BRZ Premium custom brake ducting

[norsamerican]

i will probably do a DIY that will involve making scoops vaccum shaped behind the front grill with piping that leads thru a hole in the fender lining to cool the brakes.

[Dave-ROR]

Wow where to start with this thead...

Originally Posted by mashal

Your brakes don't get that hot to need such an upgrade , if your autox'ng you should upgrade your brakes instead

Autocross should not require a brake upgrade unless you are doing so for the weight savings. In no autocross that I've ever seen should you be able to overheat the stock brakes. On track it can be a different story.

Originally Posted by RedLeader

I haven't looked closely enough, but pulling off the front dust shields has just as much, if not more, of an effect on brake cooling than brake ducting does. For a daily driver, this can do more harm than good though, as it can lead to damage to the rotors.

I've pulled dust shields before, it helps, but it's not anywhere near as effective as proper brake ducting (by proper I mean appropriately sized and forced to the center of the rotor to push through the vanes, not pointed at the caliper or any of the other bad solutions some people do). I haven't had dust shields on my BRZ for awhile now, no damage in combined use. I didn't have dustshields on my GS-R for at least 50k, no damage to those rotors either.

I did this style ducting on my GTI, then took it off because removing the dust shields was easier and more effective.

Easier, yes. More effective, no. Not unless you did the ducting wrong.

Are you actually having overheating problems with the stock brakes?

I can't speak for the OP but I delaminated mine and boiled ATE Super Blue @ Sebring. I went with the Essex Comp kit instead of ducts as a solution for a variety of reasons. I may have been fine with proper ducts, but in the end other factors shifted my decision to the BBK.

Remember, ducting requires sufficient velocity airflow to the front of the car, unless you install electric fans to keep positive air pressure. If you're not moving forward fast enough, you're not going to get enough extra air over the rotors than normally passes over them while driving.

Fans? That would be a horrible idea I'd think. TONS of restriction, unless you had two sets of ducts or something. The OP tracks his car (I know since I've been on track with him) so airflow isn't a problem in his case

Originally Posted by ATL BRZ

No overheating problems here yet but I do plan on tracking the car once it's ready with enough supporting mods. I figured it was worth experimenting with the damaged insert when I replace it and actually make them functional. My BRZ is my daily so I will probably keep this project on the back burner until years down the road when it's possibly a dedicated track car.

The only annoyance with the ducts is cleaning off the screen you should have in front of them and cleaning out the other end as needed.. rarely needed with the screen, without the screen you need to clean out the ducting more often. Also, depending on installation location you can get rubbing at full lock if you run the ducts too close to the wheels/tires coming from the bumper. Probably not a problem on this car, but it can happen. That Boss 302 LS next to my car in the oil cooler thread is daily driven with brake ducts. :shrug:

Originally Posted by RedLeader

Like I said, until you're actually having brake fade or fluid boiling, you don't need to worry about it. And your rotors will only warp if you keep pushing them hard AFTER they overheat and the pedal gets mushy

Warping is 99% (actually I've never seen a case where it wasn't) related to uneven pad deposits, not actual warping. Bed in some aggressive pads and it can often go away, or cut them if preferred. Some people would like to address potential issues BEFORE they experience brake fade heading into the hairpin at Sebring, or turn 10 at Road Atlanta, etc....

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

I disagree with the others...brake ducting (when done right!) has a huuuuge effect on rotor temps, much more than just removing the dust shields. We did a lot of testing on our kit for the Impreza and there was a substantial difference. Pads and rotors last much longer as well.

It's important for it to be a well designed kit, with 3 inch hose directing air through the center of the rotor and not just pointed in the general direction of the rotor.

I agree it's not the most convenient thing for a daily driver, but for a car that sees the track often enough it's at the top of the list for us. Removing the hose when driven on the street is a good idea.

- Andrew

^^^ this entire post, save for removing the hose. If routed out the way I wouldn't bother :shrug:

Originally Posted by SkullWorks

I'm a little taken aback by all the people spewing hate for a proper ducting system,

and claiming that removing dust shield is "just as effective"....wow people I mean really?

Obviously there is a huge benefit to adding cooling to the brakes on this car, Having reached the edge of brake fade on the BRz already, considering the brake fluid has never been touched it is still a dry system, it is clear that there needs to be more cooling for the rotors.

Would the car benefit from higher temp fluid? definitely, but that doesn't mean you wont still boil the fluid, it will just take a longer session,,,a smart man will do both....too bad I like my factory fog lights...

This also. The factory fogs are partly why I didn't run ducts. On the BRZ I've boiled the same brake fluid I can't boil on a car with smaller brakes that races for 24 hours straight

Originally Posted by RedLeader

I'm not "claiming" anything, I've done it, and that's what worked. For a daily driver, you're almost never going to overheat your brakes (on the street), so any brake upgrades are purely aesthetic in nature (putting bigger brakes on has a bigger effect on brake cooling than actual stopping distance).

You did claim that removing the shields was just as effective as proper ducting.

