Brakes for a F355

A sponsor here, GiroDisc can advise you on what is best for what you want to do. And yes I would go with Brembo

 

I have yet to hear someone say somthing bad about Brembo or Stopteck or Willwood or Baer for that matter, but i think these look the best they are called Mov-it. I dont have a Fcar but i have done brakes on other cars with great results from Brembo and Willwood, the others i dont have personal experince with or even know that they make a F355 kit but i have heard that they perform very well and hold to there word.
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Xavior,

I have installed the Brembo GT kit you mentioned with
332 mm discs front and rear.

The brake performance is perfect. You are thinking you have
another car.
Go with Brembo !

Andi

 

They look nice as long as you only plan to show the car and not actually drive it on a track or high spirited IMO. Look at all those holes, they will probably play 'connect the dots' in VERY short order. i guess if you don;t mind buying rotors often and the amount of those holes also reduce the ability to stop. Less actual metal touching the pad = less stopping power versus same size being solid or slotted.

Frankly, i'd avoid those like the plague!

Girodisc would be my first choice followed by Brembo. Remember, the Giro guy worked for Brembo, he is a VERY smart cookie.

 

Anyone know how to turn your brembo calipers from black to red and look professional. I have an extra pair I would like to make red. Some say you can paint them. I have also heard that powder coating is the best but they also say that you then have to rebuild the pistons which can be costly. Any thoughts?

 

I installed the brembo upgrade on my 355 and it was great. It did seem to trigger the ABS a little sooner than normal, but nothing major.

Ray

 

Thats not correct. Mov-it uses Brembo/Porsche Calipers and often Porsche Brake Discs. They all have many holes and no problems with it. The braking performance is very good or better the best i drove ever. Also the durability of genuine porsche brake discs is excellent. Even on the track i doesn't get the brake to wear much. The only thing what happens to the holes is they get blocked by dirt and then the breakdisc temperature is higher. Porsche advices to clean the holes if more then just some are blocked. And not without a reason porsche has nearly the best reputation in the braking sector.
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Samy

 

Brake disc holes help braking efficency, they allow the hot gasses to escape through the holes thus requiring less pedal effort as well, they also make a huge difference in performance in the rain.

I have had a lot of experience with drilled discs on street bikes there you really notice the difference.

 

Hello All,

To those of you who have done the Brembo kit front and back, how was your pedal afterwards? The stock calipers use 36/40 pistons and the F50 caliper that comes in the 355 kit uses 40/44. I would think this would have a very long pedal and be difficult to modulate. I have a call in at Brembo to confirm these piston sizes. Brembo has a caliper they refer to as the H caliper, which is a 36/40 version of the F50. Would seem a logical choice. Will see what they tell me.

Samy, Movit used to use Porsche calipers and rotors but have switched over to their own stuff now. Porsche/Brembo got tired of people making kits from GT2 calipers, turbo calipers etc. That said, Porsche iron is some of the best out there when it comes to longevity with holes drilled in them. Does anyone know what calipers they use in the kit?

Don't get me started about the myth of cast in rotor holes and how great they are. If anyone wants I can take a picture of the skid filled with worn out and cracked Porsche rotors waiting for the recycle guy to pick up. They are fine for the street... Porsche continues to perpetuate the myth by supplying all GT3 cup cars with drilled rotors. I have brand new Porsche GT1 rotors here and I can confirm they are drilled, not cast. Look at any REAL seriously campaigned race cars and see if they run drilled or slotted.

355, we can repaint your calipers and the results are astounding. Check this thread, http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123694&highlight=girodisc

Will post what I find out about the piston sizing in the Brembo kit. Not many people know that we are also a reseller of Brembo products, not just Girodisc! We can certainly quote on this kit for you.

Thanks,

Martin

 

Old myths die hard.......

http://www.baer.com

In years past, cross-drilling and/or slotting the rotor for racing purposes was beneficial by providing a way to expel the gasses created when the bonding agents employed to manufacture the pads began to break down at extreme temperatures. This condition is often referred to as "green pad fade" or "outgassing". When it does occur, the driver still has a good firm brake pedal, but simply little or no friction. Since this normally happens only at temperatures witnessed in racing, this can be very exciting! However, with today´s race pad technology, ´outgassing´ is no longer much of a concern.

Cross-drilled rotors = bling on cars.

Motorcycle brakes and automobile brakes are not comparable. Apples and oranges.

 

Without insulting any of the fine helpful Fchat supporters who post here, I really like AP brakes.

A back to back to back test on my car (e46 M3) proved that AP was better than Stoptech which was better than Brembo. Same pads.

