[OvrPSId]

Searching didn't turn up anything. I've been looking for some large brake options and for the money the Baer Extreme-Plus setup looks nice. 14" rotors and 6-piston forged monoblock calipers with the race version offering spring clips or cross bolts to hold the pads in. At around $25-2600 it seems fairly reasonable considering it uses forged calipers.

[Mykl]

I think Baer has a pretty good reputation with the domestic performance community.... Mustangs, Camaros and such.

But our Brembos aren't exactly crap. With good pads, rotors, fluid, and ventillation they're capable of handling pretty much most of us will be able to toss at them. Seems to me that the money would be better spent elsewhere unless you're going to be doing some *serious* racing.

[OvrPSId]

I'm planning on getting to driving school in spring with a group of friends from my ZR-1 club and possibly one new Z-06. After the school I plan to hit every HPDE and lapping day I possibly can. One of the other things I plan to do within a few years in make it down to NV for one of the open road races.

I doubt I put much more money into performance or suspension work (except maybe a set of Whitelines) until I'ver really learned to drive my car to the point it's holding me back, instead of me holding it back. Although I might make an exception for bigger brakes. I've ridden in a few cars with brakes this large and at speed (120+) there seems to be a pretty noticable difference in stopping power. My '90 ZR-1 with stock brakes was no slouch, but at 150+ it felt like my old '76 Monte Carlo!

[STi05']

I dunno dude, you should seriously consider going the suspension rout before brakes. Or even if you just settle for pads/lines/fluid. It seems like very few heavy autocrossers get the BBK's. Some coilovers and sways would help you out a lot more I would imagine.

[evilSTi7]

i would hold off on spending that kind of money on the brakes. just throw pads, lines and new fluid on for the beginning and see how it goes. i would also recommend sway bars, and springs would help out too. The most important thing is tires, which is also the most expensive part (and it gets expensive very quickly). so i would wait until you do a couple track days, and see what you think needs upgrading.

[docwyte]

The most important thing is seat time, seat time, seat time! Go get a set of race pads and flush the system with Motul 600, then spend your money on the but behind the wheel.

[OvrPSId]

Originally Posted by evilSTi7

i would hold off on spending that kind of money on the brakes. just throw pads, lines and new fluid on for the beginning and see how it goes. i would also recommend sway bars, and springs would help out too. The most important thing is tires, which is also the most expensive part (and it gets expensive very quickly). so i would wait until you do a couple track days, and see what you think needs upgrading.

I plan to ride out the stock tires for another year, I don't think I'm capable of pushing them too hard at the moment. I have a set of 57F's setting down at WorldOne that I need to go pick up soon. With two sets of wheels I plan to put a set of TR-1's on one of them for my track days so I can stop having tires swapped on and off rims. I've heard they do fairly well in the wet, which I imagine my first few times on track will be living in the PNW, and I've experienced them first hand on the track in ConeKiller13's car in the dry.

I'll wait to do anything other than pads with the brakes until I try them out a few times on the track. I know they are very capable at low to moderate speeds, it's the high speed events (ORR) I'd feel more comfortable with them being larger.

[docwyte]

All you're going to gain with the larger brakes is a bigger heat sink, so less fade. With the proper pads and fluid, that shouldn't be an issue...

[OvrPSId]

Originally Posted by docwyte

All you're going to gain with the larger brakes is a bigger heat sink, so less fade. With the proper pads and fluid, that shouldn't be an issue...

Right, and with less fade, larger roters, and bigger area covered by the pads shouldn't you be able to drive farther into turns before getting on the brakes and keep it up lap after lap? I'm hoping breaking will be an in depth discussion at driving school.

Still, I have to think that with a 14" rotor there's going to be a lot more pad surface area in contact with it. This would make me think you could burn up more energy over the same period of time on the brakes with less area being used by the smaller rotor and pads. I wish I'd paid more attention in physics class, I'm sure there's a formula for this somewhere

[Mykl]

Man, with the right set of pads and good fluid you can beat on your Brembos all day long and there won't be one hint of fade.

Get a ventillation setup like the RaceComp Engineering KoolBrake kit and if you can get your brakes to fade with a quality set of track pads on, I'll buy you a cheeseburger at McDonalds. Even with sticky race tires your brakes will not fade.

