4396 replies to this topic

[CHILL Gone DUTCH]

To put prices into perspective: Here is an Alfa 159 disc, 305mm diam x 28mm thickness, costs £6 : http://www.ebay.co.u...mAAAOSw2iNZYEGE   It's a direct fitment onto our hubs PCB, but you'd also need to buy a spigot too to locate it (which are about £5 too). Alternately you could install the 330mm dia disc (which is what I did) but it is heavier (which is probably a good thing for heat sinking).   Then all you'd need to do is offset your current calipers, or as I did simply put a carefully measured spacer between the disc and hub to centralise the disc into the middle of the caliper.   Costs peanuts, takes maybe 5 to 10 hours to machine up the spacers.   My Porsche pads are quite cheap too, RC8 were £200 or RC6 for £150 I think.   Neither disc or pad is showing much wear after approx 12,000 road miles as they are both hugely over-speced for a 940 Kg car.

Hi nev cheers for the link But will probably end up going for a set of these or simulate 308mm from a Astra 2007 2.0 upgrade and you just need to space the standard from calipper of 10mm, http://www.eurocarpa...150eb94a But before I do that I will wait to see what Elise parts say

Edited by CHILL Gone DUTCH, 13 July 2017 - 06:07 PM.

[CHILL Gone DUTCH]

Nick was saying his f type has lifetime carbon discs on them. They where expensive tho

They wouldent need to be a lifetime just 30k mile to be worth it as I go through pads at a fare rate normally 2 track days but I did manage to get 3 track days out of last set

[The Batman]

Jesus you go through tyres in 1.5 days, brake pads 2-3 days... that's a lot for a northerner

[CHILL Gone DUTCH]

The only reason I moved to bells and rotors was to attempt to get my pads to last longer than 2 track days but I will be honest I new nothing about moving to a 308 mm disc which has plenty of meat on them like the ones nev linked at a slightly higher price than standard and just need spacers on calipers

[CHILL Gone DUTCH]

I've a contact who will make some 2 piece to your spec for about 500 quid,he's on with some for my gt3 at the moment and said he's had a few lotus people on to him due to other people's stuff failing

Is this for a set of 4 ??

[darronwall]

Nooooo,they would prob be more like 400 the ones for gt are 500

[CHILL Gone DUTCH]

Nooooo,they would prob be more like 400 the ones for gt are 500

That's good value for a set of 4 compared with what I've spent so far You getting them for 211 to

[jonnyboy]

PCCBs on mine

Just bling

6 pots and bigger discs on the Cayman though. Huge improvement in steering feel and impossible to get them to fade. Expensive but the one option I would 100% tick on a new car.

[oakmere]

Chill Would the 4 pots with the much larger pads not be a good option?

[CHILL Gone DUTCH]

Chill Would the 4 pots with the much larger pads not be a good option?

 

it is a option, but ive driven a few cars with the 4 pots on and dont like the feel from them 

 

could be because im not used to them 

 

other question is are 4 pots really necessary. i have spoken with other who have 4 pots and they have said they wouldent bother again 

[FLD]

It's about balance. 4 pots are great but move the bias forwards. If you get the mg 4 pots or balance the rear when using lotus 4 pots it will feel the same just with more (please excuse the contradiction)

[Captain Vimes]

As FLD says, it's all about balance. I've made the mistake of modifying front brakes on a previous car and the bias was horrible and braking distances much worse. The same will happen with bigger discs as you'll have more leverage front vs rear. If you move to bigger front discs can you do the same for the rear? I assume not as the calipers can't be spacered out in the same way.. So your left with more front brake bias - probably the last thing you want? What's the solution?

[CHILL Gone DUTCH]

Bias valve ? Will bigger discs really change the brake balance Same calliper

Edited by CHILL Gone DUTCH, 14 July 2017 - 08:43 PM.

[TazN]

I've been looking through some older threads discussing brake improvements, a few that give some good ideas on how to go about it. What brakes was Mike running in his harrop TA vx? I don't recall these issues back then. Also been speaking with my local lotus specialist and this is not the first time they have heard of these problems with there cheaper bells. They really didn't seem impressed with the design.

[CHILL Gone DUTCH]

I've been looking through some older threads discussing brake improvements, a few that give some good ideas on how to go about it. What brakes was Mike running in his harrop TA vx? I don't recall these issues back then. Also been speaking with my local lotus specialist and this is not the first time they have heard of these problems with there cheaper bells. They really didn't seem impressed with the design.

I think mike had 4 pots on front and possibly two pots on the rear Sure a member of his team will comment But from what I remember it was front biased causing a number of front end lock ups

[SteveA]

No Mike had 4 pot eliseparts calipers all round and it was horrifically rear biased. I drove it and was not confident on them at all. it pitched sideways for me on the first hard application.

Edited by SteveA, 14 July 2017 - 09:42 PM.

[Captain Vimes]

Bias valve ? Will bigger discs really change the brake balance Same calliper

Same caliper, more leverage from a bigger disc, more front brake bias. Not sure how a bigger disc with greater thermal mass is going to help with brake temperatures? Surely it'll just retain the heat and run even hotter?

[garyk220]

Bigger surface area to expel the heat is the main reason. But obviously got to offset the benefits of that against the extra weight.

 

Definitely looks like more heat is being put into the disk than can be expelled currently; a function of the increased speed at each braking point and car weight. Assuming there is no manufacturing fault in the discs.

 

Another thing to check is the direction of the internal vents. If not different for each side of the car then one side will cool better than the other. Again not normally an issue on Elise/VX, but if your top speed is much higher than normal, this might be pushing the cooling capacity of the system over the edge on long sessions.

 

Mike's TA car would have only been doing a handful of laps at each time. Long sessions may be heat soaking the braking system, much the same as can happen on poorly designed charge cooler systems.

[CHILL Gone DUTCH]

Bigger surface area to expel the heat is the main reason. But obviously got to offset the benefits of that against the extra weight.

 

Definitely looks like more heat is being put into the disk than can be expelled currently; a function of the increased speed at each braking point and car weight. Assuming there is no manufacturing fault in the discs.

 

Another thing to check is the direction of the internal vents. If not different for each side of the car then one side will cool better than the other. Again not normally an issue on Elise/VX, but if your top speed is much higher than normal, this might be pushing the cooling capacity of the system over the edge on long sessions.

 

Mike's TA car would have only been doing a handful of laps at each time. Long sessions may be heat soaking the braking system, much the same as can happen on poorly designed charge cooler systems.

 

Elise parts have collected the front discs to check them over so will have to wait to see what there outcome is, 

 

the vents both went the same way (ie not different from side to side ) 

 

bigger surface area could be the next option 

[CHILL Gone DUTCH]

Just read my comment back, The discs are identical when put side by side 😂