After all the recent threads regarding the use of less than standard/acceptable tires and brakes on their NSX I felt obligated to start this thread that states:
Do NOT buy cheap brakes or tires !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Think about it: What is the one performance & safety device on your entire car that actually touches the ground? -Your Tires! Each of your 4 tires have a contact patch (the area of your tire that touches the ground) roughly the size of a size 11 shoe. Your entire car is connected to the ground equivalent to 2 people's shoes!!!!
With this in mind, in order to accelerate, brake, or turn (all performance AND SAFETY aspect) all of those inputs are transmitted to the ground by your tires. Regardless of how much power, how good your brakes or suspension is, without good tires, you are not optimizing your car or the accident-avoidance capabilities of your car.
I know the NSX has a higher tire wear issue than most cars, and the operational cost of owning an NSX can be quite high because of it. But keep in mind, you own a SUPERCAR, arguably the ONLY supercar to ever come out of Japan. It deserves a minimum of an acceptable tire.
To avoid an accident, improve the performance and handling of your car, INVEST IN A SET OF GOOD TIRES! - the best that you can afford for the weather conditions that you are in/drive the car in. I cannot stress enough the importance of your tires. Please don't buy $100 sumitomos, their are plenty of relatively inexpensive tires that deliver great performance for the cost, and Sumitomo and Fuzion are not on that list... Always check your tire pressure once a month!
Brakes:
This is a recent issue that I have had heated debates over. The second most important safety component on your car after your tires are your brakes. It doesn't matter how much HP or how good your car handles, if you cannot stop your car, that is the biggest issue. It is highly recommended to upgrade your brakes before your HP. DO NOT BUY brake components from an unknown, unproven source. Again, brakes are the #2 SAFETY DEVICE on your car, and you should not put something that is not proven to outperform the intended useage on your car.
Fluid/Stainless Steel lines:
Keeping track of how often you bleed your brakes is very important. It is 100% reasonable to boil your brake fluid during DAILY DRIVING!!! DOT3 and even DOT4 Penzoil brake fluid - the crap you get at Autozone, can boil under daily driving use. How? -Although the "Dry" boiling point is relatively high -means they'll work well when the system is flushed and has no water in the brake lines, when water does build up in the brake system from not being bled, the "Wet" boiling point of crappy fluids is dangerously low - could be as low as 200degrees which is easily attainable under daily use.
How to prevent this: If you track your car often, or push it hard on a mountain road, bleeding your brakes routinely is a good idea. If you do not want to invest in good brake fluid (although highly reccomended) it is even more important to routinely flush your fluid. More expensive fluids (ATE Superblue works very well and is very inexpensive) have a "Wet" boiling temperature very close to their "Dry" levels. This means that when theirs water in the line, they wont tend to boil until a much higher temperature = don't HAVE to flush the fluid as often.
Stainless steel lines are very good and DO deliver better pedal feel/feedback and reduce expansion during high pressure use (even daily driving). I highly reccomend upgrading to SS lines, but only to companies that specialize in it (Goodridge) do not buy $20 SS lines from Joe-Shmo's garage.
Pads
Their is a variety of brake pads out there, a large compromise is noise vs. performance. At the moment, its a compromise, its hard to find a good trackable pad that dosn't squeal. Heck, stock Ferrari 575, 430, 360, 512 all squeal their brakes, and if a Ferrari squeals their brakes, i'm perfectly fine letting my car squeal a little. For those that do not want the noise and need the performance, its a trade-off. Have a dedicated track pad and a dedicated street pad (and preferably rotor if possible).
Rotors
Crossdrilled, Slotted, "Blank", 2-pc, their are many options out there. Cross-drilled has a high tendency to crack (get over it, its a fact), stay clear from 95% of the rotors. Brembo's Big Brake Kits (x-drilled) actually hold up quite well, and have a lot of development under them, I highly reccomend them but i'd avoid x-drilled as a whole since most companies just drill the holes into them (x-drilled are primarily for looks). Slotted have more initial bite but higher pad wear, they tend to be more durable than x-drilled. Blanks are often fine for most applications. 2-piece rotors reduce warpage, and heat much better than 1-piece but be aware, poorly built 2-piece rotors can lead to catastrophic failures.
Big Brake Kits
With a simple pad/line/and fluid change, you should be fine to track your car. But with lapping days especially in higher HP cars, BBKs are always an option (although for 95% of the people out there, are not necessary and more for looks). Looks or not, its important to get a good kit, that has a lot of development on it and not a kit made for profits from a company that doesn't test or race their products. Performance Friction, Brembo, AP, Stoptech, Alcon are all reputable companies that actively are involved with motorsports to advance their products. Their are many other kits that I would highly recommend avoiding, due to their lack of performance, safety, develompment, and racing (or lack of) development.
Don't kid yourself, brake failures DO HAPPEN. The higher quality products you buy that actively are involved with motorsports, the better the chance that a catastrophic failure won't happen to you and the better chance that the system you bought will live up to every expectation and need you put them through.
I have been on the short-end of many brake failures and far too many kits that just did not have the durability, performance, feedback, or feel to even be on the market (in my opinion). Here are pictures of a recent brake rotor failure:
Good luck with your purchases, and PLEASE, DO NOT SKIMP ON ANY BRAKE COMPONENT OR YOUR TIRES, they are the most over-looked safety devices on your car. Your life and your "supercar" deserve the best.
