Brake Upgrades: Powerslot Plus?

[g34rh34d]

I Have been considering upgrading to the Powerslot Plus setup for a 2G. Anyone in the club use them? if so, what are your experiences with the kit.

Ease of install, stopping power, suggestions of reasonable / comparable setup?

FH

[Van]

Some brake kit suggestions would require knowing what size wheels you have.

I love my big Baer brakes up front. They barely fit under my 17" wheels though and may not fit all 17" wheels.

[g34rh34d]

How much was the kit? is it comparable to the powerslots? (~400.00)

[Paul]

Or you could get some good brake pads and accomplish pretty much the same for $80.

Paul

[dsm_gsx97]

I've run Powerslots and Porterfield R4S's on all 4 wheels now for 3-4 years. Was a big improvement over the stock setup for sure. I feel like I can stop on a dime. Allowed me to have fun for 4-5 laps at second creek before I had to cool down when I went out there. Lots and lots of break dust though no matter what kind of driving. Stilll using them now. Bought them at RRE.

[Shea]

Or you could get some good brake pads and accomplish pretty much the same for $80.

Paul

I agree with Paul, pads are much more important then rotors.

Shea

[Zeppelin]

What do you guys suggest for a great street pad that might see some occasional autox time?

I've heard good things about the Hawk pads, but I don't know about their streetability. I don't want pads I have to warm up to work on the street.

[Jon Sisk]

I agree with Paul, pads are much more important then rotors.

Shea

I third the motion strongly. The stock 2-piston brakes with Porterfield R-4E took me down to a 1:17 at second creek. Kenny even commented on how fast the car was stopping. Giant brakes are a thousands ($$$) for thousandths upgrade in my book and I think tires and suspension yeild far greater performance increases. Erron can comment on that one.

I'm not sure too much about street pads. The R-4E are the only performance pad's I've run - they make a lot of dust and noise and don't really grip until they are track hot. I've heard a lot of goodness about the Porterfield R4-S pads (maybe just called the R-4 now) that are made for the street. I run Raybestos ceramic pads on my street cars and they stop when I press the pedal :)

[BlueVelocity]

Frank, got a link by chance for the Powerslot Pluses? Not sure I know what the *Plus* is?

I've had many sets of the Powerslots and the Powerstops. Both are great for street use. I cracked the Powerstops in 10 laps at SC. I would recommend a larger mass rotor for any type of road racing. Most stock rotors will warm up quickly for street driving, which quickly becomes -hot- on a track. The Porterfield is a great product, I'd recommend them to anyone.

Erron S.

[Shea]

What do you guys suggest for a great street pad that might see some occasional autox time?

I've heard good things about the Hawk pads, but I don't know about their streetability. I don't want pads I have to warm up to work on the street.

Having just run them on the street, Metal Masters are nice and grippy(tm). I have EBC Greens now (less dust) though Vern had said that they recommend the Yellows because our cars are heavy...

I also run the AEM big rotor upgrade and SS lines.

Shea

[Paul]

Metal Masters are nice and grippy(tm). I have EBC Greens now (less dust) though Vern had said that they recommend the Yellows because our cars are heavy...

Shea

Porterfield R4-S pads - best of this group with lots of dust.

EBC Greens - less dust and good performance (of course I am talking about street stuff now)

Metal Masters - I had a set of these fade big time on me when I had the 3000 GT VR4. Yes, I did stop for the light, but I had a few moments of drama. It was a heavy car and I was going very fast!

I would go EBC greens as a nice compromise - decent stopping and less dust.

Paul

[ErikW]

The Metal Masters are my favorite. There are tradeoffs with all of them. Even the MM I find that if you warm them up on a cold day with only two light-moderate braking spells, you get them ready for much better performance. They give off tuns of dust. But the rotors are saved from heavy braking and has less glazing and grooving. My aluminum wheels are originally a light grey clean. But a dark grey, to black, because of this. That's the only cons.
A street pad should never take forever to get to it's operating temp. But your car shouldn't be driven hard out of the driveway either after cold startup. So a mid duty pad is best.
I've tried the Porterfields for one track day. I ordered a set and forgot which ones they were. I think they were r4ss' because I created a peanut butter consistency on the full surface rotors after a few laps. :eek: But they didn't fade.:o
I always like the full surface STOCK rotors for street. Why? Because most of the time on the street when you NEED hard braking, it's few and far between. So your rotors should never _really_ heat up that much beforehand. Unless you are driving to fast all the time. ;)
The slotted rotors are better for consistent and harder braking. Like on a road course. This allows the hot gasses created by the pad to rotor surface to escape quickly so that there is more effectiveness/efficiency in breaking power. I've also used the cross drilled style. They work well. BUT they do not last. They crack. And if you are not closely monitoring them, this may be catastrophic!!
If you are a hard city driver. Go for slotted rotors with MM or Port. pads.
There are some half cross drilled, half slotted out there. But I wonder if you are just getting the worst of both designs, instead of the best of both, any way.
I've also "heard" good of Hawk. But never used them yet myself.

