Nismo Mark

Hi guys

Anyone heard of Compbrake?

www.compbrake.co.uk

I see they do one or two impreza kits so wondered if anyone had tried them?


Thanks

Dan 2

iTrader: (2)

Andy F once told me about this company when i asked about upgrading the brakes on my Classic...Would like to here if anyone else has them fitted..

Hakon

Pretty sure no dust seals on them.

Hakon

stockcar

variation of the Wilwwod caliper design....................cheap and cheerful, but not personally my choice for a road car at all......................

alyn

Mo

I'm sure I've heard that the calipers are an old ford design as fitted to some Cosworths but I may be wrong?

Discs should be good enough quality though and they use Hawk pads which have good reports Stateside.

Andy916

iTrader: (8)

About half the price of a full AP kit, so they're certainly cheap. Why not your choice for a road car Alyn? Lack of dust seals?

Andy

Scott.T

iTrader: (2)

I've had a set on the car for about 8 months now. (MY00 running circa 320BHP).

No problems other then don't bother with the Hawk pads that they recommend.
Get a set of DS2500 from Alyn at AS Performance instead (aka stockcar).

The Comp Brakes are re-branded BemSport calipers, after Bemsport (not Brembo) went into liquidation.
Note : just spoken to Stephen at CompBrake and he worked/designed for Bremsport. They didn't go into liquidation, the owner sadly died, apologies....

They don't have outer seals but the pistons are stainless and compbrake do a seal kit but the main contact there (who is very helpfull) reckons he's never had to supply a seal kit.
They also have a FAQ relating to the seals and reasons.

I havn't had any problems, but as I do my own servicing and I always check the pad thickness, so now spray the pistons with brake cleaner at the same time just to clear out any large build up of debris.

I also beleive that when they were badged Bremsport a Subaru kit was also sold through Scoobysport in Essex.

I would sell them if I could find a decent set of Prodrive Alcons, because I'm a stickler for the Prodrive logo. But that would be the only reason to change them.

JTaylor

But are they any good at stopping the car? What are they like compared to the standard 4pots?

Hakon

They are going to be better than the subaru 4pots and will stand more abuse and they may need to be serviced/rebuilt occasionally. To me 'occasionally' sounds like a pain in the hole......

Hakon

Andy916

iTrader: (8)

That's really useful info, thanks Scott.

Cleaning with brake cleaner now and again is what I'd expect with that type of caliper, as a bike rider/ex-racer and always servicing my own brakes.

Have you used them on the track Scott, if so how did the overall package with DS2500's stand up?

cheers
Andy

Scott.T

iTrader: (2)

They are certainly better then the stock 4-pots even from cold on the DS2500's. Even better when you get a bit of heat into the pads i.e a bit of a swift drive down some twisites.

I havn't used them on track, but if I did I would probably swap to the Hawk Pads for track work.

I swapped to DS2500's due to the Hawks being bloody auwful from cold, so much so that I was very concerned when I fist fitted the setup.

However, when the Hawk pads get upto temp (after about 3-4 heavy stops from 50mph), there where amazing.

The DS2500's can be a bit soft for track work. Generating alot of dust and in some instance causing vibration until the debris clears (that's what I've heard from some regular tracker's)

I can't really compare the Hawk pads to the DS2500's when really hot, as I havn't had the need to get the DS2500's that hot in order to give good braking.

The Hawks where like an on/off switch i.e when cold 'off', when very hot, very much 'on'.

With regard to maintenance, it's dead easy. The pads come out even easier then the standard calipers (and that's easy). Then just spray with brake cleaner and poke about a bit with an old toothbrush.

If you can manage to get the car in the air and the wheel off, that's the hard bit done.

As mentioned above the guy that sells them is very knowledgable and told me that he has been selling this design (whether it be badged Comp-B4 or Bremsport) for 5 years and has never had to sell a service kit.

