[V8] Brake Upgrades?

[DasWolfen at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/4/04 10:59:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
gregsj2 at comcast.net writes:

> We've received some flak about the required wheel upgrade (to 16s or 
> 17s).  Let me begin by saying Keith's/Audiconnection's Wilwood upgrade 
> is very slick and we love and support the "Yankee Ingenuity" that 
> created it.   If you want a brake upgrade under a 15in wheel, it's the 
> way to go.  There are, however, two caveats.  The first is that brake 
> rotors are essentially heat sinks.  When you are trying to haul down a 
> fast, front-end heavy, 4000 lb car, there's a whole bunch of braking 
> energy that becomes heat, which can eventually lead to what we all call 
> "brake fade."   Plain and simple, you can fit more heat sink under 16 
> and 17in wheels.  Second, Wilwoods are light racing calipers that were 
> designed for cars that come with mechanics who cam rebuild the calipers 
> whenever it's necessary.

Good points Greg.....But...;)

 Honestly I gotta say that if someone has G60's and needs a real brake 
upgrade that fits under a 15" wheel then RPI's 11" setup using Wilwood Dynalite 
calipers on the existing G60 rotor is the best choice. The Wilwood calipers may 
not have dust seals but none of the cars I've converted nor owners of Wilwood 
equipped cars I've talked to has had any issues with seal failure. Beside that 
my feeling is that if someone is driving a car hard enough that the G60's are 
an issue then periodic (say 3 to 4 year) caliper service is a small price to 
pay for improved safety margin. 

 As for the rest of my $0.02.....

 I'm no longer offering any brake upgrades for several reasons..the big one 
being that its difficult to justify the time invested for the return to my 
pocket...yep, I need to eat.

 If wheels are not an issue then BIRA's Sys2 and ECS's stage 2 setups are the 
way to go. For all intents and purposes they are the same system the 
difference being ECS's use of 993 TT (aka big reds) calipers where BIRA uses standard 
996 monoblocks. The more compact 996 monoblock allows fitment of a wider range 
of wheels without using spacers.

 If its a UFO car in question where the owner just desires a switch from 
UFO's I STRONGLY recommend staying away from G60's. A better choice is to install 
the 92-96 100/A6 strut housings along with the associated 288mm ATE 57 brake 
setup. A set of 10mm spacers are required to get the wheels back out where they 
belong but its a small price to pay in the long run. Several advantages to 
doing so. A substantial increase in swept area over G60's along with the greater 
leverage, less caliper mounting flex, calipers are more resistant to rust, 
real performance pads are cheaper, and the big one in my book....if someone 
switches to 16's at a later date they can upgrade the brakes to 312mm rotors by 
simply switching the caliper mounting bracket (off the shelf TT bracket) and a 
pair of 312mm A6/A8 rotors.

Keith