Board logo

Sierra Front Brake Upgrade - Budget Sensitive Options
GrahamC - 14/8/21 at 01:52 PM

I'm running Sierra vented discs on my GBS Zero at the mo and think perhaps the car might just be too light (558kg wet) to get heat into them and was thinking about what I might consider doing about it.

Should I just try better pads, perhaps the Mintex M1144 compound?

Should I go back to solid discs (10mmx239mm plus they must be lighter than those vented fellas) but wander if perhaps there are other disc/caliper combos from another model that might work with the Sierra hub without too much agro whilst offering some performance benefits.

As ever, am working to a tight budget so no chance of wilwoods etc.

gremlin1234 - 14/8/21 at 03:01 PM

is this for road use, or track?

GrahamC - 14/8/21 at 03:56 PM

I’m only doing spirited road driving at the mo.

Sanzomat - 14/8/21 at 07:32 PM

My R1 Locost is only 460kg and uses standard Sierra brakes with vented front discs. I think the pads are standard too. I found I could easily lock up the front on track even with warmed up slicks on so I can't see any reason to upgrade the brakes other than to add lightness. More than enough performance.

If you are looking for more bite then changing the pads might work. Some OEM ones are utter pants. Many of the track focussed pads need a bit of heat before they work well but then don't fade so for road use in a light car I'd be looking at performance road pads. 1144's should be pretty good.

gremlin1234 - 14/8/21 at 09:46 PM

road use:
in many ways for your upgrade, you need 'worse' pads, standard road pads.

pads that warm quickly,
but you don't want them to overheat. - that's where the vented disks come in.

remember a mile or so of normal road use and the disks and pads will be cold again

track use: completely different scenario

[Edited on 14/8/21 by gremlin1234]

ianhurley20 - 15/8/21 at 08:34 AM

I used to run 'green stuff' EBC pads and was very happy with their performance and with control of effort for braking. The only difference with my setup was that I used the master cylinder from my NB MX5

ian locostzx9rc2 - 15/8/21 at 06:36 PM

Mintex 1144 pads work really well

Charlie_Zetec - 16/8/21 at 07:56 AM

quote:
Originally posted by ianhurley20
I used to run 'green stuff' EBC pads and was very happy with their performance and with control of effort for braking. The only difference with my setup was that I used the master cylinder from my NB MX5


I've previously used EBC GreenStuff pads on older road cars (Vauxhall Nova GSi, Astra GTE, Calibra turbo etc.) back in the day. Always found them good for stopping with standard callipers, but the amount of dust they gave off was phenomenal - perhaps the compound has changed since then? Few other friends use RedStuff and YellowStuff in their hot hatch toys, but these are designed for track use and take longer to heat up.

For the OP - I'd consider a swap to a set of solid disks as well; aside from the saving in unsprung weight, you don't really need the heat dissipation offered by a vented disk on such a light car for road use only (that's just my 2p's worth). But it depends on how far you want to stretch on your "budget", as I guess a pair of recon callipers, new disks and EBC pads is probably half way to the overall cost of a Wilwood Powerlite kit from Rally Design.... If you've already got some Sierra solid callipers and the rest of the kit, an overhaul at somewhere like BiggRed with new pads would be a good call.

atomic - 26/8/21 at 10:36 PM

Look for something with a Friction Coefficient (Mu) in the 0.4 range over a good temperature range and without requiring high temps. low compressibility is also very important for pedal feel. I would highly recommend Ferodo DS2500
https://www.ferodoracing.com/products/car-racing/racing-brake-pads/ds2500/