So my buddy wants to upgrade his stopping power without breaking the bank, and he's not sure where to start. Was hoping someone could chime in with some info. He has a '96 Civic with stock rotors, pads, rims, etc. What would you reccomend, and where could I find it?
Mods: My apologies if this is in the wrong forum, being it's Honda, but I was not sure where to post.

 

Car Talk.

 

he should start with sport pads and stainless steal lines. Anything more is a waste on a stock setup.

Replacing stock sized rotors with cross drilled or slotted rotors will only make your brake setup worse because you are decreasing the amoutn of surface area to dissipate heat buildup which is one of the reasons why you upgrade to a big brake kit along with increased caliper size and increasing the number of pistons.

 

so, getting larger calipers + rotors is a good idea then?
that makes sense. i just don't know how/where to search for larger calipers/rotors for that car.

 

Look up some civic forums and I'm sure you'll likely find some info on calipers/rotors you can swap in just like the 1g CL guys can use legend calipers.

 

There aren't many options for upgrading rotor and caliper size for the civic/integra primiarly because it's hard to fit a larger rotor/caliper in the stock 15" rim. I'm not saying it's not possible, I just haven't heard of any solutions after researching stuff for my Integra.

Your friend should be prepared to upgrade his rims if he wants to get some larger rotors/calipers possibly with the use of some spacers depending on the rim offset and caliper size.

 

Yea, good pads and SS lines are probably his best bet, anything other than that you're going to really start talking serious $$$$$$

 

cool. thanx. so whats the benefit of the SS line? more brake pressure or something?

 

The lines are wrapped with a staineless steel weave which keeps them from expanding delivering consistent pressure to your caliper.

You usually get a more consistent pedal feel.

 

oh ok! and you just replace the short section that flexes out to the calipers in the wheel well, right? isn't that the only section you can replace?

 

Yea brake lines are solid until that point you're basically upgrading from rubber to wrapped rubber inside the wheel well.

I don't know the procedure or what else is involved (bleeding et).

 

cool. thanx much for the info.