shawnhayes

Think you know how to upgrade a brake system better than Honda?

Lots of people on this board think so too.

AEM, a big time performance company thought they could. Wanna see what can go wrong?


From this months Motor Trend.

Notice the braking results?
Stock 128 feet.

AEM's big brakes: 132 feet.

AEM added braking distance with their big brake upgrades. Why? Most likely, they screwed the brake balance without modifying the brake proportioning system.

So, for those of you who think you can upgrade just the calipers or rotors and get better braking, think again.

Take cues from Honda, and duplicate their work. If you want a better braking system for your car, copy it from another Honda car. Calipers, proportioning valve, master cylinder, booster, and all. If you just increase brake disc size or increase caliper size, you run the risk of doing what AEM did.

Shawn

euclid

they may have increased initial stopping distances by 5 feet but im sure their setup has better fade resistance under hard driving.

shawnhayes

That's really going to help when you're up the *** of the car in front by five feet.

This was with, of course CROSS DRILLED rotors. Hmm. Think fade resistance is going to be better with hard driving with those?

The lesson here is still that bigger brakes don't always mean shorter stops. You HAVE to know what you're doing, and a very high profile performance company got it wrong here (I don't give a crap about what you say about fade resistance, that doesn't mean **** unless the car is a ROAD RACE track only car).

Shawn

Looose_R

shawnhayes lays it down like a kid to bed!
nice post

CXHatchback

I remember reading an article about AEM's front kit being nearly useless without the rear setup too. Since it wasn't balanced the results were a lot worse than stock, but onec the rears were put on the performance improved greatly.

shawnhayes

That was their 99 Si upgrade. I can't tell for sure, but it LOOKS like this RSX has had their rear upgrade as well. I'm not sure though. If they haven't it looks like they need to. If they have, they need to go back to the drawing board.

Shawn

wHOAlly

yup

chad

shawn.....jack had the full itr braking and suspension system.....todd reid had your set....but i was able to out brake both of them....although they did not have to test and tune their systems cause they were already proven....at first i had trouble with rear lock up then fronts then rears again until i got the right pad combination....and i believe i could stop on a dime from 135.....the front straight at vir.....never got a chance on the back with the setup....


but yes shawn you are correct that aem system did not work.....you must also remember that aem is probably using an aftermarket pad that was better than the stock pad....so if you put a stock pad in the aem system it in fact may take more stopping distance....

Finest

Braking tests are usually a test of GRIP, instead of actual brakes. What kind of tires was this RSX running? Road temp/conditions?

Sure it tests braking DISTANCE, but it's not a true indication of "BRAKES" in the sense of upgraded rotors/calipers/etc. I believe a true test of "BRAKES" is to run a few hot laps around a track and test brake feel/fade and durability.

Just my 0.02.

2080EK

Said very well.

chad

yes yes.....but most people dno't do track events...and are only interested in stopping fast cause they are not paying attention to what is ahead....

Heath

What if a person were to install both the front and rear setup? I hope everything comes out all right...seeing as how I just bought mine.

spoon_ek9

if you guy have seen or installed AEM big brake kit, then you guy will see the pad is not used fully due to the bigger rotor. the stock caliper bracket should be changed, not extend the stock one with a adapter.

euclid

oooooo ****.... i thought you meant the big 4 piston caliper kit on the rsx, not just the increased rotor size with the stock calipers

i fully understand now why you were saying there wouldnt be increased fade resistance. i didnt look close enough into the article, sorry. but there would be an inprovment with the 4 pot porshe caliper upgrade correct?

euclid

you have to understand that i thought you were refering to the full brake upgrade kit w/ the 4 pot... i feel like such a jackass now

civura R

thats y i slapped itr on my eg

Finest

Along with the MC and prop. valve?

Mista Bone

was suspension changed at all with the brake upgrade????

Also little trick I learned.......more brakes = more front end dive = more induced camber = less tire contact patch and longer braking distances.

Not saying this is what happened, but food for thought given to me by local racer/chassis shop owner.

99FoxSi

Stock testing meaning OEM rims and tires VS. AEM big brake kit w/ BIGGER rims and tires?

vtecvoodoo

The 17" Wheels n Tires didn`t help. It seems like everytime a mainstream magazine, like Motor Trend, get ahold of an import they always perform like crap.

Bling Bling brakes

Finest

I think it's a conspiracy!

oldB18EF

Its only 1" bigger than stock. Stock is 16" on the base and Type S, the DC5 Integra R gets 17's as stock.

vtecvoodoo

I`m sure they use a wider tire though. It all adds up

iwhichisme

who uses aem big brakes anyways?

ESCALVANTE

Same thing happened to the Sport Compact Car S13 Silvia Project. They put big Brembo brakes out front (4-pot calipers and 13.1"[?] 2-peice Crossdrilled rotors) and 300ZX brakes out back and increased braking distances. They did say that the braking was fade free at Laguna Seca but required more room to stop.

I read in past issues that after talking to the guys at StopTech, they decided to add a better suited MC/Booster and that was supposed to fix their problems but no results have been published.

That's why I've decided to just upgrade my stock set-up or get the rest of the ITR goods (hubs, rotors, calipers, MC/Booster, all necessary lines, and prop. valve) as I already have the suspension. Same goes for my M Roadster.