On a pure-race car, dust shields are unnecessary because there's not a lot of dirt, rocks, tire chunks, and other general shit hitting the rotors as on a street car; race cars also aren't driven for 20,000 miles with the brakes and tires being more or less ignored.

Again, I don't have these problems from running without dust shields. The inside of the wheel well gets dirtier though.. that might just be dirt built on dirt though.

And yes, for MOST track-day situations using street cars in a track setting, removing the dust shields can be just as effective, and is remarkably easier, than doing proper brake ducting. Doing this in combination with a higher temp brake fluid and higher performance pads will lead to even better results than brake ducting on its own.

See, there you go claiming again. Brake ducts aren't ideal for many people and I agree with you that they are 100% pointless on a street/autocross car but that's not what the OP is concerned about.

I'm not "spewing hate" either, but if the OP is going to build a brake ducting system in his car "just because" he ought to know that there are easier, cheaper, and just as effective methods of achieving essentially the same results.

He's talking about it because he has a damaged panel to test with and he wants to prevent heat related issues on the track *BEFORE* they occur.

Yes, brake ducting, when done properly (reference any DTM/BTCC team) yields great results, but these are professionally designed, and are used on cars with a MUCH higher performance threshold than the average joe in an FRS is EVER going to reach on a track. A side note, if you're overheating your brakes in an autoX event, you've got bigger problems; not autoX run is ever anywhere near long enough or requires enough braking time that your brakes should overheat.

Brake ducting is a pretty simple concept. You don't need engineers to handle this. Also, the OP never mentioned autocross.

OP: Listen to RCE, Skull and Ryu IMO.

[ATL BRZ]

http://www.rallysportdirect.com/APR-...s&src=obp55e8f





Wish these weren't made out of CF so they'd be cheaper than $325, because then I'd be all over them. Keeps the factory LED DRL's and will work with 3" ducting and a backing plate.

Are you listening APR?!? @RallySport Direct ?? Throw some plastic into those molds and selll them for $125 and then make a full kit with hoses and blacking plate. Then you can ask for $400 for the whole kit.

@Touge Factory is almost ready to release their kit, but it doesn't use the fog light housings as an inlet. I think their backing plates look nice and they can be purchased individually.

[Beyer Subaru]

Why not just get the Limited Fog Light Housings?

[ATL BRZ]

Originally Posted by Beyer Subaru

Why not just get the Limited Fog Light Housings?

Airflow, I'd say. I want 3" ducting and a 3" backing plate. No bottlenecks.

Got a pic of the Limited fog housings front & rear without the fogs installed???

[Beyer Subaru]

Originally Posted by ATL BRZ

Airflow, I'd say. I want 3" ducting and a 3" backing plate. No bottlenecks.

Got a pic of the Limited fog housings front & rear without the fogs installed???

Nope. You could also cut-in a NACA Duct on the underpanels w/ 3" outlet?

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by ATL BRZ

Airflow, I'd say. I want 3" ducting and a 3" backing plate. No bottlenecks.

Got a pic of the Limited fog housings front & rear without the fogs installed???

I will be attempting to fit my bumper back on tonight after my FBM turbo kit install, and I can take pics of mine with and without the foglights. I can tell you it will be difficult to route hose to the driver side rotor.

[ATL BRZ]

Originally Posted by King Tut

I will be attempting to fit my bumper back on tonight after my FBM turbo kit install, and I can take pics of mine with and without the foglights. I can tell you it will be difficult to route hose to the driver side rotor.

Pics are always helpful. I'd appreciate pics of the area behind the fogs. Why will it be difficult to route? Fender liner in the way plus the washer fluid tank? I'm pretty sure trimming the liners is necessary and you may have to unbolt the washer fluid tank to move it out of the way temporarily.

[King Tut]

Mostly the washer fluid reservoir is in the way and it mounts right next to the fender liner. I will snap a pic of that for you as well.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by King Tut

I will be attempting to fit my bumper back on tonight after my FBM turbo kit install, and I can take pics of mine with and without the foglights. I can tell you it will be difficult to route hose to the driver side rotor.

Easy fix.. change out that F-550 truck size windshield washer res for a normal sized one custom mounted

I laughed when I saw how big that stupid thing is..

[zoomzoomers]

How about something like this?



Or spinners even. That should get some air flow in there.

























I kid, I kid...

Have you ever put your hand out the window at 45 mph? You'd be surprised how much air flow you get at speeds you didn't think to be all that fast.

[ATL BRZ]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

Easy fix.. change out that F-550 truck size windshield washer res for a normal sized one custom mounted

Have you done this? I wanna see

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by ATL BRZ

Pics are always helpful. I'd appreciate pics of the area behind the fogs. Why will it be difficult to route? Fender liner in the way plus the washer fluid tank? I'm pretty sure trimming the liners is necessary and you may have to unbolt the washer fluid tank to move it out of the way temporarily.

pic here: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...&postcount=113

It sits right where you'd probably want to run the duct.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by ATL BRZ

Have you done this? I wanna see

Accelerated does for their turbo kits, I've seen them do so when I was visiting their shop.