Cup brakes dissappointing

[zoog]

Leaving aside all the usual arguments about ABS or not, does anyone here agree with me that the Cup brakes as standard are just not that good for whatever reason?

I find the feel is poor (upgrade to braided hoses?) and that pedal action is awkward with my big feet, and most inportantly outright retardation is not as good as I had hoped, given its a very light car with the Laguna brakes on it.

I m thinking of replacing the brakes but dont want to raise unsprung mass too much - anyone any experience or suggestions of good upgrades, and what size discs/nunber of calipers etc to go for on a Cup.

Does increasing number of calipers always improve braking force - i would have thought not necessarily so from my rusty physics, it would depend on other factors too???

 

[BRUN]

K-Tec have just brought out the 4-pot kit, its listed in the Clio II page but the prices dont seem to include the 2.0L.......

http://www.k-tecracing.com/show_product.asp?id=873http://www.k-tecracing.com/show_product.asp?id=873

you can get a very similar thing from Rally Design so have a look there too

http://www.raldes.co.ukwww.raldes.co.uk

 

[geoff_clio182]

Try Tarox G88s up front and Tarox fast road pads all round...did the trick on my 172!

 

[KDF]

of all the things to complain about on the 172 brakes were never an issue for me..

infact after getting the car and asked what the brakes were like, my reply was "fcuking mental"

For the first few minutes of the drive home my passengers would headbutt the windscreen followed by "sorry" from me..

 

[The_Gza]

Id agree with KDF - the brakes are great on the Cup. Plenty of stopping power, good feel and no sign of fade under hard usage. Id say I prefer them to the 4 pot stoppers on my Impreza

 

[RobFenn]

Yeah remember big brake kits will more likely give a worse feel through the pedal..

From my experience the Cups brakes were pretty fab, apart from in the wet where it was actually rather scary, all part of the fun though!

-Rob

 

[mo--]

i think KDF is talking about brakes on his 172, were as ZOOg is talking about his Cup, the brakes on the CUP do fade alot after heavy use i had to stop after 7 or 8 laps @ a track day as the pedal was getting higher as the fluid heated up, but i wouldnt expect anything more from my CUP. There r a lot of good 4pot kits, cross drilled discs, and racing kevlar pads available for CUPs.

 

[Frosty]

For fast road use I think the Cup brakes are very good. The feel from the pedal really is great.

 

[BenR]

you have braided hoses?

youll be sirprised what a tiny bit of air can do.....check with a quick bleed.

 

[zoog]

mmmm ....I think i ll get braided hoses first and see if I prefer them then.

 

[philip]

hardly any space for bigger discs on the cup the OEM 285mm disc fits well, max size may be 305mm but thats pushing it. You can buy a standard size but much higher quality treated group N disc from Oreca in France and with a set of decent pads, that should do the trick. Oh and the group N discs look standard (not drilled/grooved) and do the business. Braided hoses = nice, + swapping renos brake fluid with proper dot5.1 also helps. Thats my plan for what its worth.

 

[Moby]

i think the cup brakes are pretty good - but I did have a stock 1.2 corsa before hand!

 

[Eddd]

Stock brakes should be pretty good. A change of pads makes a huge difference in most cars.

Beginners quite often overuse the brakes on the track. I dont think an experienced driver would have much problem with the Cup brakes.

It is always best to upgrade the driver before upgrading the car.

mo-- , have you done many track days? Was it on a very short circuit? Some circuits are murder on brakes, especially short ones where the brakes dont get a chance to cool down between applications.

Ed

 

[BenR]

philip, dont bother with dot5.1 fluid, expensive and not much better plus shorter service life.

Stick to castrol super dot 4 synthetic, ive used it on all my cars, on teh trac etc and never had a problem, plus readuly available too.....

 

[philip]

Ta for the advice ben. will have a look at the prices when the time comes to tweek the braking system. currently looking at power improvements and getting frustrated by the total lack of available quality mods to the clios. If I had known it was going to be so damn bad, I would have gone for something with a rover k series engine or a zetec, maybe even a vauxhall lump.

Theres absolutely nuffink out there. no TBs (roamer get your skates on), no head/cams, zip zero nada.

 

[BenR]

yup........thats the problem when Renault make their engines so pricy!

The elise was originally mean to use the F7P, and if they did, we would have a million parts by now.

But since the engine is only used in the 172, its rather pants......plus, having all this boyracer crap flatong about, people make engien dressing parts as they sell faster than proper performance parts.

Oh well.....

 

[Cup172]

Found them OK for moderate track use didnt fad once and never locked them up either. Not that I tried to, would like to try them with greenstuff as had them on my lancer and were good, but losts of brake dust.

 

[Jim172CUP]

i cant fault my cup brakes, but then again i came from a 1.4 Ren 19.

 

[philip]

only hairy moment so far with braking is driving on mway, under a total downpour (wipers on max). being on mway, the brakes/discs were cold and I had to brake fairly hard. Well, the car didnt really stop...

so moral of the story, if driving in the (very) wet, and the brakes are cold (unlike track), be careful when braking in a cup! same applies to all other clios Im sure, but since the brakes are so good in the dry, you can be lulled into a false sense of security.

 

[Jim172CUP]

yeah when its wet the general rule of thumb is dont hare about.

 

[pep87]

cup brakes on my car good for road use, not bad on track but they do tend to fade after about 6-7 laps, pedal gets a bit long. overheard R-sport boss saying brake bias valves on some cups ajusted wrong in the factory!!!!

 

[Cup172]

What else did they do wrongly in the factory then, recall, or just have to live with it?

 

[BenR]

i had a look at the 172 compensator on the rear of loonys car, i didnt see any form of adj on teh lever arm.