Aftermarket brake comparison

[Fruit And VAG]

Does anybody have experrence with several aftermarket brakes?

I am thnking Brembo,Tarox, Alcon, AP Racing, StopTech, MovIT, Porsche etc...

Prices for front and back for the larger kits can be about £3k.... seems a bit much to just fork out based on reputation rather than trial.

Here's my views:
Brembo... known to be good and everywhere... maybe they are not the best but they look good and work well.
Tarox.... costly and probably available in the most esoteric forms (10 pot..WTF) and have some nice discs from mundane to look like they could stop a plane. Some swear by them, some loather them, but I have heard nothing objective as to why.
Alcon....look a bit like the Tarox but more contemporary in design and cheaper. Don't these guys make the aluminum foil I use in the kitchen? Different Alcon?
AP Racing...genuinely race proven... sizable... reasonably priced for performance brakes, wont win any style awards
StopTech.... a favorite with Audi modders... hence I'm interested.
MovIT... used by QSTuning on VAG mods and manufacturers of some of the largest discs available as well as having ceramic braking systems... if you got money.
Porsche... lovely looking Brembo style brakes and work well on Porsches like the Carrera GT so why not on something a little more normal?

Other than that, I know nothing and the above is worth zero when choosing. At some point I will undergo a BT conversion and will need the uprated brakes first.... where do I start?

 

[Ant FR]

a set of BRembo 4-pots for around £700 all in is all you will ever need.

Yes the porsche kits are good, but weather the difference is noticable to us mere mortal drivers i do not know, i certainly know in road use the BRembos are as far as you need to go. As for rear upgrades i would'nt even bother.

Although i still await the thread " just fitted Porsche ceramic Brakes to my mk1 Leon 1.6.!!!"""

Brembo's or quivalent AP racing kit will be enough mate

 

[Feel]

One thing I would say is to compare the price and availability of replacement discs and pads.

 

[ibizacupra]

and choice of pads... eg Tarox limited choice.

Tarox disks can and do crack.. which is why I avoid them like the plague, pads were abysmal also. Not touched them since. Heard caliper have also cracked (fatigued) but not seen it for myself. maybe just rumour from somewhere.

Porsche are Brembo's

For my S8 I am going RS6 calipers (8 pot brembo's) and 365mm disks.

other considerations being wheel fitments.... some calipers are "chunkier than others"

 

[RobT]

Alcon are probably the best there - very very serious stuff as used by many factory rally teams - butb they are generally race brakes and as such are not suitable for a road car - dont have sufficient seals to take winter salt and a general lack of maintenance

AP's - going down hill these days

Brembo / Porsche - very nice and very road car friendly (as thats what they are designed to be rather than race brakes)

Stoptech - awesome, the dogs, big £ though

Movit - ?

 

[devonmikeyboy]

Any body got anything good or bad to say about Hi Spec? They do four and six pot calipers with big discs. I have been looking at a set of six pot 355mm disc drakes for my Audi and they are only £1250.

 

[RobT]

I have HiSpecs on my race car presently - Hispec calipers with Performance Friction disks and pads - the calipers seem ok, and good value, but getting what I ordered from HiSpec was difficult - several wrong things turned up and it took way too long to get anything back that was right - and they never return emails or phonecalls - dont know I would use them again...

 

[devonmikeyboy]

I was going to get them from Rimstyle Autodesign since they seem to sell them cheaper then Hi Spec themselfs or anyone else i could find. At the end of the day i am not going to be using my car for track day just "ethusiastic" road use so i would have thought they bwould be good enough. Every thing else i looked at was about £500 more.

 

[Ant FR]

did you ever sale your Cupra Tdi Front calipers Mike????

 

[devonmikeyboy]

did you ever sale your Cupra Tdi Front calipers Mike????

Yep gave up trying to get them to fit. Why are you after some big juicy brakes as well? You will need them when you get the hybrid turbo fitted.

 

[Fruit And VAG]

Alcon are probably the best there - very very serious stuff as used by many factory rally teams - butb they are generally race brakes and as such are not suitable for a road car - dont have sufficient seals to take winter salt and a general lack of maintenance

AP's - going down hill these days

Brembo / Porsche - very nice and very road car friendly (as thats what they are designed to be rather than race brakes)

Stoptech - awesome, the dogs, big £ though

Movit - ?

For Mov'It see here:
http://www.movit.de/
and used by Kim Collins of QS Tuning here:
www.qstuning.com

 

[Ant FR]

Yep gave up trying to get them to fit. Why are you after some big juicy brakes as well? You will need them when you get the hybrid turbo fitted.

my mate was after a set of seat cupra ones,

I still have my Brembo's waiting to go on next

 

[Russell Cupra]

Brembos are very good running the Ferodo pad - gives you so much more confidence into roundabouts.

APs are awesome - but are very much track orientated so need servicing regulary.

Just watch out for the numbnut behind you tho....