Brakes, Brakes, and more Brakes

[sav]

Nice, where did you get the Vari stuff from?

[CWP68]

Rob Green got for me

[sav]

Cool stuff.

I see you can get them from Big Brakes Direct as well. Got Vari floating disks and 8 pot calipers on my Forester and was wondering where else you could buy the disks.

[FT_86_SM_GP]

Popped into Powerbrake in PTA to pick up a brake upgrade kit for one of my mates who bought a RunX Rsi today,

Had a chat with Francois from Powerbrake, and he had a look at my brakes on my 86,
(The car has done 15,000km)

He assessed the brakes and said that it doesn't need replacing....I respect him for his honesty, and the passion for what his company does,
(Given that I told him I came there with the intention to buy a set of pads and discs if neccessary)

Best customer care(Humble and helpfull) and product knowledge that I have come across in the auto industry so far.

Brilliant bunch of guys! Will def go to them when I do need to replace my brake discs and pads.

Cannot wait for my mate to add the upgraded brake kit to his X

[sav]

Cool, yeah Francois and PB is FTW.

I've never been known to be easy on brakes but at around 20000km when I replaced with the PB disks and pads the OEM ones still looked almost new with very little wear.

[RiaX]

noob question. Why dont we worry about the rear brakes ?

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by RiaX

noob question. Why dont we worry about the rear brakes ?

When a car is slowing down the weight is shifted forward and there is more load on the front wheels.

[Fish Eagle]

I thought I'd keep this thread alive as a reference for noobs or anyone wanting brakes info for SA.

I checked my brakes today in preparation of tracking in 10 days time and they're still great.
I'm still very happy with my Powerbrake front rotors, MX72/PB05 front pads, and my latest rear pads (Bendix) which are working well.
I replaced both front and rear pads about 2 months ago, and they've done 2 track days and are still looking good.

Here's a pic of what my front Powerbrake rotors look like after about 400 track laps since I fitted them.
The little surface cracks are normal for track use.
Only worry if the cracks radiate to the outer edge of the disc or exceed 0.3mm in width (which is much worse than in the pic)

To recap my advice:
Don't go on track with stock brakes
To upgrade, talk to Francois at Powerbrake
It's one of the most important, but cheapest upgrades for your car - just do it
Upgraded brakes are amazing on the road too.
You must just be aware of who's going to run into you from behind when you use them

[sav]

Good advice...just one more thing:

-Endless brake fluid.

[FT_86_SM_GP]

...

[sav]

Originally Posted by FT_86_SM_GP

...

That is a true story.

I got the PB upgrade kit with PB slotted rotors and pads, bedded them in then done a Nellies run. MASSIVE brake fade which didn't happen on a similar run with the stock brakes.

Changed to Endless fluid and I've never experienced brake fade again. I reckon even the stock brakes could benefit from this.

[tm86]

If you are changing brake fluid, it might be a good idea to also upgrade to braided brake lines at the same time. It will get rid of the spongy-pedal feel.

[sav]

Originally Posted by tm86

If you are changing brake fluid, it might be a good idea to also upgrade to braided brake lines at the same time. It will get rid of the spongy-pedal feel.

It should help a little bit but the rubber hose parts on our cars are very short, the rest are all steel/copper/whatever lines.

Should be cheap though so may as well give it a shot.

[Fish Eagle]

Originally Posted by tm86

If you are changing brake fluid, it might be a good idea to also upgrade to braided brake lines at the same time. It will get rid of the spongy-pedal feel.

I'm using Endless 650 fluid without braided lines.
My fluid's done about 25000 road kms + 400 track laps over 10 months and it still feels fine - no spongy pedal.

But I do agree with sav
Braided front lines is a clever long-term move - I'll do that someday...