Jeremy Clarkson

I recently had some issues with one of my calipers and it got me thinking about upgrading my rotors and/or calipers. When i started looking into the pricing of a new pair of calipers my jaw dropped, a decent pair for 1.5k+, thats ridiculous. Same with rotors, I've seen rotors go from reasonable to 200-300 a side another 1k for the car. So my question is, has anybody looked into the actual benefit of upgrading calipers for our car? Has anybody on the forums done any tests between factory and aftermarket calipers or rotors? Were there benefits to justify the price?

iamxpl

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/876...-4-piston-bbk/

there are sooo many discussions on these.

Manga_Spawn

Do you ever read the forum or do any searching? There is 2 sections that will have more information on this than you could ever want. The racing section and the suspension and BRAKING section.

Why do you think you need upgraded brakes? Most have found the OEM braking system to be more than enough for the car. Its really only the hardcore track guys that need to upgrade.

nitewing117

I used the OEM brake system with aggressive pads and brake ducts for my AP1. I don't track quite as often anymore (haven't yet with my new S), so I cant see me needing to go that same route - the OEM system is fine unless you're hardcore.

Jeremy Clarkson

Maybe I wasn't clear in the original OP. What I am looking for is for something to the extent of an actual factual test that shows, here is the stopping distance for a stock set up vs here is the stopping distance for a stock setup with, let say, Spoon calipers. Or a comparison of all aftermarket, Brembo vs Spoon vs Stoptech calipers. Or actual measurements of degrees of rotor temp after hard braking with OE vs lets say SOS drilled slotted rotors. Is there anything with actual number comparisons out there.

Jeremy Clarkson

At this point realistically I am probably not going to shell out the kind of money required to do any kind of upgrades. I was just curious as to what benefit somebody is getting from putting 2k+ into their brakes.

Chris_Lum

AFAIK, most bbk aren't meant for you to stop in a shorter distance, they are meant to hold off brake fade on the track via larger surface area to dissipate heat, usually on a larger rotor. The caliper upgrades do various things, among them distort the pad less and more evenly put pressure on the pad. this MotoIQ article about S2000 stoptech brakes is a good read: http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticl...ont-Break.aspx

So as for actual numbers, there are posts and threads out there, but you have to search. Mostly you just see people commenting about how their brakes didn't fade after X laps with X bbk...but for example, I remember seeing posts in the racing and competition forum comparing rotors, specifically the J hook style rotors. Just got to search...

nitewing117

Reducing brake fade, increased pedal feel, heat management, and consistency. There's several threads covering these topics all over the forum. For example, the R&C subforum has a thread covering the centric reverse mount directional vanes, with percentages confirmed by SOS. There should be more than enough threads in that subforum for you to find some answers.

Jeremy Clarkson

That is a really good article. I think I misunderstood how brakes worked. I thought that with bigger brakes the car would stop in a shorter distance because a bigger pad/rotor would convert kinetic energy into faster due to larger surface area, but I was wrong...

MBHs2k

Well of course a bigger, stronger caliper will reduce braking distance but that isn't why most people upgrade to BBKs. Like Chris lum said! they are more concerned with consistent brakes that won't overheat or dull over a long track session. If you don't track often, OEM system is fine. Just upgrade to some better pads