[Nivek]

Here is a video of the new rotors that you can now purchase using the link later in this thread:

http://videos.hspn.com/?videoid=12

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EDIT: This was originally posted in the donating members forum as a benefit to them. We have since opened up this opportunity to all enthusiasts. We were able to get a one time group buy price that you will not likely see again. You can scroll through to later posts where the brake solution is discussed as well as group buy pricing.

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Original post beginning:

I am curious how many of you out there will be looking for new brakes soon that are better than the factory brembo setup?

Its been requested that we run more specials for donating members of this site and there is an opportunity for us to go through with a production run of brake rotors and pads that are superior to the factory Brembo rotors and pads in terms of stopping ability, bite, heat dissipation, and longevity. I am waiting on final pricing. I have personally tested them and will be putting up a write up soon. Ben will also be able to comment on them because he has been able to test every brake setup I have gone through. I think I finally found one I like.

Basically, just trying to get an idea as to what you guys are using your STis for, whether daily driving, occassional spirited driving, 1/4 or 1/8th mile, canyon carving, auto x, rally, tarmac, or track days, and what you are looking to get out of your brakes.

[taliano95]

i will be looking for better brakes when that time comes. I have 21,000 miles on my car, but i have a couple of track days planned in the coming future and pads and rotors don't last too long at the track.

I use my car for daily driving, auto x and at the track.

I went with cross-drilled rotors and high performance pads on my old VW and there was an imediate difference in response, brake feel and longevity of the pads. Im looking for the same improvements. I also need something that doesnt heat up as quickly as the brembos. Sometimes i get a little brake fade when stopping at high speeds. i would like to reduce that too.

[05SilverSTI]

i'm looking for some slotted and drilled rotors. i want to keep the brembo brakes, and just change the rotors. they will be used for daily driving, track days, 1/4, canyon, and for show.

[technica]

Raises hand.

[91TB78]

Sure, why not?! I use my STi for daily driving, AutoX and eventually some HPDEs. My main concern is AutoX.

[Deviancekicksin]

I would like some upgraded Rotors and Pads....
Pads that don't have as much dust as the stocks lol.
Uses: Daily Driving, Occasional Spirited Driving, AutoX, and Track Days.

[bah14]

what kind of rotors we talking about kev? Cross-drilled? :-D

[wdb]

Pretty much a repeat of what everyone else is saying; mostly daily driving with occasional auto-x and hopefully a HPDE every now and then. I'm primarily interested in pads but would certainly entertain the right pad/rotor package deal. Less dust would be nice but I'm mostly interested in performance.

[05SilverSTI]

just wondering if there is anything new with this Kevin?

[Pitcherman]

ooo....ooo...pick me!!! I'm in the market for some better rotors, are they lighter than stock? I'm a big fan of light weight stuff!!

[Nivek]

I am just about finished writing one of my longest posts ever. It traces the steps we took before stumbling upon what I think is a great setup.

[MKIVSupra]

Can't wait to read it cause I think I am about due for bakes also.

Maybe some SS lines and speed bleeders while I am at it.

[phattey]

I'll soon want brake lines, pads, and possibly lighter rotors...

I'll watch as this evolves...

Phattey...

[Rdrcr]

I want new brakes!

Mike

[Nivek]

WARNING: THIS IS AN EXTREMELY LONG POST! POP SOME POPCORN OR SOMETHING. I PROBABLY COULD HAVE SAID THIS IN 3 PARAGRAPHS BUT THEN IT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AS ENTERTAINING.
</O<O</O
I am writing this because we (Ben and I) are thinking about making a large investment in a small production run of some high end brakes for the STi. I have never been completely satisfied with the factory brakes and Ben has complained that his factory brakes are defective. Based on a recent test drive of a stock 05 STi like his, I am starting to agree with him. I am going to trace some of the things that have led up to the creation of this thread and then I want will share some information with you guys.

As many of you may or may not already know, I previously used and still own a custom lightweight, two piece, aluminum hat Alcon rotor setup of which only 10-20 sets were ever made. The Alcon setups were developed by some serious race enthusiasts and few made it into the retail market. This group imported Alcon rotors from the UK and had custom aluminum hats made in the US but those hats were only made for use on the 04 STis due to the different lug pattern being offered on subsequent model years.

Alcon never made these for use on the STi, but these guys were engineers that made them work on the STi using custom hats. Their goal was to improve braking performance but also shed the weight for improved handling and acceleration. The complete front and rear setup dropped a total of 30 lbs. Shedding that amount of weight from rotating mass and unsprung weight is incredible. To my knowledge, there may be 1 or 2 sets left, but these were never designed to be commercial products.

