I need to upgrade my brakes and was wondering if I should just go with slotted/cross drilled rotors or if a big brake kit is worth it. Will I be satisfied with just rotors? What kind of gain can I expect? Thanks!

 

Decent rotors and good pads will make a big difference from what I hear, but I must point out that I have no personal experience in this matter. It really depends on how much $ you have and what kind of setup you're looking for in the end. Personally, I'd go with decent rotors (Brembo Blanks or Powerslots) and some better pads like maybe Hawk HP+'s.

The CRX is such a light car that it seems to me that a $700+ upgrade to a big brake kit is unnecessary for most people and most types of driving. Many, many people have put up great reviews of Wilwood/Fastbrakes kits for Civics and CRX's - others have not been so impressed. See user "Driven" for an example.

Alex

 

yeah it really depends on what you're doing.. daily driving? road racing? autoxing? i had power slots with hawk hp+ and the braking was pretty damn good, very acceptable for street and autox. the only thing is that the hawks destroyed the rotors pretty fast. i think a bigger rotor would help out a lot considering all the extra surface area/heat dissipation. i didn't like that the powerslots aren't resurfaceable... or are they? most of the places i asked wouldn't turn slotted rotors. so i now am running cobalt friction disks with the hp+'s... still a little harsh on the rotors, so i think soon i'm switiching to axxis ultimates.

 

It's my daily driver, but it's also a 12 second car so I need some decent brakes. Occasional Auto-X and 1/4 miles at the track.

 

You are using the car for 3 different purposes. May I suggest that Brembo Blanks and AEM/Nissin pads will do nicely for both street and auto-x. I am not sure what your trap speed is, but these will also work at the strip. The Brembo rotors on our CRX stop the car fine on fast road courses.
There is no need to use slotted rotors, and NO they are not generally resurfaceable. I had a set of Powerslots and was not happy with them-even tho the car stopped fine. If there is any warpage the only solution with these that I found was to replace them. BTW: there is some argument (see threads) as to the use of slotted and/or cross drilled rotors. As to "big brake kits" unless this is either a show car or one that is permitted the parts for a racing class-do not waste you money-spend it on seat time instead.
Hope this helps

 

Assuming you want the best 80-0 foot performance for a reasonable amount of money:

Porterfield R4s pads...hands down, the best pads. A little expensive up front, but worth it. Kevlar compounded, last forever, stop incredible, rotor friendly. Their longevity makes them economical, mine have alreay lasted three times longer then the crappy EBC greens I had. The perfect pads as far as I'm concerned. I will emphatically use nothing else.

Braided stainless steel lines. Pick a brand...I like Goodridge.

Good OEM replacement rotors. Crossdrilled and slotted are generally a waste of money. If you want to improve the rotors, get them cryoforged (it's cheap). It will easily double the life of the rotors and provide better heat resistance characteristics if you are going to be track lapping.

Bigger Master Cylinder. 1989 Accord LXi. Bolts in. Some people will argue if it improves 80-0 but it did create a pedal feel that's much more sensitive to inputs, which for me, makes it easier to control and modulate.

Make sure the back brakes are working properly, but don't spend any money beyond that. They do so little % of the work. Converting drums to discs is a waste of time. Converting discs to bigger discs is an even bigger waste.
I have drums. I used 1st gen HF aluminum drums, not for stopping but weight savings. They bolt right on to the 88-89 si and save a good three lbs per side. And that's unsprung weight. But they're way more expensive then the stock iron/steel rotors. Like $75 each. But I got mine in the junkyard, had them resurfaced for $50 total.


Hope all that helps

 

slotted/crossdrilled rotors are useless unless you do road racing. tehy don't improve braking. all they do is help prevent brake fade. think about it. how does less surface area increase stopping power? even at an auto-x you aren't likely to get brake fade. it's only at the track where you're slowing down very quickly from very fast speeds very frequently. that's when you need something to keep the rotors cooler for longer, and keep hot gasses from holding the pads off the rotors.

so yeah, unless you're hitting up the track a lot, a rotor upgrade will do little good.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by IggDawg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">slotted/crossdrilled rotors are useless unless you do road racing. tehy don't improve braking.</TD></TR></TABLE>
They're not even useful to road racers. If you'll notice, none of the competitiors in the NASA Honda Challenge use any fancy rotors. Rotors are a wear item, especially with some of the high performance pads which will eat through rotors when cold. Slotting and cross-drilling do almost nothing for cooling; cross-drilling was actually used for evacuation of gasses back in the days when brake pads emitted gas, which modern pads do not. These types of rotors also tend to crack in between the drilled holes and milled slots because of the sharp edges, open end grains of metal, and uneven cooling introduced by the modifications.

Basically, both of these styles of rotors do absolutely nothing to improve either stopping or cooling. Sure, they "look cool" , but they will crack sooner than a blank rotor and will also wear down pads more quickly - not to mention they are more expensive than a set of blank rotors.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Boost Creep &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I need to upgrade my brakes and was wondering if I should just go with slotted/cross drilled rotors or if a big brake kit is worth it. Will I be satisfied with just rotors? What kind of gain can I expect? Thanks! </TD></TR></TABLE>
Fancy rotors do nothing, so no, you will not be satisfied. A big brake kit also won't do much for you if you don't have a need for it.

