Weighed your Big Discs?

[Deisel Weisel]

When swapping OE discs for bigger, has anyone bothered weighing the difference between bigger discs and OE? I’m curious to know what price you’re paying in increased unsprung weight. Most ppl appreciate why wheels should be as light as pos, but do the same ppl then slap-on the biggest discs they can find, with no consideration to increased weight? I can find sites dedicated to aft/mkt wheel weights, but none for big disc conversions.

 

[Sirnixalot]

....i can stomach a few extra kilos to stop sooner 8) my disks are a bit tied up at the moment but they arent light

 

[GTIR-LOZ]

you can never put a price on stopping when you need to, also the calipers for these brakes are usually lightweight, and the old ones do weigh an absolute ton, so i imagine it wont be that big a difference

 

[Cris]

This is a point that I have been wondering about for a while:

1) If you're fitting bigger calipers (i.e. four pots) are they heavier than the stock ones...

2) If you're fitting bigger discs are they heavier than the stock ones...

3) What about the mounting brackets...

My thoughts so far are as follows:

1) Trying to find alloy calipers rather than steel ones as they'll be lighter. Of course steel ones will have a high termal capacity (I think that it's called) so will cope with heavy useage better.

2) Looking to fit discs with alloy bells rather than the solid steel items which are standard/part of some upgrades. Hopefully should be lighter than stock. Also the stock discs are 26mm wide so not fitting discs which are wider would help (200SX calipers for example use 30mm discs). Again thicker discs would have better termal capacity. Finally cross drilling the discs would help some.

3) Alloy mounting brackets - a little bothered about these - would alloy be strong enough and would it need to be anodised (sp???) to prevent corrosion.

Anyone else got any thoughts on how to keep big brakes on the Slimfast?

 

[Sirnixalot]

ALuminum calipers (the HI-specs anyway) weigh less than the standard cast steel/iron ones. The disks are afew kg heavier...not much because the center bell is aluminium.

Aluminum calipers are better than steel ones not only for the light weight but they radiate heat much beter so they keep the brake fluid cooler.

 

[Nad]

If u r worried about the weight just go for a caliper with more pistons, likewise if u run small rims and want good stopping power. For the extra unsprung weight, u gain better braking which will increase the cars speed overall anyway.

L8r

Nad

 

[J-GTi-R]

You don't really need massive 335mm disks if your car is of a mild state of tune and you're not at a track day every week-end. A 280mm kit like mine will stop all but the most mental 'Rs very effectively and will allow you to go as small as 15s, as I have (unsprung weight is my enemy too).

I compared my standard brakes agains the Wilwood 4-pot, 280mm disk kit and while both were damn heavy, the standard disks and calipers were heavier (thanks to the alloy Wilwood caliper). MUCH better braking and less unsprung weight, the best thing if done to my car.

Ok, pretty much the only thing I've done to my car, but it has transformed it none-the-less.