I'm so anti-bling, if I had big red's I'd paint 'em black.

 

too bad Physics isn't a popularity contest, you guys could repeal all of Newtons work.

big red rotors are ~37% more expensive than stock, ~25% heavier, give ~6% better brake torque, run ~25% cooler and will last ~ 50% longer(wear goes up exponentially w/ temp)

Most people don't need them but they sure are nice to have.

 

Not that any of us are in the same league, but Road & Track did an article many years ago on the concept of the friction circle. The article recounts a story about how Mario Andretti and Ronnie Peterson were doing testing when they were at Lotus. Apparently, one of the engineers was flabbergasted at how Peterson's friction circle graph showed that he was far exceeding the theoretical limits of the tires and how that was simply not physically possible. IIRC, Peterson answered that that was the only way he knew how to drive!

I know I have that article somewhere and will try and dig it up.

 

I have found that given the cost to switch to Big Reds (parts and labor), the ongoing additional cost of both rotors and pads, and the additional weight, that switching to BRs never made sense to me. I tracked 993s, NB and C2S, for 5 years and never needed more than the basic blacks for brake performance.

 

daltvater, what are you waiting for?

But are you asking if "Big Reds Overkill?" regardless of the great deal you found?

 

Would anyone like to trade my C4S Big Reds for your standard (black) brakes and your 993 Sport Seats.....of course I would throw in $9,993 cash also.

 

 

Speaking of paint, I just saw a guys Honda with yellow painted calipers and what appears to be the new yellow "ceramic" drum brake. I'm quite pleased with the performance of my little blacks.

 

I love some level of bling as long as it goes well with the rest of the car. I have hollow spoke technology twists and 993TT Big Reds on my New Beetle Convertible 1.8T, and little blacks on the 993. I bought the Big Reds mostly for show, since they go so well with the twists visually. They do stop REALLY well I must say, but I would have been just fine with Audi TT brakes, which are MUCH cheaper. BTW, the VW store where I bought the Big Red kit also sells 6-piston Cayenne kits for VWs. That's a little overkill. I'd like to upgrade to Big Reds for the 993 because I think it's jealous, and plus, I just got a set of RS Speedlines, and they would look so good peeking through the spokes, but again, it would be for purely cosmetic reasons as I like the little blacks.

 

I've never felt that upgrading to Big Reds makes sense on a street car. It'll push your bias back a bit so you may even end up with worse braking. Of course, it just means ABS on the fronts will kick in sooner so maybe it's not significantly worse, but still, you see my point.

 

I wouldn't disagree. I just like them for mostly cosmetic reasons, and should really get over them and just paint my little blacks and save a few bucks.

 

Several years ago Adrian Streeter was doing an afternoon tech seminar in Boston. One of the things I remember him saying is that (and he was talking about street use) too many people upgraded their brakes. The problem is not stopping a 993, but being rearended by the idiot in the Ford behind you.

 

Yeah, they are kinda overkill, but I can tell you that there was one incident when I almost got side-swiped by an idiot in a Town Car on the Merit Parkway heading to NYC, and the Big Red brakes saved me. I have only experienced this once--I had to slam on the brakes, and at a certain point during the braking, the pads reached a certain temperature where they all of the sudden became extra tacky and felt like I woke up a giant. Throughout the 5 years that I have owned the VW--and I bought the brakes BEFORE I bought the car--I have had many emergency situations, especially being from Boston, but this particular situation was different, and I was very impressed with the performance.

 

That was probably the electronic panic brake assist. Brakes don't suddenly get better when they get hot.

 

My VW does not have an electronic panic brake assist. The Big Reds I was talking about are on this car and not my actual Porsche.