the big bad big brake question!?!
Discussion
after a little tracking, the exige s needs some pads and possibly discs; yes, its upgrade time. she is still under warranty but given the credit crunch, i am not going near the dealers. sooooooo, i see my options as this;
ebc discs and pagids
ap brake upgrade
skim disc and pagids
(all including hose upgrades)
now all of these have various merits, as far as cost goes, i am making it out to be 500, 1500 and 250 ish, respectfully. so ladies and gentlemen, thanking you in advance for your input, i open the floor........any thoughts?????
ebc discs and pagids
ap brake upgrade
skim disc and pagids
(all including hose upgrades)
now all of these have various merits, as far as cost goes, i am making it out to be 500, 1500 and 250 ish, respectfully. so ladies and gentlemen, thanking you in advance for your input, i open the floor........any thoughts?????
The exige S is quite heavy, so it will always tax the brakes more than a lighter variant. Also, you will be carrying more speed into the braking zones. I would be surprised if you find the EBC's much of an improvement. The trouble is to get the performance you want without spending a fortune. On the other hand, if you go through discs every few months, that doesn't work out very cheap in the long run. The standard calipers are just fine - though you would need spacers to run bigger discs. The full fat 4 pot AP system is expensive, but unnecessary. Imho, you would be better off spending the money on better discs.
I would suggest the following:
AP discs 295 / 304 at the front (using 3.5mm spacers for the calipers), with Pagid RS42 pads if the car is used a ot on the road, or RS14 pads if the car is mainly a trackday car.
At the back you can keep the std lotus discs or upgrade to eliseparts ali-belled discs or even 290mm AP's if you were feeling flush. If the rear discs are still OK, you could spend the money on the fronts for the time being.
I would suggest the following:
AP discs 295 / 304 at the front (using 3.5mm spacers for the calipers), with Pagid RS42 pads if the car is used a ot on the road, or RS14 pads if the car is mainly a trackday car.
At the back you can keep the std lotus discs or upgrade to eliseparts ali-belled discs or even 290mm AP's if you were feeling flush. If the rear discs are still OK, you could spend the money on the fronts for the time being.
Plans said to me:
As rough guide, the 295 kit gives approx 2/3 rds of the improvement of the 4 pot kit, for roughly a third of the price.
Which I had fitted to replace the standard discs and pads on my 240 R. In feb the 3 options and prices quoted by Plans motorsport were:
Replace front pads and discs with OE as you currently have, this is £99.50 for the pads and £110 per disc, fitting is 1 hour at £49.50 per hour.
Replace front pads with OE and fit our 295 mm AP discs, this is the same price for pads and £455 for the discs, fitting is 1.5 hours at £49.50 per hour.
Replace front discs and pads with Lotus Motorsport AP 4 pot kit, this is £1575 for the parts and fitting is 2.5 hours at £49.50 per hour.
As rough guide, the 295 kit gives approx 2/3 rds of the improvement of the 4 pot kit, for roughly a third of the price.
Which I had fitted to replace the standard discs and pads on my 240 R. In feb the 3 options and prices quoted by Plans motorsport were:
Replace front pads and discs with OE as you currently have, this is £99.50 for the pads and £110 per disc, fitting is 1 hour at £49.50 per hour.
Replace front pads with OE and fit our 295 mm AP discs, this is the same price for pads and £455 for the discs, fitting is 1.5 hours at £49.50 per hour.
Replace front discs and pads with Lotus Motorsport AP 4 pot kit, this is £1575 for the parts and fitting is 2.5 hours at £49.50 per hour.
Hoses on a S2 are a clam off job which will bump your bill up a bit. Also as the yoto brakes are servo'd I don't know how much of an improvement in pedal feel you'd get?
I have those turbo discs on my 190 and will be upgrading to ap's soon. They seem to give less feedback than the std discs to me? Anyway i'd save your money and just get some ali-belled first.
I have those turbo discs on my 190 and will be upgrading to ap's soon. They seem to give less feedback than the std discs to me? Anyway i'd save your money and just get some ali-belled first.
EBC discs mated to Pagid pads,mmm.....,your going cheap on your discs and top of the range pads,why?If you want to save money stick to EBC allround,whereas if you want the thing to stop on a track day stick on your Pagid pads,but please,please stick on a decent set of discs,why do you think Lotus don't put EBC disc's on their new cars?You know it's the right thing to do just stick on Lotus vented discs,they do what they're supposed to do,STOP the car at speed.
Just out of interest how many set of pads have you been through, as the lotus discs do last well, and you may find a big improvement from a set pagid pads, some braided brake lines and and some fresh fluid. unless you've killed a few sets of pads. or you've worped your discs i'd be suprised if they need replacing, just a thought
Orange
Orange
i had to do the drive home from the track on them and the discs are in bad shape. i bit the bullet today and bought the AP front discs, pagid pads, hoses and fluid. expensive, but just not thinking about it.
the results;
http://youtube.com/watch?v=m1dv_y_3EK0
the results;
http://youtube.com/watch?v=m1dv_y_3EK0
MadProf said:
EBC discs mated to Pagid pads,mmm.....,your going cheap on your discs and top of the range pads,why?If you want to save money stick to EBC allround,whereas if you want the thing to stop on a track day stick on your Pagid pads,but please,please stick on a decent set of discs,why do you think Lotus don't put EBC disc's on their new cars?You know it's the right thing to do just stick on Lotus vented discs,they do what they're supposed to do,STOP the car at speed.
You must be in the minority if you think the std vented lotus discs are good. In my experience and that of many others, they are utter rubbish - Lotus's choice was based on cost, not quality. I can kill a set on track in a very short space of time. There is little to choose between them and EBC's. On track I got fade within the first 2 laps of most circuits. The eliseparts ali-belled discs were better, but not quite up to the job on a 200+ bhp car. The OE discs might There are quite a few issues why they don't stand up to heavy abuse - especially on a relatively heavy 220bhp exige S (weighs about 160kg more than my 230bhp car).
1) A disc on a aluminium bell does not transmit the heat to the hub etc as much as a single piece cast disc
2) The material that the OE lotus discs is pretty poor
3) The disc design is very poor at dissipating heat.
If you are on a budget, pads should be the first thing to upgrade. Then discs and only then, consider calipers, though the std ones are absolutely fine.
mylesmcd said:
i had to do the drive home from the track on them and the discs are in bad shape. i bit the bullet today and bought the AP front discs, pagid pads, hoses and fluid. expensive, but just not thinking about it.
the results;
http://youtube.com/watch?v=m1dv_y_3EK0
For your car, that was the right choice. It will work out cheaper in the long run. the results;
http://youtube.com/watch?v=m1dv_y_3EK0
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