Brakes What Do I Do ?

[HABC]

Thinking of changing the discs and pads all round in readiness for Blyton and Spa......... Saving for an SC so looking for an upgrade at a low cost.

 

Looking at the Ultimax Turbo Discs on elise parts and possibly the Brembo pads, are they better than the Mintex 1144.

 

Comments please

[DeanB]

I would say get good quality standard spec discs - EP or ET or Seriously Lotus all do decent standard kit. Fancy discs are unecessary on an Elise even a track day car.

Good pads, good fluid and braided hoses are all well worthwhile tho imo - I really rate Carbone Lorraine RC5+.

[kieranexige]

Mine were terrible on my exige s and It wasn't until I started to replace them I realised why, surface corrosion on the back side was like glass.

 

I was thinking for ages about going with the 4 pot ap setup on the front but at £800 I wasn't sure if I could justify it at the time.

 

After speaking with Dave at seriously lotus he came up with a good all round setup for me which is 90% road driving 10% track days. I went with a 308mm disc upfront off the cup / post 2010 exiges and Daves belled standard size rears. If I'm still not happy then at least with the bigger fronts all I need is calipers /hoses and pads to upgrade.

 

Pad wise I went with ferrodo ds2500 which come stock on the later cars and Dave thought would be a great starting point. He said that some of the more track focused pads can leave a uneven coating on the disc surface, which can sometimes lead to what feels like warped discs through the pedal. I can't remember exactly but I was to do with getting them up to a temperature and then next time not so much so the coating unevenly costs the disc surface?

 

But yes as dean says also braided hoses and decent fluid is a worthwhile job I run rbf660 I think in mine.

 

Have a chat with Dave and I'm sure he will be happy to help as always. I may as well set up a direct debit up with him at the minute.

[KurtB]

I would say get good quality standard spec discs - EP or ET or Seriously Lotus all do decent standard kit. Fancy discs are unecessary on an Elise even a track day car.

Hi Dean. I happen to agree with what you've said here. So many people get way too obsessed with brakes on our cars, I just don't get it. The cars are really light, discs on all four corners, and with a decent pad compound, I've locked the fronts at silly speeds, after repeated applications.

I've asked on the general forum what discs are on my car, but they'll be replaced with stock discs (IF I can find them!!)

[DeanB]

As Kieran says Dave at Seriously Lotus has a good rep for giving advice on brakes. I would add though that what a supercharged exige s2 needs is very different to what your s1 needs as the exige weighs 880 ish kilos and your s1 730 ish kilos. That's a big difference! Plus the s1 won't hit such high top speeds.

I have no probs with pad residue on the rc5+ and I have done 10, 000 miles on them this year. They are noisy though - rattly and a little coarse but with immense stopping power, zero fade, brilliant feel and consistency and they work from cold too.

[kieranexige]

Doh, sorry I thought it was a s2. My mistake.

 

I'm yet to take mine out since fitting them to comment on my pads. Dare I say on on a lotus forum, the vx220 I had before stopped amazingly with 2 pots and pagid rs pads so i agree with you Kurt.

 

I just had no chance to stop with these on the exige.....

[Dennis]

Sorry talking about a light (until I get in to it) S1 but I went for EP piece disc what are grooved and drilled alson with RS42's, not sure if the car is hardly ever tracked.

 

Yes they are better than what I had on before but more importantly........they look great :0)

 

[fentuz]

It depends how much you want to spend. EBC ultimax is good, I used them for 6 years. Pads is a question of preference.

 

Mintex1144 is good for road and occasional trackday although Tim only used them and was a "little" more than an occasional trackday driver   £50 front set

 

I used pagid R42 and could not fault them but were not suitable for me as they wore to much for me (2 to 3 trackdays per month at the time). £120 front set

I used pagid R14, it is my favourite. £120 front set

 

I currently have mintex 1155 which are a descent compromise between 1144 and R14.  £60 front set

 

I used perf friction and while they are good, they hammer the wheel paint and are very hard on the disk.

 

OE Brembo is just OK for a sprint but for trackday, I would not risk it.

[MilesH]

I tried all sorts when I had my first Honda Elise running about 220bhp. I assumed I needed fancy brakes (especially for track days) so over the space of 3 years I tried bigger discs (295mm) with standard calipers, 4 pots with fancy 308 (I think) mm discs, a range of pads and different combinations front and rear. On my second Honda Elise I fitted EBC Ultimax and RS42's all round with decent fluid. I ran this set up for 2.5 years on many trackdays and roadtrips and it performed perfectly with limited hassle and maintenance and a big saving on my wallet!

 

I did try 1144 pads and found they were ok on the road but lacked bite on track after a while. I much preferred the 1155 for track (but I 'think' from memory they wore quite quickly). I've not tried the Brembo pads.

 

HTH

[HABC]

Thanks for all the responses, certainly food for thought. I am going to get in touch with seriously Lotus and get some more ideas before I take the plunge.

 

I do have some time to play with before Blyton in May which will bed them in for Spa in July.

 

Dave

[Dennis]

Why not go to abbeville in may with NYLOC?