I used the Alcon kit on the track and the street, and was very pleased with it. We chased a yellow Porsche GT3 all over Buttonwillow raceway and with these brakes we could brake deeper into the corners and stop faster than the GT3. That was definitely one of my most memorable experiences at the track. My only two gripes related to the Alcon kit was that the rear pads required a slight modification to fit, and that the rotors chattered a bit like most true race setups have been known to do. Trimming the outer edge of the rotor could reduce this chattering, but I never got around to doing this.

Besides increased torque and acceleration coming out of the corners, the main advantage that I noticed was that the Alcons did not warp under the abuse dished out at the track. They were definitely some of the best OEM replacement rotors I could imagine buying, but the noise was not be acceptable for most daily drivers or those that drive their STis on the weekends; track warriors on the other hand would have no problem.

One factor that gravitated against working to perfect the Alcon setup and then have it mass produced was the cost and advanced planning required. It was very costly and infeasible.<O</O


At SEMA, I inadvertently came across a local brake manufacturer, www.thebrakeman.com (“The Brake Man”). While not as recognized as Brembo, Alcon, or AP Racing, The Brake Man has received a lot of attention in the race world recently if you follow sprint cars (asphalt & dirt), late model (asphalt & dirt), modifieds (asphalt & dirt), and various types of competitive road racing. Moreover, the NHSCRA recently changed its rules to allow for The Brake Man's brakes because the racers found that The Brake Man’s brakes were that much better than what everyone else was running.

While at SEMA, I met Warren, the owner of The Brake Man. He has been working as an engineer in the brake industry since 1967, which is longer than existence of most aftermarket brake companies that are around today. I later introduced him to Ben and we continued to discuss and define what we wanted from a high end set of rotors for the STi. We specifically wanted to drop weight and improve braking performance without giving up rotor longevity.

Warren informed us that they had a big brake kit for the STi, but we wanted to upgrade our rotors without replacing our factory Brembo calipers at the time. The challenge we posed to The Brake Man was to develop a lightweight, high quality rotor and hat that could replace the factory Brembo rotors. The new rotors had to perform exceptionally well both on and off the race track, so that it would appeal to all serious enthusiasts, including those that used their vehicles on the streets, in the canyon, in Auto X, on the track, and even in serious competition. In addition, the rotors had to be at least as good if not superior to the Alcon custom rotor package described above (a very tough challenge or so we thought).

Like most manufacturers, The Brake Man claimed their rotors were superior to those of every other brake manufacturer on the market. However, unlike other brake manufacturers, The Brake Man supplied a wealth of technical information and literature. During countless visits to The Brake Man facility, the team at The Brake Man was always willing to answer our questions even though we frequently asked for clarification and asked the same questions.

We finally agreed with Warren on a “Put up or shut up” proposition that provided us with a serious opportunity to evaluate whether The Brake Man rotors were indeed superior and it presented The Brake Man with a legitimate opportunity to prove its claim. Under this proposal, we were to buy the custom hats and rotors designed to our specifications, and in the event that we disliked the rotors for any legitimate reason, The Brake Man would refund all monies no questions asked. That was a deal we could not refuse.<O</O

I left a new Alcon rotor setup for them to analyze at their shop and they quickly began work to determine the proper size, specs and tolerances. They also took several measurements of the stock rotors and Alcon rotors both on and off the car. After a few weeks, I received a call and headed over to The Brake Man to pick up this new prototype set of lightweight front rotors.

Each front Brake Man rotor weighed 10 pounds less than the factory rotor. In contrast, the Alcon front rotors weighed only 5 lbs less than the factory rotors, so the Alcons were 5 lbs heavier per corner in the front than The Brake Man rotors. This was certainly information that got me excited because weight and performance are correlated and I had become very weight conscious since purchasing the STi.

During the installation, I discussed with Warren</ST1 my intention to put these rotors to the test. I explained how I had recently traveled to Buttonwillow Raceway where Ben and I had chased the Porsche GT3 with the Alcon rotors on the STi with great results. He felt very confident that his rotors could live up to any challenge that the Alcons faced (in reality we threw a lot more at The Brake Man rotors than we did the Alcons). He was positive that we would notice a substantial improvement in braking performance simply from the installation of his rotors alone.

