Why Not K-Sport Big Brakes?
 

I am searching for a big brake set up for my FRS-One.
All I see here on 86 Club are negative comments on K-Sport brakes.
I was all set to order some K-Sport 8-pot front (13") and 4-pot rear (13") set ups in orange, drilled with street pads, but wanted to research further before pushing the button.
First, I want BBK's for "bling" purposes only and my car will never see more than the occasional JR supercharged stop light to stop light sprint on Sunday morning coffee runs to Javatinis : ) My FRS is not a daily driver or commuter car. It's a fun car that replaces riding a motorcycle (for now). It has 5K miles since new in 2015.


That being said, will K-Sport BBK's not bring me to a stop at a traffic light, or will they fail in some horrible way and I end up totaling my car? Any current 2019 cited info and sources on actual problems with these kits used for normal street use? References to racing performance issues really mean nothing to me for my stated use reasons.


I really only like the K-Sports for looks, color, price and the 8 pot huge size. I don't like the Brembo's GT brakes and their cute little 2-pot rear brakes. They look silly (too me). Wilwoods look like they belong on a Camaro or Classic Car and I have only seen them on such vehicles. Don't like them. Other brands are too much money to spend on a $25K car.


If I am in some danger by running K-Sport BBK's of course I will not buy them. Interested in hearing from those running K-Sports, or those with current provable info on how bad they really are. Other K-Sport thread here is years old.

Because they are poorly engineered cheaply made crap. They are the BC Racing of BBK's.

Do you have any links to engineering, manufacturing or material quality deficiencies as claimed? At nearly $4000 to my door they are certainly not cheap by my standards.

lmfao. you don't buy brakes for bling... brakes and tires combined are what keeps you from crashing... be smart with that purchase. if you want to get a "cheap" bbk for bling purposes, just get the STi brembo swap. While I don't recommend doing that because it messes with brake bias, it'll get the job done if you're just driving on the street.

I would recommend StopTech C43 and C42 front and rear bbk, but I track my car hard, probably overkill in terms of performance and price for what you're looking for.

Nope.

You are using the internet to respond. Do your own search, that's what I did when I bought a bbk :) There is plenty of info on K-Sport products on car forums across different platforms. Coil overs, and brakes.

If OP wants to be cheap, at least use RR Racing. They use Wilwood Calipers. You can get front and rear setup for around 2K

Beg to differ on that one. Thanks though. Many people buy BBK's for bling, and not into racing. The little Brembo's or STI set just don't get the look I want...or the Orange color. Been reading a bit on brake bias from switching, but with anti-lock brakes I don't see how that is an issue for the street.


Reviews I find are like this one.
http://www.zerotohundred.com/2012/re...mini-cooper-s/


I don't find people that own the K-Sport BBK's that are sorry they bought them for street use. The only one complaint I found was of the stock brake pads that come with the kit.

That's kind of a lame ass answer considering he came to us for what help we can off. I usually assume they've tried to do a search but a post from a bimmer forum from 2002 doesn't seem like it'd be relevant. It's about as relevant as calling a product trash without any reference to anything other than "the internet".

I'm listening in because I'm interested to know myself.

And lastly I want a BBK for bling tbh. Ya its more than that, but big colorful brakes look way better than tiny little silver brakes. Mine are red cause that awesome series.blue "upgrade" (just lol). But ya to back dude up, I also want brakes for looks since in most cases I've read stock is fine and I don't need to spend a chunk of cash on brakes.

@ op, wish I had info to help, but I'm in the same boat as you.

Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

When I owned one and was looking at larger brakes, I researched K-Sport brakes on the 3000GT VR4. On those forums, people complained A LOT about their offerings and ditched them, regardless of the huge orange calipers.

This was 15 years ago, mind you. First impressions are important, I'll never own their products.

:iono:

There is newer info then that, lots. They went to a forged monoblock caliper a little after 2010 which seems to be a lot better, but there does not seem to be much updates since then. They have some weird fitment issues with brake pads and leakage from the piston seals.

