I'm at 84,000 miles on my '05 convertible, looking for new brakes. I swapped to the 15" 7-hole stock wheels from the heavy 16" 5-stars... want to keep reducing my unsprung weight as parts wear out.

so what are the lightest brakes out there? I've been searching the forums & the web with no real luck. Oh, and I want to keep it under $9K so no ceramics

Street driving only - no autoX or track (it's a convertible)

 

I've heard Wilwood kits are very lightweight...

I have question. You mention "under $9k..."

Are you seriously considering spending $9,000 on brakes? Or are you saying you don't have a price limit?

 

He's on 15" wheels so a lot of the aftermarket BBKs, as light as they may be, just won't fit. To be honest I don't know that you'd notice too much of a difference in lighter brakes so maybe just finding the lightest rotors that can be put on the stock calipers with decent pads would work better for you?

 

I've read a number of threads that compared the weight of the TCE/Wilwood 13" kit with the stockers and they weighed more (!) Not much more, and they are much bigger, but they are not super light. I think the new DP6 calipers are lighter and fit the large kit.
I know the OP has 15s, and agree that all this is pretty academic for him, but in general you might save a little on a rotor, or a caliper, but without going ceramic you won't see large weight savings.

 

haha.. no. The ceramic carbon brakes are about $9k per axle, so that was the reference.

possibly. know who makes the lightest rotors? unfortunately they don't usually post the weight for something like that. I realize the difference will probably be minimal, but if I'm spending money anyway I want to get the lightest I can find.

 

Well, something that's definitely lighter than stock (if you're able to) is to just have the stock ones turned, that will lighten them a few ounces for a reasonable price.

 

I have Powerslot rotors and they are a bit lighter than the stock ones.

 

I can do a fully "streetable" version of the Plus 2 kit in 11.75 spec for the same $859 price. Given all the factory Plus 1 and 2 kits are fully interchangeable in parts we'd simply swap in a smaller 11.75 UL32 rotor and keep the dust booted DP caliper. Or you could have them in red....or drilled....or green color if you wanted it.

Weight? total shipping weight of the kit would run about 35lbs. Less all the boxes and crap I'd say you'd have a total of 16lbs per corner. And they'd fit many 15s also.

BWTM! You can keep the barrel spacers for the caliper mount and do 12.2" rotors later (second hats advised vs swapping) and bump the same package up in size for 16" wheels. All in about 15min.

 

Wow, I didn't realize Carbon Ceramics were THAT much... gosh, sorry about my comment!

Good luck on the brake job, post results when you're done!

 

Nice. so 16lbs per corner... any idea what the stock setup weighs?

oh yeah almost forgot; would Scalloped Rotors be ridiculous on a street only car?

 

MovIt Brakes said they start at about 9K..

 

thanks for all the ideas so far.

 

Been way too long on the stock weight. "Lots more".
The scalloped would run you an extra $50. Workable? Yea I'd say they'd be streetable for the most part but jut not durable for the long haul for track use for sure. I think we'd be pulling a bit too much mass. Keep those on the hats for the 11.75 for the drag use and pick up a set of hats and 12.2 rotors for the street and 16s and you'd cover all the bases.

 

In your OP I see that you are not planning to do Auto-X or track events.

I remember reading somewhere that the Wilwood 11.75" brake kit saved 4 lbs per corner, just the savings of the caliper. The aluminum hatted rotor saved another 3 lbs per corner. So a total of 7 lbs per corner or 28 lbs total.

If light weight is your quest get some lighter wheels. You can get some SSR Type C 15"x6" wheels @ 8.8 lbs each, even lighter than the 7-holies. See them here; http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/resul...ard&sort=Brand

That would be another 3.5 lbs per corner. When buying tires weight can be saved there also. Some brands are lighter than others. By keeping the width to a minimum you can also keep the weight down.

 

Now were on a roll! I'm smelling racer mentality here....$100 a pound is right around the corner.

 

I was looking at the Type C wheels & some old Mugens when I found my holies - got 'em straight across for my old wheels, didn't cost a dime except for the rebalancing, which was covered by the cash I made selling my spare tire. So I've lost about 24lbs per corner unsprung weight, and about 45 sprung so far, for no cost except my labor. Now I have a shimmy in my steering wheel when I brake, probably could be fixed by turning them but I'm not opposed to spending money on a good lightweight brake setup - as I said Blu has 84K miles so its a good time to do it. And by not getting the SSRs I saved what, $1500?

 

So that 7lbs per corner, I read that the scalloped rotors are up to 3lbs lighter than a standard rotor, so a potential loss of another 10lbs per corner (well, only on the front), still that sounds pretty sweet.

toddtce the Plus 2 kit comes with everything I'd need right? SS brake lines and all that? With the scalloped rotors we're still under a grand.. so I realize this is a setup for racing, they say they won't last as long on the street? So what, half as long as OEM? 40K miles? Just to be clear I am not, repeat NOT going to have two sets of tires, two sets of brakes, etc. I have chains for my tires in the winter, same setup year round.

 

Complete; that's correct.

On the wear rate; there's no way I can give you a concrete answer on that. You're taking perhaps 15% of the rotor away and expecting the remaining 85% to do the same work. Of course it's going to be taxed greater and thus pad wear and rotor life will be shortened. To try and predict exactly how much would be foolish.



On the two sets of rotor etc. I say; why not? While I don't propose it from the get-go it's no different than two sets of tires- each specific to the required task. How serious about the competition are you? Why view the the brake options any differently than the tires?

Track day: 11.75 scalloped rotors with D pads on 15s
Street day: 12.2 rotor (your choice of finish) with BP10 pads on 16s.

Swapping this is stupid simple. The kits come with the required barrel spacer to move to the larger rotors, quick clips hold the pads in place, and a second set of hats/rotors and pads could run as little as $400.

Again we're faced with that "application specific" design that has shortcomings. What's ideal for the track is not for the street and visa-versa. Just like some gummy 15" tires would wear out too quickly as a dd tire, it's the same problem.

 

I'm thinking now that Deviant has the right idea:
..probably just go with scalloped rotors, new pads and keep everything else stock.
as a bonus I bet they'll look pretty sweet behind the holies too!

 

I'd agree that I don't think you'd see a huge gain with this proposed change given the weight per corner etc. Granted every bit helps but it's not 200lbs.

What I think you may be overlooking however is the flexibility of future use to larger and or wider rotors, and pad options to compliment the gains of the fixed four pot calipers etc. etc.

No arm twisting here but if you're investing $300 or more in rotors, pads and hoses you're nearly half way to a very basic, bare bones set up up that's got more to offer in the future. I can understand not wanting to buy two set of rotors and all that, but how will you feel investing $300 in oe parts now only to have to spend $800+ later to get what you could have started with??

 

If I did go with the scalloped rotors & pads for the stock calipers.. would I need new hoses?

 

They'd be included with a complete kit.

You'd have to source some stock replacements for stock calipers.

 

Don't forget the weight savings from Wilwood's aluminim calipers compared to the boat anchor O.E. steel calipers.

 

Hmm.. $909.. all new brakes.. how about orange? Can I get orange? LOL

 

Orange? Oh don't worry; you're not the first. FSLs below and a DP kit that might show up at AMVIV this year.



Yellow? Done it.
Silver? Yup.
Blue? Wilwood factory option.
Speckled silver? Last year AMVIV
How about Purple? Pictures to prove it.
Red? Boring.
Maroon? Yea and was it ugly.
White? Believe it or not on a truck kit.

I am bringing a new one to AMVIV this year: Mineral Bronze 13" kit. And a Silver FSL kit. All that pc stuff adds weight you know..lol!