deciding on BBK
 

First off my car has not seen the track yet, but pending an employment oriented change this fall it should see the track regularly so I need kit I can grow into. I move around the country often so I cant comment on a specific track I would be seeing the most of.

I've spent a good portion of my life on two wheels and my current stable of bikes all have monoblock brembos, radial master cylinders(except one), goodrich lines and an assortment of pads. All out of need, not want.

So what do I want out of a BBK for the 86? Well initial bite is pretty bad, modulation is somewhat muted and im not happy with the pedal feel after being spoiled. I could probably fix a lot of that with rotors, pads, lines, fluid and a MC brace but I would still have heavy, ugly stock calipers and will most likely end up replacing them anyway next year. My car makes around 450whp and doesn't feel complete without a much better feeling pedal. Now I don't compete with this car and I don't have sponsorship deals on the line so I don't need a 6000$ BBK and the 2 times I overheated the stock brakes on the street it was a good indication to slow the F down.


So budget is a concern, pedal feel is extremely important, id like to lose some weight and I just want my brakes matched to my power. I currently run 17x9 wheels and have no plans of ever going bigger. IM currently looking at the wilwood 4r kit (around 1,000$) the wilwood 6r kit (1500$) stoptech(same) Essex sprint(Sameish). My initial plan was for a set of STI brembos but I couldn't find calipers for under 600$, then lines, then rotors, then pads now im at the price of a brand new 4 piston wildwood kit and I was worried I would not be happy with them sooner than later looking at how many sti owners upgrade to stoptechs. The 4r kit is cheap and tempting but I don't see many that use it. Its hard to decide if ill out grow it without hitting the track but the stock brakes just feel awful to me and im running out of things to tinker with late at night in the garage. (my passion for cars is 79% into wrenching 20% into driving and 1% into car clubs) Push me in the right direction please.

Be careful on the wilwood kit. The one for the wrx that fits our cars is actually thinner rotors and can suffer heat failure on track it seems.

Fwiw most of the main track guys run essex as it seems the best bang for the buck

Essex or Stoptech.

Essex based on forum input since a lot of owners track it hard and love it.

Stoptech because I own it and even though haven't pushed it at the track, it has handled some heavy duty on the street.

Where did you get that information from? I thought wilwood made seperate BBK set-ups for the BRZ/FRS now?

ive herd that's a concern as the rotors are thinner, but ive yet to find anyone that's actually had a problem. And @FT-86 speedfactory had them on their OLOA car.
why the hell cant I tag him^^

My essex kit (sprint) has been on since april ish.

5 track days, ton of autox, and dd miles.

0 issues

Would buy again

They do. I think I should have been more clear about being careful to get the right one since 2 kits fit.

Hmmm, didn't know that. Input @FT-86 SpeedFactory?

Can't comment anything positive about Wilwoods per our experiences and what we've dealt with in the past, so we'll leave that alone.

STI brakes are a downgrade to stock. The brake bias is slightly different and even the brake pad sizing is a little different. OEM is pretty large in that regard. You'll still need to look into the proper pad setup to get the bite and modulation you're looking for. Use the brakes too much and they'll overheat...like any overabused brakes...

We've had good experiences with the AP Sprint Kit. We've gone through most pads available on the market with different non-staggered and staggered compounds and have a pretty good idea of what you will need based on your setup. This is something we're proud about knowing nobody else has probably done this level of testing. The AP Sprint Kit is capable of going through a lot of abuse despite the small-ish diameter. LMK if you have any other questions. :)

well after doing some MORE research im leaning towards the Essex sprint kit. I don't think i'll ever out grow it unless my car turns into some widebodied active aero monster and in that case im sure I won the lottery or something and wont care anymore. But ive got a shop that kinda/sorta owes me one and is offering me a good price on stoptechs. Theres also a member on here selling a still in the box set. But what worries me is the consumables expense. AP rotors and pads seem ALOT cheaper than stoptechs. Maybe im comparing the wrong stuff but it looks like its half the price! That would sway me right there.

Love my Essex AP Racing Sprint BBK with Carbotech XP12 for track and Bobcat (1521) for street. Together with steel brake lines, Torque RT700 fluid and J-hook rotors they work really well. Expecting to have them rebuilt every 1-2 years due to salt on roads in northeast during winter and corrosion (steel pistons). They don't have rubber boots on pistons but those can disintegrate with track use anyway.

ok so the sprint kit has no boots, which kit has boots and is powdercoated. I mixed them up in my head. I DD my car and those are features I want.

who's running the essex sprint kit on the street? im curious how a bootless caliper does as a DD, and its price isn't bad. The formula/endurance stuff is getting out of my budget quick.




edit:looks like the other kits include pads and fluid so they are actually a better deal. Damn I need to walk away before I end up impulse buying a small fortune on brakes tonight.

AP Racing Factory kits have dust boots. These aren't as track oriented obviously. They also weigh more and cost $500 more than the Sprint kits. These come in 4 or 6 piston. And if you care, there is no option and no future plans for plain faced rotors for the factory kits, as told to me by JRitt himself.

The Endless by Manji kit (hopefully coming soon) appears to have dust seals as well.

Tons of info here: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1823747

The kits we offer provide a brake pad credit with the kit. ;)