ChrisJ951

Hi Guys. I'm thinking of upgrading my brakes to a big brake kit and am just wondering if its overkill for a street car. I have stock brakes right now with metal master pads on the the front and who knows what on the back. My car is highly modified and puts down roughly 420 rwhp.

Also, if I do upgrade, what pad would you suggest for street use?

doabarrelroll

I love the look of the big brake kits. It has a really nice curb appeal.

Performance wise, it's probably overkill because I think it usually comes down to the pad you're using as well as slotted rotors.

I've heard that sticking with the Porsche OE pads will do really well for the street.

ilikemy944

420rwhp is overkill. But.... overkill is the name of the game...

I'd go for it - I want to drop a set onto my car at some point as well.

ChrisJ951

If I stick with a stock set up, I'll definitely get drilled rotors, just for the look alone. My wheels show a lot of the brakes so the stock set up with the rusted front hubs needs to go.

mudbuddha

Hi Chris. Upgrading brakes would certainly look nice but unless you are on the track, the stock brembos are sufficient. I would use a good set of street pad instead- i think there was a recent thread on brake pad recommendation somewhere. First hand experience for me would be a van in front of me slamming on its brakes and swerve suddenly and there was no where for me to go. I slammed on my brakes anticipating the worse...but nope nothing happened, the car just stopped with a few feet to spare, no drama. We were traveling on the highway at a good clip at roughly 65mph. I have metal master too i believe. I am thinking of trying EBC reds next year as I have good experience with them on my DD using Brembo rotors. And the best part is low dust and NO squealing! I am at your hp level as well.

dp951

Performance pads and change all rubber brake line and brake fluid . a nice upgrage is the turbos or 928 brakes on the front with the larger rotors.

OakRZB

It depends of whether or not you're cooking your brakes with your increased HP. As most would agree, the stock, well-maintained brakes are adequate is most cases. However since I haven't been on the track in several years, I did my upgrade mainly for looks to fill in the gap between the wheel and rotor.


Good Luck-
___________________
-Robert
'86 944 NA - Alpine White, parting out (slow death)
'86 951 - Alpine White (sold)
'94 968 - Aventurine Green

Scott H

You could also consider moving up to the Turbo S brake setup. It's larger than the base Turbo setup, but not quite "big brake" in size.

Dougs951

Gt3 six piston is the only way to go IMO

ChrisJ951

GT3 calipers on a street car is a big much, IMO.

JohnKoaWood

This setup is currently on my no-op 951, and may recieve larger rotors before finalized... final life will likely be 99% street use... and the end target for me was to be the only kid at the show rocking this setup... Yes they are Monoblocks

Mocked up install..

New vs Old rotors

New vs old calipers

New vs old pads

ChrisJ951

Very nice John.

rlm328

Big brakes would be over kill. But it's a toy so do whatever. You will need to go to a minimum of 17" wheels though.

95ONE

^^^HI BOB!^^^^^

The stock turbo brakes are quite strong even by today's standards. That said, everyone likes the look of a large brake and rotor shining through the wheel.

superloaf

i can't believe everyone is saying that the stock brembos are sufficient. i use porterfield R4S pads which are borderline race/street pads on the stock brembos and i can get some fade (and smoke pouring out sometimes) in the canyons with only 250hp. i couldn't imagine having 420hp in the same situation! don't get me wrong, the stock brakes are very good but have you driven a modern day porsche or even AMG mercedes? they brake violently and with so much force, it's incredibly! there is definitely a long way to go before you reach modern braking levels. having never driven a big brake kit, i can't say if the improvement is in actual braking force or more for fade resistance, but i'm guessing both. and either way, you're better off.

also, you can do much better with pads than metal masters and the first thing i would change after that is the brake lines to stainless steel; that will make a huge difference in feel with a rock hard brake pedal.