Since I'll be needing new brakes soon and like many, would rather upgrade than stay oem, I wanted to start a thread for aftermarket brake options. Mustb3Ds turned me on to Brake Performance so I'll start there.

What other options are available?

http://brakeperformance.com/site/index.php

 

I found a ebay link that actually gave a slotted and dimpled set of rotors. NEVER go cross drilled unless they are formed into the casting of the rotors. Most rotors drill them after which make them very weak and can actually explode. But even the ones with drill into the cast itself can be weak as well.

Only kind I would ever get that are cross drilled would be of course brembo, but they are high high quality rotors and such. But they are on a different league.


Here is the link to the rotors:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...ht_1178wt_1056

The one thing I wish we could get would be steel brake lines, but so far I haven't seen any.

Ceramic brake pads have been found on ebay as well, just not sure the quality since I never heard of some of the companys.


P.S. I just emailed stoptech company about rotors, pads and steel brake lines for our cars. Hopefully we can get some info on them

 

Great great news. I contacted stoptech and they forwarded my email to another company and they can get us a lot of upgrades.

http://store.zeckhausen.com/catalog/...=709_1611_1613

 

r1concepts.com is where i get all of my brakes and rotors at

 

R1 Concepts has very good prices on quality products.

714-777-2323 ask for Melvin, awesome customer service!

Just mention Nick w/ the stoptech brake pads for the scion tC referred ya!

 

That link I gave is the first link I have found who has steel brake lines

 

Fred, you must have been reading my mind. Need brakes this summer with 57K on oem's. Want SS lines, slotted rotors (not drilled), performance pads that won't make me clean wheels once a week. OEM brakes are the weak link in my box.

 

watching.

 

just remember guys that SS lines are a pain; once installed you have to bleed all the lines; that's the only reason i'm not geting them

 

Thanks everyone. As it stands now we have 3 choices for aftermarket rotors and probably a lot more for pads.

Brake Performance
R1 Concepts
StopTech

From what I can gather, the following info is accurate regarding brakes:

Rotors

Blank rotors are best for the average street car.
Pros: Good stopping effort, good pad wear and high strength.
Cons: Not the best heat, water and *gas disipation, not very attractive

Cross-drilled rotors offer improved heat, water and *gas disipation at the expense of a weakened rotor. Strong enough for street, too weak for racing.

Slotted rotors offer the advantages of drilled but without the loss of strength. However they do cause pads to wear out faster. Best for racing use.

Slotted and dimpled rotors look great, offer all the advantages and disadvantages of slotted and drilled rotors without the weakening that cross-drilling causes.

* gas disipation is not much of a problem with modern pad materials.

Pads

Semi-metallic provide the most stopping effort but wear rotors faster than ceramic and create more dust.

Ceramic pads trail a little in stopping effort but are quieter, produce less dust and don't wear rotors as fast.

SS braided lines

Slightly improved pedal feel due to less hydraulic expansion than reinforced rubber lines and they look good.

Please let me know if anything above is incorrect. I'm no expert on brakes and got this info from various seemingly knowledgeable www sources. I'm just trying to put some useful info in one thread for future reference.

 

I would say that ceramic pads are best, they produce less heat, less dust, and quiter like you said.

All I know is my dads 02 porsche turbo upgrades his pads to ceramic based on the GT3 race spec rotors that come stock on the gt3 model. If porsche is putting them stock on there best handling model then thats fine with me

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/sho...75#post3535875

 

Ceramic vs semi-metallic is a bit of a gray area. There are so many different brake pad formulations in use that I'd expect certain ceramic pads to offer better stopping power than some semi-metallic pads. But in general, semi-metallic pads offer more pad to rotor friction than ceramic pads. I'm not sure but I suspect that the secret to making ceramic pads outperform semi-metallic pads is greater clamping force. I'll bet your dad's Porsche doesn't have single-piston calipers like our XBs. Ceramic pads have better heat tolerance, disipation and recovery time. Perhaps the reason ceramic pads don't always stop as well as S-M on the avg car is simply that the avg car's braking system was designed around the higher friction levels of s-m pads?

Weighing the pros and cons of each I'll probably go with ceramic pads although carbon/kevlar pads would be nice.

 

Ceramic vs SM is a tough choice. I don't want to be cleaning my wheels every week but believe SM will give overall better braking performance. Yes, SS lines are a pain to bleed but definately going to be on my list. Rotors, probably just slotted black. Just don't trust those E-bay slotted/dimpled ones.

 

FWIW, the Ebay rotors posted by oreoremix are from Brake Performance and they claim that they're made in the USA. I also found that EBC has rotors and pads for us.

http://www.ebcbrakes.com/

 

Thanks Fred, which ceramic pad do you like the best? I leaning towards ceramic also. Looked at the EBC site. Expensive, but you usally get what you pay for.

 

Wow, $151 for the set. Maybe next year

 

Personally I am a fan of hawk pads. Never used them but on my other forum. 3si.org all huge car junkies, they a lot of the time will recommend hawk pads. I got them for my friends rx8 so I will hear from a better source first hand exp what he thinks.

 

I wish I knew. I'm looking for recommendations too.

 

David at Zeckhausen recommended the Centric Posi-Quiet ceramic pads for front and rear. He asked a lot of questions concerning my driving conditions before that choice. However, after looking at the performance of that pad it just doesn't seem like much of an upgrade from OEM. Low dust, very good wear, average friction. So, I'm also still looking

 

I have no idea how good these rotors are but here is another source:

http://www.drt-sport.com/index.php