brembo v's hispec

s3_kev

s3_kev

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im looking at buying my big brake set up this month and i have narrowed my serch down to either hispec's billet 4 pot kit with 2 piece discs http://www.hispecbrake.co.uk/Conversions/Audi/A3 - 325 - B4.htm
or brembo jr kit with one piece discs
question is what would everyone go for and i no everyone always says brembo but the hispec kit seems really good also same sort of prices but its got a 2piece disc setup,
im only using the car for fast road use and possibly one trackday if ever at all so im thinking the brembos would also be more then good enough for my use
opinons please
 
Brembo's have more than enough stopping power. Been told they wont fade on track either im yet to try that out though...

Ive still got standard pads in mine when they come round to chaging i'll be going for DS2500'S

My vote is for brembos not that im biased or anything.. lol

Jason
 
base your choice on consumable costs. (i.e how much are the discs and pads you will be buying for the next 5 years!).

I have a two peice disc set up with brembo 8 pots with delivery mileage on them. I got them for a great price but I am not looking forward to the first replacement of discs and or pads! £500 for two front discs! £100 for pads!
 
jcb said:
base your choice on consumable costs. (i.e how much are the discs and pads you will be buying for the next 5 years!).

I have a two peice disc set up with brembo 8 pots with delivery mileage on them. I got them for a great price but I am not looking forward to the first replacement of discs and or pads! £500 for two front discs! £100 for pads!
Click to expand...
yeah this is one thing i have put into my desisions as i was looking at possibly doing a cheaper conversion using r32 stuff but the cost of replacing discs and pads is more then buying stuff for the brembo setup,
i no the cost of replacment discs and pads for the brembos and i no the cost of replacement pads for the hispecs so ill guess there be around the same price.
i have got prices from bill at badger5 today on a brembo kit with ds2500's and ebc ultramax discs which have good reviews so think im going for this setup. now as when i emailed hispec they were no where near as helpfull as bill and i think ill have more then enough stopping power with the brembo's, im fed up with brake fade
 
I would opt for the brakes that have no horror stories associated with sticking pistons and lacking dirt-shielding...and go with the ones that are fitted to most of the major Sportscars the world over...choose well proven, reliable technology...your life may depend on it.
 
Ess_Three said:
I would opt for the brakes that have no horror stories associated with sticking pistons and lacking dirt-shielding...and go with the ones that are fitted to most of the major Sportscars the world over...choose well proven, reliable technology...your life may depend on it.
Click to expand...
does this mean that the hispec quality is not all that special then?
 
Personally, I can't say...
But I know of those who have had problems. Same with Tarox callipers.
I know of no issues with Brembos.
That's enough for me to make a decision.

Again, personally, there must be a reason manufacturers choose Brembo to make their callipers for them...and are able to offer 3 years+ warranty on their performance?
 
cool well im going for the brembos now as i have a very good price and i was'nt to impressed with hispecs customer services so that helped sway my choice to id rather give someone who makes an effort my money
 
s3_kev said:
none i dont think same sizes etc ony differences is that the seat's have them from the factory and the brembo kit comes with either drilled or groved discs
Click to expand...

Ok that makes sense, thank you
 
i have heard of issues with EBC discs though.
I am sure Bill has done his homework though and does great service
 
yeah i wouldnt have any other ebc products but have seen good things about the ultramax discs
 
Brembo.


PS I would of had AP but it was two months waiting.
 
If i were you i would get groved or smooth discs with the Brembo set up as the drilled ones tend to crack. I have to add this was after 16,000 miles of driving and a few track days so not bad really. Brembos are very good and i would buy them again, i fact i bought a set of new discs last week:sly:.
 
I've got HiSpec brakes, don't buy the billet kits. Go for one of the monster kits there much more suitable for a daily. The caliper is about double the size of the brembo's so you need to check with the diagrams HiSpec supply for any clearance issues. I did this by print the HiSpec diagrams out 1:1 and putting them inside the wheel to make sure.

The customer service at HiSpec was awful when i bought but the brakes are unbelieveable for the money. The quality is miles better than the brembo's i had as is the stopping power.

