Rear brake upgrade

Any 'major' upgrade to the rears will cause you to lose your parking/emergency brake. What you *can* do is get lighter and better cooling rotors. I just put Girodisc floating hat rears on mine and they saved almost 3 pounds per rotor, plus they have angled cooling vanes instead of the stock straight vents. Then play with pads. You might consider going to Porterfield R4S compound. That's what I was using for street and track before I upgraded to Brembo front big brake kit.

If you want to go "all out" without losing your parking brake, then Girodisc's 4-wheel upgrade is a fantastic combination -- I'd have done that if it was available at the time I was buying the Brembo GT kit. See the thread at http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55996

 

Mike -

On the Porterfield's, you ran the R4S on the street and track, or did you swap with R4 (race pad) for the track days?

I've been selling mostly R4S, but a few customers have asked for the R4's. I usually reply that R4 is fine, but won't come up to temp properly in normal street conditions.

-Daniel

 

Can only speak for the 1985 Euro 308. Contact Girodisc as others have mentioned. The fronts are fairly easy and remember that your fronts do a majority of the braking. If you 'cooked' your stock brakes, try using better fluid (i.e. Motul 600) and if you are using stock pads all around, you could go with something more aggressive, perhaps at the cost or going through rotors a bit faster. Gotta pay to play

As for what works for me. Basically, the usual braided lines Brembo fronts and the rears are the Girodisc slotted rotors. Pads on front are Brembo (DS1100 or ???) and the rear pads on the stock calipers are DS3000. This setup seems very balanced and very usable without being too sensitive (as i prefer to use some foot effort progressively to work the brakes.

Another problem is cooling. The larger fronts are ok and surely you will remove the thin protection metal dust shield that covers on the inside of the fronts. If the fronts STILL cool it is fairly easy to route a cooling duct from the front of the car to the rotors. As for rear cooling... there are some solutions but can be $$$.


If you want to go all out, get the Girodisc upgrade on all four corners BUT you will lose the emergency/parking brake as others have mentioned. Hope this helps.
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The reason most people upgrade their fronts as opposed to the rears is this is where all the braking power is centered. As you brake the weight of the car is thrown forward, ie on the front end, and the majority of the braking force is required here to slow the car down. Rear end upgrades are an incremental benefit as opposed to the front end upgrade. Do the fronts first!

 

"The reason most people upgrade their fronts as opposed to the rears is this is where all the braking power is centered"

Mid-engine cars use the rear brakes more than most people realize.

 

Dave, you need to study the physics/dynamics of braking.
Why do you think the Brembo front brake kit for a 348/355 is $3k while the back brake kit is less than have the cost.
CAUSE THAT'S WHERE THE ACTION IS!

 

The 4-wheel upgrade from Girodisc leaves the rear calipers stock but upgrades the fronts to larger rotors and larger calipers, somewhat similar to changing to the Brembo big front brake kit.

With stock rotor size on all four corners, I'd use the Porterfield R4-S pads all around. With my big Brembo kit, I use R4-S in front (but the pads are much larger than 308's since they are 360-size pads) and EBC Greenstuff in the rears. I had to "mix" them to get proper balance (bias) between front and rear, since otherwise I had too much front. See my upgrade thread at http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39712

Girodisc front set has downsized pistons in the Wilwood calipers compared to the Brembo calipers, so overall it's more "balanced" and you can use the same pad compound all around (and they also recommend the R4-S pads).

DANIEL: I used R4-S pads for both street and track, and have been using them since getting rid of the Lucas/Axxis MetalMax pads about 5 years ago --the R4-S worked great for me, which is why I've stuck with them for the big Brembo setup also.

 

I think EVERY 308 owner that drives aggressively (or on the track) should remove those covers off of all four wheels, not just the fronts, to improve cooling, even if the rest of the brake system is still stock.

 

"Dave, you need to study the physics/dynamics of braking.
Why do you think the Brembo front brake kit for a 348/355 is $3k while the back brake kit is less than have the cost.
CAUSE THAT'S WHERE THE ACTION IS!"

I don't base my words on the selling price of front brakes Vs. rear brakes for a 348/355.

Not all braking action happens in a straight line.
And not all drivers know proper braking technique.
The installation of some "Big Brake" kits to only the front,
can result in an improper front to rear brake bias.

Now since you think I need schooling in physics,
why don't you tell us all what might happen to a mid-engine car
when 59% of the weight tries to shift forward during late hard braking into a tight right turn with improper front to rear brake bias?

I'm not an expert on braking systems by any means, and don't claim to be.
But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once.
And I have installed and or helped with the installation of big brake kits on a number of cars, as well as completely rebuilding the braking systems on 308, 512BB, 365 GTC/4, 365 GTB/4, 275 GTB/4, 250 GT PF, 400 GT.

Like I said, I'm no expert.
I'm sure someone like Eric Dahl would be much more qualified to explain braking theory.

 

LOL

 

Dave, Dave, Dave...nor am I an expert. Nor did I say that rear brakes don't have an effect. The main power still remains up front. If you have to choose, do the fronts first. As to the bias. Balance is the desired effect. The question on this thread was why there is no focus on rears. The answer remains BECAUSE THE FRONTS ARE MORE IMPORTANT! I would suggest that if the driver doesn't know proper braking technique they should take the money they are going to spend on bigger brakes and apply it to driving lessons! IMHO.

 

Speak to Mike Lester or Phil Warburton at QV London in the UK - they'll advise you as to what options there are. They do quite a lot with modified 355 brakes on 308s & GT4s. Doubtless he'll have something on the shelf for a Mondial.

You can ask via their website: http://www.hamletcg.co.uk/qv/Advice.htm

I.