A collegue of mine runs a Lotus Carlton which come as standard with AP's (I beleive) these have no seals and do sieze. However the Lotus Carlton group organised some Stainless pistons to be made (as standard are not stainless). No-one has had a caliper sieze since.
Still without using outer seals. So that convinced me the comp-b4 should be just as capable.

If my budget was £1,000 I would of got Hi-Spec
If my budget was £1,500 I would of got Prodrive Alcons
But I only had £650, so I got these.

You pays ya money............

Andy916

iTrader: (8)

Ah-ha, that sounds pretty much like bike caliper maintenance

But then again, I don't run my multi-pot ally-calipered bikes through the winter salt!

Which Hawk pads Scott? They list road and fast-road (with prices for both), also full race (but no price listed for the caliper I'm interested in).

Also, did you go for the 335mmm kit? I'm on a bit of a weight-saving mission (Volk forged 16" wheels, ally-bodied coilovers) so interested in the 297mm kit.

Caliper weight is very low - 1.5kg according to the website, compared to 2.3kg for AP 4-pots (CP5200) and 5kg for the nasty standard 2-pots.

Andy

awd wrx

caliper weight isn't everything though , to make the alloy calipers that light they are a thinner design , get too thin and the calipers start flexing which is what you get with the willwoods and some high specs , when the calipers flex your not getting the clamping forces on the pads , in effect the calipers bend instead of clamping the pads onto the discs , there is no comparison against these calipers and the AP 5200's , the AP's win hands down

Scott.T

iTrader: (2)

I'll repeat...You pays ya money............

I'm not comparing against anything other the the standard 4-pots.
I'm sure AP's and Alcons 'may' be better, but they are more then twice the price.

People pay £350 for 2nd hand 4-pots on ebay that will probably need pads & disks. So for £650 these are well worth the money.

With regard to Hawk pads, I had Fast Road. I think these are called HPS.
They were great when hot, scary when cold.
I wouldn't/didn't ever get them hot enough during 90% of my road driving.

Andy916

iTrader: (8)

Sure, when I saw the weight difference I had to wonder whether this was at the expense of ridigity. But how do you know there's "no comparison"? What's your experience of the Comps?

Costs for 16" wheel application inc vat:
compbrake 297mm £695
ap cp5200 godspeed 308mm £995 (poss less if Ian's still doing his recent deal)
ap cp5200 ap 304mm godspeed bell £1095
ap cp5200 ap 304mm ap strapdrive £?

So, there's a difference but it's not as big as you might think. There's a much bigger difference in the 335mm (17" wheel) size range.

Reason for sticking with 16" is because my Volks are lighter than anything in 17"+ size.

Andy

Scott.T

iTrader: (2)

I was basing the price against Full AP Kit's not AP's and Godspeed.
The Godspeed 335mm kit using the standard calipers is about the same price as the Comp-B4.

The advantage of the Comp-B4 is you can flog your Subaru 4-Pot's

Andy916

iTrader: (8)

Just had another look at the Hawk pads - HPS is their basic one, which I think you found poor from cold, so gawd knows what their fast road one (HP-Plus) is like from cold.

JTaylor

Good info in this thread now. Cheers fellas . I really want the APs but with ASTs, roll-cage and fixed back seats pending I'll get a kicking off the missus for spunking away another £1500.

My RA only weighs 1200kg so maybe these Compbrakes will do the job. £350 ish back on the standards will help as well. In terms of unsprung weight, the 1.5kg sounds appealing but as somebody else mentioned, does this increase flex in the calliper?

CAT2

iTrader: (3)

I've had a set on for a week now and I like them a lot. I think I've got plain road pads and these seem fine from cold, but then I did have the old two pots previously. The calipers are certainly very light.

Scott.T

iTrader: (2)

Would be interested to know what pads you have. They won't be 'plain road' pads as the caliper pad style dictates that they are a race derived pad i.e you can't get that pad style/shape from Halfords.

AFAIK the only pads that fit are
Hawk HB 101.800
Willwood 7320
Mintex MTX-1795
Ferrodo FRP501

sir clip

Very good kits for the money.

