Possible brake upgrade option?!?
 

I've Been Looking into upgrading my front brakes. but can't really afford a new decent brake upgrade like the Racing Brake BBK. I've been looking into brake conversions from other cars and came across the 4 pot Brembos from the Evo 7/8/9.

These have the Same inner bore sizes as the RX8 67.1 and the same wheel PCD so the Disc's should slide straight on. I understand that the disc might need shimming and custom mounts will have to be made but other than that it should be fine right?

Any inputs?

Dan.

Should work depending on your wheels. Better make sure the brackets are done right though.

18" RPF1's

The stock brake master cyclinder should be man enough. Might have to modify the Hose lines too.

Depends on the offset of the wheel too. The MC should be fine. Not sure how cheap this will be in the end and it won't be much of an upgrade in terms of performance. The RX-8 doesn't need much help in the brake department.

ET38. I've shopped around i could get the Calipers, Discs, Pads, (Used) and New braided lines for around £400 GBP give or take a few quid. It would be around £150-200 GBP to get the brackets made up and the brakes installed. Still much cheaper than a new BBK so around £600

I think the brakes would work much better and be more efficient. my car is a track car btw its not used on the road.

You should do some research, there is little to be gained in performance from going with a BBK, let alone BBK made up from various parts. Unless of course you are a serious racer, which I doubt based on your posts.

You can buy ric shaw racing brake package inc 8piston k sport brakes and discs for $2000au

Not sure what you need the upgrade for but its probably not worth it in the end. I suppose it depends how resourceful you are at getting the evo brakes to work properly but it just doesnt seem worth it.

RX8 OEM brakes (at least the larger brakes that come with the 6 speed) are very good as is. A good set of pads a good fluid is the only worthwhile upgrade. I actually doubt the Brembos off an evo are much, if at all, better than the stock RX8 brakes.

To help explain where i'm coming from i have quite bit of high performance driving experience with the rx8. Mountain/canyon roads, autocross and road course etc. I've spent most of this driving on the OEM brakes with a variety of pads on two different types of rotors (OEM and RB) and a few different fluids. From a stopping ability perspective rotors and fluid do barely anything. They will help with fade, wear characteristics, feel etc but do very little if anything for stopping ability. Pads on the other hand can have a huge effect on stopping power. The difference between and OEM pad and a racing pad is night and day. Obviously you probably dont want to run racing pads on the street because of dusting, noise, operating temp etc but there are plenty of pads out there which are streetable and allow your OEM brakes to grip and feel much better.

Upgrading any part of your braking system on the rx8 besides the pads is not going to do much for you except empty your wallet. I was lucky enough to acquire a front and rear bbk which really didn't cost me anything. It's a Wilwood 14" front 13" rear (using the stock caliper) from TCE performance. Normally this would set you back around $2500. I believe this is one of the largest rotor sizes available for the rx8 in a bolt on application. The performance of this kit is phenomenal but you really need to take this comment with a grain of salt.

Pretend we were to make a scale from 1-10 which measured how much of my braking capacity I actually used or needed at any point in time. A 9 on this scale would be OEM calipers, race pads (Hawk DTC-60 or similar), Motul RBF 600, 275 section R-comps, stainless steel lines, 120mph to 60 mph deceleration, late braking (hell, trail braking), last lap of a 20 min session on the tail of my arch nemesis. While i may say the TCE performance brake kit is phenomenal, it only takes your braking performance from a 9 to a 10 (or 9.9999 for all you people out there who have an opinion about some other better brake kit ;) ). Most people absolutely do not need this extra bit of performance and confidence a bbk offers and if you're paying MSRP it is extremely hard to justify the cost. But, at the end of the day it is better than OEM and im extremely happy with how my brakes are set up right now.

If you are going to do a brake upgrade just do it properly. If you just want a project and want to try out evo brakes, by all means, give it a go. Just report back so the community can benefit from your success or failure. If you just want to stop quicker for the least amount of money possible just get a set of pads and be done with it. You aren't going to gain much without a lot more money and/or effort.

Thats a good write up and gives good advise. I don't think i'll bother then. I'll just upgrade the Pads and brake lines. Thanks! for saving my time and money

Pretty good blow out deal on the TCE Performance Products facebook page!

Exactly. Unless you are doing it just for looks there is zero performance benefit. Many professional racing teams keep thee stock brake system for this reason. Spend the money on lighter wheels, better tires, or driver training if you want to brake faster!!

I don't know of many professional race teams that run stock brakes. Unless the rules require it. If you can show me a few I'd be happy to listen to that argument.

His comments were far more based upon gains for the daily driver. In which case the value added aspect could be questioned. Although there certainly remain some.

I just saw that on your FB page TCE. Decent price :)

I think the stock brakes are more than adequate for road use. I just came off a track day with slotted rotors and HAWK Blue pads.Compared to a stock setup this was very aggresive. I literally cut my braking points down 60-75% just from that.(Today was a shorter track with no speeds over 108mph) Of course I went to ATE superblue for fluid.
I personally can't justify spending the coin on a BBK. I just don't see myself reaching the point where I need it, yet. In short. A good combination of pads/rotors/fluid makes a HUGE difference. Try that before jumping to a BBK.

Wholeheartedly agree with this statement. I've taken my RX-8 to numerous track days and time attacks. I upgraded the pads to Hawks and the rotors to StopTechs. With the better pads and rotors, I could lap all day in 90-degree weather, wait as late as I dared to brake, and never once had an ounce of fade. And the best part is that on the street, under normal braking conditions, I can't tell the difference.

So, unless you are full-on racing, or need "the look" of a BBK, just upgrade the stock components to more aggressive materials, and be done with it.

-Adam

I didn't think bigger was necessary and went with the OE size RacingBrake front 4-pot 2-pc kit along with matching 2-pc rear rotor kit. Losing 28 lbs total with just those changes may not seem like a big deal, but to reduce sprung suspension weight by that much is significant. Their rotor material has phenomenal wear too. Forum member dannobre can speak for this tracking his 8 with some of the most aggressive track pads made.

I have tortured the hell out of my brakes...the Racing Brake rotors have lasted like no other rotors I have ever seen. I have run over 6 sets of racepads and 3-4 sets of street/track pads and they are just getting to where I need to replace them

One other thing to consider is pad thickness. I acquired my BBK through parting out another rx8 so i didn't really shop around and get to make a decision. Knowing what i know now if i were shopping around i would make sure to get a caliper that had a pad thickness that was both common and cost efficient. The Wilwoods i have use 16mm pads. Very few manufactures make this size and more often than not I have to have shops mill down 20mm pads for me because that's all that is available. The kicker is that the 20mm pads are usually the same price as the 16mm so its really frustrating that i can't use the extra 4mm. There is also a thicker rotor available which i can't use :(

Oh well, i guess i can't be picky since i didn't have to pay for the BBK. Maybe some day i'll swap out the calipers for something more ideal.

I guess if you are shopping for a BBK with intentions of racing or doing a heavy amount of track days i would get the caliper which allows for the thickest pad and rotor combo which still fits under your wheels. That is of course unless you're uber weight conscious.