First of all, how do you know you need to upgrade your brakes? Can you still lock the wheels with the brakes you have? If so, then by upgrading brakes you will gain nothing; the wheels will just lock up sooner.

First thing to upgrade with brakes is your tires. Brakes do not stop your car, they stop the wheels. Your tires stop the car. If you have **** tires, there is absolutely no point in upgrading brakes. Next is pads and fluid. High-quality, high-performance "street" pads for street, autocross, and 1320, and race pads for the road course. Good high-quality brake fluid is necessary to hep avoid boiling. I recommend Ate Super Blue or at least Motorcraft DOT 3 (which actually exceeds DOT 4 specs) for affordable solutions. Stainless steel braided lines are also a good investment.

 

Thanks a lot everyone for the input

My brakes work, but I have a feeling my car will stop a lot better if I replace them. They don't feel good at all when I am stopping from a higher speed. I don't trust them. Would the general consensus be Brembo Blanks and Porterfield R4 pads? A friend of mine had ITR suspension/brakes in his Del Sol and it stopped wonderfully. Then again those have something like 11.5" rotors, so that could have been it.

 

Yes... get good pads and SS lines with blanks.

I got Integra brakes and I regretted it

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Boost Creep &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks a lot everyone for the input

My brakes work, but I have a feeling my car will stop a lot better if I replace them. They don't feel good at all when I am stopping from a higher speed. I don't trust them. Would the general consensus be Brembo Blanks and Porterfield R4 pads? A friend of mine had ITR suspension/brakes in his Del Sol and it stopped wonderfully. Then again those have something like 11.5" rotors, so that could have been it. </TD></TR></TABLE>
You may want to try out a few different kinds of pads before you find something you like. With pads you usually have to find the balance between hot performance, cold performance, noise, and dusting that suits your needs. Some people hate driving around with squeaky pads and layers of dust caked to their wheels, while others don't mind.

On the 1990 Civic Si SM car that I co-drive for autocross, we are using Axxis Ultimates pads, Ate Super Blue fluid, and Brembo blank rotors. The car uses 235/45-13 Kumho Ecsta V700s for autocross, and 195/60-14 Falken Azenis for the street and HPDEs. The Axxis Ultimates create a lot of black dust, and occasionally squeal, but they are excellent pads for street and light track use. Cold performance is very good and they get progressively better as the heat increases. Fade resistance is also very good for just about anything except moderate to heavy HPDE use.

I was trying to decide between Hawk HP+ pads and the Axxis Ultimates, and what made me lean toward the Ultimates was the fact that the HP+ tend to eat through rotors quickly in the cold, and also most people complained that the HP+ have a very hard initial bite which takes some getting used to, otherwise you will be locking the wheels when you don't want to.

I have also used Axxis MetalMaster, AEM/Nissin, and EBC Greenstuff. The AEM pads balance between good stopping power and low dusting; MetalMasters stop about the same as AEM but dust more. EBC Greenstuff barely dust at all however do not have as much stopping power as the other two. None of these have as much stopping power as the Ultimates.

 

R4s

The R4 coumpound is for full track competition. Get the S variety for street, autox and light track duty.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Targa250R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
First of all, how do you know you need to upgrade your brakes? </TD></TR></TABLE>



<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">First thing to upgrade with brakes is your tires. Brakes do not stop your car, they stop the wheels. Your tires stop the car. If you have **** tires, there is absolutely no point in upgrading brakes. </TD></TR></TABLE>



Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

personally I would just try and buy some 90-91ex front spindles. They are the same as sir(10.3) and integra(with correct camber) and go from there. Wonder where you could find a pair of them for sale?

 

i think that you should either upgrade to the 4 door civic ex brakes, or upgrade with some power slot rotors, aem pads, and good ridge stainless steel lines. i personally went this way on my ef, and braking is drastically improved. i am also using motul racing brake fluid.

 

You could also upgrade your master cylinder. From the stock one to a 4 door one. It would take you from a 13/16 to a 15/16 and that will also help get you slowed down. I did this on my car with stock brakes and it has kept me out of some stick situations.

 

i got hawk hps pads and i love them

 

i was considering a brake upgrade as well before a freind turned me on to hawk products,

its a night and day diffrence,
i use earls stainless lines,
brembo blanks
hawk hps + pads all the way around, its very nice.

i hear they dust hardcore but i have black wheels so its not a problem for me.

 

Wheres a good place to buy SS brakelines and pads?

 

i got my stuff from nippon

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HtC_SiR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i think that you should either upgrade to the 4 door civic ex brakes, or upgrade with some power slot rotors, aem pads, and good ridge stainless steel lines. i personally went this way on my ef, and braking is drastically improved. i am also using motul racing brake fluid. </TD></TR></TABLE><TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CRX Toad &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You could also upgrade your master cylinder. From the stock one to a 4 door one. It would take you from a 13/16 to a 15/16 and that will also help get you slowed down. I did this on my car with stock brakes and it has kept me out of some stick situations. </TD></TR></TABLE> I have 90ex front brakes, rear disc, prop valve, brake booster(integra), and master cylinder(15/16) for sale if any wants to upgrade brakes. Anyways, the difference is amazing when you do complete brake upgrade.