JoelR

(search is broken so please excuse if this question has been asked & answered a zillion times already)

I'm looking for a reasonably priced 4-pot kit that fits 16" wheels and I've narrowed it down to these options:

1) Scoobymania AP Racing 4-pot kit on sale for £1150.
2) Godspeed Brembo 4-pot kit for £900.
3) Scoobysport Brembo 4-pot kit for £1286.

All kits include 2-piece rotors. The Godspeed kit is 308mm and Ian said they make the rotors themselves. The Scoobymania rotors are 304mm and they look like AP parts. The Scoobysport kit clearly states their rotors are AP. Is the groove pattern on the Scoobysport rotor significantly better/different than the usual diagonal grooves most rotors have?

The Godspeed kit and the Scoobysport kit use the same black Brembo calipers.

All kits include stainless steel lines. I'm not sure if all kits include lines for the rear though. Scoobysport says their kit includes 4 lines.

The Godspeed kit doesn't include fluid. Not a big deal though.

I know Stef is really happy with his AP's and it was this fact that made me seriously consider this kit but the substantial difference in price with the Godspeed kit has me very interested.

Is there a significant difference in performance between the AP 4-pot caliper and the black Brembo's?

Thanks!!

Joel

Hoppy

Hi Joel. There's nothing to choose between the APR and Brembo calipers. The difference between the kits you mention is the discs.

Without doubt, the APR disc is as good as you can get. The extra grooves on the ScoobySport discs are purely cosmetic.

I'm not that familiar with the Godspeed discs, but unless you are a track day addict, I'm sure they'll cope with anything you can throw at them on the road. See my comments in the 'Any difference between bells?' thread on here.

You don't mention pads. I'm a Ferodo fan, but only because I've used them a lot and they perform extremely well, wear well and don't cost a fortune. And Prodrive recommend them, too. Pagid and Mintex also highly recommended by others. I'd go for Ferodo DS2000 for pure road use (put them in the rear as well) or DS2500 if you like to make the most of your brakes or do track days.


Enjoy!

Richard.

Mike Stokes

I've had Godspeed discs before with one of their conversions, IIRC they were Brembo discs, however this was 3 years ago. They were on a pure track car and never warped, still on it when I sold it last year, so they are decent quality.

I'll probably buy a kit off them next year, given that Godspeed are cheaper than anyone else for similar performing equipment.

pob on the job

If you are looking to purchace now, I'd phone and check on stock availability, that might just make the decision for you.

Danny Fisher

Hoppy, from memory Scoobysport use AP discs. Pete please correct me if I am wrong.

Dan

JoelR

Scoobysport's website clearly calls out AP rotors. Scoobymania doesn't really say. Can anyone clarify this point?

So, is it safe to assume that AP and Brembo 4-pot calipers (from the kits listed above) are equally good? I can't believe there hasn't been a test done by a magazine to compare big brake upgrades in a semi scientific manner.

As for pads, this is the one easy part to swap out regardless of the calipers and rotors I choose so let's not continue debating this point.

Thanks,

Joel

Hoppy

Hi Joel. Yes, I believe ScoobySport use APR discs/bells, identical to the official APR kit except for the different groove pattern which is intended to... erm, make them look different ScoobySport changed to APR discs a year or so ago, following problems with the floating Brembo discs they were using.

I don't know the specifics of the problems with the floating Brembo discs, which in theory should be even better than the separate alloy bells that APR use, but suspect that it's something to do with keeping the the whole lot clean and therefore floating, instead of all mucked up and running out of true. Floating discs are fine on bikes where it is easy to keep everything sparkling, or race cars which get stripped and cleaned every five minutes, but on a road car they're just not practical.

I also believe that ScoobyMania only sell the official APR brake kits, with all the Full Monty gubbins (someone please correct me if I'm wrong). That's what I've got and, after destroying two previous brake set ups, I'm well pleased. Also, the deals that ScoobyMania are currently offering on APR kits are very good indeed.

No connection with ScoobyMania other than being a satisfied customer etc.

Richard.