R35 Brembo Brakes - Full set
 

If you had a full set of R35 brakes 6Pot front and 4Pot rear would you do the mods required to install on your FR-S/BRZ?

-Nate

No

Depends on what needed to be done... but probably.

Mods like a turbo kit with 25 lbs of boost and 500WHP, big enough rims to fit, fat enough wheels to handle the power, quality coil overs to handle the bumps and provide proper stance, hubs to match up the to the rotors calipers?

$12,000+ in mods just to fit some R35 brakes

overkill unless you put alot more power and $$$$$ into the car

Short answer: No.

Long answer:
If I wanted to spend a lot of money and time, and only have something that looked cooler than stock, but didn't work as well and screwed up my car's dynamics, I'd consider it.

To get R35 brakes on a FT86, you'd need to do the following design and fabrication work:

1. Custom caliper mounting brackets- You'd have to fabricate aluminum brackets to hold the calipers in the correct orientation on the car, relative to the disc.
2. Custom disc hats- You'd need fabricate hats that properly fit the FT86 bolt pattern and GT-R disc mounting pattern.
3. Custom brake lines- Fitting on the hard line end that mated up with the FT86, but the GT-R calipers on the caliper end.
4. Different master cylinder bores sized appropriately to match the torque output of the GT-R calipers.

If you are an engineer who knows SolidWorks, & a talented machinist with access to all of your tools and materials for free, then have at it. Otherwise, you're probably looking at several grand to have someone make those parts for you (properly), on top the cost of the brakes. Also, the person doing the work for you may not be a brake engineer with any experience, which may not be the best idea on such an important safety device. You can carve some hunks of aluminum and slap them on the car, but I wouldn't want those being the only thing between me and a tire wall at 140mph. Properly designed parts are evaluated for stress/loads using FEA, and parts are QC checked after fabrication to ensure they are not flawed.

Only reason to do it: It would look cool on a show car sitting still under shiny spotlights.

Main reasons not to do it:

1. You'd be adding a ridiculous amount of unsprung weight, and fouling up your acceleration, cornering, and pretty much all of the vehicle dynamics built into this lightweight platform. More than likely the car would typically feel like you're driving through mud.
2. Replacement parts- Get some prices on spare discs and pads for that setup, and watch your 401k disappear. Pads are $350-$600 per front set. Discs are $500 each. You can buy a complete aftermarket brake kit for the FT86 for far cheaper than one set of spare GT-R pads and discs.
3. You'd have to go through the hassle of the design and fabrication points above.
4. The final outcome, potential success, and safety of the system would depend heavily on who actually did the work, and whether or not they knew what they were doing.

Final comments:
Even if you got the GT-R brakes for free, you'd still spend more money trying to get them on the car and operating properly than you would just buying an aftermarket brake system designed specifically for the FT86.
This is one of the most classic mistakes in all of the aftermarket, and I've seen it many times. It always starts with a phone call, "I got a great deal on a set of XYZ brakes..." It usually ends with another call a few months later saying, "I give up, please sell me some brakes designed for this car, and put me out of my misery."

My advice would be to buy a GT-R if you really want GT-R brakes, or buy a brake system designed specifically for the FT86 platform if you want better looks and performance. Brembo is selling a nice six piston front / four piston rear setup, I believe StopTech may be as well, and my company will be offering an AP Racing brake system with a 6 piston front/4 piston rear. I know Baer was working on a brake system for these cars, and I'm sure there will be others. There are lots of options out there that will cause you considerably less anguish than trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

That's my insight after dealing with many thousands of aftermarket brake customers over the past 10 years. Do with it what you will.
:happy0180:

TY guys… I will hold on to them and leave the car as is...

This really needs to be stickied at the top of this section. Not enough people understand how brake systems and brake upgrades work. I've been fighting this for years in the BMW world, and this is one of the best/most explanatory posts on the issue I have seen in a long time.

Bravo. :D

I will say that in the past on my 300ZX TT I installed a larger set of GTR R34 Brembo's with outstanding results. I had to drill out the hubs because the caliper bolts for the GTR brakes were larger than the 300ZX original caliper bolts. I also purchased a secondary set of hubs in the event that any mistakes were made, I also went to a local shop that made brake lines and had some custom fabbed steel braided brake lines. I agree with your post for the most part but there are always exceptions to any rule… Sometimes you can invest in aftermarket brakes made specifically for your car and get a bad product. I have seen this many times over with multiple platforms… I will not bash the actual products or their vendors in this post since I have no scientific proof, but it does happen.

My BRZ is destined for DD duties and will not become a track toy until after warranty expiration and most likely 100K of miles… Most of the time a better set of brake pads/ slotted rotors and some racing brake fluid will give a lot more of performance boost that anyone would suspect… I may still attempt this or a similar project but that will be years down the road when the value of this car is much less and it is easier to justify…

:happy0180:

-Nate

I would sell them an just by a brake kit that fits properly