They work very well in my experience.

The 6 pot kit offers outstanding stopping performance against price.

6 POT RANGE

My mate has the 4 pots on his tarmac rallycar and swears by them (not at them lol)

Caliper flex has never been an issue with these, before that he had wilwoods on and they went in the bin. He too has reduced his unsprung weight and now is not intent on upgrading any further as he feels its not necessary.

Hes just got the rear kit now hes that impressed.

SUBARU REAR

cusco kid

hi guys i use compbrake on my road/track car and my sons track car for 2 years

]
this is the 6 pot set up on our type ra whiteline sponsored /development subaru


the kit is easy to fit to the car and takes only a couple of hours
we also use the rear brakes on the ra


this is the mounting bracket that carries the radial mounted caliper
4 pot 330mm x 20mm alloy bell




this is the hyd handbrake system to be fitted after we alter the diagonal split to front and rear enabling us to use the hyd/h brake

residual valves for the rear calipers this leaves 2 psi pressure in the system after pressing the brakes giving you a hard pedal every application


the front brake with new compomotive wheels checking for clearance ,i rus 53 offset for clearing the brembo calipers we had fitter before compbrake . we found that the brembos were not up to the job at knockhill and warped in a few laps
we have used 4 pot 330 x32 compbrake on my sons lhd classic for 2 years without any problems .apart from pad changes and fluid changes we have had no problems





this is me testing suspension set up at knockhill (being a hooligan having fun


i can recomend compbrake for subaru an the tecnical back up is second to none stephen fell is always ready to help with any questions geo

cusco kid

the calipers dont need dust seals as there is nothing to seize up stainless pistons dont corrode and the alloy caliper has a coating to stop salt damage

Godspeed Brakes

iTrader: (259)

dust seals are to stop dust getting into the bores of the calipers , as in brake pad dust , and road muck , it doesnt matter what the pistons are made of , this will eventually happen I have rebuilt enough calipers without dust seals to see this first hand.
The main thing to do to reduce the time between strip downs , is clean off the pistons when changing pads , when the pads wear down and the pistons are right out the calipers , some just push them back into the calipers without cleaning the dust off them, the dust gets between the bores and pistons and makes them stick , by cleaning the pistons before you push them in stops this happening

sir clip

What tolerance is the piston into the bore lol ?

In use how can dust get down somewhere where there is no gap ?

Clean as you go as Ian says (as you should with any caliper) and you will be fine.

The 6 pots do have them fitted afaik

sir clip

The rear upgrade kit came on Friday as promised (excellent service) and we set about fitting it to the car on Saturday. Everything fitted 1st time without any hassle.

Not a single problem so far

Chelspeed

Cusco Kid - The front brakes on the green car are on the wrong side of the car. The vented discs are trying to pump air into the centre of the disc as they turn when they should be pumping out from the centre. Swop them side to side and they will run cooler.

sir clip

Just fitted another front and rear kit to my mates STi this weekend.

The only problem we had was he didnt order any brake fluid lol so we embarrasingly had to go into Halfords for some lol

Oh and when I got there he also told me he had ordered a bias pedal box so we also did that today too. That was easier to fit than I thought too.

Top stuff and service again had to call to check which side the .7 m/c went and the phone (on a Sunday bear in mind) was answered within 4 rings. Cant expect more than that.

Godspeed Brakes

iTrader: (259)

you can lol all you want , of course there is a gap down the sides of the pistons , if there isnt they will stick in the bores when they expand when getting hot , there will be on average about a 5 thou gap , and that gap is big enough for dust and muck to get in. , not unless the last 18 years of rebuilding calipers has been in vien !!

Also , if they dont need seals , why mention that the 6 pots do have them , kind of makes your first reply a bit pointless

cusco kid

yes i know that the discs are the wrong way round .the car was in bits when we needed the bitch out the garage so no 1 son just clashed it together m8
it has been pointed out before namley by me