Again, curiousity is getting the better of me, and I want to ask the brain trust:

If I'm looking at upgrading my brakes, I know that I should upgrade my pads. They'll give me less dust and will control the stopping power, but considering that I'm upgrading from stock parts... should I also look at upgrading the rotors and caliper assembly as well?

Rotors do wear with time (as far as I'm aware), I'm just not sure if I should go ahead and replace the rotors with something better (and if so.. any suggestions?) while I've got the wheels off and am replacing the pads.

So the question:

Is it worth getting new rotors, pads, calipers, brake lines all at once, or can it be a gradual upgrade as things wear more?

And is it easy to replace the brake lines yourself? I think I can handle calipers, pads and rotors myself.

 

New calipers general means your originals are broken or you are looking int a BBK. I would hope that if your OEM was busted you were planning to replace it, however if you arent a track junky their isnt much a need $1000+ big brake kit.

As far as rotors go... they all do basically the same thing and they all do it just as well. The $30 autozone blanks will work as well as $60 brembo blanks would.

 

Agreed. That said, if you're replacing pads at 54,000 miles, I'd recommend rotors at the same time. No need to replace/upgrade lines or calipers unless you're looking for track performance...

Lots of very good pad options available. I'm I big CarboTech fan, personally.

 

I picked up a new set of Goodrige Stainless Brake Lines on Ebay for $45.00 from a shop in Canada. When I do my brakes (pads & rotors) I will probably paint my calipers while replacing the lines. Do I need to do that - NO, Am I a glutton for punishment - YES. I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend!

 

+1

I replaced around the same time as you, maybe a little later. I did both pads and rotors at the same time and it's usually better to do it that way anyway, unless you're burning through pads like crazy for whatever reason.

I have Carbotech Bobcat pads and TSW carbon rotors and I'm loving the combo.

 

Do your bobcats ever squeal? I have the AX6 pads and they do.

 

If your car is just a street car the carbotech bobcats will be fine. As for rotors go with stock, or the TSW's(fremax) they are just a little cheaper but a great rotor. I use alot of both in the shop. They handle heat pretty good for a street car, anything more may give you noises and such. Otherwise you could take a step down to EBC's for less dust than the stock, they are a little cheaper than the Carbotechs. Give us a call if we can help, or just to answer some questions.

WAY

 

Nope. I changed to them because my stocks were squealing really badly (even though wear-wise, they were fine), and haven't had a problem at all. I can't speak for the AX6 pads though

 

Thanks, my next MINI may get the bobcats. I love the stopping power of the AX6 pads but they aren't recommended for full time street use due to the noise (fine in every other way - dust about the same as OEM). I'm sure the bobcats are superior to the stock pads.

 

They are. They have good bite and virtually no dust. I'm very happy with them!

 

FWIW, my experience with EBC Greenstuff pads and slotted EBC rotors was not so great. The dust went to zero, and performance was good, but the pads wore out the rotors in a rather short time, and the combination of the slotted rotors and hard pads was noisy!!

I replaced those with plain Brembo OEM replacement rotors ft and rr, and Mintex pads. Not as much dust as OEM, and more dust than Greenstuff. But they are quiet and good stopping for the street.

There are better combinations, I have heard. Next time I will probably try TSW's rotors and pads.

However, if you want to improve the system more, get a high quality fluid (ATE "Blue" for example) SS lines, and brass bushings to replace the OEM equipment items, along with whatever upgrades you choose to make in the rotors and pads. These changes should improve performance and system endurance considerably.

One other mod that I am told can improve performance for prolonged spirited driving (in canyons, for example) is a set of ducts to cool the fronts more efficiently. I have found that a long day on winding roads can reduce brake performance significantly. Ducts will help from what I have read. I do not have them, but on three occasions I have experienced degradation in performance due to prolonged hard use of the brakes in street driving, even after the replacements of the OEM parts with upgraded components.

So, if you make upgrades and still need improvement, cooling ducts might be one way to go before a BBK.

 

I'm looking for good brake pads that will not have so much dust and for an everyday driving car. I want a better performance than the OEM pads. I've looked at Carbontech and Hawk pads, but I'm indecisive. Any suggestion?

 

See above. My car is my daily driver, with the occasional club run, and the Carbotechs have been great for me.

 

I have had the Hawk ceramic pads for about two years and am very happy.
The Hawk have have about the same feel as OEM, very low dust and so far have worn well.

 

A lot of discussion here about the CarboTech pads. I run both the AX6 and Bobcats. My first-hand assessment:

The Bobcats are fantastic daily-driver pads. Very little dust, no noise when properly installed, don't wear the rotors as fast as my previous ceramic pads (hawks). They are a VERY different pad than the OEM pads or the AX6 pads, though - they do NOT have the "throw you into the dash" initial bite like OEM and AX6. Some folks put Bobcats on and are disappointed when they lose this bite. You have to re-learn how the brakes work with Bobcats - they have FANTASTIC modulation - the harder you push on the pedal, the more they bite - so you have lots of control, and plenty of stopping power for panic stops, but the illusion can be that they "don't stop as well as stock" - not true, but they just have different bite characteristics.

The AX6 pads, on the other hand, are very noisy and dusty. I've run them daily for a while until I couldn't take the noise anymore. They do, however, have great initial bite, as well as very good modulation and good heat tolerance. I use them for my mountain performance driving runs - they're just about perfect for that application (as well as autocross and very light track days). They do NOT have the heat tolerance of real track pads like the XP8 and XP10, but they also perform better when cold on the street.

 

Thanks Paul, ^^^ The single best post ever by anyone about CT Pads.

 

Yeah I would agree that the Bobcats took some getting used to. If you stomp on them, they definitely stop on a dime. But they have a very different feel to them than the OEMs - more of a gradual stop at first. They freaked me out at first but I love them now.