The best brakes

[peteh]

Hi can anybody help?

The brakes on my 95 s4s are ok but i want to improve them.I have a set of sport 350 front calipers new with brackets,however i have seen these put on the rear and even bigger brakes on the front, before i buy bells and discs,can anybody advise.

[Bentzion]

Most people would tell you to go with Brembo or AP (same company BTW). I am biased because I'm in the business and know what works in racing. The street products are just that. They will give you better bite on the street but as you push harder then you get fade not only because of the pad compound but because of caliper warping along with rotor eventually warping. Mono block Aluminum calipers can only withstand a certain amount of heat ( at 400 deg F) aluminum looses 60%+ of it's rigidity and therefor cannot clamp as well. The calipers warp and create brake drag and overheat the rotors and cause them to warp. Everyone wants to make more power with the motor but if you dont have brake drag you are making more of it as you release the pedal. No brake drag also means you dont change the attitude of the suspension going into a turn. There is only one company that can do that and they are door to door with (excuse the term) Sh^%$y Wilwood. If you are interested in a race proven system from a company that is small but has been around for many years PM me. Otherwise you can go the normal route and there are plenty of applications out there that for occasional spirited street drive: A la, Brembo, AP, Willwood.

BTW, larger disks does NOT mean better stopping power it only means heavier weight (there goes horsepower and handling out the door again via unsprung weight.) You want the lightest and that means the smallest you can have while maintaining exceptional clamping torque. Clamping torque is the function of two things: Master cylinder being able to push enough fluid and primarily the Caliper.

Hope this helps.

Edited March 19, 2012 by ramjet
No need to quote the post directly above. :)

[ramjet]

Hi Bentzion,

Noticed that this was your first post on TLF. Welcome aboard.

Slip over to the intro forum sometime and tell us about yourself and maybe post some pics of your esprit.

http://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/forum/15-introductions/

What model and colour is it?

Also if you're a bit of a brake guru, you're going to be popular on here.

Any other questions, feel free to ask one of us mods. We're here to help.

[Bentzion]

Thank You for the Warm welcome.

I will get to the intro page soon. I travel a bit and had the chance to post as I was carousing through the forum.

Have owned an 86 blk on blk Turbo sold to a young man with quite a collection of cars. I must admit I am looking into an Evora but I am waiting to see if they can come up with a more hardcore car. Keep you all posted on the rest.

[Vulcan Grey]

If you put the 4 piston calipers on the rear, then you will lose your parking brake. You'll need to add another mechanical caliper for parking... To be legal.

Why is it that you want better/bigger brakes? Are you driving the car on the track, or only on the street?

The Sport 350 and 2000+ Esprit V8 front AP racing calipers that you have are pretty nice, though the Lotus specific rotors are expensive... Not sure about pad availability, probably a fairly common pad shape.

The rear calipers are small, and pad choice is limited. They are only a sliding single piston caliper so pad knockback and distortion may be an issue with heavy use on the track. They also are a fairly thin pad, so heat will go through pretty fast, and you won't be able to use much of the thickness on track.

The reasons for going to a multi-piston caliper are usually a larger pad area with less specific heat, and reduced pad taper, also reduced pad knock back (though you would also need a floating rotor). A floating rotor also helps with reduced distortion, pad knock-back, less heat transfer into hub, and reduced weight.

You do need to keep in mind the proper distribution for breaking, but the Esprit is not as front heavy as you might have been lead to believe. The Sport 300 and X180-R both have very large front and rear calipers, and similar sized rotors, with no change to brake proportioning...

In my own car I went with this setup, and did not need to change the brake balance.

http://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/topic/42648-brembo-racing-brakes-my-own-design/

I went with my setup, because it is similar to the Sport 300 and X180-R. It also offers the benefits of cheap pad available in any compound I want, and very cheap replacement rotors. It also has vented titanium pistons and thick pads to prevent heat transfer, along with floating rotors. The rear calipers and rotors are even lighter than stock, and the front rotors are insanely heavy, but I have not noticed any bad effects other than I can shred my front tires if I want to.

My setup may be insane, but the pedal feel is excellent, the modulation is very easy, the braking power is immense, and the thermal capability is never an issue anymore!

The original Esprit brakes never had enough power to lockup, the pad selection was poor, the thermal capability wasn't near as good (I used to boil my fluid or ash my pads after ~5 laps). Lotus just didn't intend these cars to be tracked back then, and I do take mine to the track:)

[peteh]

Thanks everyone for your imfo. I do intend to use it on the track, more to the point though i have a ready to build 2.5 turbo engine yes one of Gary Kemps so to prepare i thought i should start with the brakes,i was rather hoping to buy and fit a kit that was tried and tested even if it meant ditching the sport 350 parts I have 18s on the front and 19 inch wheels on the rear so upgrades in size discs that is would not be a problem

[peteh]

After much concideration i have got the fronts soeted 330mm discs and bells,sport 350 4 pots just need to sort the backs i have got some 305mm rotors with brackets to use the origional s4s calipers but would relaly like somthing better have looked at pnm highspec 323mm convertion does anybody have any feedback?