What’s the Cheapest upgrade?

[jjltthomas]

I’m moving in small steps fellas, I have a family but I need to know the cheapest brake upgrade for my factory brakes on my 98 Gt. Thanks in advance.

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[white95]

Hmm, I would vote for 99-04 GT PBR calipers! Ask [MENTION=17007]RichV[/MENTION] nicely and he’ll tell you why!!

 

[evilcw311]

Just don’t try to get any responses out of Pete. It seems only certain people can ever get him to answer questions.


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[ttocs]

I vote baer brakes

 

[RichV]

I’m moving in small steps fellas, I have a family but I need to know the cheapest brake upgrade for my factory brakes on my 98 Gt. Thanks in advance.
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Absolute cheapest will be the 99-04 front calipers, leave the rest as is with the exception of wear items.

Replace the soft lines, you've got 4 so purchase a set of braided lines if you can. Doesn't matter on brand, MM, Russell, J&M, etc. If your rotors are warped or you just want new, get some factory blank or slotted. OEM is fine, just get the better quality. NAPA Golds work very well. New pads, go with a better than cheap part store junk. Hawk HPS is a good street pad, Carbotech, Porterfield, and I've had decent luck with the PowerStop Z26. They sell the pads at RockAuto (along with other parts for good prices) and they are very reasonable.

Last thing is flush ALL fluid, do some synthetic DOT4. I like Valvoline, any will be a big improvement over old fluid.

I essentially road raced on that same setup in a 89 Fox and a 94 GT for a few seasons. Never let me down, on track it will need brake cooling duct, but it works real well.

If you have the $, Baer, Wilwood, StopTech, Brembo etc. I have a set of 14" Brembo F50s on my 95 that's not quite on the road yet, but should definitely be a stopper!!

 

[ReplicaR]

Swap the whole car to a G37 with sport package lol (14 inch rotors all around, Akebono sport brakes from factory).

But on a serious note, do what RichV said. I would not even go as far as swapping the stock rubber hoses, as they are more durable and less likely to fail than the stainless steel braided lines. If you're not racing the car, braided lines aren't necessary in my opinion. Best pad for the street car is the one that will have a lot of cold bite, so StopTech sport pad, Hawk HPS would do very nicely.

 

[white95]

Swap the whole car to a G37 with sport package lol (14 inch rotors all around, Akebono sport brakes from factory).

You’re quite enamored with the Infinity!! Bad mo fo :thumbsup:

 

[ReplicaR]

You’re quite enamored with the Infinity!! Bad mo fo :thumbsup:

Honestly, it's quite a car. At the last event [MENTION=10532]MadStang[/MENTION] drove it for one session, and he was pretty impressed with it, especially the brakes. I think he was in shock, when he found out that I'm running 100% factory equipment (rotors, pads, etc.)

 

[Mustanger]

I noticed a big improvement when I installed my SS Russell brake lines! I have NEVER heard of the rubber lines being more durable & less prone to rupture! Facts please to substantiate your claims.

 

[ReplicaR]

Facts? Sure thing. Here are some arguing points for you.

1. Stainless steel lines were never meant for street use: They are race parts, and have a specific life span, meaning that you are supposed to routinely inspect them, and replace them after certain amount of miles. By comparison, stock rubber lines are lifetime parts, which means that they are supposed to hold up as long or longer than the life of the chassis.

2. Stiffness does not equal durability: Stock rubber lines have been bonded quite well to their fittings, and have ability to stretch and twist in the way that's not possible with stainless steel braided line. You can pretty much hang the caliper and rotor by the stock rubber line, and nothing will happen to it, it will simply stretch. The rear center line stretches quite a bit when you go full droop on rear suspension after the torque arm is installed (different movement curve than 4 link). If you try to do the same thing with the stainless steel braided line, it will snap. I've personally snapped a line on the front, while working on suspension components, by simply having a caliper slip off the hanger and fall. I've seen people snap lines at the track as well, due to age, damage due to rubbing, etc.

3. Placebo effect vs actual gain: As mentioned before, unless you get the brakes into an extreme operating temperature, enough to transfer a lot of heat into the brake lines, and make them elastic due to higher heat, you are not going to notice any actual gains. I know it's nice to think that we add parts and they make the cars better, but a lot of times that's not actually true, particularly when you use parts intended for racing use only outside of their normal use (street driving). I too have swapped to race braided lines (StopTech), and I felt absolutely no difference on the street. For people who will never see any kind of track driving at all, I would never recommend using stainless steel braided lines.


Here is video that's pretty on point about the brake lines.

[video=youtube;6LJiPDAr9f8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LJiPDAr9f8[/video]

 

[96blak54]

Here's an idea.....stainless braided stock lines.....BAM!

 

[ReplicaR]

Meh, I like cross drilled brake lines better. You can buy them here.

http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=39

 

[jjltthomas]

Absolute cheapest will be the 99-04 front calipers, leave the rest as is with the exception of wear items.

Replace the soft lines, you've got 4 so purchase a set of braided lines if you can. Doesn't matter on brand, MM, Russell, J&M, etc. If your rotors are warped or you just want new, get some factory blank or slotted. OEM is fine, just get the better quality. NAPA Golds work very well. New pads, go with a better than cheap part store junk. Hawk HPS is a good street pad, Carbotech, Porterfield, and I've had decent luck with the PowerStop Z26. They sell the pads at RockAuto (along with other parts for good prices) and they are very reasonable.

Last thing is flush ALL fluid, do some synthetic DOT4. I like Valvoline, any will be a big improvement over old fluid.

I essentially road raced on that same setup in a 89 Fox and a 94 GT for a few seasons. Never let me down, on track it will need brake cooling duct, but it works real well.

If you have the $, Baer, Wilwood, StopTech, Brembo etc. I have a set of 14" Brembo F50s on my 95 that's not quite on the road yet, but should definitely be a stopper!!

Thank you, I appreciate the help greatly.


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[g36 monkey]

I got braided lines so I can pretend to stop better! Be nice to me! Though, I plan to race the junk out of this thing lol!

 

[OLD H2S]

I braided my lines but came up with 2 extra connectors???