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Upgrading brakes
hazardpro - 25/9/16 at 09:10 PM

Hi guys

I want to upgrade my brakes which at the moment I guess came from the doner car (discs all round).

Been looking at the wilwood powerlites for the front (will do the back when I have some more £££)....

From what I can tell you need to know what the doner car was in order the get the right ones... I have no idea what the doner car was...... Is there a easy way to check (or for you guys to confirm) if I post some pics?

Ps also I'm currently on 15" wheels but want to change to 13" in due course.... Will that cause any issues with these breaks?

Thanks in advance!!!!

Doug

[Edited on 25/9/16 by hazardpro]

Jon Ison - 25/9/16 at 09:18 PM

Post a pic of your current set up, will be identified in nano seconds on here.

hazardpro - 25/9/16 at 09:27 PM

Hopefully this will do the job?

CosKev3 - 25/9/16 at 09:51 PM

Sierra uprights.

Why do you think you need to uprate your brakes?

hazardpro - 25/9/16 at 09:56 PM

Well whilst I have nothing to compare to, I was not that impressed by them based on the amount of power the car has. Whilst Im all up for speed and power. I want to be able to stop too.

Are you saying the wilwoods wont make much diff?

Doug

CosKev3 - 25/9/16 at 10:07 PM

Depends on the condition of your brakes now really and what pads are in there.

I've done a couple of track days this year running Sierra front and rear grooved disc brakes with standard compound mintex pads and I've not got them to fade at all.

Are you sure it's not the pedal feel you are not used to yet?
As you have no servo assistance the pedal feels very hard and you do need to press it a lot harder than your average over servo assisted tin top

hazardpro - 25/9/16 at 10:11 PM

The discs are pretty shot to be honest so id need to replace those anyway, pads at the same time....... so I can replace with grooved sierra ones or Wilwood...

Not sure of the price difference. Wilwoods for the fronts come it at around £350

Can anyone tell me if I go for wilwood will I have any trouble if changing to 13" wheels?

Doug

ian locostzx9rc2 - 26/9/16 at 05:44 AM

Change the discs with new ones (std) very cheap and fit mintex 1144 pads and make sure your calipers and sliders are in good order before you spend lots of money on expensive calipers

cliftyhanger - 26/9/16 at 06:14 AM

^^^ exactly!
If the discs are poor at the moment, you should not be surprised if they are not as good as expected!
I really wouldn't bother with grooved discs, there is little advantage unless using certain pads IIRC. Std ones will work just as well.
1144 pads are excellent, or if you can find them old asbestos pads (though so many people are scared of them, but remember they were used on every car in the world for about 80 years? no trail of death following them)

Big issue is the no servo/short pedal travel issue. Cured by changing the master cylinder. That affects the feel of the brakes massively.
Bigger discs/calipers unlikely to fit under 13" wheels too, but there may be some slight changes possible.

loggyboy - 26/9/16 at 06:31 AM

Also worth refreshing fluid whilst ur at it. Without knowing history of the car could be cheap and/or badly bled.

hazardpro - 26/9/16 at 06:51 AM

Good info thanks. So I'll go for new discs and pads and new brake oil.

So regarding discs what am I looking for? Sierra discs?

What other options are there re pedals?

Thanks again.

Doug

hazardpro - 26/9/16 at 07:19 AM

Or to put it another way - I have a £400 budget to spend on the brakes.

Would would you upgrade within that budget.

Doug

40inches - 26/9/16 at 08:10 AM

quote:
Originally posted by hazardpro
Or to put it another way - I have a £400 budget to spend on the brakes.

Would would you upgrade within that budget.

Doug


Wilwood calipers with 1144 pads for around £300 for a conversion kit from Rally Design. Not forced to be any better than the standard Sierra calipers though, but
lighter and have the Bling factor

hazardpro - 26/9/16 at 08:35 AM

quote:
Originally posted by 40inches
quote:
Originally posted by hazardpro
Or to put it another way - I have a £400 budget to spend on the brakes.

Would would you upgrade within that budget.

Doug


Wilwood calipers with 1144 pads for around £300 for a conversion kit from Rally Design. Not forced to be any better than the standard Sierra calipers though, but
lighter and have the Bling factor


I do like bling

britishtrident - 26/9/16 at 10:41 AM

Save yourself a wad of money for little or no improvement apart from lower unsprung weight anf bling If you want a major improvement just swap to a master cylinder with a smaller bore. Excess brake pressure is due to the lack of a servo and lower pedal leverage ratio due to very short pedals.

mcerd1 - 26/9/16 at 10:43 AM

quote:
Originally posted by hazardpro
Or to put it another way - I have a £400 budget to spend on the brakes.

Would would you upgrade within that budget.


spend it on the new std. discs and mintex pads above - then spend the leftovers on tyres and fuel


Also what master cylinder do you have ?
there are several old threads on the benefits of fitting the right master cylinder to match your calipers without the servo.



[Edited on 26/9/2016 by mcerd1]
^^ what BT said, obviously I'm not fast enough today

[Edited on 26/9/2016 by mcerd1]

hazardpro - 26/9/16 at 11:16 AM

quote:
Also what master cylinder do you have ?


Erm no idea. :/ I only recently purchased the car.

mcerd1 - 26/9/16 at 11:54 AM

quote:
Originally posted by hazardpro
quote:
Also what master cylinder do you have ?


Erm no idea. :/ I only recently purchased the car.


as always post a pic and someone should be able to give you an idea

(although they aren't quite as easy to ID from a pic as the hubs / calipers)