Big brake upgrade advice

[feistl]

Hey guys,

Im looking to upgrade my brakes in the near future but im a little confused at some of the options....

Ive been looking on ebay (yes, ebay i know :P) At a few various kits....

Commodore Disc Rotors VB-VS Rear Gold Dimpled Slotted - eBay, Other Car Parts, Accessories, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 17-Mar-08 18:02:35 AEDST)
Plus some bendix pads...
Will cost $450 + $200 = $650 total

Or
MONARO OR COMMODORE VR VS VT VX VY VZ BIG BRAKES HSV - eBay, Other Car Parts, Accessories, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 26-Mar-08 10:06:17 AEDST)
Total cost $2500 - EDIT - These dont appear to fit as my car ISNT IRS

Or
Peter Brock Big Brake Kit, VB-VY Fronts, Level 1 - eBay. (end time 26-Mar-08 17:42:11 AEDST)
Total cost $1700

I do quite a lot of high speed driving through very windy roads (completely legal of course ) So far ive killed a standard set of pads/rotors within a month. A few times ive got to the bottom of a mountain run, rotors glowing bright red and pads literally smoking.
In the not to distant future i should be running ~200rwkw, as well as 18" rims with good quality rubber... I dont mind spending a fair bit of money (so far ive spent $14k on my VR in 6 months, with more mods to come ) as long as the performance is good.

Cheers, Errol.

[stocky]

you could speak to Not_An_Abba_Fan on here and get some prices for rda rotors. slotted costs $135 a pair i think? then get a v8 1 inch master cylinder, and that should go well if youre not after anything major

[markovr]

Id only use Australian made DBA discs...steer away from chinese made stuff..Dba kangaroo paw are the best....and the vt/x booster/master is a cost effective modification.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

That used to be the case maybe 10-20 years ago, now, the same equipment is used to manufacture most things in China that is used here. It just works out a lot cheaper to do it there. Some Chinese products are rubbish, but most of the Australian companies that manufacture in China are exclusively for Australia, so the quality is there. There is a difference in Chinese run factories and Australian run ones. RDA rotors may be manufactured in China, but to Australian standards, and they are a wholly Australian company.

[immortality]

if your gonna work em that hard i'd be looking for a 330mm rotor minimum. although stepping up to the VT setup (300mm) would be an improvment it wouldn't be as good as 330mm.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

It comes down to cost versus performance. Does your car really need that size brake kit, and does the cost justify the upgrade?

If it was a high output engine, or even a show car, but for a daily, where do you stop? No pun intended.

[1991_Vn2nV]

Hey guys,

Im looking to upgrade my brakes in the near future but im a little confused at some of the options....

Ive been looking on ebay (yes, ebay i know :P) At a few various kits....

Commodore Disc Rotors VB-VS Rear Gold Dimpled Slotted - eBay, Other Car Parts, Accessories, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 17-Mar-08 18:02:35 AEDST)
Plus some bendix pads...
Will cost $450 + $200 = $650 total

Or
MONARO OR COMMODORE VR VS VT VX VY VZ BIG BRAKES HSV - eBay, Other Car Parts, Accessories, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 26-Mar-08 10:06:17 AEDST)
Total cost $2500

Or
Peter Brock Big Brake Kit, VB-VY Fronts, Level 1 - eBay. (end time 26-Mar-08 17:42:11 AEDST)
Total cost $1700

I do quite a lot of high speed driving through very windy roads (completely legal of course ) So far ive killed a standard set of pads/rotors within a month. A few times ive got to the bottom of a mountain run, rotors glowing bright red and pads literally smoking.
In the not to distant future i should be running ~200rwkw, as well as 18" rims with good quality rubber... I dont mind spending a fair bit of money (so far ive spent $14k on my VR in 6 months, with more mods to come ) as long as the performance is good.

Cheers, Errol.

Personally I dont see how there is any choice there? The second one ($2500) is the easy choice as it is Front AND Rear. If you upgrade the front discs to 328mm or more you will want to upgrade the rear as well to maintain the brake bias so that you can get the kit engineered.

You would also want to upgrade your brake booster as well. Perhaps look at running a VT/VX brake booster and master cylinder.

[feistl]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the feedback. Im trying to work out weather to go out and spend the cash doing it properly, or just settle for slotted rotors etc.
I plan on driving this car for at least 5 years, so i dont mind putting the money if its going to make the car stop better.

As i said, i give them a hard time at least 2-4 times per week... Ive killed standard rotors and pads within a month. Not_An_Abba_Fan, what would you personally recommend? I was thinking of going the gold dimpled rotors, what pads would you recommend to go with them? Ive heard cross drill can crack, above all else they must be reliable and relatively maintenance free.

Cheers, Errol.

EDIT - ARGH DAMN. For the second kit "fitted with an IRS disc brake diff only." Im running a live axle because its a wagon .

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

If you have killed standard rotors and pads in a month, I recommend a driver training course...

Failing that, dimpled and slotted rotors would be the best bet, go with either a ceramic pad, EBC Green Stuff, or Kevlar, EBC Red Stuff. The problem with the reds though, is that they don't work too well until they get hot.

[feistl]

If you have killed standard rotors and pads in a month, I recommend a driver training course...

Yeah :P. Its just the way im driving the car.... High speed "racing" through the mountain ranges... getting >250km from 65L of premium you can imagine how hard im pushing the car. Everything seems to be working nicely, just the rotors get red hot then so much brake fad...

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Slotted rotors and decent pads will fix that.