I was in a driver ed course with a bunch of M3's, a M5, and 2 Cooper S's. In doing the full stop from 80 kmh to 0 exercise on my 6th time my pedal was on the floor. The braking was nothing like the other vehicles. I am amazed at the ABS and the VSC particularly in the "modified J-stop" but I am concerned in putting the car into the autocross without a serious brake upgrade. I was considering a 4-wheel Stoptech upgrade with Hawk HP+ pads. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Ross

 

The stock brakes on the SC are not bad. What pads are you running? Brake pads will make all the difference in the world and not may cars can autocross with OEM brake pads.
On brake upgrades, the Supra TT upgrade will make a huge improvement provided you have decent pads again. Also keep in mind that many aspects come into play on brake kits such as pad surface vs stock,rotor thickness, and surface area. Some of the large brake kits have a smaller surface area compared to the Supra kits.

Put another way, a few years back I did a custom Wilwood 4 piston setup for my GS using the stock rotors. No dice as the calipers and rotors were not an improvement over stock as the pads had the same surface area and the rotors were not upgraded as well. A good experiment.

 

I'm totally stock except the Daizen sways. I have had the car for two years trying to decide if I'm going to keep it but since I have gotten rid of the Bridgestones I figured I will keep it. I am trying to improve it to run with the Bimmer boys. Not really the right car but I really like it now.

 

i have stoptech with axxis delux pads. imho the stock brakes are not bad but on hard driving it fails pretty fast. my upgrades are definitely awesome and it's biting hard

 

Rominl
Do you have the ST-40's on all four with 355 mm rotors?
Thanks,
Ross

 

You should have no problem taking on a 5 series with a few minor mods. Keep in mind that none of them run oem brakes either as the Bimmers I have had were very very prone to brake fade similar to most cars out there.

Heck even the Porsches I have had experienced alot of brake fade until I swapped out some better pads vs the stock Porsche pads.

Stay away from store purchased pads such as Rayestos (horrible pads for any car/truck), Bendix,etc....

Pick up some Hawk HPS for agressive use-though still not for autocrossing.
Supra TT brakes will open up alot more pad options.

Also ensure that your brake fluid is upgraded and not the old fluid that came with your car. This would make a huge difference.

Hard pedal and no stop= pads cooked
Soft pedal and no stop = fluid too hot or air in brakes

Put another way, I can easily take a old 914 and blow the doors off a new 5 series ,SC430, or IS350 in autocrossing with just a few mods.

Some say autocrossing is 90% driver, 10% car. I'm not sure I would give it that much of an imbalance but it sound close.

Lee

 

I've been looking for a BBK kit for a while the only 4 wheel kit I could come up with, that was available was the Rotora. Ap and Brembo were really expensive so I ended up ordering the new StopTech kit which is for the front. I don't know if a 4 wheel kit will be availible agiain but I was told if they do start offering a 4 wheel kit it will work with the new calipers.

BT

 

they don't have st-40 for all corners anymore. just for the front. for the rear they will come up with a 2 pot design but that's it. imho it's too expensive

i have the 4 pot front with 355 rotors, yes. the stopping power is unreal

 

I assume then that their web site is not correct when they list the 4 wheel ST-40.

 

yup, i assuem it's not up to date at all. they had the setup before but they discontinued it already as far as i know