SMW AP 305mm brake conversion

The Oily Bits S2 Specific Topics
1

Following the link from Speedy K’s Big discs on my Bemani Cup: track action thread and came across this:

[image]http://members.iinet.net.au/~zanetti/lotus/Brakes/apconversion.JPG[/image]

The whole brake package fits under the factory 16" Wheel.

The larger 12" alloy hat brake rotor is the same weight as the facotry rotor.

2

AFAIK, these are the ones developed by Thorney Motorsport for the VX. From what he said, Lotus were happy for him to do the work and, when it came to fruition, offer it for the Elise/Exige themselves.

He was already running these AP 4-pots early last year at Hockenheim on his VX220Turbo. Not homolgated for Swiss road use, so I couldn’t use them but I’m sure they work fine.

3

Whats the RRP on those beasties?
Even with my car have a few extra HP I have found the 295mm brake disc upgrade with Pagid RS14s does do the trick nicely and this is with hitting one gear higher on most straights

4

I have found the 295mm brake disc upgrade with Pagid RS14s does do the trick nicely

Whose kit are you using?

5

AFAIK, these are the ones developed by Thorney Motorsport for the VX.

So do you know who is SMW? Does Thorney offer them direct?

6

Its EliseParts AP5000 discs ali bells etc

7

AFAIK,

There are two kits available from AP, one is the Thorney/Lotus kit which uses a smaller piston size so as not to upset the brake balance when used with teh standard rear caliper. The other kit from AP has larger pistons and requires the rears to be uprated to keep it all in check. The latter is not a cheap option, but if I were to uprate the brake system then that is probably the route I would go.

Im currently running the AP 304mm discs on teh front with the standard calipers (think thats size they are anyway), and the standard rear set up with good effect. (rs42 front and rs14 rears).

8

Thanks for the replies.

If both the alternative kits either have smaller or larger pistons how come you are getting away with not changing them?

Do you know what the part no for the AP disc/bell kit is, and can I ask how much they were?

Have you tried running rs14s on the front?

9

If both the alternative kits either have smaller or larger pistons how come you are getting away with not changing them?

A larger front disc with the standard caliper seems to be perfectly OK. As I see it you have not increased the braking force any, just increased the total area that the pad has to sweep against and increased the cooling capacity. I honestly dont think you would see much (if any) increase in braking force with the smaller sized caliper that AP/LOTUS do, you would probably just get a better feel through the pedal thats all (and the fact they only have the kit for an S2 you wouldn’t be able to use them anyhows).

Do you know what the part no for the AP disc/bell kit is, and can I ask how much they were?

Pass, I got them through Plans and they were aboot 450 knicker iirc for discs and bells (only need to buy disc next time).

Have you tried running rs14s on the front?

Yes, and I will NEVER use them again!!

I killed the standard front discs at the Silverstone round of the MESC which was not long after I fitted the 14’s. I then killed a set of brand new 304 AP’s in less than 1 hours use at Oulten Park about a month ago. Both of them were suffering from very bad pad deposits on the discs from the 14’s. Believe it or not (and contary to what you read on the forums as soultion to the problem), the AP’s suffered the worse from the deposits (felt like someone had a pneumatic hammer on the front end of the car when standing on the brakes) and I had no choice but to cut the day short on safety grounds. They still worked but f**k me they didnt sound or feel right!!

In the early sessions before the troubles started, I also found that the 14’s unsettled the car far too much making it lurch around on the brakes and you could easily scrub more speed off than you really wanted to. I have used a variety of the pagid pads on other casr and I have come to prefer the more progressive feel of the 42’s. I left the 14’s in the rear calipers as there seemed to be no problem with the rear discs and the car was not wanting to swing it’s arse around any so just I left them in (the rears could do with a bit more bite anyway imho).

Somnething is definatelyo wrong with the 14’s on the S2 Exige!!! Wether it is because they are ceramic based or there might possibly be a dodgy batch out there I dont know but I will not use them again thats for sure…

One thing I will be looking at next though is teh Pagid orange which is teh next pad up from the blue 42’s (neither of which are ceramic based ).

10

Good stuff there, thanks for taking the time to post it all.