Guys I'm looking for brakes that will put up with autocross duty and race track duty while maintaining drivability. The car will probably spend more time on the autox but will probably see two outings maybe three per year at hallet raceway. Which is a full on race track...

I've been out of the mod/performance game for awhile and am trying to refamiliarize myself with trusted brands.

BBK? StopTek? Brembo? Wilwood (sp?), whats good? whats bad?

I've noticed a lot of brake kits have cross drilled rotors, I know initially there were many problems with cross drilled rotors cracking, has that been solved? Are there any brake kits available with blanks? Or are the old issues associated with slotted/drilled rotors mostly gone?

This car will be a daily driver, please keep that in mind.

 

issue with slotted/drilled rotors mostly happened with cheap stuff... usually brand like brambo have good rotors even if they are slotted... what does make the rotor crack is hot/cold too often...

 

I had power slotted rotors and cyroslotted rotors which weren't bad Probably got 80,000 miles on the.

I've been using Hawk hps
looking to go for either the Hawk hp +
or racing brakes.

Some say the r1 concepts are a great buy for the price most said no problems so far. *shrugs give it a shot its is cheaper.

 

I got an Endless BBK, and those things stop on a dime. My car is also my daily, so these brakes can do both track and normal driving.

 

If this is going to be see a course or track often I would recommend the STOPTECH 2 pc 13" 4 Piston Big Brake Kit. You are going to need the larger surface area and larger caliper b/c the stock stuff just isn't going to hold up and will get mushy after a few good runs.

STOPTECH offers a silver, red or black caliper and slotted curved vane discs (13"). It's a 2 piece disc so it's an aluminum hat with iron disc ring for better heat dissipation and better dispersion of brake force.

These kits run about $1850 or so shipped to the cont US. Of course it won't fit behind stock wheels so you will need either a wheel spacer or a more aggressive wheel.

 

First of all, if you're serious about auto-x, check the rules for the class that you're planning on running first. Most classes won't allow BBK, so you're stuck with OEM type brakes. IMO, for auto-x, all you really need is upgraded brake pads, SS brake lines, and better brake fluid. As for the rotors, OEM is fine. But if you do experience the warping that many people have seen, you can go with something like Brembo blanks or even Centric blanks. Slotted/drilled rotors are not necessary, but if you like the "coolness" factor, go with slotted rotors only. Don't waste your time and money on the drilled or even the combo rotors.

I used to auto-x heavily from 1998 to 2006. I only used OEM rotors in my Prelude. I had Hawks HP Plus pads, Goodridge SS lines, and Motul fluid. This combo worked well for me at auto-x. This combo also works well for track events depending on the track and your driving style. The only downside to the HP Plus pads is that they are dusty. Be prepared to wash your wheels every few days.

 

I've got hawk pads/brembo's on my maxima now, its a good combination.

Stock rotors warp easily though in the case of the TSX. I would also worry that the brakes wouldn't hold up at places like Hallett which is a 1.8 mile road course, that I will probably visit a few times a year.


Also with regard to wheels, I was hoping to stick with the factory 17s which means I will probably have to keep the rotor diameter to 12.6 inches or less???

I'm not a huge fan of spending money on wheels only to get them torn up/stolen...i guess I could change my mind but I was hoping I could stick with the factory wheels. I'd then pickup a second set of wheels and throw on some sort of UHP tire for grip at autox/track events.

 

The rotors warping on the TSX is usually a function of them just plain being old, or improper tightening of lugnuts (too much torque, uneven torquing pattern). If you properly install a set of quality rotors, you're not going to run into problems -- you shouldn't, anyway.

That said, I'm running a 1pc Rotora BBK up front. The stopping power's great, and it was a good deal (thanks again, Excelerate). I've yet to track the car with this setup, but on spirited backroad runs, it hasn't shown any signs of fade.

If I were going to seriously track the car I would have probably bought a 2pc kit for better heat dissipation, though.

As far as your concerns about wheels -- hit up Tirerack and pull up the Kosei K1-TS. They're pretty cheap and are really light-weight - perfect track wheels. Think of them as a poor man's Enkei RPF1, I guess.

 

If you're really worried about the brakes not holding up for tracks, get yourself a set of rotors and race pads dedicated for track use, and swap them out when you're at the track. That was what I did before I turned my Prelude into a dedicated track car. Then at the end of the track day, swap them back to your street setup. Just make sure you label them, so you'll know that the right side pads are supposed to paired with the right side rotor, and vice versa.

 

Yes they do!!

You still rockin Nick's wheels?

 

ohhh trust me..

you dun want to go with hawk HP+. @@

unless you dun mind having the HIGH PITCH .." GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE " sound.

 

My buddies HP+ are pretty good and dont screech

 

my hawk hp+ where quite most of the time not all of the time

 

Axxis Ultimates provide excellent, quiet braking

 

Wow, where to begin. Since this is going auto-x and going to see some track time, a big part of this will boil down to how aggressive you can go while staying in your class (in which with a BBK, you'll definitely get bumped higher). The TSX brakes are quite stout. As someone said before me, good set of pads, fluid (I also run Motul fluid), and lines will go a long way without disrupting balance.

For a dual purpose pad for auto-x, I like the Axxis ULT. Only thing about these pads is do not let them overheat (~900 degrees MOT). I like them over the Hawk HP+ as the ULT's have a higher Mu at earlier temperatures (plus I like the feel of metalic pads). Also, do not run the pads on the track. You WILL OVERHEAT THEM. For track use, you're much better off with a dedicated track pad. Depending on what car I'm in, I usually run Ferodo DS3000 (RSX), Hawk Blue (Civic), or Cobalt Friction (Porsche).

As far as rotors go, since it seems like you're wanting to get competitive, keep your operating costs low, and stick with a good OE replacement rotor. The reason I say this is that its easy to start upgrading without thinking of operation cost later down the line. For example, the RSX and the Civic are my cheapest to run cars, and my weekend budget for taking 1 car out is about $3000 for the weekend. The Porsche (which I do not own) only comes out for Thunderhill 25hr, but when you consider test and tune time, track rentals, equipment, etc etc etc, just bringing that car out for the 1 weekend ends up costing the owner (a good friend of mine) around $80,000 to $120,000. And that budget is nothing compared to what World Challenge teams spend per weekend per car (I was there helping out with Automotive Forum's R34 Skyline GT-R in WC GT). A privateer in WC can spend around quater-million in 1 weekend, and that's on the light side.