When rules were changed for my race class, and we were allowed 13" front rotors with 4 pison calipers I did some research to see what is the most economical upgrade, along with brake pad prices for my use. Some of you guys were interested in seeing the options so I'll spec out each with the pros and cons, IMO of course.
Brembo Cobra R setup
Can be bought for $1300ish. This includes calipers and rotors. For my application I need blank rotors (per rules), so I would have to puchase another $150+ of rotors, then a set of pads.
Pros:
decent intial cost
bolt directly to SN spindle, no adaptor or modification
Cons:
added cost of pads (and rotors for my use)
calipers are not available seperately, not that I could find
still need braided brake lines at added cost (I did not have these)
Wilwood Calipers
Couple of options here. Neither are 'Willwood' per say, as far as kits. Most of these styl kits use off the shelf calipers with some sort of adapter brackets to the spindles. I found a couple of options, one was a kit from revolutionbrake.com, and one was a set of brackets from cmcparts.com. The kit was the obvious choice.
revolutionbrake.com sells the complete kit with: rotors, calipers, pads, braided lines, hardware, and brackets for about $1150. No brainer for bang-for the buck. They have kits for 13" Cobra and 11" GT/V6. But you may as well pop for the 13" setup, price is the same.
They also sell just the brackets for the Wilwood calipers for $299. This is good if you want custom piston sizes or just different calipers from the ones included in the kit. I just went with the 120-11132 Bridgebolt calipers in the kit.
Pros:
calipers can be bought anywhere in the $150/ea range if one dies
kit is complete, everything necessary to get you running
bridgebolt calipers take about 5 minutes to change pads, no caliper removal necessary at the track
pads are CHEAP, $80ish for Wilwood black pads (these are low/med temp roundy racer pads that work well for open track) street pads are cheaper, look for Wilwood or HAWKs under $100/set
pads are a .800 thickness which is a lot of meat (last you long time) *must say it in 'love you long time' voice
Cons:
spindle modifications, specialy for 94/95 cars. yep ... keep grindin'.
The cmcparts.com may not be an option anymore. They were on the fence whether to make any more brackets,but cost was $280 for the set with hardware. Then you had to get the same or similar calipers with the revolution kit, plus lines, rotors, and pads. Not a bad option, these brackets did relocate your calipers a little, and did not require any spindle modification. That was a plus, but I've never seen them on a car. There was talk of the calipers keeping in production, but I'm not sure what hapened to it.
Other options from StopTech, BAER, BrakeMan.com, and Alcon were available, but very high priced (compared), pads were expensive, and replacement parts were hit/miss. Most kits were $2000+ and were just not in the budget or me. My car is all function, so I'm not concerned with color or look of something, so price, serviceability, and performance are major players in my choice.
Rear brakes have some good options out there as well, however the Cobra/GT Varga caliper with some good pads and the 11.65" vented Cobra rotors is all you really need. Revolution also has a rear kits for around $1000, with some Wilwoods, same setup as their fronts. That would be the ultimate track setup.
Lots of other options out there, even larger rotors.
Brembo Cobra R setup
Can be bought for $1300ish. This includes calipers and rotors. For my application I need blank rotors (per rules), so I would have to puchase another $150+ of rotors, then a set of pads.
Pros:
decent intial cost
bolt directly to SN spindle, no adaptor or modification
Cons:
added cost of pads (and rotors for my use)
calipers are not available seperately, not that I could find
still need braided brake lines at added cost (I did not have these)
Wilwood Calipers
Couple of options here. Neither are 'Willwood' per say, as far as kits. Most of these styl kits use off the shelf calipers with some sort of adapter brackets to the spindles. I found a couple of options, one was a kit from revolutionbrake.com, and one was a set of brackets from cmcparts.com. The kit was the obvious choice.
revolutionbrake.com sells the complete kit with: rotors, calipers, pads, braided lines, hardware, and brackets for about $1150. No brainer for bang-for the buck. They have kits for 13" Cobra and 11" GT/V6. But you may as well pop for the 13" setup, price is the same.
They also sell just the brackets for the Wilwood calipers for $299. This is good if you want custom piston sizes or just different calipers from the ones included in the kit. I just went with the 120-11132 Bridgebolt calipers in the kit.
Pros:
calipers can be bought anywhere in the $150/ea range if one dies
kit is complete, everything necessary to get you running
bridgebolt calipers take about 5 minutes to change pads, no caliper removal necessary at the track
pads are CHEAP, $80ish for Wilwood black pads (these are low/med temp roundy racer pads that work well for open track) street pads are cheaper, look for Wilwood or HAWKs under $100/set
pads are a .800 thickness which is a lot of meat (last you long time) *must say it in 'love you long time' voice
Cons:
spindle modifications, specialy for 94/95 cars. yep ... keep grindin'.
The cmcparts.com may not be an option anymore. They were on the fence whether to make any more brackets,but cost was $280 for the set with hardware. Then you had to get the same or similar calipers with the revolution kit, plus lines, rotors, and pads. Not a bad option, these brackets did relocate your calipers a little, and did not require any spindle modification. That was a plus, but I've never seen them on a car. There was talk of the calipers keeping in production, but I'm not sure what hapened to it.
Other options from StopTech, BAER, BrakeMan.com, and Alcon were available, but very high priced (compared), pads were expensive, and replacement parts were hit/miss. Most kits were $2000+ and were just not in the budget or me. My car is all function, so I'm not concerned with color or look of something, so price, serviceability, and performance are major players in my choice.
Rear brakes have some good options out there as well, however the Cobra/GT Varga caliper with some good pads and the 11.65" vented Cobra rotors is all you really need. Revolution also has a rear kits for around $1000, with some Wilwoods, same setup as their fronts. That would be the ultimate track setup.
Lots of other options out there, even larger rotors.