Best value brake upgrade for GTS-t

[B-Man]

Hi All,

First time in the Suspension, braking and tyres section - no doubt the last time.

I want to upgrade the brakes on my R33 GTS-t and have been doing a little research on options.

The car will be used for street and track - hopefully more track, depending on my ability... he he

So the options are:

* DBA Slotted Rotors, quality pads - braided lines (legal ones) - Least cost option

* As above but GTR Bremblo Calipers on the front (source second hand) - Med $$$

* AP Racing or Wilwood - This option is the whole nine yards - big $$$

So - which is the best value (not lowest cost , I already know that) - which one will stop me better for the best $$ ?

[Roy]

Depending on wheel size i would suggest you get the biggest best quality rotors to go with the braided lines, pads, and fluid.

The std caliper is good enough not to justify replacement. 4 good size pistons, decent size pads and you already have them.

Some 330mm (approx, fits in 17" rim) DBA 5000 series rotors are what i wish i had of got in hindsight. I have 330 x 30mm one piece slotted rotors that are a rough equivelant to DBA 4000.

If you find you dont have enough brakes once you have the bigger/better rotors (i would be very surprised) then you can always then upgrade to aftermarket calipers.

I have seen plenty of quick Skylines at tracks using std calipers, especially GTSTs

And one more thing, my experience is the improvement in braking is more in feel and consistancy, not outright stopping distances. The car may wash off speed a little better, but it will definitely do it lap after lap with more pedal feel.

After my brake upgrade a friend was surpirsed that the car didnt stop noticably better (he was in the passenger seat at Eastren Creek) but if only he was drivng.

My thoughts are to reduce stopping distances you have to look at tyres used & suspension setup, calipers/discs wont do it alone, but a disc upgrade will give you fade free fun at the track.

[T0nyGTSt]

I'd go with something better than DBA for the likes of you Brendan.

Something like Apex rotors with cast in slots (not the machined slots like on DBA rotors). I'd stay away from drilled rotors.

Good pads like the Endless NA series + a brake cyl. master brace and MAYBE some new braided lines.

T.

[Clint32]

Try the rotors/pads/lines first, they should be good unless you have a very powerfull car. The new DBA 4000 series rotors are very good, much lighter than the older ones, and work well.

If you wont more i suggest looking at CSC, ther were advertised in HPI a few months ago, the price is just over 2k for a set of large 4 piston calipers with 2 piece discs, 343x32 from memorey, this is only a little more than a gtr brembro setup and is much better and all new.

[red900ss]

Brendan, the GT-R upgrade may be the one to go for using the following formula:

bang for buck/hard road use*, where *=no. of track days

otherwise, the DBA 4000s with Ferodo DS2500 or Pagid pads (as recommended by DBA) and good quality and condition brake fluid and braided lines may be fine.

I tend to agree with Roy, consistency is as important as outright stopping power.

[B-Man]

Agree with you Roy & Dino - What I should have said was " which one will stop me most consistantly on the track - for the best $$ ?"

I seriously doubt that I will be driving as hard on the road to warrant a brake upgrade over the standards R33 brakes - So I suppose after thinking about this, it is all about the track !

Cheers for the help peeps.

[Roy]

What about these

Something like Apex rotors with cast in slots (not the machined slots like on DBA rotors). I'd stay away from drilled rotors.

I can almost guarantee that if your referring to the slots in the face of the rotors, then the Apexi discs have been machined as well.

.

You dont get that sort of finish from a casting woithout a lot of machining

[B-Man]

Roy - I think those DBA 5000 Series are for GTR so would need Bremblo calipers to go with them.

I've seen GRT Rotors and Bremblo Calibers for sale on this forum for about $1600.

DBA 4000 upgrade will be about $1000 minus 15% members discount (w00t)

Brainded Lines $550 (with members discount - double w00t)

So Option 1 = ~ $1450 pus pads

Option 2 = ~ $2200

Option 3 = well over $3500 I'd say.

