hey everyone. im sure i wont get alot of replies on this one buy what the ek... I am going to buy a big brake setup for my g and wanted to know the pros and cons to both 6 and 4 piston calipers... right now i am leaning towards the 4/p ap racing front and rear kit. but the 6/p looks sooo much better, i hear they are an overkill and not necessary. ?

 

Who says there overkill? The people that couldnt afford bumping up to the 6piston? LoL. Brake kits are expensive and not necessarily "bigger is better" but I definately dont see how anyone can say they are overkill compared to 4piston kits.. you do want to be fairly even though so dont do an 8piston kit up front and stockies or 2pots on rear
..

 

^^^^ very true..more $$$ but worth it at high speeds

 

Piston quantity has no impact on the ability to stop the car, its overall pad area that matters. That is why your factory 2 piston floating front calipers can lock up the front tires and cause ABS activation. Torque output and brake balance are what matters with a big brake upgrade and we go over it in detail on our website here:

https://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/w...upgrades.shtml

And here:

https://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/w...formance.shtml

and here:

https://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/w...rakekits.shtml

For what its worth, we offer both 4 and 6 piston calipers for the 350Z/G35 platform, both of which have the same overall torque output for the same brake balance. Because of this, all other factors being equal, both brake kits would offer near identical stopping distances.

 

^^^according to that there can be overkill meaning that bigger is not always better. definitely no worse in performance.. like why would a civic need a BBK when they're so damn light

 

THanks for the information...Very interesting...

 

This is my simplified view as a practical user, cut & paste from one of my earlier posts:

The difference between 1 & 2 pod vs 4 pod is HUGE, Typical 1 &2 pod design has pods (pistons) coming from one side of the caliper only, pushing only the outside of brake pad/rotor & causing the back side of caliper to passively pressing the other brake pad to the back side of the rotor.

4/6 Pod caliper has pistons on both side of the caliper,
in 2+2 or 3+3 format. Therefore, the brake force applied to both side of the
rotor are even. This does not mean more clamping force, just more even pressure, even pad/rotor wear & more consistent long term performance.

6 pods may use 3 smaller pistons on each side vs. 4 pods = 2 bigger piston on each side, the total area of the piston contact surface for 6 pod may not be significantly bigger than 4 pod. The 6 pod caliper it'self may bot be much bigger than 4 pod caliper either, therefore a lot of times, they both fit the same size rotor. Bigger sized rotor matters more that two extra pods.

The difference between 1, 2 pod OE caliper vs. 4 pod Wilwood:
1, weight savings = performance
2, One side push vs. two side push = Performance
3, usually comes with 2-piece big & light weight rotors = performance
4, look & bragging rights

The difference between 4 pod vs. 6 pod wilwood caliper:
Just bragging rights, I.E. I've got more pods that you. They weight about the same, look about the same & perform about the same (Unless 6 pod gets even bigger rotor).

In summary:
4 pod 13.6" BBK set up is better than 6 pod 13" BBK in both look & performance due to bigger rotor.

When shop for BBK, check out their weight. Wilwood saved me 7-8lb per corner unsprung weight, def. the lightest BBK out there. You could feel the weight difference in cornering performance similar to going with lighter wheel,
regardless of braking or not.