Interesting call to Brembo today. how it stacks up.

[Dan The AMG Man]

Was trying to find the right track pad for the F40/GT Brembo kit I have. After talking to the US tech division at Race Tech, Brembo told me to call there, I talked at lenght about the GT brakes etc.. I made the statement of " I hope they are as good as the Turbo 911 brakes" he just laughed.. according to him, Porsche did this in comparing the GT brakes to the CURRENT 911 Turbo brakes.

Porsche on the test equiptment when they were considering a brake system will take the tested brake setup and go from 160 to 60 and back to 160 back to 60.. they then find out when the pads begin to fade. The 911 setup ( which they already sell to them ) could go 6 times in a cycle before they saw fade. This is running the stock pad that comes with the kit. When they put the aftermarket kit on it, the GT, Porsche GAVE up after 32 cycles with no fade. I asked the question " why didn't or don't all 911 come with the GT to start with". Simply stated from him was " then we wouldn't have a aftermarket division now would we".

The stock pads are made by Ferodo and the compound is very close to the Pagid R-4-2-1. He suggested going to the Pagid R-4-2 for track. He also stated that while crossdrilled rotors will lower the braking temp from 150 to 200 degrees vs. a non crossdrilled the best system, bar none, is to go with slotted rotors. He explained that while the outside of the rotor can cool quicker than the inside that is what causes the cracking on the crossdrilled rotors. This is due to the heat range not being even all the way through the rotor. Slotted are at one range all the time ( per se ) and the slotted advantage is you can run all types of pads without tearing up the rotors as much as crossdrilled and they stop better bar none. So it was a interesting lesson. He also stated that the system that is on my car and with the GT kit is one if not the best systems on the road today. He told me of a guy that had a GT setup on the Esclade ( or a thing like that ) that had been supercharged etc.. could smoke all 4 tires easy. This owner when he applied the GT brakes could brake so hard at a standstill, light the tires, the rear end of the SUV would come off the ground 2 ". Hard to imagine. The new 6 piston set up is even better. The bigger the better in brakes. FYI.

[J Irwan]

great Info Dan ;)


How is your GT Kit holding up..?

Regardz,

J Irwan

[Brabus]

Very nice information. Glad to know that Brembo still stacks up on top :P

[Dan The AMG Man]

He did say that there are other systems that are VERY good.. AP, Stoptech etc.. but the Brembo system is made to fit the exact car it to go on.. I will vouch for that.. The mounting brackets were made out of a very nice alum that was black and machined as you would expect. It bolted on and if I had a C 36 here I could put a new set on in 20 to 30 minutes per side, rotor, line and caliper. The caliper already has the brake pads in it and you just slip it over the rotor... The caliper has a front and a back bleeder so that is the only thing funky about the set up. When you hit the brakes they stop. Not knocking the C 36 and C 32 brakes but street wise with a panic stop they are not even in the same league. The C 32 calipers also yellow. They already knew about the yellowing problem that the C 32 brakes have when superheated. Some are worse than others. Mine got a light yellow tint to them. More or less he said that brakes on cars that are factory are made to stop the car really quick one time or max two times. But for constant pounding they will not hold up. The only weak link that I think was in my C 36 was the brakes. I always felt that while they were good they couldn't really stop 3500 pounds like I felt like they should. You can run ducting and everything else you want but in the end if you want some serious clamping force you have to pay. The other thing that is so nice is when you mash the brake you do not get any twitch to the side. The C 32 brakes would twitch to the right and then go straight. Talking to the guys at the track with stock C 32 they all said that was correct. Asking the Brembo guy about that he said this. The C 32 only comes in a Left rotor (or it could be the right one, I forget ). So when you get a "set" of rotors on a C 32 one of the cooling veins is correct , that being the fins curl back towards the drivers steering wheel, and the other ones go the other way. That he said makes , in his view the twitch. The cooling is different and brakes he said are very sensitive to heat or too much heat. It is very stange that they never made a left and a right rotor for the C 32 ( this maybe corrected by now but my set is both lefts). This backed up his view on the brakes being made for one or two stops max. Sounds like being lazy on MB part. I really dont want to replace the Brembo rotors anytime soon.. around $300.00 EACH.

[Renn 208]

Originally posted by Dan The AMG Man
The C 32 only comes in a Left rotor (or it could be the right one, I forget ). So when you get a "set" of rotors on a C 32 one of the cooling veins is correct , that being the fins curl back towards the drivers steering wheel, and the other ones go the other way.

Now why does this sound so familiar?:D ;)

[Luwin1026]

Very informative post, Dan. When you say "the bigger the better in brakes," I feel that there should be some disclaimers. The bigger the rotors are, the better they function in heat dissipation. But that is not the primary factor in stopping power.

Also, when brakes are bigger, they tend to weigh more, increasing the unsprung weight for that corner. As I've learned from Jeff (speedybenz), weight savings in brakes was what he was looking for.

I'm glad you found the braking performance that you've been looking for, Dan. I personally considered the Brembo kit as well, but their big brake package specs didn't match up to the specs of the AP Racing (they didn't have the 14" rotor package back then, just the 13.1"), and the AP kit offered more bang for the buck. And I couldn't have been happier with the power and lack of fade the brakes give me. Whereas after a downhill canyon run would cause the stock brakes to fade to a point where I had almost zero braking power, the AP Racing kit holds up awesome.

Stoptech also looks to be making good stuff - something to consider in the future as they make applications for Mercedes now.

[Dan The AMG Man]

Lud.. you are correct in the size issue. That is correct that the larger the rotor/combo is not always the best as far as true braking power. I could have fit 355 in my car, it would have been really tight. I decided to go with 300mm in that I knew it would fit and the thought of gettting something up betewen the rim and the caliper, like a rock or something, was not worth jacking with. And really the 300mm looked better on my cay. The weight savings in the rotors is night and day. The C 32 rotors are at 25 pounds and the Brembo, if I remember correctly was at 16. Caliper weight was about half. You can feel that as you have noted. I looked at the APs and Stoptech and just decided to go Brembo based on name and resale. AP and Stoptech really caught my eye but after seeing the mounting brackets that Brembo had that is what really sold me. Lots of time and effort went it to it. I think that anyone , if they buy any big brake kit, will find that stopping power from stock to big brake comical. You can't even compare as you noted. I like to stop.

[2phast]

Porsche manufactures their own brakes in house, they don't oem anything from Brembo.

[xyz]

I do not know how true this is but here goes:
When I talked to a person at Brembo they told
me that Brembo has bought AP racing and that
AP racing is very good.

He also told me that AP racing looks better, and I agree that the AP caliper looks great.
I would still prefer billet to cast, and monoblock
over 2-piece calipers ( like Porsche's ).

[omegabenz]

Originally posted by 2phast
Porsche manufactures their own brakes in house, they don't oem anything from Brembo.

Your statement is incorrect. I have 996 twin turbo brakes that say brembo right on them with a 996 part number. If you want pictures, id gladly email them to you.