Unless you intend to park outside the shops and pose with your car of course! The GT kits look awesome when fitted and really finish off the look of any car. So yes they do provide a huge brake performance increase but they are also a great asthetic improvement, if thats what your into!

Steve

CBP said:

Unless you intend to park outside the shops and pose with your car of course! The GT kits look awesome when fitted and really finish off the look of any car. So yes they do provide a huge brake performance increase but they are also a great asthetic improvement, if thats what your into!

Steve

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Of course Not my sort of thing of course but if someone wants to

Same here but each to their own!!

Steve

CBP said:

Same here but each to their own!!

Steve

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Good to see you're not encouraging people to needlessly upgrade their brakes

Of course it also adds unsprung weight which mucks about with your handling But most people who do it for looks won't care about it I'm sure!

I dont think the kit will increase unsprung weight by very much if at all. The calipers and the bells are aluminium. Comparing that to a cast iron caliper and disc, i would imagine the Gran Turismo kit is lighter despite increasing the disc size.

If anyone could supply me with a weight for a standard caliper i would be interested to compare. I have already established the disc is 0.1kgs lighter than the standard (i know, not much to shout about there!).

When upgrading the brakes the unsprung weight is not a huge consideration especially with what i suspect will be a very slight weight increase.

Thanks

Steve

CBP said:

I dont think the kit will increase unsprung weight by very much if at all. The calipers and the bells are aluminium. Comparing that to a cast iron caliper and disc, i would imagine the Gran Turismo kit is lighter despite increasing the disc size.

If anyone could supply me with a weight for a standard caliper i would be interested to compare. I have already established the disc is 0.1kgs lighter than the standard (i know, not much to shout about there!).

When upgrading the brakes the unsprung weight is not a huge consideration especially with what i suspect will be a very slight weight increase.

Thanks

Steve

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I stand very much corrected!

You could yet be proved right depending on the weight of the caliper!

Steve

CBP said:

You could yet be proved right depending on the weight of the caliper!

Steve

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Maybe but as we say in Australia if it is heavier there will only be a bees dick in it

306maxi said:

Maybe but as we say in Australia if it is heavier there will only be a bees dick in it

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Now that depends on the size of the bee

Haha, I think that phrase translates worldwide!

Steve

Hellcat said:

Now that depends on the size of the bee

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Nah, its a defined scale of measurement A bee's dick is larger that a gnat's nasty, but smaller than 3/5ths of sweet **** all


Oh, and that looks more like a wasp Rob

Not to throw another spanner in the works here but if we accept that the brembo's will weigh more or less the same, has anyone got any data on the gyroscopic effect of putting much bigger spinning discs on each corner?

Unfortunately i dont have any data on gyroscopic forces. I cant see this being a major consideration, i have not heard of this being a problem on any car.

Steve

Hellcat said:

Now that depends on the size of the bee

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and the gender.

RobW said:

not over heat and fade under heavy use!
for example on twisty, derestricted mountain passes in the Eifel region of Germany

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I had an interesting chat with an Instructor after the brakes on the zed started to fade who used to build & race his own Minis. His opinion was the brakes were plenty big enough, I just needed to get rid of the heat & he suggested some diy ducting. I just havent the heart to cut holes in the Bumper but I think I can get a pucker kit for the Nissan. Is this an idea for the Fiat ??

I would also agree that brake fade is much more likely on "spirited drives" down mountains. The zed now runs race fluid but Ive still had bad fade twice in the mountains & both were far worse than anything I had experienced on the track. I have been told once its happened if possible you should bleed the fluid off the caliper as next time it will happen at a lower temp

Stuart J said:

I had an interesting chat with an Instructor after the brakes on the zed started to fade who used to build & race his own Minis. His opinion was the brakes were plenty big enough, I just needed to get rid of the heat & he suggested some diy ducting. I just havent the heart to cut holes in the Bumper but I think I can get a pucker kit for the Nissan. Is this an idea for the Fiat ??

I would also agree that brake fade is much more likely on "spirited drives" down mountains. The zed now runs race fluid but Ive still had bad fade twice in the mountains & both were far worse than anything I had experienced on the track. I have been told once its happened if possible you should bleed the fluid off the caliper as next time it will happen at a lower temp

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Well the thing is that going down a mountain ducting is going to be of limited help as you'll be doing a relatively low speed whereas bigger discs can be a better resevoir for the heat and also have more surface area to dissipate the heat from.

Stuart J said:

I had an interesting chat with an Instructor after the brakes on the zed started to fade who used to build & race his own Minis. His opinion was the brakes were plenty big enough, I just needed to get rid of the heat & he suggested some diy ducting. I just havent the heart to cut holes in the Bumper but I think I can get a pucker kit for the Nissan. Is this an idea for the Fiat ??

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I popped some DIY brake cooling ducting on the race car after suffering brake fade as I'd already popped on better pads & discs. Solved the problem instantly.

It was just a couple of scoops under the front bumper & some 'donkey d1ck' leading to the caliper area. I also pulled out the trailing edge of the front wings to create an area of low pressure at the back to help draw the air through.

306maxi said:

Well the thing is that going down a mountain ducting is going to be of limited help as you'll be doing a relatively low speed whereas bigger discs can be a better resevoir for the heat and also have more surface area to dissipate the heat from.

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On both occasions it certainly wasnt low speed

On the VXR I've got 362mm Vented & Grooved Discs with Alloy Bells, AP Racing 6-Pot calipers, Goodridge Braided Hoses, Ferodo DS-2500 Racing Pads and AO R600+ Racing Brake Fluid.

It also has brake air ducting from each fog light bumper housing to the wheel arch

No fade at all... Really good feel and massive stopping power from 170mph down...

The bigger alloy calipers and discs dropped the corner weight by around 7kg per side from standard !!

I would recommend the R600+ racing fluid, its really good

Stuart J said:

I had an interesting chat with an Instructor after the brakes on the zed started to fade who used to build & race his own Minis. His opinion was the brakes were plenty big enough, I just needed to get rid of the heat & he suggested some diy ducting. I just havent the heart to cut holes in the Bumper but I think I can get a pucker kit for the Nissan. Is this an idea for the Fiat ??

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great idea Stuart will have a look into it