Big brake upgrade ?

[Wildman95GS-T]

I am looking to upgrade the brakes on my 95 gs-t, i have done some looking around and only find kits for the front. Where can i get front and rear ? and the best price ?

 

[400awhpgsx]

Look at the vender section. Also check out the classifieds.

 

[Diplomat]

If you're looking to buy a full aftermarket four-wheel setup, take a look at TCE's web site. They offer upgrades for both front and rear. However, I'd spend some time doing research on the subject before spending any cash. Check out:

DSMtuners.com -> Forums -> Handling Tech

If you're into road racing or rallying, you should build up a fair amount of knowledge of the subject of brakes. That's where brakes make all the difference and a good set may run you as much as a shop built "Stage 1,000,000" short block. Especially when you consider that you'll also need to buy a set of wheels to clear the massive rotors and calipers that some companies are selling now. So take your time and choose wisely.

On the other hand, if you're mostly into drag racing or just want better braking for the street, consider doing the "big brake upgrade/swap". Our FWD's came from the factory with 10.2" single piston front calipers while the AWD cars came with 11" dual pistons. Swapping out the FWD for AWD brake hardware is a popular upgrade since it's considerably cheaper than a full blown aftermarket kit.

 

[roni-wan]

The rear big brakes are not really needed beacuse the front brakes suffer much more than rear ones, that´s why there aren´t a lot a rear big brake kits, any aftermarket front brake kit should fill your needs

 

[awnmotorsports]

I also searched for a rear kit for my 2G touring AWD. you won't find one, but there is good news though! You don't need one as far as a larger rotor and caliper. I did a lot of research and consulted with Willwood brake systems and the info i found was great. If the only reason you want a rear kit is for looks, than this won't really matter than.

Most everybody knows that the front brakes do most the stopping, but the faster you go the more braking you will need to do, and there go you need a better balance ratio between the front to rear.

What brake system to use will depend on what reasons you are planning to use them for. The only reason that I found a need for more rear braking was due to the understeer of the car going into the turn while braking. Though you are suppose to have all your braking done before entering the apex of the turn that does not always happen and you end up braking in the turn. Well after experiencing this I found having just a slight more braking power to the rear helps the vehicles understeer.

So on to what to use. Willwood suggested that I install a proportioning valve, you can get one for about 30$. Many brake companies have these. NOTE: that you will have to do a lot of testing and tunning to get it right on. Too much and you will lock up the rear brake.

As far as the brakes themselves there are some things to know. We all have seen the drilled and crossed rotors. well though Willwood selles them they have a problem. Life expendiency is short due to stress fatigue, because with the material being removed by drilling holes through the metal, it causes points to where the metal will start cracking over time, and many rear rotors are one layer rotors versus the front that have two layers and vents inbetween. So with less meterial the metal has a harder time resisting the heat, even with drilled holes.

OK so what to get. Willwood recommended staying with the stock rear rotors and just upgrading the brake pads and brake lines and if nessesary getting the proportioning valve, but I found that EBC has a great OEM sized rotors.

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as you can see these rotors do not have holes going completley through the material just dimpoles like a golf ball. allowing air to come inbetween the rotor and pads and also removing debris from the rotor and at a good price. EBC also carry a great line of performance pads. So check out what is out there and I hope this info. helps anyone looking for a good performance brake system to be able to get what they need and safe money.

 

[daren_p]

Well its good to keep your brakes "balanced" when doing a big brake front upgrade, you don't have to go all out on a big brake rear kit. Compared to the front the rear doesn't do much breaking at all. If you have an extra grand to throw around, as mentioned above Todd at TCE can hook you up with a nice rear Wilwood setup but it really isn't needed (may think about it if you were autox'ing every week) a set of more agressive pads on the rear is usually enough to do the trick. I run a Wilwood big brake kit on the front with Powerslot rear rotors & Hawk HPS pads. The only other route I recall is Powerslot also makes a kit with a larger rear rotor & relocation bracket for the caliper. This option would be much cheeper, I would just verify correct fitment from users as I have read a couple issues with guys not being able to intall the Powerslot big brake front kit because of issues.

 

[housegsx]

I have the Baer track kit for the front and this for the rear.. http://www.buybrakes.com/store/29-630

 

[Diplomat]

Less than $210 a pop for vented rears? That's a pretty sweet deal, I'm gonna have to add it to the list.

 

[housegsx]

Less than $210 a pop for vented rears? That's a pretty sweet deal, I'm gonna have to add it to the list.

If you're talking about the rear kit I posted, they are neither vented nor two piece rotors. That's just a generic picture. What they are is 11.5 inch slotted upgrade. Still decent.

 

[Ludachris]

What are your goals with the car?

 

[Diplomat]

If you're talking about the rear kit I posted, they are neither vented nor two piece rotors. That's just a generic picture. What they are is 11.5 inch slotted upgrade. Still decent.

Yeah, I was going by the picture.

So then I take it that your kit included rotor, caliper bracket and hardware? Yeah that's still not a bad price.

 

[housegsx]

Yes that's correct. Here are some pics.

This is a good pic of the side view whith the wheel off.

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This shows how big they are in comparison to the 13" Baers.

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Here's a good close-up. Nevermind the rusty axle nut. It's the only wheel bearing I haven't had to replace yet.

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And here's how they look behind 18's. Both front and rear kits do fit behind the stock 17's as well.

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I like the setup so far. I will be replacing pads all around very soon with some R4-s from porterfield. At that time I'll also replace the rear rotors at $67 each because they are slightly warped from my rear calipers seizing up at one time and needed replaced.