Hey people,
I have an 05 MCS convertible with 32k on it, and its time to upgrade the brakes. I have no desire to put on a BBK, because I think its total overkill for my situation, (spirited street driving.) but I WOULD like to upgrade the stock brakes.
I was comparing a JCW kit to something aftermarket, like say, drilled or slotted rotors, (maybe cryo?) greenstuff pads, SS lines, yada yada yada.
What does anyone think.....JCW or something else? And if something else....what? If I keep it to around 800.00 bucks, that would be good. I don't think I need to spend more than that.
Thanks!

 

For spirited street driving the OEM brakes are almost overkill... IMO I would just put quality OEM spec pads and rotors on and save the change for something else.

 

I was looking to upgrade mainly for the looks. Where can you find the JCW brakes? I can't find them on the vendor sites.

 

Thanks. I like your thinking...less is more. I definitely agree that a BBK would be completely ridiculous for anything other than racing. Do you know anything about cryo rotors? Greenstuff pads? Drilled or slotted? Its gets confusing, and the claimed benefits are dubious.

 

The dealer has them. About 650.00. That was what I was going to buy if I don't just do a simple upgrade.

 

Thanks,

This package looked good from outmotoring.com

Stage 2 Brake Kit StopTech Stage 2 includes StopTech stainless steel (DOT compliant) front and rear brake lines, three (3x) 500mL bottles of Motul RBF600 (Synthetic DOT 4) brake fluid StopTech SportStop slotted front and rear stock replacement rotors. Axxis Ultimate front and rear high performance street brake pads. USES STOCK CALIPERS. Rear pads do NOT include electronic wear sensors.


or this one:

This kit combines our most popular set of front and rear Sp Performance Zinc Plate Cross Drilled and Slotted Rotors, Hawk HPS front and rear pads along with ATE Super Blue Brake fluid topped off with a full set of 4 Stainless Steel brakes lines. In return you get a great set of brakes that a a major improvement over stock and will greatly reduce not only dust but response and pedal feel. It just makes sense to replace all of these items at once because the labor of doing just one or the other is typically so close to just doing it all.

 

Brakes are very subjective and you have to be honest with yourself about budget and the intended use. I agree that you certainly don't need to upgrade the size as the stock rotors are very large for the car. If you're looking to track the car, then drilled rotors are pretty much out of the question, since you're actually just decreasing the surface area that the brakes can grab a hold of. The slotted rotors are a great option since you will get a great look and the benefit of getting pads up to temp quickly, but they will eat through brake pads at a relatively rapid rate. I like ebc's USR slotted rotors since the slots are beveled and don't kill pads quite so fast.

EBC greenstuff pads aren't bad, but not really any better than stock and dust quite a bit. The redstuff pads are great. Since they're ceramic they don't dust a lot and take a ton of abuse, but really preform best when they heat up, so they are almost overkill on the street.

 

As in, just find a set of used gen 2 brakes off an S, and presto you have gen 1 JCW. A coat of red paint if you want to get all the way. Seriously, a logical upgrade that keeps the $ down is to just install gen 2 front S units. Identical to gen 1 JCW other than the paint job and decals. Basically takes a new brake hose as I understand it to make them compatible, which wouldn't be a bad thing to change out anyway with the years. This assumes you have 16" wheels to fit those size OEM brakes. Then you can also buy whatever gen 2 S rotors and pads suit your fancy, from stock to whatever. Watch the ads here or fleabay and you will probably find a set before too long.

 

So if not EBC pads, which ones do you like? Hawk or any others? And do you think that a JCW upgrade is also overkill?

 

So if I upgrade to either 1st gen JCW OR just the 2nd gen MCS, they will take THE SAME aftermarket (or OEM) pad or rotor I can find? Same thing, same parts....OEM or aftermarket?