There is also very little to no info on piston sizes and how they effect brake bias. I have found a couple instances on other forums where people have done the brake bias calculations for their cars and it was drastically forward unless you run both front and rear kits, and even then it is more front biased . So obviously no engineering in making sure it is close to stock.

I would be more concerned with quality issues when it comes to brakes on a street car. At least on the track you have run off if there is a failure even though the speeds are higher.

They are also sold under the D2 brand. Not many varieties of brake pads available.

I looked at these hard when I was researching BBK but they were a quick pass.

There have been countless posts in other car forum about these calipers (& suspensions). They're common for pads fitting issue and leak in piston seals (also read somewhere about piston ceasing). At the same time, there are cars with their parts that race in Formula D, NASA and few other motorsports. Keep in mind, mostly those race team request to make custom order parts or parts that fit their needs not off the shelf parts.

They don't do extensive research on brake bias every single cars and models than say... StopTech or other well respected brands. So for ppl who care about brake bias and importance of extent research to match the car, K-Sport is out of question. While there are ppl who like the looks and don't care bout the function. It might be good option for them.

With that said, you won't find extensive research info about this calipers in this site. Why? Mostly cuz those ppl who do those research will not go anywhere near K-Sport calipers and it might be same on other forum. Now, why not you be the first to try it? There are countless online info with good and bad result. Either way, from the sound of it, you're 99% buying the kit. Let us know how it goes for you. If goes well, great! There might be members wanting to follow your path, so you can help em out with Q&A. If goes bad for you, sorry. Let us know, so no one will follow your mistake.

That's my 2 yens.

Thanks for the additional thoughts and back up comment. Yes I came to the internet to search because its 2019 : ) The only other kit I'm considering would be by Prodigy Werks. Super Hot calipers and plenty of colors including orange. Just a couple hundred $ more than K-Sports. Carid sells alot of K-Sports so I'll give them a call about any probs they've experienced. Will also pick the brains of techs at Mod Bargans as I have an appointment their on Saturday and they sell and install K-Sports.

carid? modbargins?

....andysautoparts?

Do kids not call manufacturers directly anymore, or like.. Try their websites?


+1 vote for RR/wilwoods set up. though if you want the right brakes. Buy a used set of AP racing calipers. send them off for painting and get them rebuild and run them. Still less than 4k

I'll chime in here because I ran them for 6 years, well 356mm D2, same shit, front and rear. I heavily tracked the car, most people just go with they're copies so must be yum cha shit. And they are to a point, like all cheaper knockoffs.

In that time (~50 events and maybe 50,000km's), I went through two sets of front rotors and various pads. They worked fine, towards the end they started dragging pads a lot, probably because I never did any real maintenance and all the dirt/crud got in and started scoring the pistons.

They're also freaking heavy, way over-sized for the car and needed 18's to clear. Though I had no issues finding pads I liked, mainly DS2500 and then DS1.11 as I got faster on A050 tyres.

Have since replaced them front and rear with an AP setup (330mm CP9440 and 315mm? CP5316).

As I had a GT spec 86 here in Australia, the original brakes are smaller than what you guys got I believe but measured weights for stock and D2 used items (in KG) below, vs brand new AP.
Front: Stock GT 12.5, D2 15.5, AP 10.7
Rear: Stock GT 9.6, D2 14.4, AP 10.15

I found this article when I was looking at the RR/Wilwood kit (Highly recommend btw). It doesn't mention K-sport anywhere but I just figured I would throw it in here. It could be helpful in future searches.

https://sickmint79.kinja.com/ats-and...390.1472560687

My 2 cents - If there is any doubt in a certain brake component, it isn't worth it. Brakes aren't anything you want to chance. Even for you street guys.

OP: My friend competes in a Canadian Time attack series is sponsored by R-1 Concepts. They have a ton of color options for their BBK and from what I have heard they are pretty solid. No first hand experience tho. https://www.r1concepts.com/bbk