Cobra R brakes didn't cut it...

[sleepless]

I always felt that 13" rotors are way too small for a 3800lb car, but given the price of the Cobra R calipers, I decided to give them a try. On most tracks they are adequate, but my recent trip to Thunderhill Raceway, showed how inadequate they can be.

Thunderhill is a fast track with lots of short sections and straights where you easily exceed 100MPH (130 on the two straights) with sharp corners in between so you really work the brakes hard.

On the first day, I noticed some pad fade and went through a set of new Pagid RS29 pads (these normally last me at least 4 to 6 track days on other cars weighing 3000 to 3300LBS). I forget to bring a spare set of the Pagids and the DTC-70s, thinking a new set of Pagids will last me the two days; hah!! Fortunately I still had a set of HT10s, which were almost new; they were finished by the end of the second day with quite a bit of pad fade after a few hot laps, along with boiled fluid by the end of the day (which was Castrol SRF which I've never been able to boil in other cars in the last 8 years of track driving!).

The Brembo lettering on the calipers is a nice deep brown now!

The cure:

Had a few issues installing them:

- The supplied brakets don't quite clear some casting imperfections which require some grinding (see picture below).

- The brackets also don't clear the top bolt for the brake duct backing plates. I reversed the bolt so the head is on the inside and the nut is on the outside and ground off a bit from the bolt head.

- The supplied Goodridge brake lines came with brake line bolts (the one with the hole in the center that bolts the line into the caliper) that are 2mm too long.

- My 18" Wedsport wheels didn't quite clear the calipers by about a 1mm due to a casting ridge in the center; which I ground down.

Here is the pic of the locations where you need to do some grinding to fit the caliper bracket. The bracket is fitted on the inside so tall the grinding is on the top and inside.

These are the 14" Brembo 2 piece rotors and 6 piston calipers. Apparently the calipers are new so there are not many choices for pads; but they are coming soon. I'm getting Ferodo DS3000 pads for now.

It wasn't cheap, but brakes are an area which I'm always willing to invest.

 

[wheelhopper]

Very nice setup. I am not at your level yet. My stock calipers w/ EBC yellows and brake cooling ducts are doing fine. I do have a Coleman Performance setup that I bought from Bruce that will go on for next year. It is a 13" kit, but at my level should be fine. Also not looking forward to having to go to 18" wheels since the tires are so much more expensive.

 

[Rotarded]

Huge fan of the brakes, not so huge fan of the wheels. Looks awesome though.

 

[ac427cobra]

Pete:

I feel your pain Brother! My R only weighs 3,300# and the 13" Brembo kit did not cut it for me either. Mainly at Road America. That track is like no other I've been on. People say Blackhawk is hard on brakes? Trust me, Blackhawk is baby food compared to Road America.

After I went to the 14" Brembo kit all of my brake issues went away. I used 1/3 the brake pads and 1/3 the rotors I did with the 13" set up. Of course I had to sell off all of my 17" wheels though. But Carlos's Cobra is looking good these days! :beer:

My new favorite pads for the 14" set up is the Performance Friction 01 compound. I get them from Edwin at www.raceshopper.com and he has great prices. Tell him Bruce sent you. I also have run the Hawk HT-10's, 14's and the DTC 70's but my favorite is still the PF 01.

If you're looking for rotors I can get you Coleman's for about $185.00 plus freight. They don't quite have the mass the Brembos do so their life will be reduced somewhat compared to the Brembos. But your rotating mass will be less! :idea: I don;t know if you've priced them yet but the price of the Brembo rotors is just insane! :kaboom::fart:

You are going to love that set up! epper:

I'm also in the process of making a caliper relocating bracket for the rear of the Cobra to run the existing caliper and pads but a 13.1" diameter rotor. But that's a slow go and pretty far down on the priority list!

Have fun with it!

:thumbsup::coolman::beer:

 

[sleepless]

Bruce, interesting you are thinking of doing the 13" rotors in the rear. I noticed that Rousch makes such a kit (http://store.roushperformance.com/detail.aspx?ID=332). A bit spendy for what you get though.

 

[03roush]

are you going to sell you 4 piston brembo's if so pm me price and I might buy them and the new brakes look awesome

 

[ac427cobra]

Bruce, interesting you are thinking of doing the 13" rotors in the rear. I noticed that Rousch makes such a kit (http://store.roushperformance.com/detail.aspx?ID=332). A bit spendy for what you get though.

I agree, that is a bit pricey. My kit will be quite a bit less. But it will have 2 pc aluminum hats and 13.1" rotors. Unfortunately the rotors will be about $900.00 give or take. I just need to confirm that Coleman can make a rotor that big.

There is a possibility that I might be able to find a rotor with the right offset and bolt pattern like the Roush kit that would reduce the cost considerably.

