Hello everyone.

I am thinking about replacing the front brakes in my 2005 S2000. Probably more for looks than the occasional auto-cross.

Anyway, I believe I am going with the Wilwood BBK and am trying to decide between the four and six piston models. The four piston kit will fit beneath the OEM 17" rims and the six piston will also fit BUT requires 5MM spacers.

Whew... OK to breathe now....

The question being how, if at all, will the 5MM spacers impact the way the car tracks and does anyone think the wheels will rub during sharp turns?

Thank you in advance for your feedback.

PS - I know the six piston kit will be overkill, but it will look great!

 

5mm is about .2 inches. Thats less than a quarter of an inch.
It wont bother it much. I doubt you would notice it. Go for it.
6 pistons are sweeeeeet!!

 

Wider track means more stable cornering, but it will also put extra stress on the suspension. Also the studs will be under more stress, if they don't require being changed out with new longer ones (I don't know how long they are on the S2000).

Isn't the 6-piston caliper track-spec? It doens't even have dust boots, does it? The 4-piston will be plenty enough, in my opinion. Sure, going with the 6-piston and the bigger rotors may look great and brake much better, but you're also increasing unsprung weight which could negatively affect ride and handling.

But, having said that, an extra 5mm won't hurt. It's when you go further out that you might have some problems. And the increased weight won't kill you or make you hate the way the car drives. It's all about trade-offs; ask yourself if it's worth it.

Doesn't the S2000 have pretty decent brakes already? I mean, I personally think it's odd that you want to do it more for looks than anything. But I guess if you've got the cash to swing, then hey, it's your car. But it will look DAMN good and brake much better.

 

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

Yes, the S2k has great brakes and that is what makes the decision so hard. I just love the looks of big brakes. If I auto-cross two-three times a year, that will be a lot.

As for the spacer, I was told I will be able to use the OEM lugs with the spacers. I never thought about the extra wear on the suspension.

The early voters are recommending the 4 piston, eh?

If anyone has the Wilwood BBK please feel free to share your experience.

 

I'm recommending the 4-piston just because it is not track spec like the 6-piston. Samkws has the Superlite 6-piston calipers on his TL, and he loves them. However, they do not have dust boots, so they will require regular cleaning, which isn't quite ideal for street-spec calipers in my book.

 

Hmmm, I certainly do not want the extra mess. Sounds like the 4-piston setup will be the cleanest and requires no modifications.

I wonder if the caliper is a lot larger than the stock caliper???

Things are looking up!

 

Didn't you lease this car? If so just beat the crap out of it in stock form.

That being said if it really means that much to you then do it. I also think big brake kits are cool, but kind of pricey if your not going to push the car to the limits.

As you know, I am looking into getting a S myself and have been following mods. Brakes are not high on the must have list of upgrades for anything short of full track use. Intake(AEM V2 is great if you don't drive in rain much), header(ricks S2k header is a great value), comptech upgraded dif/new gear ratio- then if you don't want FI just start subtracting weight where ever possible, because any other power increases are very minimal and VERY expensive.

But like I said if big brakes will make you happy then go for it, but think about if its worth it. Most big brake kits don't shorten braking distance much at all and some actually increase braking distance from 100-0, big brake kits do the most good when you see three 100-0 brakes in a short period of time. If your not going to be doing that you'll see little improvement from day to day. One of my good friends was ready to upgrade his 350z to the big brake kits until he saw a review done on them on his car showing what they actually did, at which point he backed out of deal.

 

Yes, the car is a lease. For legal reasons, I was not able to purchase, but plan to at the end.

The 4-piston kit drops 25 lbs from the car's current weight. I thought I have read somewhere the CAI does not do much for the car, because it already breathes so well. The car will never be driven in the rain unless I mistakenly get caught.

I hope to find a side-by-side picture of the OEM calipers next to the Wilwood 4-piston calipers.

Either way, it is more about appearance than performance. The OEM brakes are supposed to be pretty decent for light auto-cross.

 

Some of the cold air intakes do nothing, others(like the AEM) give you a few more ponies, increase throttle response(the big reason to do it) and increase low and midrange power. I am not an intake guy, but the VTEC on the F22C sounds really cool when there's an intake on it.

It really boils down to what you want to do with the car.

 

Just trying to change the appearance a little. I would love to boost the power, but not sure how. Meaning, not sure what I would do.

 

Yea its tough on the S2000, they really have the thing pretty tuned from the factory, you gain a few horsepower here and a few there, and when I say a few I mean it. The other added benefit of the upgrades is weight reduction, which is the best way to get more performance out of the car.

I was looking into the Comptech SC and while it seems great over 300 horsepower, very linear power, but you really don't pick up much in performance.

I think I am going to keep mine stock for a while, get used to it and see if I really "need" any more fun from an already fun car.

A lot of the things for the S2000 are a huge waste, and can be very expensive<cough-ITB intake-cough>

 

Great points tireguy. That is why I figured I would go with the brakes. I think they will look awesome and short of a turbo, I do not see much out there in the way of 1/4 reducing mods.