Which Brakes Are Better

[danoz]

hi guys i got a r33gtr with 540awhp and will be doing some trackwork but mainly street it has r33 gtr brembos with dba 5000 up front and dba 4000 down back with endless pads..... will the g4 setup be better than this???? any info would be sweet

[Duncan]

much better...I've just upgraded from the 33/34 gtr brembos to the G4 gear

The only real question for me is the pads, I guess it depends which endless pads you had (they have good and bad like most brands). I can't spot a brand or specs on the G4 pads - but whatever they are they are working well even when cold

[Swiper the Fox]

much better...I've just upgraded from the 33/34 gtr brembos to the G4 gear

The only real question for me is the pads, I guess it depends which endless pads you had (they have good and bad like most brands). I can't spot a brand or specs on the G4 pads - but whatever they are they are working well even when cold

Hey Dunc's, have G4 released their front / rear combo for the GTR yet ??

i.e. full set-up

[Duncan]

they have

but I've only got the fronts....I need to swap back to standard brakes after Targa for Circuit so it wasn't woth it for me.

[Andrw Le Lievre]

I just got the quote for the 356m front 8 caliper / 330mm rear 6 caliper set. It was $4750 for SAU members.

[Swiper the Fox]

What is the minimum wheel size to clear the fronts??

[Duncan]

I can only run 17" so I stuck with 330 fronts. 18" to clear 356 fronts

(Steve found 1 set of 17s that fit over the 356, super expensive comp race wheels)

[Nathan_G1]

brembo's all the way - get rid of that DBA shit and put some real rotors on it, endless pads should be good, but switch to uras or project mu

[tacker]

just completed another track day on full racing rubber, 4 x 20 minute sessions on the G4 356mm front and standard rear and with a lighted car i can match the braking performance of the turbo or GT3 porsche.

as Duncan said i wonder about the pads but i can complain as they stop bloody well but wear quite quickly too. I know they are a AP 6pot brake pad shape so i will be ordering a suitable pad to see if that makes it even better.

You will need a 18" wheel to fit the 356mm kit on as i do and they fit well under them but would not want any smaller than that.

[tjandriesen]

Pretty reasonable to assume the G4's are incrementally better but do you really get $2500 worth ($5,000 in the case of F & R) of increased performance over the Brembos/DBA/Endless set up? If you're building a serious track car, maybe. For street - I have to believe that that kind of money can be spend on other things that will get you a better return...

[tacker]

Good point Tjandriesen and i think for a street car they may well be over kill. But any car with 540AWHP street or track is going to need some kind of brake improvement.

As good as the standard bremo units are they are going to struggle if used in anger on a track. I was happy with my old nissan units and until i changed over i didnt realise how much better the bigger rotors were. sort of simular to standard turbos, yes they are good but are no match to the after market units available now.

Still personal preference and your point about a street car has lots of merit

[STATUS]

I can only run 17" so I stuck with 330 fronts. 18" to clear 356 fronts

(Steve found 1 set of 17s that fit over the 356, super expensive comp race wheels)

uras 17" will also fit the G4/ K-sport/ D2 brakes from memory. 17x 9.5 +15 offset we have a set on a 10 sec r33 GTR here with 355mm AP's and there is about 4mm to spare.

Edited March 7, 2007 by URAS

[croat]

what about the wp setup for $6700. i am looking for a set of brakes for my r33 gtst. will make around 350rwkw and only see the track rarely. considering these wp's or a set of GTR brembos. i think the G4's look horrible, thats the only thing that seems to turn me off.

[croat]

also how much of an improvement is the stopping power with gtr brembos and DBA rotors compared to factory gtst items? is it really that noticeable?

by the way here is a pic of the wp brakes:

[STATUS]

Has anyone had issues with the DBA 4000 rotors? i seem to hear of lots of issues from stores with hot spots and shuddering.

Edited March 8, 2007 by URAS

[sav man]

i have DBA 5000 series. there fine, lasted me a 30+ deg day at Symmonds Plains (very very hard on brakes), and a trip up and down the sidling, and there still like new after a few heat cycles.

[Roy]

also how much of an improvement is the stopping power with gtr brembos and DBA rotors compared to factory gtst items? is it really that noticeable?

by the way here is a pic of the wp brakes:

Braking power? Are you sure you are using the term power correctly. Fact is for a few stops its debatable that $15,000 Harrops will stop the car in a shorter distance then std GTR brakes with good pads etc. (Generally speaking)

If by stopping power you mean shorter stopping distances then there isnt much in it. Its not like you rock up to turn 2 at Wakefield and you will be able to dive up the inside of another car with std calipers. If you are out there for 10 laps you will find that your brakes will be far more consistant and offer far better feel.

Question is that improvement worth the expense and what you do with the car. There are a few guys on the forum that have gone for pretty good setups and i would be interested to hear if they truly believe that the brakes have meant they have actually improved lap times. If so id like to know how many tenths a lap they attribute to their brake setup.

That said i dont doubt that better brake feel means you are more comfortable in the braking zone...but nicer and easier is sure better, but if the cheaper and nastier std gear can do almost the same job for a few laps at a sprint day????

With regards to the G4, i would liek to see a set go through a set of pads and see how even the wear has been on the pad and the rotor. Then at the end of the next set of pads see if the pistons move freely and the pads still wear evenly

[tacker]

Tell you one thing Roy with 8 pots being filled the brake fluid level drops when your pads get down.

No issue yet as pads pushed back nicely when put new items in on all 4 pads.

Old pads looked ok to me not much of a uneven wear pattern, lets see how the second set wear will post some pics as old one have been binned.

[phunky_monkey]

Did you replace them with the same pads again Tacker?

[tacker]

Yes and no LOL

I have ordered the same pads again as they looked great when the came out no burnt edges etc still nice grey color. But takes time to get them here to dubai from Just Jap in Australia.

I have found a supply of friction performance 93 pads which are from the BTCC in the UK so i am going to do some testing with these and compare the two keeping in mind the FP93 are only 46mm radial depth while the Just jap pads are 51mm radial depth