I like the looks of the Brembos, but the initial bite and overall "feel" of the AP brakes makes me want to put them on my Ferrari.

Not a huge difference, but just a better overall tightness to the brakes. Stopping power is a bit better, or perhaps even the same incidentally.

JM

 

Have heard nothing but positive reviews from the customers that have purchased them, one of which has already vouched in this thread.

We are also a Brembo Authorized dealer.

 

I agree 100%. My first choice would be a set of AP racing components, followd by Brembo and nothing else. I would never even consider but a StopTech kit on any vehicle, much less the Fcar.

 

We are actually developing kits right now using AP racing components. We have done a number of 6 piston kits for some of our private label customers and use the 4 piston Mini specific caliper in our Mini kit. They are top of the line pieces. There are only 2 real players when you get to the big leagues. AP and Brembo. Depends on what race series you are looking at but AP outshines in some, Brembo in others. Alcon make great stuff as well but are hard to come by in the states and in general are overpriced. PFC makes some of the best racing pads out there but have fallen short with their caliper program. Tough market to crack. Baer uses PBR and Alcon, Stoptech is decent quality but can't seem to get above club racing, Wilwood had it's heyday but Nascar switched to AP/Brembo and hasn't looked back. Lots of boutique Japanese brands of varying quality. Plenty of oddball Taiwan stuff. The list is long and goes downhill from there.

That AP can remain a player is amazing when you consider the advantage Brembo has in R&D. By that I mean their calipers were developed under OEM contracts, tooled and manufactured under them as well. They run a few extra and sell them in GT kits. Everything AP does comes from scratch with all the costs included. If you want the very best, look who puts the most money in testing and development. I'll bet AP and Brembo put more money in developing a caliper than most of the other guys make in total sales. Wilwood does have a brake dyno in house, so I know they do quite a bit of testing as well to develop designs.

There are tons of calipers out there, some better than others in design. The real quest is to size a system that gives good performance, balance to the system, pedal travel (for modulation), friction level, and weight for a given application. If you want looks, and only drive to the coffee shop and back, put what ever looks the best on the car. Just be ready the first time you have to panic stop in a tight turn... hey now! Being able to use calipers from any manufacturer, we have the ability to size them correctly for a given application. Many BBK's on the market are done right, but I have seen kits put together that are down right criminal, especially for trucks.

I believe the Brembo kit to be a good one. I would like to hear owners impressions of before and after installation pedal travel. Still waiting to hear for Brembo about the kit specifics.

FWIW,

Martin

 

One thing to consider is the pads. Brembo uses Ferodo FM1000 compound in their kits, Stoptech uses axxis(centric), and AP uses DS2500 in their's. Generally. Initial bite and overall feel of DS2500s is well above the others. Caliper stiffness is next, line strength, overall compliance. Even different iron compositon of the rotors will have different torque values.

Martin

 

Looking at brake upgrade for my 355, i would be also happy to read some feedback of you guys who have installed larger disks and calipers with larger piston diameters (eg 40/44).
- As said above would like to know how the pedal feels with such a set-up and with the original master cylinder.
- Would like also to know if there is any problem with ABS operation. During pressure reduction phase, ABS is calibrated to remove pressure by some pre-defined pulses on the valves. I wonder if altering the volume-pressure and pressure-torque characteristics of the braking system with such large pistons is still compatible with an optimum operation of the ABS.
Thank you to share experience.

 

Hello Martin,

Just the other day, i was cruising the Brembo on line catalogue and thought most of the GT kits used the same big caliper.

Just rechecked the catalogue>

Ferrari 355:

Front Kit 1B2.7003A Caliper # 20.7329.10/23 40 & 44 Diameter pistons.

Rear Kit # 2B2.7001A Same caliper # and piston size.

hth,
chris

 

Just heard back, they are indeed 40/44. I would definately recommend doing both fronts and rears with this car as that is a substantial increase in piston area. Fronts only would bias the torque too much forward I should think. Anyone have any impressions on their car with regard to pedal travel? Anyone have a guess as to the pedal ratio in the 355?

Martin

 

So get this. Today I'm down at Newport AutoCenter and run into the engineer over at Brembo. We know each other well enough and start to yap. I then remember about the 355 kit questions and I asked him directly about the piston sizing. Well, lo and behold, the guys at Rachtech(brembo's distributor) and the website, and the literature are all wrong. The kit ships with 36/40 pistons in a F50 caliper body. This is straight from the horse's mouth. I now give the kit two thumbs up.

PM me if interested in getting a price.

Martin