 

[ac427cobra]

Pete:

You're also going to want to take a look at my super high efficiency SN-95-14 front brake cooling ducts. I've got some pics of them up somewhere on here?

FWIW

:thumbsup::coolman::beer:

 

[ac427cobra]

I've searched high and low and I'm not sure why it's not surfacing?

Here is the duct:

This is what it looks like from the back side. Note heat shield for toe heim.

 

[sunburned]

Bruce, doesn't Baer make a 13" kit for the rear? It includes spacers for the stock caliper as well.

 

[ac427cobra]

Bruce, doesn't Baer make a 13" kit for the rear? It includes spacers for the stock caliper as well.

Dale:

It was my understanding the Baer kit was for Mustang V-6 and GT and came with a solid thin rotor and not a thicker vented rotor the Cobra uses.

I'm going to go check into it though!

:thumbsup::coolman::beer:

 

[TT91]

Nice, love the upgrade.

 

[BlackStripes]

Very nice setup, congrats!

Another nice option is the new kit from TCE : http://www.tceperformanceproducts.com/cgi-bin/brakes/cginews.pl?record=25 . I had the kit on my hands, (actually my car was the guinea pig) and the new W6A caliper makes my SL6 6-pistons look tiny!!

The damn things didn't fit under my wheels and i had to return them!! Oh well, i decided to drop 200 lbs and see if my pads/rotors would last longer than 5 events.

 

[ac427cobra]

Very nice setup, congrats!

Another nice option is the new kit from TCE : http://www.tceperformanceproducts.com/cgi-bin/brakes/cginews.pl?record=25 . I had the kit on my hands, (actually my car was the guinea pig) and the new W6A caliper makes my SL6 6-pistons look tiny!!

The damn things didn't fit under my wheels and i had to return them!! Oh well, i decided to drop 200 lbs and see if my pads/rotors would last longer than 5 events.

Wait until your pads only last one day and your rotors only one weekend! ;-)oke:

 

[BlackStripes]

LOL... they used to last me an average of 3 days... now, after the cooling hoses, i am in 5 events ...

Hopefully the weight will make it last longer...its getting expensive. I just checked my total of 'Racing' in my credit card for the year... and i wanted to puke

 

[ac427cobra]

LOL... they used to last me an average of 3 days... now, after the cooling hoses, i am in 5 events ...

Hopefully the weight will make it last longer...its getting expensive. I just checked my total of 'Racing' in my credit card for the year... and i wanted to puke

A word of advice. Don't ever add up your racing expenses. You won't like what you see. :read:

And for God sakes don't ever let your significant other find out either!! :idea:

 

[TXPD]

Bruce,

I have given in to the 14" trend as we speak. Selling my 17" wheels including my prized CCW's.

How budget friendly are those brake ducts? I need something more efficient after our brake issues at Road Atlanta. Can you pm me with pricing?

We are going to PFC in the next two weeks to shoot the install of the 14's and will have the car displayed at PRI.

 

[Todd TCE]

Wait until your pads only last one day and your rotors only one weekend! ;-)oke:

I"d expect a lot more than a day on pads and a weekend on rotors given the size of those pads. Maybe I'm just too optimistic, but he is speaking of 17.5lb rotors and 5.5 cubic inches of pad. Pretty huge by about anyones standards!

 

[racer]

Sweet up-grade, I just installed the 14" Stoptech's on mine.

 

[ac427cobra]

Bruce,

I have given in to the 14" trend as we speak. Selling my 17" wheels including my prized CCW's.

How budget friendly are those brake ducts? I need something more efficient after our brake issues at Road Atlanta. Can you pm me with pricing?

We are going to PFC in the next two weeks to shoot the install of the 14's and will have the car displayed at PRI.

Rob:

The ducts are $200.00 delivered. There is a considerable amount of work in them and they are all aluminum. They are also a very high quality fabricated piece.

I hope to have some towards the end of the year. Drop me a PM late December and I can give you an update. I'm only making four sets and I have dibs on one in case I ever want to upgrade my secret weapon with 14" brakes? So there are three sets up for grabs.

I"d expect a lot more than a day on pads and a weekend on rotors given the size of those pads. Maybe I'm just too optimistic, but he is speaking of 17.5lb rotors and 5.5 cubic inches of pad. Pretty huge by about anyones standards!

Todd:

Sorry if I wasn't clear on that comment. The one day on pads and a weekend on rotors was at Road America with my old 13" Y2KR set-up. Driving WAY beyond the capacity of the braking system obviously.

With my 14" kit I have cut my pad and rotor useage by two thirds! I ran five days at Road America with my 14" brakes and got the pads down about half way. epper: The rotors are just seasoned at that point! :-D The kit basically paid for itself the first year. I REALLY wish I would have done that the second or third year I started this addiction. Not the fifth year.

FWIW

:thumbsup::coolman::beer: