Brake upgrade for race car - DC5 type-R Brembo callipers

[will_968]

I'm new to Hondas and looking for some advice.

I am building a 4th Gen Honda Prelude race car to run in a classic car championship in Asia. I have upgraded the hubs to Euro R 5-stud knuckles and am being recommended by my mechanic to put the 4-pot, DC5 type-R Brembo callipers with 330mm rotors on the front.

The Brembos seem expensive for a used set of callipers and I'm struggling to find many specs on them (piston diameter and a Brembo model number). I am sceptical they are an optimal choice for a race car. What other options do people recommend? I'm running a 17" wheel, so a 330-332mm rotor is as big as I can go.

Things to consider are this is a dedicated race car, will weigh about 1050-1100 kg once complete and will be being raced in Malaysia (Sepang) in both sprint races as well as possibly the 12 hour endurance race held there. Sepang has two main heavy braking areas and ambient temps are around 32-34C.

Any alternate recommendations?

[MurderousCrow]

will_968 said:

Any alternate recommendations?

I’d say StopTech may be the best place to look. They tailor each of their products to the specific vehicle, meaning there are no concerns about front / rear bias or ABS.

I have the StopTech 4-pot touring kit fitted to my EP3 (daily and occasional track car). It’s like the DC5 kit (they both have 300mm rotors, not 330), but is a bit chunkier with a bigger pad surface area. It’s the cheapest StopTech kit, but performs very well indeed. Coming from a ~500bhp Impreza with Porsche 6-pots up front, the performance of the StopTechs on the EP3 is certainly equivalent if not better. I’ve not yet had it on track, but experienced zero fade during breaking in with multiple successive hard stops over an extended period. On a car as light as yours I would think it ideal. Replacement discs are not too expensive, and performance pads are widely available and pretty cheap.

An alternative is StopTech’s 6-pot, 328mm setup. This has been designed to work with the OEM EP3 wheel. Unlike my kit, it uses a two-piece bell and disc. It gets great feedback. I’d suggest its only disadvantages are cost-related. Initial purchase is close to double that of the Touring kit, and consumables are around 1.5x the price. Given the high ambient temps and the long duration of racing however, you may well benefit from the increased heat dispersal offered by the larger rotor.

If you want to look further into it, you can print and cut out a fitment template to check fit against one of your wheels:

http://www.stoptech.com/technical-support/bbk-whee...

Luke

[Butter Face]

I've got project-k Brembo conversion on mine. 330mm 350Z discs with Megane R26 calipers.

http://k-system.pro/en/product-category/civic-ep-e...

Not sure on fitment to your specific car etc but worth a look?

[will_968]

Butter Face said:

I've got project-k Brembo conversion on mine. 330mm 350Z discs with Megane R26 calipers.

http://k-system.pro/en/product-category/civic-ep-e...

Not sure on fitment to your specific car etc but worth a look?

Ah, cool. I'd heard about this conversion, but wasn't sure what components it was made of or where to buy it as a kit.

Am I right to think the key value of buying the kit is to get the bracket that allows the Megane calipers to be mounted to the Honda hubs? There are of course other sources of Megane R26 calipers and 350Z rotors.

[Butter Face]

Yeah the brackets are the key, I priced up the parts separately and there was hardly anything in it. I work at a renault dealer so thought I could undercut the caliper price for sure but he must buy in bulk.

I just bought the whole kit and off I went, great VFM.

[will_968]

Butter Face said:

Yeah the brackets are the key, I priced up the parts separately and there was hardly anything in it. I work at a renault dealer so thought I could undercut the caliper price for sure but he must buy in bulk.

I just bought the whole kit and off I went, great VFM.

OK - thanks. My main PITA is shipping to Malaysia which is done on weight and then also import duty which is 36% of the declared value, which quickly adds up. I can buy 350Z rotors locally; but doubt I can get the calipers there.

Do you know how much bigger the Megane calipers are than the DC5 Type-R units? They look very similar and my mechanic in Malaysia is telling me there's no difference. I think he's wrong as all he's done is see pics of red brembo calipers and declared them the same, but I've no facts to back it up. Do you have any data on the caliper size/piston sizes or the Brembo model number?

I presume you then put any Megane pads in there of your choosing too?

Edited by will_968 on Friday 4th August 08:55

[Butter Face]

Sorry I don't know the sizes/specs, but I can tell you that I'm sure the DC5 calipers are different to the Megane ones.

DC5 calipers bolt on at the rear of the caliper to the hub..



Megane calipers bolt on from the top of the caliper to the hub



So they're completely different..

And yes, you can use any Megane/Clio fitment pads.

[Supateg]

Look at Acura TL calipers from USA. They are brembo 4 pots, front mount at a fraction of the cost of DC5 calipers. They fit directly with Euro r CL7 knuckles. Very large pad fitment as they use the same pads as Evo's

[will_968]

Supateg said:

Look at Acura TL calipers from USA. They are brembo 4 pots, front mount at a fraction of the cost of DC5 calipers. They fit directly with Euro r CL7 knuckles. Very large pad fitment as they use the same pads as Evo's

I'd read about these on a US forum. Do you know what year TL they come off? I'm in the US next week and could pick some up while there, but need to be clear what I'm looking for. Thanks.

[Supateg]

will_968 said:

Supateg said:

Look at Acura TL calipers from USA. They are brembo 4 pots, front mount at a fraction of the cost of DC5 calipers. They fit directly with Euro r CL7 knuckles. Very large pad fitment as they use the same pads as Evo's

I'd read about these on a US forum. Do you know what year TL they come off? I'm in the US next week and could pick some up while there, but need to be clear what I'm looking for. Thanks.

Acura TL 2004-2008 3.5, Type s also
They are gloss black with ACURA written in white on the side. 4 pot alloy (other TL calipers are 1 pot cast steel). Make sure you get Left and Right and not two of the same size as they have different sized pistons for pad wear etc.