com/essex-des...t-cp8350-e46m3

to me this looks interesting. 14lbs lighter off the front is a big deal. all components improved without going to huge sizes seems like something that would work great on the street and still hold up to track use. i have nothing substantive, but $2500 for brakes and retaining the stock size rotor bothers me a little. However, if this system was designed to work with the OE rear brakes, then I have to presume it retains the stock bias. And if that's the case, I would think you could get the brackets to run the bigger CSL 345mm rotors and just buy the AP calipers themselves? Either way, you still have the potential to just run cheap, readily available OE rotors if you wanted, or the PFC direct drives rather than AP.

There are almost too many options. I don't want to put brakes on that could withstand 24hrs at the 'ring, but I also want more brakes than I will ever use on the street, and will hold up just fine for track duty. All while keeping most of the simplicity of OE maintenance over the long term.

[Maxhouse97]

Anyone try the Freaky Parts Megane Brembo caliper kit for E46 with E9X 360mm x 30mm rotors? Seems like a relatively inexpensive kit with good thermal capacity.

[big greasy taco]

for light track days / HPDE's, factory blank rotors, a decent track pad, and higher temperature fluid will work just fine. I personally prefer keeping a spare set of rotors which are bedded / matched to track pads, and swap them over from factory rotors / pads as needed for track days.

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

you can't beat the FCP warranty route. it's the main reason why i haven't upgraded my rear setup. the free swaps are real.