Hmmm if I get the Bremblo's I could put the 4 pot GTS-t calipers & rotors on the Gloria ! Hmmmmmm

[Duncan]

Don't forget B-man, as you get more power, braking power required increases by far as well. And it sounds like you'll have a fair few extra ponies

Another factor is quality of your tyres, the better they are the less you need to brake as you can take the corners faster in the first place.

Third factor really is the number of full on laps you'll do at one time. I go a bit over the top sometimes, if you give the brakes a lap to cool down after every 5 its much easier on them.

I'd be taking option B, you can always trade them back in again and upgrade if you're still having problems...

[Roy]

Roy - I think those DBA 5000 Series are for GTR so would need Bremblo calipers to go with them.

If you are going to be opting for using larger rotors then an adaptor must be used with the std caliper to allow for the increase in rotor diam. Basically offsets the caiper mount.

The R33GTR/GTST & R32 GTSt all used 30mm thick rotors std, so the R33 caliper wont have any trouble running the DBA R33 GTR rotor which is also 30mm thick.

Im guessing but havent looked that the DBA rotor for the R33GTST is around the 296mm diam as DBA rotors are typically bolt on replacements, and a change in diameter means they aint no bolt on proposition. So if you want a bigger rotor, you have to run GTR re-placement rotors.

The reason i like the 5000 series over 4000 series, is they are lighter & dissipate heat better. The added bonus they look horn behind the wheels.

[B-Man]

ha ha - thanks for pointing that out - goes to show you how much I know about brakes - Lucky for me there are ppl in this forum that know more than me about stuff.

Cheers,

PS Don't you think Bremblo sounds better then Brembo

Cheers,

Brendo

[B-Man]

Huh - ??

WTF ??

I'm sure Sly33 just posted in here correcting me on my spelling of Brembo ????

WTF is going on ????

David Copperfield - where are you ???

[T0nyGTSt]

Is it even worth upgrading rear end brakes???

I get the feeling it's a waste of time.

A good set of front discs + pads might be it.

T.

[red900ss]

Don't forget to budget ~$400 for decent pads.

[Simonster]

Anyone tried EBC greenstuff? If so how were they?

If not what pads do you use?

[Duncan]

Simonster, I tried greenstuff and was *very* unhappy. They are great for dust, but they fade horribly under hard use. Not what I expected at all. Bendix Ultimate are half the price and fade much less, dusty as hell tho

[T0nyGTSt]

They're nicknamed EBC "Brownstuff" for good reason...

T.

[jlnewton]

I have found the Bendix Ultimates (F&R) pretty good so far with the 4000series DBA rotors (F&R). They withstand the 7 lap sprints around Queensland Raceway no problem, and they are cheap. Which is why I got them, I had run out of money with the other mods, but they are the single dustiest pad I have ever used. Have to clean the wheels every week now, and I only do about 200-300km a week. And my wheel are not the easiest to clean!

[slip]

I would try quality slotted rotors, braided lines, quality fluid, GOOD pads, and master cyl brace first. brembo callipers as well if you can just throw them on.

track quality pads/rotors/fluid make a big difference when compared to normal or standard items.

[B-Man]

Reviving this thread from the dead after I got brake fade (at wakefield) on my Std brakes with SBS pads. Was scary stuff in my car.

UAS are working on a high quality adaptor for std calipers that will allow me to run the DBA 5000 slotted rotors. Now that seems like a good first step. The rotors are re-usable with the Brembos or AP Racing calipers in the future if needed.

So if I go the rotors, braided lines and good pads - I can see how that goes - if I need more, I can take the next step.

My question is - Since the DBA5000s are larger than the standard rotors, will the standard calipers/pad have enough surface area for the larger rotors ?? I understand that mounting the calipers with the adaptor will mean the everything fits - but will the pads miss out on some nice juicy rotor ?? (Means if I put larger rotors on later, the rotors will have worn uneavenly maybe ????)