Yawn yawn I know - brakes again !

The Oily Bits S1 Specific Topics
1

Hi Guys, used to post when I had my Exige. Brendan will remember - bought his exige engine cover off him!
Used to post under W401 YAL which I had from 2001 to 2003.Sold the Exige… then had a rash moment with a couple of rear engined cars, a French one followed by a German. Recently though bought a 135R (I know it’s not an Exige… but it has the same brakes, tyres etc.) from the very same man to whom I sold my Exige 2 years ago!.. It’s a small world.

  • Anyway, very quick question - usual problem, standard brake pads not quite up to the job. I’m just doing fast road, maybe a track day or 2 per year but predominantly road. Don’t particularly want to wear out the discs in a week, but would like a little more stopping power at lower speeds. Braking hard from 100mph is no problem, it’s the 30-60mph I’m having problems with - seems a bit ‘wooden’ (Legs are strong so no problems if ‘that’s the way they all are’)
    Any advice / p*ss taking gladly accepted.
    BTW - I have searched, but all I seem to get is Pagid RS’s - anything else available more suited to road??
2

Pagid RS-42 are well suited to the road, however SBS is a cheaper alternative, which I am currently running. These seem closer to the RS-14 spec though.

3

Hi Phil, nice to hear from you again. Hope you’re keeping well.

Sorry I can’t really help with your question, I use RS14s and I’m not exactly thrilled by the braking performance. Maybe I need better discs or bigger calipers (or stronger legs). The car stops well, but I don’t think I’ve EVER locked the wheels on a dry road once the tyres (AO48s) are warm. Surely tyres are supposed to be the limiting factor under braking

4

Brendan, what discs have you got?

I’ve just recently got EBC’s and always used RS-14’s, and with the EBC’s the brakes feel crap, just no bite at all

So need to sort something out pretty soon

5

I’m on the original Lotus disks. I know everybody says they’re crap, but would different disks actually make much difference to the performance?

6

No, if you haven’t warped/cracked or in general badly overheated the originals you won’t feel any difference with upgraded ones, because they are mainly stronger and better cooling.

7

I really like RS-14’s on the standard discs, but with the EBC’s they feel really crap.

I’d have thought the same, metal’s just metal right? Well it would seem not! Although I can brake just as fast with the EBC discs and on track it’s not much of a problem, there just isn’t that BITE!

So yeah, discs do make a difference

8

I bought EBC discs and pads and they are rubbish, absolutely no bite at all, can be scary when you need to stop in a hurry. A lad I know has OE disks and pads on his Elise and they feel so much better. Was thinking of writing to EBC to complain. Do you think I would have any grounds for a refund, such as they are shockingly bad?

9

Doubt there’d be any comeback unless you done it in a very quick time and used statutory rights stuff, not suitable for the purpose sold…

But then that’s hard as they do stop the car and it’s juts a feel issue… Either way I’ll be eBaying mine soon enough, obviously there are people out there who like these things… shrug

10

Guys, don’t forget the Ferodo DS2500, they work very well, on par with the RS14 but slightly less sudden, and fronts are cheaper (rears the same)

Somebody mentioned the SBS, they’re supposed to be very good as well.

11

I’m not very impressed with the SBS personally. They stop the car OK but the feel and bite isn’t anywhere near as good as a Pagid.