Which Brake Kit?

Mon Mar 05, 2012 7:35 pm

Hi,

I am looking for a brake upgrade for my E30 trackday car, I am pretty set on the WMS setup, but am unsure if I should get the 280mm kit or the 300mm kit.

I do have some 17" wheels off the rear of a 2009 exige, which i intend on fitting to the car, however I am unsure if it is worth having the extra 20mm of disc at the cost of not being able to use the 15" wheel with cheaper tyres? Is there much of a penalty to the handling by using 17" wheels?

Dan

Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:54 am

I was thinking the same thing but ended up being able to buy some used Wilwoods, which meant staying with the 280mm. Mind you, I'm glad I did as there's just no real point in my spending so much more, in order to go up to 300mm.

Like you said, there's a cheaper and more plentiful supply of 15'' rims & tyres too so I'd stick to 280mm. The difference between 4 pots and stock will still be night and day!

Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:07 pm

Hoobs wrote:I was thinking the same thing but ended up being able to buy some used Wilwoods, which meant staying with the 280mm. Mind you, I'm glad I did as there's just no real point in my spending so much more, in order to go up to 300mm.

Like you said, there's a cheaper and more plentiful supply of 15'' rims & tyres too so I'd stick to 280mm. The difference between 4 pots and stock will still be night and day!

+1

Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:28 pm

Driftnething wrote:
Hoobs wrote:I was thinking the same thing but ended up being able to buy some used Wilwoods, which meant staying with the 280mm. Mind you, I'm glad I did as there's just no real point in my spending so much more, in order to go up to 300mm.

Like you said, there's a cheaper and more plentiful supply of 15'' rims & tyres too so I'd stick to 280mm. The difference between 4 pots and stock will still be night and day!
+1

+2

I have the 280mm on mine and the std bbs 15's fit over them nicely (wilwood 4 pots).

Wed Mar 07, 2012 5:58 pm

I had problems with non genuine 'BBS Style' wheels fitting over the WMS 280mm kit. The inner webbing of the wheel is different and therefore hits the calliper. Genuine wheels are fine though.

Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:08 pm

I've got some spare OE BBS if you need them, as I've switched to Raceline rims?

Thu Mar 08, 2012 6:50 pm

From what I've heard, 17" wheels are not great - the vast majority of trackday / race guys we've dealt with have been running 15" BBS's...or at least keep a set of 15" BBS's with track/slick tyres in the garage!

I seem to remember Gareth liked the 16's on a very smooth track, but they were not worth the loss of handling you get vs 15's on the road...?

Fri Mar 16, 2012 12:27 pm

Oh my - I could be controversial here. I run 17s on my trackday car and have no issues at all... Compomotives running ET25.

Advantages in my view:

Crisper turn in
Better clearance for (front) coilovers
Bigger front disks can be used (I run 330mm with 8 pots)

For sure the ride is a bit more crashy, but hey, it is a trackcar so ride comfort wasn't number 1 on my list.

I did run it briefly on 15s before the brake upgrade and they were also great.

The big downside is the cost of tyres...

205/40R17s ain't cheap, especially R888s!