Best brake upgrade (K-Tec/BBPT)

[Tom_16v]

My front brakes are finally shagged from over a years abuse so Im splashing out on a big brake conversion.

Im after the 310mm conversion with new 4 pots, but a few questions before I spend my £££s....

Does anyone know the difference between the K-Tec and BBPT kits? The K-Tec is more expensive but which is better?

Braided hoses? Whats the deal with em, worth it?

& finally, someone mentioned the 4 pots wont be any more effective than the standard calipers as your using the standard master cylinder. Is this true?

Thanks

Tom

 

[Daz]

John (Night.Icon) has the BB Big Brakes I think.. think he really rates them, too! Think his might be the 285s tho? Not 100% sure.

 

[u33db]

I dont youll get anything bigger than 285mm under phase 2 alloys m8 (i think)

 

[Daz]

Quote: Originally posted by u33db on 24 February 2004

I dont youll get anything bigger than 285mm under phase 2 alloys m8 (i think)

I get the feeling Phase2s are right on the limit at 285.. not even 100% they do fit!

This one: http://www.bbperformancetuning.co.uk/products/product.asp?deptid=102&id=262http://www.bbperformancetuning.co.uk/products/product.asp?deptid=102&id=262 says 16" or above!

 

[Tom_16v]

Im running 16"s peeps so 310mm discs will fit nicely......

 

[RobFenn]

The BBPT ones are NOT dust sealed. Which means caliper rebuilds! You have to pay extra for the better ones which k-tec use as standard. I question if either are worth that money though, id check if brembo/ap racing etc. do off the shelf kits as well.

-Rob

 

[Tom_16v]

n1 Rob, thats what I needed to know.

Looks like itll be K-Tec then (now wheres that credit card heh!)

 

[Nick Read]

Stop me if Im wrong but arent both kits made by Hi-Spec and rebranded? Lots of tuning companies do the same thing with all their parts that they resell under their own name. Im running a set of 325mm 4 pots on my valver and although they are better than the original setup, theyre not THAT much better, and that seems to make sense that youd need a bigger master cylinder to use the full potential of the bigger brakes. Any braking experts out there who know the answer to this one? In fact I may be going mental, but wouldnt having your braking effort split across 4 pistons rather than 1 piston in a sliding caliper effectively decrease your braking pressure at each piston? IE youd get a smoother/more even application of braking force across both sides of the disc and each end of the pads, but each piston would only supply 1/4 of the force of the original single piston?

 

[Martin]

Is there a easy upgrade to the master cylinder then?

 

[Mark@Ritchspeed]

If you want awesome stopping power for very little money then go to Rally design and get the Willwood Dynalite 4pot kit which still uses standard size discs .

I have used these calipers with Willwood poly A pads for the last few years and never experience ANY brake fade even under extreme track abuse . I paid about £400 in total for calipers , group "n" discs , pads and braided hoses .

The clio really doesnt need extra large discs , as the weakest part on the wholebrake set-up is the standard calipers . I spent the best part of 2 years and well over £2k experimenting with brakes before settling on this setup .

 

[Martin]

Do you use standard discs or drilled/grooved? Where are the Wilwoods available from and do you use stnd master cylinder?

Thanks

 

[Mark@Ritchspeed]

The discs are plain vented discs which I get from rally design at around £27 a set and they are really strong . I have found them longer lasting than many so-called performance companies discs . Whenever i used grooved and/or drilled discs I destroyed them in no time i.e 1 days track use . I get around 5-6 track days out of the rally design discs .

I still use the original master cylinder without any problems . Have a look at their website http://www.raldes.co.ukwww.raldes.co.uk for prices. Its easier to get a catalogue sent out though as IMO their website is not very good .

 

[P_aul]

get intouch with Tarrox, they are near Bury, nut have a trade counter a friend of mine got a 6 pot conversion over 1/2 the price than they retail at. he really rated them, went to those from a set of AP racing 4 pots.

 

[Mark@Ritchspeed]

I dont know what the calipers are like , but the Tarox discs i used just fell apart . Of the 2 sets I had , one set warped and the other set warped and cracked , both with only 1 days track use .

 

[Tom_16v]

Cheers for the info Mark.....

Nick - AFAIK, David said his kits werent Hi-Spec ones, but made especially for K-Tec......