Stephen Moore

Does any one know of a company which does big brake discs for standard calipers??I have a my99 uk and think this my be a cheaper option than going down the ap / brembo route. One of my previous cars had big discs and they greatly improved stopping efficiency and almost eliminated brake fade.

Hoppy

Welcome Stephen. You are right of course - biggers discs will stop you better. But the problem is the wheels - the biggest disc you can get inside a 16in wheel with OE caliper is (I think) 288mm or thereabouts.

The big disc conversions, up to 330mm, demand a 17in wheel. Costly. But if you're going to go that route anyway, it really would be spoiling things to try and get away with the standard (steel) caliper instead of a top notch alloy AP unit or similar.

The cheapest way to improve a standard car's braking is to fit ProDrive pads (highly rated Ferodo DS2000 in fact) and their front disc upgrade. About £500. EBC do something similar for £300. Don't just stick better pads in - they'll only wreck the discs even quicker.

One last point, upgrades like those suggested above, will probably give you plenty of stoppage for fast road use. But they're not up to track days. I speak from experience and have wasted hundreds of £ss before digging deep to get the full AP upgrade. But worth every penny.

Must dash. Time to get pissed!

Hoppy