[Dave-ROR]

Gem: My opinion will come down to what you need, want and can live with.

Your car is boosted, so I'd lean towards a larger kit (WITHIN REASON!). In the Essex Comp system world, that means the endurance system. The negatives there are noise (floating rotors) and higher consumable cost (about 250 per rotor). The positives is you have even more heat capacity than the sprint system (which is beyond what's required for this car on r comps, with suspension, and anywhere near stock power levels already IMO), and brake duct attachment points built in.

The sprint system that I and most others here have (those who have essex kits I mean) has been working FLAWLESSY for me for the two track days I've used them for as well as about 4,000 miles combined street and track use.

General cons of the Essex systems center around their "for the track" nature. They make noise (both the j hooks, which also happens with slotted anyways to a degree, and the fact that the calipers are race calipers and therefore anti-rattle mechanisms are non-existant - so the pads DO rattle in specific circumstances), they aren't painted which leaves them vulnerable to corrosion from road salt, and they don't have dust boots. Now, in my honest opinion the dust boots are worthless anyways because you track your car a lot, go take a look at your OEM dust boots and tell me how effective you think they are.

The Endurance kits are also heavier than the Sprint kit. I noticed a difference with the sprint kit (when I read someone elses review I dismissed that part but it was obvious, literally never felt that in any other system before) because of it's very light weight.

So far pad and rotor life have been excellent and I have zero plans to replace any part of the system for quite a while still. I don't even bother carrying spares, I should probably but I just don't see the need yet.

Onto Wilwood. I won't bother. Friends in the braking industry (NOT Jeff Ritter @ Essex, but Brembo/NASCAR friends) laugh about how much Wilwood's flex. I trust them and therefore I personally have no interest in running them and don't suggest them for track cars. For the street, WGAS.

The Brembo kits IMO for this car are simply overkill. Also, consumables on a 14" rotor will be *insane* compared to the smaller rotors the Essex comp kits use. I asked Jeff about rotors for a buddies Boss 302 which has Boss 302R (Grand Am) brakes. I can't recall the exact number but it was around a full set of endurance rotors plus some change for ONE rotor, or almost 2 full sets of rotors for the sprint kit for ONE rotor. Those are 14"x32mm rotors like some of the real big kits out there for these cars. Ford Racing charges about $500 per rotor and they buy a ton of them for that discount, Brembo sells them direct for over $700 a rotor. Now those rotors may be more serious than what their BBK uses for these cars, but it's an example of how consumbles can escalate quickly with these very large brakes.

StopTech would be my second choice, but sadly I hate how they don't use a 32mm rotor. Otherwise I love stoptech and support their products as they've always seemed well engineered for the application and they have great customer support in my, and friends, experiences. Jeff Ritter actually use to work for them too.

The Stillen/AP street setups I honestly don't know a ton about. Generally I'd trust them but they are more street than race. They do have the anti-rattle provisions, dust boots, are painted, etc. Between that and StopTech would be a tough choice for me if the Essex Comp kits were out of the question.

The Essex/AP Formula kits IMO are overkill for a track car. I'm not saying they are bad, they look badass. But I want to run 17" wheels at the largest. I'm not a big wheel guy so having to run 18s is a HUGE negative for me which basically means I would never run a 14" rotor on these cars. I just don't see any reason to do so. YMMV of course and again it comes down to what you need/want/care about.

I just finished playing hockey and drinking some beer so hopefully most of that made sense.

To summarize, IMO for a track car that doesn't need to be driven in the snow I would go straight to the Essex Comp kits. For anything reasonably close to stock power I would absolutely go with the Sprint kit. For a boosted car I'd consider the Endurance setup instead. My next choice would be the smaller Stop Tech/Stillen setup. Then the AP Formula setup, then big StopTech/Stillen.

Also, if you go with the Essex stuff talk to Jeff and see which he thinks would suit your needs. I did and he helped me decide to save money and go with the Sprint kit instead of the Endurance kit. I've also been by their shop, I like that they've bought a car to develop with and they have a really nice and clean operation.

Disclosure: Am I biased towards them now? Sure, just like I am towards anyone else I receive great service and information from. Yes, I have a past with Jeff through our ownership of ITRs in the past, but if I didn't think their products worked I sure as hell wouldn't be tracking my car with them!