cetro

How many people here have updated to the big red breaks? Was it worth doing it, and what was the going price on the upgrade.
Thanks!!

fbfisher

I thought "S" cars came with all the bells and whistles of a turbo, including the brakes?

cetro

No, just the 4S.

993RS

It costed around $3,200.-- IMHO it was worth it. Braking power is greatly improved.

cetro

Phil was that just for the brakes, or with install.

os993

Personally, I don't need them! I track several times a year and do just fine with ATE super blue brake fluid and running pagid orange pads. Stock 993 brakes are exceptional enough for me

993RS

Cetro,
It was with the install.

kary993

I tend to agree with Oleg on this one. The regular black brakes do very well with Pagid Oranges on. I have driven cars with reds on and they probably are better if you are club racing and trying to beat some to a corner by braking very late. For me, I used the car for autox's, DE's and TT's so it is not really that important. I find aerodynamics to be more of an issue with 993's than braking. Although I am sure the reds would help somewhat on lap times, the question is the delta.

I have though about the upgrade to reds but always looked at the additional cost of pads and rotors as more the issue due to the cost over and over again. Keep that in mind when moving to reds or even the larger Brembo's!

Edward

Cetro,

What are you looking to do with your car? If street only or light DEs, I don't think the Big Reds give you anything that the OEM setup can't. If you're into TimeTrials (where I am at the moment) the stock setup with a good set of dedicated track pad will leave you at NO disadvantage to a 993 with BigReds (all else being equal). For full race, I wouldn't know.....I'll let the real drivers answer that one.
But honestly, if you really want performance and you're itching to mod something, instead of putting your $$$ into BigReds, I'd look at a dedicated set of track wheels/tires, track pads, and suspension, in that order, before modding what is an already excellent braking system. And hand in hand with any of the above is appropriate safety equipment...not as flashy, but arguably the most critical and most often overlooked upgrade. This is assuming you want to track the car (if you're not already).
If only for street, then spend on something that you'll at least notice: aero kit, wheels, supercharger, sky's the limit. Or better yet, buy Track Time with a quality school/instructors. This beats all the aforementioned mods and pays off EVERY time you're in the seat. Just my opinion. Good luck!

Edward

Chris C.

I paid $1700 for new big reds, discs and pads, and did the install myself (easy DIY).

They look great on my S, but you will need to remove your proportioning valve to compensate a bit for the resulting front brake bias (larger increase in the front than rear on the upgrade). Check the archives.

I, like others, am experiencing about 3:1 front to rear brake wear since the install.

Chris C.

Hi Kim:

Subjectively, my car feels like it is standing on it's nose too much during braking now (noticable change from the stock brakes). More objectively, significantly more wear on front pads and rotors after 4 track days--rears are almost new. There was a long thread by someone very knowledgeable not long ago that confirmed that the our braking is now sub-optimized. (Having more to do with piston size in the rears than swept area).

Removing the valve is one way to get it back to near OEM--this however may lead to a slightly lower pedal than we now have.

Bill Verburg

Hydraulicly the Big Red and oem 993 front caliper are identical. The Big Red pad is ~10mm taller, length is the same, pad area is increased by ~26 sq cm/caliper(~20% bigger), the rotor at 322mmm is 18mm larger in diameter than stock 993 and has 6% more leverage. If the rears are locking do not remove the p/v you already have to much rear brake. The opposite issue is too much front wear, if that is the case do remove the p/v. Transients from sudden stabs at the brake pedal are a sign of too small m/c 993 C2 used a 23.81mm vacuum boosted m/c, 993C4 used a 25.4mm hyd. actuated booster.

joey bagadonuts

[quote]Originally posted by Edward:
<strong>But honestly, if you really want performance and you're itching to mod something, instead of putting your $$$ into BigReds, I'd look at a dedicated set of track wheels/tires, track pads, and suspension, in that order, before modding what is an already excellent braking system. And hand in hand with any of the above is appropriate safety equipment...not as flashy, but arguably the most critical and most often overlooked upgrade</strong><hr></blockquote>

Excellent advice! Maybe it's off topic, but if speed and safety are the goals, then these are the steps I would take.

MarkC

Cetro,

How about going halfway? <a href="http://forums.rennlist.com/forums/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=004770" target="_blank">http://forums.rennlist.com/forums/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=004770</a>

Fit the bigger RS rotors (to gain their superior heat dissipation) and retain the standard calipers spaced away from the hub to accomadate them.

A cheap alternative to Big Reds with most of the performance increase.

Great to do if you need new rotors anyway as RS ones are only marginally more expensive than standard ones.

I'm going to do this, but I use 17" (Cup) wheels for DE's and am aware that the caliper will foul the wheel without a wheel spacer. It should be fine if you run 18" wheels.

Vinny '98 3.8 C2S

I agree with a number of others here. If you have the stock brakes and can get into the ABS and they don't fade, you won't gain much if anything from going to a larger brake.

Edward's list is on the money, but I'd add D.E.'s or a good driving school.