Aftermarket Brakes for the SE

[wcdeane]

I ran my '91 SE at a local road course a few weeks back, and had a serious wakeup call.

I have tuned my SE a bit, and she goes like hell. However, on this particular outing my attention was drawn to a concept that I guess I have know all along, but had never place all that much importance on. And that is "the better and faster your car runs...the greater the need for improved brakes. I was having a blast tearing up the course, but the brakes just faded more and more as the day went on. And by midway she was done because the fade gotten so bad, and because I had almost gone through fresh pads on all four corners.

So, I am looking for solutions. I'm looking for good aftermarket kit that I can install myself. Any Suggestions???

And by the way, I have the 17" wheels which should give me a little room for some larger rotors.

Regards...Walt

[GUY JOHNSON]

I recommend wilwoods. I use them on my 88 esprit and they work really well.

Guy

[gixxer]

Just today received a set (2 front) of AP Racing's finest from SJ Sportcars today. Don't know how they work, but I expect them to be better than the stockers which faded on me in a rather sneaky fashion going into a 15 MPH hairpin awhile back.
If you want I can snap a couple pics for you while they're on my floor in pieces.

[5150neo]

I too recommend the Wilwoods. Very positive braking, no fade, no imbalance. I've had them on my 91 SE for about a year and no complaints. Although I would like to try the APs on this car.

[lotusespritworld]

I'm getting a kit from PNM Engineering this week. New 4 pot calipers (hi-spec), new discs, new pads, mounting bracket and hoses for the fronts. All for a good price. I will be fitting them to my 92 SE and testing them. All will be on the pages of Lotus Esprit World in the very near future.

kato
Lotus Esprit World

p.s. Spec is on PNM's website. See LEW's parts page for a link to there site.

[danny tattersall]

Only thing I would say about the Wilwood calipers is that they do not have dust seals fitted. Apart from that they are excellent value for money and very effective.

[okc-esprit]

I put green EBC's on our '90 SE before going to the track last week. They stood up great on a track that's known for eating pads. They're available from JAE.
Bill

[cnh1990]

The wilwoods do not have dust caps. Just throw away the calipers after a while and replace them. I think many people use them because they fit with the stock wheels of the earlier cars.

John Welsh has a big brake kit for the Esprit if you have the larger wheels.

Calvin

[wcdeane]

Thank you one and all...good stuff to go on.

Since Calvin brought up the point of having the larger wheels, I guess I would follow on with a question on basic brake design. My thinking is that one can expect to get only so much out of the existing master cylinder set up in an Esprit, and that if one is going to upgrade the brakes without upgrading the master cylinder, getting the largest possible rotors would be a good strategy. Is this a valid approach?

Regards...Walt

[cnh1990]

Yes that is a valid approach.

John has done quite a bit a of racing and just decided to make his own set up. His discs are nice and cheaper than AP from what I am told. They are still spendy.

Calvin

[wcdeane]

cnh1990 said:

His discs are nice and cheaper than AP from what I am told. They are still spendy. Calvin

Can you offer some contact info on this gentleman?

[cnh1990]

wcdeane said:

cnh1990 said: His discs are nice and cheaper than AP from what I am told. They are still spendy. Calvin Can you offer some contact info on this gentleman?

I was mistaken he does now use AP components. In the past he had used other upgrades based on the Toyota brake kits. John himself has a 91 SE that he runs on the track and these mods are specific to the 89-93 model year with the Toyota brakes.

http://home.netcom.com/~wceng/esprit/brakes.html

In the past he also provides chips already in the memcal ready to snap in without the use of sockets or de-soldering.

Calvin