I finally got around to redesigning my blog, and now I'm catching up on adding entries for the work I've done to the car over the winter.

One of the first big changes I made was to upgrade the brakes. With help from Race Technologies, I swapped out the stock parts for a 4-wheel Brembo GT big brake kit upgrade.

Check out detail on the kit and install instructions here.

Enjoy.

 

I would LOVE to step up a bit but I don't care to loose the ability to run 17" wheels.

Good write up! How you like them so far?

 

I figured for tarmac, the 18's with a 245/40 tire is a pretty solid improvement over stock without sacrificing much. In fact, the Volk 18x8.5's I'm running actually weigh a fair bit less than the 17x9 Team Dynamics wheels I was racing on before (under 20lbs each vs. 25lbs for the 17's).

The upgrade is pretty fantastic. You can lock up the brakes easier with the additional torque, but they're easier to modulate and so you find yourself getting into trouble _less_. The pedal feel is much better. The balance is very similar to stock, mostly due to the differential doing their job. Overall brake performance appears to be much better.

I ran them with street pads in the rain at Laguna Seca, and only locked up the wheels once. And that was with crappy 235 street tires (the R888's were on backorder in my size). Didn't really get to feel brake fade, as it didn't get dry until the afternoon. Not to mention on street tires I really couldn't get much of a run out of T11, limiting my braking speed in T2. As for balance, the car was much easier to rotate under braking, implying that the extra brake torque in the rear really helps us LFB'ers.

I'll be out at Infineon next weekend with the BMW Club, so I'll report back after then. I just switched out the pads this morning to Raybestos race pads as well (a favorite of mine on my old M3 race car), so I'll have a lot to share.

 

6-piston monoblocks on the Skunk2 EVO:

(Which worked VERY well might I add...)

 

very nice! great write up

 

This is basically the same kit as the one on my car, but with a new caliper design. I could have run either design. The 6 piston makes the same effective torque as the 4-piston. The only real difference is pad availability -- the 4-pot has been around for a very long time, and so every major pad manufacturer has pads that fit them, and they are usually sitting on the shelf. The 6-pot is still catching up on pad availability, and aren't really all that popular yet.

Want to get really hard core, you have to go 8-piston. These are the brakes on my tow rig (BMW X5):

 

I wonder what is the most brake you can stuff under a 17" wheel is.

 

not the project MU for sure

 

Can't go much bigger than stock. I've only seen a couple of kits with a bigger rotor than what's on our cars that fit under a 17" wheel.

 

Kinda OT but you said you switched out from TDR 17x9 wheels. Did they happen to be the Pro Race 1.2...they are really 25lbs? I seen them advertised for 20.9lbs which still seems heavy to me.

 

Mine weighed out at a hair under 25lbs on a house scale. I'd give that +/- a couple of pounds at most.

 

From what I have seen, Stasis makes a Alcon kit that fits under a 17" wheel.