Need recommendations on upgrading to big brake kit

I am planning on redoing my suspension, and was wondering if any of you had installed a big brake kit. Looking for info such as price and whether or not you would recommend them. Also what about something like the AEM kit that uses the stock calipers or is it worth it to spend the money and go to 2- or 4- piston calipers?

Thanks for any help.

aem is good but with stock calipers the pad doesn’t hit the entire rotor(at least thats how it is on my civic)i would get 4 piston calipers if i had the $.try fastbrakes.com

Look up jonestr… he may be buikding big brake kits using oem parts. At the very least he can point you in the right direction
Schu

If your gonna go the AEM Big Brake kit direction, they do make a 4-piston big brake kit. So you can always go for that. Another good alternative might also be Wilwood. I know they make a 4piston setup for our cars thats relatively cheap, but Im not seeing it on the site…

Are you going to track your car?

Originally posted by 14bteg
aem is good but with stock calipers the pad doesn’t hit the entire rotor(at least thats how it is on my civic)i would get 4 piston calipers if i had the $.try fastbrakes.com

From what jonster told me, even if the stock calipers don’t touch the entire rotor surface area it doesn’t matter, the reason they made the rotor bigger and still use the stock caliper is their trying to stop the motion using hte other portion of the rotor which in a sense is easier to stop then grabbing from the middle of the rotor
so it doesnt’ matter if it’s not grabbing all of the rotor it’s grabbing the part of the rotor which is easier to stop, meaning quicker braking then trying to stop a smaller rotor which a smaller outside area.

Example: Ever try to stop a record with your finger? where is it easier to stop? from the towards the middle of the record or the outer area? or takes less force to stop try it

Example: Ever try to stop a record with your finger? where is it easier to stop? from the towards the middle of the record or the outer area?
that makes sense but with a stock caliper no touching the entire rotor you’ll still have a ring of rust around the hat of the rotor.

Originally posted by 14bteg
that makes sense but with a stock caliper no touching the entire rotor you’ll still have a ring of rust around the hat of the rotor.

Not really :stuck_out_tongue:

on my 95’ civic w/aem rotor/stock calipers there is rust and i can’t stand it:mad:

Originally posted by 14bteg
on my 95’ civic w/aem rotor/stock calipers there is rust and i can’t stand it:mad:

Just paint it.

Wilwood :up:

There are a couple of downsides

Noise - you’ll sound like an armored car coming to a stop. Doesn’t bother me unless I’m on the freeway in traffic for hours. Then it gets a little annoying.

No dust seals - You’ll have to rebuild the calipers once in a while. I haven’t had to yet, but will as PM with the next pad change.

The plus side is that the Dynalite caliper is VERY common and finding parts and pads for it should be very easy. Pad selection is huge as well. Braking power is terrific. The light weight aluminum construction is a huge bonus.

Noise - you’ll sound like an armored car coming to a stop. Doesn’t bother me unless I’m on the freeway in traffic for hours. Then it gets a little annoying.

No dust seals - You’ll have to rebuild the calipers once in a while. I haven’t had to yet, but will as PM with the next pad change.

What exactly do you mean by noise? Does it squeal alot or something else completely? And what are dust seals? I dont know if its just something I forgot or if it doesnt exist, heh. Im just wondering cause I was thinking about getting these brakes sooner or later…

The noise is the terrible squeel that sends childern running and causes old people to fall off their walkers. It can get VERY loud at low speeds. A few local members can attest to how loud they get. We think this is a problem with the perticular pad we’re using (Wilwood D-Compound) and a different pad may fix it.

OEM type calipers have dust seals to protect the caliper cylinder seals. We don’t have them and therefore need to replace the cylinder seals every once in a while as part of our maintenance schedules.

If you just want to install some brakes and not worry about all the extra maintenance, the Wilwood kit probably isn’t for you.

Originally posted by 14bteg
Example: Ever try to stop a record with your finger? where is it easier to stop? from the towards the middle of the record or the outer area?
that makes sense but with a stock caliper no touching the entire rotor you’ll still have a ring of rust around the hat of the rotor.

so? are u going for looks or how they stop? if your so worried paint the portion you know isn’t gonna be touched, problem solved

Originally posted by SOL1D
Example: Ever try to stop a record with your finger? where is it easier to stop? from the towards the middle of the record or the outer area? or takes less force to stop try it

Another benefit of a larger rotor is, there is more rotor material available to absorb and dissipate the heat from the pad. Stock Integra brakes, if they are in good shape, can handle pretty much anything you can throw at them… the only good reasons to upgrade are, if you do extended track session where your stock brakes are fading/overheating, or if you want the brakes to look nice. For performance street driving or autocrossing they probably wont help any. But they look cool.

Originally posted by mos
the only good reasons to upgrade are, if you do extended track session where your stock brakes are fading/overheating

I know a couple of guys (ahem - Jonster and Cspeed) who know ALL about that :smiley:

Originally posted by SE-37K
I know a couple of guys (ahem - Jonster and Cspeed) who know ALL about that :smiley:

I don’t know if i should be happy or sad about that. But that’s all in the past :smiley:

Originally posted by SE-37K
[B]Wilwood :up:

There are a couple of downsides

Noise - you’ll sound like an armored car coming to a stop. Doesn’t bother me unless I’m on the freeway in traffic for hours. Then it gets a little annoying.

No dust seals - You’ll have to rebuild the calipers once in a while. I haven’t had to yet, but will as PM with the next pad change.

The plus side is that the Dynalite caliper is VERY common and finding parts and pads for it should be very easy. Pad selection is huge as well. Braking power is terrific. The light weight aluminum construction is a huge bonus. [/B]

:up: that’s a damn nice setup mang!

oh btw, on a somewhat unrelated note. I think I just saw you driving up bake (just before 6:00pm) ??

Steve

Originally posted by nonsense
oh btw, on a somewhat unrelated note. I think I just saw you driving up bake (just before 6:00pm) ??

heheh, yeah, caught me :slight_smile:

Originally posted by SOL1D
Example: Ever try to stop a record with your finger? where is it easier to stop? from the towards the middle of the record or the outer area? or takes less force to stop try it

thats true. i wonder why that is exactly?