A good operating brake system is considered by other means as well.
Fresh fluid bled correctly and adequately. New brake lines. Preferably SS. Calipers in good operating cond. (I rebuilt mine, myself). Using the brakes the correct way. And keeping things as cool as possible.
As for the latter. Erron. You still using those fancy pad shims? What were they again? I'd like to make a set now. Next will be duct work.
ew

[Van]

I don't want pads I have to warm up to work on the street.

This particular statement is why I like bigger rotors and bigger calipers along with some decent pads. For me it is the best of both worlds. It will cost more initially, but bigger rotors with even stockish pads decrease brake temps and stopping distance.

I've seen EBC brake pad dust eat the finish off of some wheels. My Baer Track brakes with the most expensive autozone pads for the vette stop my car very quickly. They've saved me a couple of times. ;) I'd like to try some of the Porterfield R4-S' for my brake setup though.

[g34rh34d]

Or you could get some good brake pads and accomplish pretty much the same for $80.

Paul

Which pads?

Because right now my brakes are marginal at best.. It very possibly could be the pads. (I have ceramic pads from Nappy). Already swapped everything else out. I guess different pads are the next logical step.

Suggestions?

[g34rh34d]

Frank, got a link by chance for the Powerslot Pluses? Not sure I know what the *Plus* is?

I've had many sets of the Powerslots and the Powerstops. Both are great for street use. I cracked the Powerstops in 10 laps at SC. I would recommend a larger mass rotor for any type of road racing. Most stock rotors will warm up quickly for street driving, which quickly becomes -hot- on a track. The Porterfield is a great product, I'd recommend them to anyone.

Erron S.

Here ya go:

http://www.powerslot.com/pages/power_slot_plus.html

http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brakes.jsp?make=PowerSlot&model=Plus+Rotors

F

[g34rh34d]

Having just run them on the street, Metal Masters are nice and grippy(tm). I have EBC Greens now (less dust) though Vern had said that they recommend the Yellows because our cars are heavy...

I also run the AEM big rotor upgrade and SS lines.

Shea

I "believe" the power slot Plus setup is the old AEM kit (which is what I was considering) AEM sold the rights to powerslot a few years back if my memory serves me.

How do you like them Shea?

F

[Paul]

Which pads?

Suggestions?

See above.

Paul

[Kibo]

For street pads, I'd recommend the Metal Masters as a bang-for-the-buck upgrade. I had EBC Greens with Powerslots on my Galant, and I didn't care for the Greens at all. I subsequently put them on my 2G with stock rotors for a short while before installing Wilwoods, and I still didn't like them. No brake dust was nice, but they tended to build up cementite on my cars. I'm glad to be rid of them at last.

I've driven with R4-E's on the street and they stopped great--as long as you can put up with the screeching and scraping when they're cold. :rolleyes: Your rotors will wear pretty quick with these, and they make tons of brake dust. In other words, I wouldn't recommend them on the street. At the track, with 2-piston calipers and fresh Motul fluid, they worked great--no pad fade at all! (As always, YMMV--my car was only hitting top speeds of ~90mph at Second Creek if I remember correctly.)

[BlueVelocity]

I would agree with Erik A., the R4-E's do work ok on the street but make all kinds of noise. (like rubbing a rock on steel)

Westland- Those backing plates were titanium. Those are long gone though. I've had 6 piston AP's for over 3 years now.

I see what the pluses are all about now. They look really nice with the aluminum hats. That looks like a good street upgrade for sure.

Erron S.

[Shea]

I "believe" the power slot Plus setup is the old AEM kit (which is what I was considering) AEM sold the rights to powerslot a few years back if my memory serves me.

How do you like them Shea?

F

Powerslot Plus http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brakes.jsp?model=Plus+Rotors&make=PowerSlot&

AEM (at least the kind I have): http://www.roadraceengineering.com/parts/aem/brakeinfo.htm

Love them. But I think any sort of upgrade is a bonus.

Shea

[g34rh34d]

Love them. But I think any sort of upgrade is a bonus.

Shea


Yup Agreed! :cool:

[Jason]

We've had very good luck with Akebono Ceramic pads for street driving. No dust, quiet, and a pretty good initial bite when cold.

I recently installed a set in a '95 Talon AutoX machine and the owner seemed to really like them.

My brother Marcus used a set at SC with pretty good results too. They're NOT a track pad by any means, but they seemed to resist fading longer than Metal Masters.

We stopped installing Metal Masters on street driven cars here at the shop, as it seems their quality had been lacking in recent years. We started having too many noisy brake comeback/complaints so we switched to OE stuff for most applications, and started using Akebono ceramics for a more aggressive alternative.

http://www.akebonobrakes.com/