Does anyone have a comparitive between the big 3 for weight of application? force given by caliper in same car? I know that from my BMW days that for example, a 750iL caliper has insane pressure that comes from the caliper, and it makes a good swap for some of the other not so good older cap. What is the difference in the big 3 I wonder? How prone is each to fading? Although price is an important part of the equation, IMO for my fcar, I want what is best (in my price brakect)
FWIW, I currently use a StopTech front BBK on my track E36 M3. 332mm slotted 2-piece rotors with 17" Kosei K-1 wheels. No problems with fit & finish. EASY to change pads with removeable bridge. Great ventilation...to which I have added direct air ducting & backing plates. All in all, so far, a very top notch kit that cost over $1,000 less than the comparable Brembo and AP set ups.
I've used Stop tech's for several years and have had absolutely no problems with them. Their engineering team headed by Steve Ruiz is top notch. They design their systems to work with the OE master cylinders (without the need to add an adjustable proportioning valve). Their brakes (in combination with SS brake lines) adds much better feel in the brakes and better responsiveness. All that I can say is that the improvement on my braking performance was dramatic. I can brake right on top of AWD Porches TT's. Stop Tech's perform well on track an streets. They are by far the best bang for the buck out there. They do not compromise performance. I have seen first hand where Stop Tech outperformed AP, Brembo's from Movit, Wilwoods and more. They pretty much own the Viper market and are a performance standard in the race and street world. You will not regret putting these on your car. Brad
Stoptech is the cheapest kit of the 3, especially since Movit and Brembo are more tied to the strong Euro. All are pretty good brakes although there's a bit of bad history between myself (Movit North America) and Stoptech. Stoptech's pad size is the smallest of the lot at 62 sqcm surface area. These are essentially the same brakes (same pad) that Porsche uses on the rear of their 993 turbo. I would like to see an independent comparison of braking performance of all 3 companies, especially now that Movit has broken away from building all of their kits around Porsche calipers and rotors. I suspect Stoptech will win the "bang for the buck" title but ultimate stopping will be between Brembo and Movit's billet caliper based kits. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I've used Brembo and Stoptech built systems on my Skyline GT-R and have had extensive track and road miles to have made a decision. Both kits work as advertised on the track. Fine tuning with different pad compounds and amount of brake ducting allowed me to get the performance I needed without resorting to the most abrasive pads. On the street, however, the Stoptech kit had problems. Their rotors develop uneven film transfer which led to "warped rotors." The only way to overcome that problem is to constantly bed the rotors/pads in. And when I say "constantly" I mean probably once a day. That was with three different compounds of pads, so it wasn't pad specific. The Brembo kits work as advertised on the street. No "warped rotors," no performance issues. At the moment I use a Brembo F50 caliper with 355x32mm slotted rotors in the front with Pagid RS 14 pads in front, and a Brembo Lotus caliper with 345x28mm slotted rotors with Pagid RS 14 pads in the rear, Motul 600 fluid. A good kit, in my opinion, would be either of the above with Brembo manufactured rotors. I'm interested in this thread because I'm in the market for a brake system for my 355. Although there are street upgrade kits available from many companies, I haven't been convinced that is the "best" way to go from a performance standpoint over the Brembo Challenge kit w/Challenge proportioning valve that have had a lot of proven race miles. -Nick
Just wondering, what is the difference between the Brembo F50/lotus and now GT brake packages? they dont sell the F50 and lotus any more either...
Well I don't know what the kit I have is called... I have a contact at Nissan North America that has a contact at Brembo USA and we did the back door non-sponsor super deep deal... I told them what my requirements were and they recommended that setup and I've been able to get Pagids from Northstar Motorsports. For all I know the current offerings use those particular calipers and they just don't bother naming them specifically.