In conclusion, go for one of the monster kits, do your research, be very clear about the spec you order and if i did it again i'd go through a retailer rather than direct so they can deal with any issues if wrong parts are sent out. They are worth the hassle as my first impression was OEM brembos aren't big brakes! Oh, and you need lean on them. I feel you really need to switch the master cylinder with bigger brakes too are they feel very different to grabby over servo'd standard brakes.
 
leecs3 said:
I've got HiSpec brakes, don't buy the billet kits. Go for one of the monster kits there much more suitable for a daily. The caliper is about double the size of the brembo's so you need to check with the diagrams HiSpec supply for any clearance issues. I did this by print the HiSpec diagrams out 1:1 and putting them inside the wheel to make sure.

The customer service at HiSpec was awful when i bought but the brakes are unbelieveable for the money. The quality is miles better than the brembo's i had as is the stopping power.

In conclusion, go for one of the monster kits, do your research, be very clear about the spec you order and if i did it again i'd go through a retailer rather than direct so they can deal with any issues if wrong parts are sent out. They are worth the hassle as my first impression was OEM brembos aren't big brakes! Oh, and you need lean on them. I feel you really need to switch the master cylinder with bigger brakes too are they feel very different to grabby over servo'd standard brakes.
Click to expand...
cheers for your info its good to have advice from someone who has experience from hispec, looking at the monster kit its a fair bit more then the brembo kit i think im going to opt for and also taking the fact you'd need a much bigger kit to choose hispec over brembo and that will then mean higher costs when it comes to disc replacement so im sticking with the brembo choice,
 
Hi
Just wondering which Brembo upgrade discs you guys are meaning and where is best to buy them from.
How much am I look at for all 4?
Cheers
 
They are talking about the Brembom GT jr kit. This is just for the front.

323mm discs (drilled or vented)
4pot calipers
Braided hoses

This is going to set you back a little under £1000

The rears arent as important.
 
I can defo recommend the Brembo's, but have heard the early Hispec's were prone to seizing calipers due to poor seals & dirt ingress.
As i recall this was because they were made for track use & expected to be stripped & cleaned after each use
 
Think Porsche brakes are rebadged Brembo's (maybe)

Looks like you have made your decision but to add my view, The only non OEM brakes fitted to the VAG range are AP Racing (really bad paint fade on calipers) and Brembo which speaks volumes.

Are the Brembo GT's not a 312mm disc using a 4 pot caliper?
 
Nah, the GT kit has 323mm disks with the 4 pot's.

I think the Porsche brakes have a bigger calliper though & were sold as a "Big Red" kit.

I could be wrong though.
 
S4quatt said:
Nah, the GT kit has 323mm disks with the 4 pot's.

I think the Porsche brakes have a bigger calliper though & were sold as a "Big Red" kit.

I could be wrong though.
Click to expand...

Many different types of 'Porsche' brake kits.

Some use 993 turbo 'Big Red' callipers which are a bolt together design...and they use custom alloy bells with 993 turbo floating rotors. Fine...but overkill on an S3, in my view.

Other kits use the later 996/Boxster monoblock callipers (stiffer) and various types of discv to suit.
Although 996/7 & Boxster callipers may look the same, they use different sized pistons and different thickness discs...so some kits work better than others.

People will tell you the floating discs and Big Red callipers are the pinacle of braking...
So why has Porsche dropped the callipers in favour of momoblocks and dropped floating steel discs in favour of single piece items (and improved the braking in so doing?)

Brembo make the Porsche callipers anyway...so why pay more for 'bling' brakes with Porsche on them?
Fitting them to your S3 doesn't mean it'll brake like a mid/rear engined Porsche...so don't expect it to.

Some of the Porsche kits are good...some are just silly (anything with Cayenne callipers - too many overly large pots) and purely for show...but all in all, you'll struggle to find anything that works any better on an S3 than the Brembo GT jr kit...especially when fitted with better pads (Ferodo DS2500s or similar).
 
well finally got around to sorting out my brakes, i ended up going for brembo calipers ebc ultramax discs front and rear ferodo ds2500 front pads and pagid rear pads they all arrived this week from badger5 so i have been busy fitting the whole lot and bleeding the whole system through thebrake pedal feels so much firmer now love it, cant wait for them to be bed in

brembobrakes009.jpg


brembobrakes010.jpg


brembobrakes008.jpg


brembobrakes007.jpg


brembobrakes006.jpg
 
Kev they look amazin, i so want the lot.