Also, bigger brakes aren't going to allow you to drive further into turns before getting on the brakes. That's what stickier meats will do for you. Remember that your car can only accelerate, brake, and turn as well as your tires can grip the road. Your car can have 15" MONSTER brakes off of God's own Ferrari that are virtually impervious to fade, but if you're on 195 width no name all season radials your car isn't going to stop well at all.

[OvrPSId]

Originally Posted by Mykl

Man, with the right set of pads and good fluid you can beat on your Brembos all day long and there won't be one hint of fade.

Get a ventillation setup like the RaceComp Engineering KoolBrake kit and if you can get your brakes to fade with a quality set of track pads on, I'll buy you a cheeseburger at McDonalds. Even with sticky race tires your brakes will not fade.

Also, bigger brakes aren't going to allow you to drive further into turns before getting on the brakes. That's what stickier meats will do for you. Remember that your car can only accelerate, brake, and turn as well as your tires can grip the road. Your car can have 15" MONSTER brakes off of God's own Ferrari that are virtually impervious to fade, but if you're on 195 width no name all season radials your car isn't going to stop well at all.

I was just looking at the RaceComp setup earlier today, where do the inlet ducts mount? Will they work on the '06? I'm leaning towards making the 18's my track rims so I can mount 255's on them and keeping the stockers for my winter/all season tires. The all seasons are currently P-Zero Nero M&S's that have well over half their tread left so it makes sense to use the wide rough riding tires on the track. My vette had 285's front and 335's rear, maybe that's why the brakes didn't feel up to par at high speeds.

[evilSTi7]

Originally Posted by OvrPSId

I plan to ride out the stock tires for another year, I don't think I'm capable of pushing them too hard at the moment. I have a set of 57F's setting down at WorldOne that I need to go pick up soon. With two sets of wheels I plan to put a set of TR-1's on one of them for my track days so I can stop having tires swapped on and off rims. I've heard they do fairly well in the wet, which I imagine my first few times on track will be living in the PNW, and I've experienced them first hand on the track in ConeKiller13's car in the dry.

I'll wait to do anything other than pads with the brakes until I try them out a few times on the track. I know they are very capable at low to moderate speeds, it's the high speed events (ORR) I'd feel more comfortable with them being larger.

if your upgrading pads you definately need to get fluid, and ss lines would be a very wise choice as well.

[OvrPSId]

Originally Posted by nhluhr

That's still a LOT of cash to spend on a brake upgrade for a $30,000 car. Normally, I would assume that if you're asking about stuff like this then you have a good reason to, but it appears that you probably don't really need it.

A set of track pads, good fluid, stainless lines, a proper adjustment of the brake pedal, and the real big whammy: some brake ducts... That will have your brakes feeling super-terrific and fade-free for all but the MOST demanding conditions.

The Racecomp ducts allow you to route the inlet to whatever orifice you have available. For the 2006STI, you want to get the dealer-option Foglight trim pieces for like $65:

http://www.subaruparts.com/catalog/?section=683


Just hook your hose to the backside of that plastic trim and don't put a foglight in it, and it's a wonderful inlet duct.

Sweet deal on the fog light trim pieces, $65 and they come painted! I think I'll start by building my brake ducts and then order a set of the Pagid Blues. That should get me by for a while. I sure there are a few 100 threads one brake fluid to research. I was reading one earlier about soft brakes on a new STI that has led me to believe that maybe a simple bleed on mine will find me a little more early pedal response now for free.

[OvrPSId]

Originally Posted by nhluhr

Here's what you need to know about brake fluid all in a couple lines of text:

• ATE Super Blue / Type200 Gold (same but different color) - Terrific street fluid, high boiling temps, excellent pedal feel. $12/Liter
  
• Motul RBF600 - Higher boiling points. Slightly softer pedal feel. $12/ halfLiter

Both these fluids are widely available and excellent choices for track or street use. I personally like the ATE because if you buy one can of Blue and one can of Gold, it makes bleeding easier (just watch for the color change and you know you have fresh fluid coming through).

Thanks! That'll save me a few hours, and the tip on the ATE bleeding, blue to gold, gold to blue, is priceless. Bleeding clean fluid out has always been a pain for me for that very reason.