Hey Gang,

It's time to replace my brake pads and I figured I want to upgrade the rotors too. I don't take my car to the track and don't really push it too hard on the roads either. Every once in a while I open it up but I'm not hard on the car too often.

That said, I'd consider myself a casual driver that likes to engage in occasional bouts of thrill riding. To upgrade my brakes, I'm considering these options:

1. Brembo cross-drilled F/R rotors (and some Hawk HPS pads separately purchased)
Rotors shown here: https://g35driver.com/forums/brakes-vendor/107810-brembo-brake-rotors-crossdrilled-slotted-huge-discounts.html

2. StopTech Stage 2 brake kit (with SportStop cross-drilled rotors)
Kit shown here: https://g35driver.com/forums/brakes-vendor/102895-stoptech-stage-2-kits-now-sale.html

As you can see, I could get the whole StopTech kit for the same price as the Brembo rotors alone. It seems from the research I've done that the StopTech SportStop rotors may not be as efficient as the Brembos (hence the lower price), but I'd get stainless steel lines out of that kit.

Basically, I need a hand figuring out which option to go with. Like I said before, I don't race the car but do like to get on it every few days on the roads. If you can recommend a reasonably-proced better pad than the Hawk HPS for my style of driving, please do so.

All this said, can you guys give me some advice?

Thanks much in advance,
B

 

upgrade to ss lines and get some nice endless pads. that should give you more than enough stopping power for daily (but aggressive) driving purposes

this is what the guys at perf niss advised me to get when i asked the same question

 

I am running Brembo slotted rotors and Project MU B-Force pads, I'm very happy with this setup.

 

Thanks for the tips.

aHero: What about rotors? I found a StopTech Stage 2 kit with Endless Vita Nuova pads for $865. Are the Stoptech SportStop rotors any good?

GreddySet: Are you still running the OEM brake lines? How do the Brembo slotted rotors look?

-B

 

I ran them on OEM brake lines for the longest time. I just put in some SS lines last week, but haven't really driven the car yet since.

 

Why not just upgrade Pads and SS lines and leave the rotors OEM?

 

I thought about keeping the OEM rotors. Does anyone have any performance info on the OEM rotors vs. any of the aftermarket rotors?

I really like the cross-drilled look of aftermarket rotors too though. Still, I'd like to see if anyone has any performance data on the OEMs.

Thanks,
B

 

Honestly, if your going to go through the trouble of upgrading rotors, pads and lines...why not just get a BBK all-together?

I've had upgraded rotors on my past cars and they are just plain dumb...yeah, they look cool but its like an immitation BBK.

I say save more money and get what you really want, a BBK.

 

I wish I'd save money by getting a BBK. From the research I've done, I'll spend 3 or 4K on a BBK. I can get 2-piece aerorotors and some carbon metallic pads for 2K max. I can actually spend even less if I don't get the aerorotors. I really don't care about the SS lines and am happy with the OEM calipers too. All I really want are cooler looking rotors (that perhaps perform a bit better) and new higher-performance pads.

Remember, I only engage in occasional hard street driving. A BBK is overkill and unless I'm missing something, exponentially more pricy.

Thanks,
B

 

I upgraded my front brakes with Wilwood 6-pot BBK for ~ $1500 from ArizonaZCar. That included SS lines as well.

 

What about your rear brakes? Assuming you'll spend 1500 for the back, that's $3K for the entire BBK upgrade...correct?

 

The cross-drilled rotors are for looks. If you like them for looks then get them. But do not get tham as a brake "upgrade" as they are not upgrading anything. If anything they are downgrading, cuz you're losing a lot of surface area.

 

Since cross-drilled are for looks, I'm confused on why they'd put them on BBK's? I figured they stay cooler due to the aeration created by the holes in the metal. But I do see your point on less surface area. They may be cooler but probably don't stop as well either. As for slotted rotors, would they be a better choice performance-wise? Of course the flip-side of those is that they'd get hotter faster...right?

Thanks again guys...

 

Rear brakes: StopTech SS brake lines, Stillen slotted sport rotors and metal matrix pads. OEM rear calipers. Cost approximately $400

 

Brake rotor temperature [on the street without cooling speed or ducts] is purely a function of rotor weight [plus what ever amount gets coupled to the wheels thru the rotor hat and studs].

Tires usually have more to do with street stopping and this of course varies with road/tire temperature.

TireRack has some good test reports on tires and their wet/dry stopping distance from 50 mph.................look at the variances between brands on the same BMW [test cars].

I always chose based on wet because it is often more critical.

If you are trying to beat oem single stop distances think carefully before you replace the dusty soft oem pads..........most aftermarket pads won't even equal oem in cold panic stops.