I took my car for a 200 mile blast today, on a route normally used in summer on my Ducati. In brief from Worcs to Powys and back via Tenbury, Kington, Newtown, Cross Gates, Leominster and back. Plus a little halfway detour to the Elan Valley to chill out some!
The object was to “key” me into the car along with fishing out any major problems that can be sorted while there is plenty of warranty on it - I have only had it 2 weeks.
The 22 mile stretch from Newtown to Cross Gates is one of the best roads in the UK (make that Europe), with the longest straight not much above 1km, I would guesstimate?
The car was superb throughout and I can honestly say I have never enjoyed a “car” drive as much - I had to take a 30 min coffee break at the Cross Gates cafe to let the adrenalin “cool”.
The only thing I can take any issue with is the brakes. Now don’t misunderstand me as they are extremely powerful and pull the car up from serious speed easily. My only complaint is with the pedal feel. My last car, a 997S had the brakes from a 996 TT as standard and are probably one of the best road setups in the world IMHO? What I was missing today, was the ability to take off huge speed by only “brushing” the brake pedal. The Exige has a 1/4" or so of “not much” before the brakes start to bite and give you any feedback.
Is there an easy (and relatively cheap) solution to this? I am thinking braided hoses at the front and different pads (Pagids maybe?), but do I need to be considering different calipers as well?
If so, what should I be looking for - I think the new PP Exige S has an AP Racing upgraded front caliper?
If I am on the right track, what are the costs involved, bearing in mind I would probably get the work done for me - I don’t mind twiddling spanners but I am not so confident when it comes to such an important item!
Im in the same light with this, i had ap racing four pots on my olde clio v6 and soon as your foot touched the pedal the breaks were on…now i could suggest two things…your pads are low, but mine are new and i still have the same issue…the other suggestion would be an upgrade to the ap’s on the performance pack exige…or even willwoods.
i only have limited knoledge on after market breaks but going from four pots to two…the exige does stop quicker but there is that moment of nothing were as the clio took a while but you could feel breaking immediately
Im in the same light with this, i had ap racing four pots on my olde clio v6 and soon as your foot touched the pedal the breaks were on…now i could suggest two things…your pads are low, but mine are new and i still have the same issue…the other suggestion would be an upgrade to the ap’s on the performance pack exige…or even willwoods.
i only have limited knoledge on after market breaks but going from four pots to two…the exige does stop quicker but there is that moment of nothing were as the clio took a while but you could feel breaking immediately
BP - the pads are fine (pretty much as new), had the wheels off to clean and inspect when I got back - Hit a couple of those 1" deep holes when on full braking (sounds like suspension has been destroyed!).
I think it is just setup - perhaps the AP 4 pots are the way to go - so long as it isn’t silly money?
It’ the Lotus Big Brake Kit: 4 pot calipers, AP ali-belled discs and Pagid RS-14 pads. To maintain a little brake balance between front and rear I upgraded the raer brakes as detailed in the previous post.
Before shelling out on “big brakes” (ie 4 pot calipers), change the pads to either Pagid RS42 (the RS14s don’t work well on S2 Exige as they can knacker the rotors) or SBS. Also upgrade the brake fluid, to competition spec stuff.
If you’re still not happy, fit braided hoses (will mean front clam removal).
Big brakes (4 pot front calipers & larger rotors), are only needed for serious track work, & even then, that is debateable.
Just fitted a set of RS42s myself and the amount of initial bite just touching the pedal is really something. I may consider bigger belled disks in future just to give a little more control but for fast road use I’m really happy with mine just now…I could be tempted to pop the clam off and get some new hoses made up at Earls ~(they only charge about a tenner per hose!!)
Im in the same light with this, i had ap racing four pots on my olde clio v6 and soon as your foot touched the pedal the breaks were on…now i could suggest two things…your pads are low, but mine are new and i still have the same issue…the other suggestion would be an upgrade to the ap’s on the performance pack exige…or even willwoods.
i only have limited knoledge on after market breaks but going from four pots to two…the exige does stop quicker but there is that moment of nothing were as the clio took a while but you could feel breaking immediately
BP - the pads are fine (pretty much as new), had the wheels off to clean and inspect when I got back - Hit a couple of those 1" deep holes when on full braking (sounds like suspension has been destroyed!).
I think it is just setup - perhaps the AP 4 pots are the way to go - so long as it isn’t silly money?
Right, I am just ordering some 42’s for the front, see how that goes first off?
If that improves things, maybe do the rears (just to balance things up) and replace the fluid. Car is 16 months old and done 10k miles, so I assume it is on the original fluid?
BTW, I can quite often be a bit ham-fisted with nuts and bolts, so is there a torque setting for the caliper holding bolts, or is it just a case of a 9" socket wrench and give it some without lifting yourself of the floor
I generally agree with what’s already been said. The stock setup on the 111R/Exige/Exige S isn’t great.
I noticed a gain going from stock pads to RS42’s, the most noticeable gain was changing the discs from stock to EliseParts Ali Bell discs with RS42’s. They scrub speed pretty quickly.
I think you’ll be fine with RS42 pads and any decent replacement set of discs.
Eliseparts are pretty good, ordered at 10pm Tuesday night, delivered 11am Thursday morning.
Just a quick query, the pad box contains a notice stating that they aren’t road legal - does anyone know of an instance when an insurance Co. has tried to use this as a get out of paying device?
Will fit the weekend and hopefully my brakes will be resolved?
Put the 42’s in, had a right game getting the old pads out (definately no copper grease on them) and initial impressions are a significant improvement in pedal feel - just a brush of the pedal gives some sensation of “bite”, not the previous 1/4" of nothingness, which is what I was looking for. They may still benefit further from lines and fluid?
Not sure about running in techniques as no info in the pad box, but managed 2 x high speed to 20mph “stand on the pedal” stops and they pull up pretty impressively.
The only minor niggle is that the 42’s have a slightly smaller “face area” than the OEM’s, so the disk now has a 1/3" ring of rust around the inner section - you can’t have it all I suppose and the improvement in brake feel is well worth it - a good, easy to do and relatively cheap mod!