[xtreme 2]

What is a better bang for your buck? Looking to do some road racing with the car club, and wondering which is the overall better deal:

1.) Stick with the PBR Brakes:
* Upgrade to SS Lines
* Slotted Brake Rotor
* EBC Brake Pads
* 5.1 Brake Fluid

2.) Upgrade to Cobra Brakes.

On a little bit of a budget considering everything else I have. Doing this through the shop so I get dealer cost on all aftermarket products, whereas I will spend $300+ on the Cobra stock set-up.

How is the PBR Braking system when built up?

[The Cheeks McDuke]

Have you read this yet? Upgrade brakes ~ Speeding up slowing down

[6ER THEN I 8ER!]

you need to answer two questions...

1. is this a DD that may see some track time

2. is this going to be a car that see's autox and road course racing more then DD'ing

edit: cheeks you beat me to the link...using that write up i set up my brakes to give me everything i could want out of my car....that and pm'ing Jazzer to ask more in depth questions helped too

[xtreme 2]

I was looking for that! Knew it was here just couldn't seem to find it.

It will mostly be DD, but seeing Autocross occasionally, along with spirited driving.

[6ER THEN I 8ER!]

Originally Posted by xtreme 2 I was looking for that! Knew it was here just couldn't seem to find it. It will mostly be DD, but seeing Autocross occasionally, along with spirited driving.

then no need to upgrade calipers to be honest...you'll never need to disipate enough heat to warrant the purchase. although upgrading pads, hoses, and fluid would be very beneficial

[xtreme 2]

Thinking Russell Lines, EBC Yellow Pads, and Powerslot rotors.

Opinions?

And do people run the 5.1 full time, or just when at the track?

[SALEEN961]

The best budget upgrade you can get is brake pads, there are many types with varying friction coefficients, temperature requirements, and lifespans. The big question here is how do you plan to drive you car, do you want a pad that bites very hard when cold but only bites like average street pad when it's very hot (bad for racing where brake temp stays very, ideal for street where brake temp stays low), or do you want a pad that really isn't impressive when cold that bites harder the hotter it gets (ideal for real racing)?

[xtreme 2]

my main reason for wanting to upgrade is that my front rotors are warped. Took them in to be machined, and was told they need to be replaced (to my knowledge they are stock rotors).

Was thinking about either upgrading to slotted rotors or doing the Cobra swap.

[SALEEN961]

Originally Posted by xtreme 2 my main reason for wanting to upgrade is that my front rotors are warped. Took them in to be machined, and was told they need to be replaced (to my knowledge they are stock rotors). Was thinking about either upgrading to slotted rotors or doing the Cobra swap.

Just get plain EBC Ultimax rotors, trust me you will never warp them, and then you can put you extra money towards better pads that will make a real difference in braking performance.

[xtreme 2]

you suggest the Ultimax over the powerslots?

[SALEEN961]

Originally Posted by xtreme 2 you suggest the Ultimax over the powerslots?

Yes, but not because I think the Powerslots are bad, I haven't used them specifically so I won't say anything bad about them. In my general experience drilled and slotted rotors rarely offer a noticeable performance increase over a set of premium blank rotors, and with drilled rotors in particular I feel there is an unacceptable failure rate due to cracking even in premium brands. I recommend EBC blank rotors because for the past few years I've been using them on all my cars and I've never warped a rotor despite some very aggressive driving.

Without giving a ton a details on the specific circumstances let me just say that I've had smoke rolling out of my wheelwells, I've gotten my wheels too hot to touch, and I've burned brake fluid, but I've never warped an EBC Ultimax blank rotor. When I got my first set several years back and saw that they were warrantied against warpage I took that as a challenge, but in the end I couldn't warp them and I've been running EBC's ever since.

[xtreme 2]

ah very cool. Will definitely look into that.

[SALEEN961]

Based on what you said about your intended use it doesn't seem like your brakes will ever get "race" hot as most autocross courses aren't very fast tracks so that narrows down your choices for pads and gives you some good options. How important is brake noise for you? Is having silent brakes very important or are you okay with the squealing noise that a true high performance pad might give you?

[xtreme 2]

squeal is fine as long as it's for a purpose. Would like it minimized though.

[ReverendDexter]

Drilled/slotted rotors are from a time when pads would "gas-off" when they got hot. Modern pads don't do that. Drilled/slotted is almost exclusively for looks nowadays, or weight reduction when there's still plenty of rotor surface left at the size of rotor used.

Just stick with blanks.

[brokenweasel]

+1 to Jazzers write-up, I did what 6er did, read it and applied it to my goals/car/driving conditions.

5.1 is good fluid, and yes you can use it 100% of the time. I'm using ATE Super Blue which is a DOT4 but has a higher wet boiling point than a lot of other fluids - perfect for my street only car. I also did braided lines on all 4 corners at the same time and noticed a big difference. When I need new pads I'll do research on those, but until then I can trigger ABS all day long with a good firm pedal feel, and that is as good as I can get. The bite of the pads isn't really an issue for me at the moment.

[xtreme 2]

sounds like I have decided to go ahead and stick with the PBR Brakes. Thinking I will start with a fluid flush and new SS lines, then start shopping for some new rotors.

[xtreme 2]

And this is the one you are talking about?

EBC Brakes UPR7020 - EBC UPR Premium Replacement Rotors - Overview - SummitRacing.com

[SALEEN961]

Originally Posted by xtreme 2 squeal is fine as long as it's for a purpose. Would like it minimized though.

Well I just took some time to read up on the current compound revisions offered by EBC and it seems like your best options are their Yellowstuff pads and their Redstuff pads. The Yellows have heavy dusting and excellent performance to match, while the Reds are low dusting and sacrifice some braking performance to achieve that. Personally I think I'd go with the Yellowstuff and deal with the brake dust, but I'm use to my wheels being filthy.

[xtreme 2]

mine are black, they get filthy just sitting there