I had used EBC Yellow Pads with the Alcon rotor setup for daily driving and track driving in the past. We discovered that these pads had developed cracks across the contact areas from the intense heat created during the last track event at Buttonwillow. Warren</ST1 explained that the EBC brake pads had a high metal content and as a result produced a lot of heat that could not be dissipated and this adversely affected the brake pads. While he pointed out the EBC brake pads were not ideal for use with The Brake Man rotors, he wanted to keep all the variables the same as they were when we ran the Alcons on the track. He specifically requested that we reuse the same pads (he did not even want us to replace them with the same brand even though these were not optimal for The Brake Man rotors).

He was confident that if we were impressed with The Brake Man rotors and the EBC pads, then we would be blown away by the performance advantage that could be obtained with his rotors and pads when we later replaced the EBC pads with The Brake Man pads in the future. There can be no argument that my main purpose was to prove The Brake Man wrong. I literally set out to destroy the rotors by exposing them to the sort of extreme and excessive abuse that would not likely be seen under normal track driving and abuse.

I subsequently took my STi with The Brake Man rotors installed and the old EBC yellow pads to two local tracks, Streets of Willow and Buttonwillow Raceway.

The setting for our first test track was Streets of Willow. This track offered several turns with few high speed straights. On this track, The Brake Man brake rotors never got a chance to cool down because the brakes are constantly being used on this track. I hammered the brakes every opportunity I got, but had no luck in finding a point where the brakes began to fail.

The brakes provided excellent stopping power every time I used them throughout multiple sessions. I even tried to pull off the track multiple times at a higher than normal speeds so I could slam and hold the brake pedal down with all my might. Bringing the car to a halt from 100 mph several times had no detrimental effects whatsoever; there were no signs of failing, fading, or warping. This was impressive to me and was certainly proving The Brake Man’s claim.

Ben was a passenger in my car during this track day and you should have seen the look on his face. He was stoked because he liked the braking performance that was being delivered by the prototype rotors but he was also a bit annoyed because he only had a stock factory seat belt with a CG-lock. Every time I braked, Ben stated that his belt would tighten up more each time I braked without loosening. As a result, the belt tightened and I finally heard Ben announce that his blood circulation had then been officially cut off. To give him a chance to loosen the belt, we slowed down on the track from time to time, but this was only brief and never enough time for the brakes to cool down.

In all honesty, I did not believe we would be satisfied with The Brake Man rotors. I assumed that I would return them because of some problem we would find during testing. I never imagined that there would be nothing to dislike about their performance; usually I find something to dislike because I am very picky. I felt that The Brake Man rotors were holding their own at this track day. Even Ben made several comments about how he was already interested in picking up some of the rotors and he had ONLY been a passenger in the car.

<O</OWe were impressed because The Brake Man rotors provided consistent bite and stopping power during our extended lapping sessions. (The same was true on the street as well). As compared to the Alcons, The Brake Man rotors were just as good on the track and even better on the street. Increased acceleration and improved handling from the reduction in unsprung, rotating weight were all noticeable. The car felt nimbler and accelerated quicker in and out of corners. The Brake Man rotors also provided more brake torque than the Alcon rotors; something we did not think possible.

My testing was not over. The second track was Buttonwillow Raceway, a longer course, and by far the most fun. (We ran configuration #1) This course not only had several turns but lengthy straightaways where the STi could easily reach 120 mph before braking was required for a 90-degree turn. The only change made from the last event was replacement of the tires with another set of R compound, Dunlop Super Sport Race Series tires.

Again, I showed the brakes no mercy, and again, Ben and I were surprised at how well these brakes performed. At different times of the day, each of us asked the other more than once, “How could simply replacing the rotor, and not the caliper, produce such a dramatic improvement in braking?"

At this point, we were completely satisfied and confident in that we had thoroughly tested The Brake Man's rotors. The Brake Man's rotors were put through more rigorous testing than the Alcon setup and we felt that they passed with flying colors.

Still, I was determined to find the limits of The Brake Man rotors because I would feel more comfortable when dealing with customers if I knew what they were capable of and what they were not capable of. This would put me in a better position to advise people about whether The Brake Man rotors were suited to their needs and worth the investment.

I decided to take a final lapping session at the end of the track day when few others were on the track. As I pulled out of the pits with my helmet strapped on, I told myself that I was not returning to the pits until I had either run out of gas, killed my tires from excessive heat, or developed some problem.<O</O

Lap after lap, I stabbed the brake pedal even deeper into the corners than I did the previous lap around. Some laps I almost shot off the track because I would enter the corner going too fast. This was the result of waiting until the last possible moment to apply the brakes coming to the end of a straightaway. While this produced faster lap times, it also created a lot more heat in the brakes than one might under normal track abuse.