Looking to upgrade brakes
 

Since there are people who've replaced just about everything on the 8 I was wondering where I could get a good brake kit for a decent price. I don't mean cheap, I just mean that I'm not gonna search for pads and see another dealer has them for like $100 less or what not. I know the first response I'm going to get is "you should search" but that brings up anything with "brake" or "kit" in it. That and I have to head out to work now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Do you want to look cool, or stop better? If you simply want improved braking, buy a set of good race/street pads. If you wanna look cool, get a big-brake kit. :)

is there any chance the race street pads and/or discs will work non-optimally on the street? if so, then in what way and how should my driving style change?

Depends on the pads. On my miata, I use Axiss Ultimates - they are a street/track pad, if I recall. My car stops AWESOME with these pads. Unreal. In fact, at one track day my car was outbraking even miatas w/ 'big brake upgrades'. :)

The Ultimates don't require obscene amounts of heat, etc, to work well.

Just put on my Hawk HPS brake pads. Don't notice a big difference. The BIG difference I noticed was when I swaped out my brakelines for a set of stainless steel lines from Goodridge, that was huge. The feel was so much firmer.

in motor trend they tested an 8 with a brake upgrade and the car gained 3 feet from stock. apparently the 8's brakes are pretty good as is. you could get some new pads. many companies offer different levels of pads depending on how fast you want to stop and how often you want to replace the pads. i personally am going to change the pads and paint the calipars. i can't justify all that money for less braking power.

I was looking more or less for some company names so I could scope out what's out there, odds are I'll end up swapping out everything, pads, rotors, brake lines, etc.

Have a look at these guys Precision Brakes . They do custom setups using Willowood calipers, and are significantly cheaper than any of the kits i've seen. Personally, I'm looking for 2 piece rotors (for weight reduction), and I've sent them an email. Just waiting on the reply. They welcome group buys as well.

edit- they can do a rear set as well

Once again - why? What is your objective with swapping out brake system components? (Let's not use the word "upgrade", since as pointed out the stock RX-8 brake system is extremely good, and it will be difficult to improve performance). Are you looking solely for appearance, or wanting improved performance? What area is the current performance lacking?

Regards,
Gordon

In the March 2004' Motor Trend article the RX8's braking was on par with the 350 Z's Track Model (upgraded suspension & Brembo brakes & calipers) braking, and was superior to the S2000's.

60-0
350Z : 113 ft.
RX8 : 115 ft.
S2000 : 118 ft.

100-0
350Z : 318 ft.
RX8 : 318 ft.
S2000 : 338 ft.

I agree with Gordon, unless you do some very serious autocrossing/tracking and experience brake fade there is no reason to upgrade to larger brakes. You are probably better off with getting better rubber/tire to shorten stopping distance. I have put stainless steel brakelines & upgraded brake pads on my car. By far the bigger performance gain was the SS brakelines, they really made braking feel much firmer. Don't notice much difference with the upgraded pads.

Gord96BRG and Fanman

I'm just rather tired of walking out to my car and seeing my brake discs rusted. I've had the car a little over a year now and I've put 11k on it, There was another thread about the rusting and it was said that within 3k or under a year the dealerships would fix it. and I'm passed all that. This all coupled with the fat that if the rumors are true and mazda releases a turbocharger for the car at the '05 tokyo auto show, it's going in my car so I'll need better brakes, if available. Your responses are pretty much what I was hoping to get, whether or not the stock was anygood, vs. what's out there. So thanks.

do you mean the HUBS of your rotor rusting, or the rotor surface (where it makes contact with brake pads)?

if it's the hubs, the dealer should be able to buff out the rust and repaint the hubs for you under warranty (since technically it's not a 'wear' item, maybe).

the rotor surface is what's rusting

that's normal, the rust should rub off by the brake pads when you brake.