Do NOT buy cheap brakes or tires !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Think about it: What is the one performance & safety device on your entire car that actually touches the ground? -Your Tires! Each of your 4 tires have a contact patch (the area of your tire that touches the ground) roughly the size of a size 11 shoe. Your entire car is connected to the ground equivalent to 2 people's shoes!!!!
With this in mind, in order to accelerate, brake, or turn (all performance AND SAFETY aspect) all of those inputs are transmitted to the ground by your tires. Regardless of how much power, how good your brakes or suspension is, without good tires, you are not optimizing your car or the accident-avoidance capabilities of your car.
I know the NSX has a higher tire wear issue than most cars, and the operational cost of owning an NSX can be quite high because of it. But keep in mind, you own a SUPERCAR, arguably the ONLY supercar to ever come out of Japan. It deserves a minimum of an acceptable tire.
To avoid an accident, improve the performance and handling of your car, INVEST IN A SET OF GOOD TIRES! - the best that you can afford for the weather conditions that you are in/drive the car in. I cannot stress enough the importance of your tires. Please don't buy $100 sumitomos, their are plenty of relatively inexpensive tires that deliver great performance for the cost, and Sumitomo and Fuzion are not on that list... Always check your tire pressure once a month!
Brakes:
This is a recent issue that I have had heated debates over. The second most important safety component on your car after your tires are your brakes. It doesn't matter how much HP or how good your car handles, if you cannot stop your car, that is the biggest issue. It is highly recommended to upgrade your brakes before your HP. DO NOT BUY brake components from an unknown, unproven source. Again, brakes are the #2 SAFETY DEVICE on your car, and you should not put something that is not proven to outperform the intended useage on your car.
Fluid/Stainless Steel lines:
Keeping track of how often you bleed your brakes is very important. It is 100% reasonable to boil your brake fluid during DAILY DRIVING!!! DOT3 and even DOT4 Penzoil brake fluid - the crap you get at Autozone, can boil under daily driving use. How? -Although the "Dry" boiling point is relatively high -means they'll work well when the system is flushed and has no water in the brake lines, when water does build up in the brake system from not being bled, the "Wet" boiling point of crappy fluids is dangerously low - could be as low as 200degrees which is easily attainable under daily use.
How to prevent this: If you track your car often, or push it hard on a mountain road, bleeding your brakes routinely is a good idea. If you do not want to invest in good brake fluid (although highly reccomended) it is even more important to routinely flush your fluid. More expensive fluids (ATE Superblue works very well and is very inexpensive) have a "Wet" boiling temperature very close to their "Dry" levels. This means that when theirs water in the line, they wont tend to boil until a much higher temperature = don't HAVE to flush the fluid as often.
Stainless steel lines are very good and DO deliver better pedal feel/feedback and reduce expansion during high pressure use (even daily driving). I highly reccomend upgrading to SS lines, but only to companies that specialize in it (Goodridge) do not buy $20 SS lines from Joe-Shmo's garage.
Pads
Their is a variety of brake pads out there, a large compromise is noise vs. performance. At the moment, its a compromise, its hard to find a good trackable pad that dosn't squeal. Heck, stock Ferrari 575, 430, 360, 512 all squeal their brakes, and if a Ferrari squeals their brakes, i'm perfectly fine letting my car squeal a little. For those that do not want the noise and need the performance, its a trade-off. Have a dedicated track pad and a dedicated street pad (and preferably rotor if possible).
Rotors
Crossdrilled, Slotted, "Blank", 2-pc, their are many options out there. Cross-drilled has a high tendency to crack (get over it, its a fact), stay clear from 95% of the rotors. Brembo's Big Brake Kits (x-drilled) actually hold up quite well, and have a lot of development under them, I highly reccomend them but i'd avoid x-drilled as a whole since most companies just drill the holes into them (x-drilled are primarily for looks). Slotted have more initial bite but higher pad wear, they tend to be more durable than x-drilled. Blanks are often fine for most applications. 2-piece rotors reduce warpage, and heat much better than 1-piece but be aware, poorly built 2-piece rotors can lead to catastrophic failures.
Big Brake Kits
With a simple pad/line/and fluid change, you should be fine to track your car. But with lapping days especially in higher HP cars, BBKs are always an option (although for 95% of the people out there, are not necessary and more for looks). Looks or not, its important to get a good kit, that has a lot of development on it and not a kit made for profits from a company that doesn't test or race their products. Performance Friction, Brembo, AP, Stoptech, Alcon are all reputable companies that actively are involved with motorsports to advance their products. Their are many other kits that I would highly recommend avoiding, due to their lack of performance, safety, develompment, and racing (or lack of) development.
Don't kid yourself, brake failures DO HAPPEN. The higher quality products you buy that actively are involved with motorsports, the better the chance that a catastrophic failure won't happen to you and the better chance that the system you bought will live up to every expectation and need you put them through.
I have been on the short-end of many brake failures and far too many kits that just did not have the durability, performance, feedback, or feel to even be on the market (in my opinion). Here are pictures of a recent brake rotor failure:
Good luck with your purchases, and PLEASE, DO NOT SKIMP ON ANY BRAKE COMPONENT OR YOUR TIRES, they are the most over-looked safety devices on your car. Your life and your "supercar" deserve the best.
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