plaman88

I have discs upfront and drums in the back. I'm fixing the car up to sell it and I'm thinking about putting HP+ on the front so it stops hard as hell, brakes can never be too good I think, what are you guys running?

maxitech

iTrader: (7)

My stock setup will be swapped out for Q45 calipers and rotors with Hawk HPS pads later this month...Hawks are pretty expensive as far as brake pads go, so if you are selling the car I would recommend going with some sort of semi-metallic pads.

evildoughboi

just any generic stuff should be fine unless the guy ur selling it to is going to give it a real hard test drive (in the rain or something).

generic brakes can apply the force needed so that the car stops hard, but not sooner. generally cheaper brakes tend to lock up the rotors/drum and thats where the abs comes in. if you have nice brakes it shouldnt lock up and in this sense it'll stop sooner.

CapedCadaver

iTrader: (8)

so the reason my car stops like crap and locks up the wheels at the first sign of pressure, is because I have crap-pads? I bet they cost the PO all of $10 apiece.

Tom

I bought Akebono ceramic pads from TireRack several years ago and have been very pleased. Stops well and dusting is minimal.

evildoughboi

well capedcadaver, if u think ur car isnt stopping fast enough, you might want to swap out ur pads when/if u have the time and money. its a nice saturday or sunday project to do. the ones i bought were bendix, $40-50 for 4 pads from advancedauto, so about 80-100 for all four wheels. if this is a real concern, replace them; if not just learn to drive without pressing brakes to the max. they usually last a few years, so think about it as paying 30 dollars a year for better brakes and safety. dont cheap out on ur brakes since one day your life and/or your car might depend on it.

when i had generic ones, i locked up my tires before a toll booth (abs came on, thats how i knew they locked up). then have bendix and stopped without a problem when i had to.

another thing i looked up was the suspension system. supposely a better one helps braking, but thats very extreme (cost wise) for probably minimal gains. im want to get a new one soon so i might want to do some tests.

CapedCadaver

iTrader: (8)

i think new rotors would be a good idea too.
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...r/IMG_2003.jpg
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...r/IMG_2026.jpg

mine are a little rusted on the edges, and are kinda wavy, and there appear to be bubbles (? dunno) on pic 2026 if you look closely

gxe so it's only front discs. i'm getting rear discs but not right now

evildoughboi

to me your rotors look ok; thats how mines look. also metals dont wear uniformly (unless ur sanding it down) so there are small imperfections that are left, and hence the rust dots. they're just small holes that were just naturally in the metal from before.

if they are warped (in the plane of the rotor itself, not the edges), then get new ones. usually you would feel the car wobble a bit when you brake. if its really bad, u should feel the car wobble at all times since the brake is slightly engaged at all times. it should wobble most at certain speeds (usually at "middle" speeds), not necessarily at high or low speeds. the rotors are about 40 each even for generic ones, so make sure before you decide to swap it out.

also, you might want to get a micrometer and check thicknesses. even if its not warped, it might be too thin and be needed to be changed out (since from your post ur doing ur brakes anyway so might as well). it should be in the manual how thick the rotors need to be. theres also a tolerance on "warping" but not sure how to check that. its probably has to do w/ the varying thicknesses along the rotor.

i havent heard specifically of performance differnece if going for better rotors, but physically your car should be performing better since its a spinning mass and better rotors should be lighter. you should be able to stop better as well, but dunno by how much. you might want to be careful about which part you want to be worn out first, pads or rotors. if the rotor is too hard, then rotors will wear out fast and vice versa. depends on whats more expensive and more hassle to swap out.

Alex_V

Rust every where except where the pads contact the rotor is normal and you don't need to worry about it. All you have to worry about is the thickness, and whether or not its warped.

~Alex

CapedCadaver

iTrader: (8)

well, brand new rotors and brand new pads will be a better match than brand new pads and old rippled rotors. the new pad will have to conform to the shape of the rotor's surface, which takes time. there is a feelable lip at the edge of the rotor, because they are a bit thinner on the wear area than they are at the very top edge (because they've probably been on the car for quite a while) due to wear, and are probably a little bit thin. I don't have a micrometer, unfotrunately. I think my neighbor does, actually I'm pretty sure he does. He measured the thread pitch on a bolt a while back, so he has to have one, but I don't know if it can reach past the lip to measure the thickness at the pad-contact-area...