Front disc upgrade?

[Lonx]

I've just upgraded the front brakes of my KN13 Exa to N15 sss calipers & discs, and one of the discs was scored heavily when I received them (paid nothing, so no complaints of course!). Although the disc diameter has only increased from 250mm to 257mm there is around 30% more contact surface for the pad... so as you can imagine, they pull up a lot better!

I was looking at DBA4000 discs for the front, but was wondering if it would be worth doing a larger brake conversion (a friend has fitted VS calipers & discs I think) & fitting new discs with that... or if I should stick with what I have. I know this is a bit of a personal decision, and I am really happy with the braking of the car.... but in my opinion, almost everything can always be improved more on.

So should I go for a commodore brake upgrade with new discs, or stick with what I now have? The car is being used for occaisonal track days which will be more frequent soon enough. And is it worth fitting DBA4000's over the standard DBA slotted rotors? (sorry to include the brand, but hopefully someone like Steve can give me an honest opinion of the benefits of spending a little more).

Sorry for half a novel, its been boring I know... but your opinions are appreciated. Thanks in advance :)

[dattoman1000]

Steves bludging in California at the moment


Whats the car being used for ?
Go bigger if your doing alot of track work. If not the N15 stuff should prove adequate for most driving.
Get some tasty pads to compliment your driving.

4000's would be the way to go as they are a tougher rotor

If you wait abit till they come in Kangaroo paw venting it will be worth it for the extra cooling. Don't expect it too soon though as these things take time.They are still staight vane currently.

[Lonx]

lol, thanks for that dattoman....

the car is used for daily driving, a bit of fun in the hills, and occaisonal track work. The N15 stuff is pretty good, but I must admit I'm the kind of person who would rather spend a little more & have close to the best I can get on the car. The suspension package at the moment is koni sport / king spring / 27mm rear swaybar.... which isn't really necessary but it makes me grin when cornering hard ;)

I thought all 4000's came with the paw venting, thats half the reason I considered going for them... i'll contact the guys and get a guestimate of how long they think it will be. At worst, i can buy new slotted discs & sell them later to another guy in my club.

[dattoman1000]

Due to costs they can't just swap all discs straight to "skippy" design. It takes time as castings wear out and need replacing.
901 is one of those not yet done unfortunatly.

If your car is already setup with N15 stuff it shouldn't be too hard to fit the GTiR setup that Specialised makes for the UK market.
Might be worth having a chat to Kevin if your that keen.
17" required though I think.

[Lonx]

Cheers... after speaking to my mate who ended up spending about 2grand on a holden brake conversion for the front. I'll send Kevin an email now and see what he has to say. Thanks again for your help & suggestions. :)

[hotgemini]

The sensible answer is that the pulsar N15 gear is a fairly reasonable upgrade, only a little bit bigger, but 8mm thicker. As dattoman said, you'll probably be fine with a reasonable set of pads. If you're looking to spend more money on your brakes, why not pick up some nice braided stainless hoses, they're a win on three counts (looks, bragging rights, functionality).

Now on the other hand, if you aren't trying to be sensible and are really just looking for an excuse to stuff some god-awful big brakes onto your car. Allow me to say this, I've got 296x28mm VT commodore gear on my gemini, you couldn't have smaller brakes than a gemini could you? What would your mates say?

What size wheels are you running? My 15s are jam pack full of brake, which is just the way I like it.

250 x 18 exa stock
257x26 N15 now
289x23 VS commodore
296x28 VT commodore/TD gemini
330x28 - probably the smallest you should fit, just to be on the safe side.

[Lonx]

lol.... 330x28...

yeah like i said the brakes are a nice upgrade, but i was wondering if there were many other options to go bigger. Its not for bragging rights at all, i love my handling so bigger brakes are always welcome to me.

I'm running 17" wheels at the moment as I scored them very cheaply and the 215 tyres I can run at the front are worth it for the extra grip. I'll be buying a set of lightweight 16s or 17s something in the next 6 - 8 months tho as these are more of a temporary thing (they're a bit too heavy for my liking).