How much did the brembo calipers cost?
 
the whole lot cost just under £1300 the calipers are £250 each but you will need the carriers and brake pipes to, your probably best ringing or emailing bill at badger5 for prices he's good because he will make you up a kit like i have where you tell him what pads and discs you want and then he will put a kit together for you rather then buying a brember jr kit and being stuck with brembo discs and pads
 
Heres mine they work **** hot and look mint. 350x32mm 4 pot on front and 330x20mm on back
A3web.jpg
Photo0002.jpg
Photo0007.jpg
 
But does'nt have that extra unsprung weight affect the handling of your car kingston!

Could you tell a big difference before and after with the handling?
 
Handles fantastic braking is spot on. They do a 335x32mm kit. I just wanted the bigger ones to fill my wheels. People are always commenting on them. Which i like.
 
Very nice.

Did you buy them offer awesomegti? They've got a special offer on these at the moment
 
No i got them from Compbrake full retail. Yes Awesome are selling them now i have noticed on offer. If only i had waited i would of saved. oh well
 
Dani_B19 said:
But does'nt have that extra unsprung weight affect the handling of your car kingston!

Could you tell a big difference before and after with the handling?
Click to expand...

Probably wont have much if any extra unsprung weight due to those kits using alloy bells and rotors instead of one piece discs. The stock calipers weigh a ton so the alloy four pots that come with these kits probably weigh less too.
 
S3Steve said:
Probably wont have much if any extra unsprung weight due to those kits using alloy bells and rotors instead of one piece discs. The stock calipers weigh a ton so the alloy four pots that come with these kits probably weigh less too.
Click to expand...

Have you felt the weight of a set of 'alloy' 4 pots?
They aren't exactly featherlight.
Factor in calliper carriers, hi-tensile bolts etc...and there isn't as much in it as people think...especially when you start running very big front discs...


Regardless what callipers people choose, they should consider unsprung weight, also the gyroscope effect of big iron rotors, and the piston sizes of the donor callipers too. It's all important...


To each their own...but it's been proven many times that the Brembo GT jr kit is capable of locking the front wheels anywhere out on the open road and not suffering brake fade...and lasting on the track too - especially with a pad change to something a bit more track biased, whilst offering OEM pedal feel - so anything over and above that is just bling.


As for rears...
They do so little on an S3 with decent front brakes that no upgrade is 'required'...again, they look good, but don't do any more work than the standard set-up.
 
Yes i have felt the weight of a 4 pot caliper, ive got a set of brembo's waiting to go on the car after a bit of a refurb ( i really must weigh the brembo and standard caliper to find how much difference there actually is). I wasnt saying not to consider unsprung weight either mate quite the opposite, or recommending that setup. What i was trying to get across was that by using an alloy bell and rotor setup you remove alot of the unsprung weight you add when going for a bigger brake setup. Alot of the added weight comes from discs, and big solid discs are considerably heavier than a rotor and bell setup such as the one above.
 
i was suprised at the weight of the discs on my set up never expected them to be so heavy,
 
No, I wasn't suggesting otherwise...

I was just trying to make people aware that just because it's alloy, doesn't mean it's light.
And in general terms, it's the larger diameter brake kits that have the alloy bells and usually the thicker rotors too...so thicker, larger diameter rotors offset the alloy bell to a large degree.

I'm sure an alloy 4 pot set up IS lighter...but with big brakes its not as much lighter as most would expect.

When you factor in callipers, carriers, pads, bolts etc...the weights are closer than most would expect...and you add more gyroscopic effect with the bigger rotors.

Just something people should be aware of...that's all.
 
I agree fully mate

Badger5 actually does an interesting option using the brembo calipers but with 330mm rotors and alloy bells, which must weigh considerably less than the stock lcr 323mm solid discs.
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=53760&page=8
Possibly a good upgrade for anyone already with the gt jr kit or lcr setup, or as an alternative to the gt jr kit if you get the whole lot from bill. I might go for this option when my discs need replacing.
 
Looks to be a nice kit...
and being from Bill, will work well...and have his back-up too.
I've always found dealing with Badger5 to be a good experience.
 
once mine need replacing, i'l probaly go with bills 330mm rotors and ds3000 pads
 
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