fd brakes on an fc! + bmw m5 brakes!??

[billybobbooth]

ok read this earlyer trying to find brake discs and pads for my rx7,
 
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/254408.htm
 
he has used m5 discs and fd 4 pots up front and fd 4 pots at the back
 
im thinking of what i have just helped my matd build on his mr2 of standard discs with 8 groves in with carbontec semi race pads thinking if my rx7 dont sell im going to have to keep her and i hate standard brakes!
 
will fd brakes fit all round?? other option is d2 front brake upgrade but what about the backs??

[billybobbooth]

ps for got to add if anyone wants a fairly good quality rx7 egi for £750 i have mine up for grabs look at the for sale section and on auto trader my post code is hp234lr, sorry want my turbo one but have to sell this first!

[Prof]

Don\'t know about the EGI, but the standard brakes on the TII are not that bad at all.
 
Certainly with a change of pads there are huge improvents to be had, and going to better discs.  Stock 4 pot up front and singles on the back take a lot of abuse, and unless your racing it and really heating up the brakes, I doubt you\'d need to go beyond pads/discs.
 
You can get a 6 pot aftermarket for the front from AP racing.  From what I\'ve see most people don\'t touch the back calipers.

[MikeLMR]

FD and FC calipers are practically the same, they have different cooling fin patterns and few other subtle differences.

spend the money making your standard brakes work properly and then decide if you need to upgade, I don\'t think many people actually do this and waste a lot of money on pointless upgrades and then find that it upsets the balance too because if you increase the braking power on the front you need to balance it at the rear also ... not easy or cheap ... but I guess people like the big shiney brakes so disregard it for the sake of looking good over function.

[Brett]

TII and EGI setups are identical IIRC - bar the provision for ABS on the TII.

Nothing wrong with the brakes on an FC - the only bit that gives any hassel is the rear calipers.  Not sure I would want to go messing too much with the rear brakes, if you upset the brake balance then it won;t be pretty....

[antnicuk]

thats my old car and i did the conversion.  The rears are stock discs and callipers with just braided lines, Bias adjuster, uprated pads and race fluid.

FD Calipers fit straight onto an FC and are only better because they dont seem to seize.   As Prof says the FC brakes are pretty good.  If i were you i would check the all four pots on your FC front callipers are free and not stuck,  if you can pick up a set of stock FD fronts, bolt them on, replace the fluid, buy a set of decent pads, mintex extreme or hawks are both good. If the discs are shot, then buy a set of discs,  black diamond do drilled/grooved ones for the FC (FD ones dont fit) and think you will be quite impressed.  

People do this with FD\'s, they have a poorly maintained brake system and then say the brakes are crap and put bigger ones on.  FD was the fastest stopping car when produced,  the system just needs maintaining.

Reason i put bigger brakes in the Red Fc is because I had the discs and car had well over 400 bhp, it cost me very little to do the conversion.

[grinder]

are the M5 discs a straight swap then

dont seem a bad price : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GD368-EBC-DIMPLED-GROOVED-DISCS-F-BMW-5-7-E32-E34-M5_W0QQitemZ320177802068QQihZ011QQcategoryZ23013QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQtrksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

[antnicuk]

no definately not,  i have free access to lathes and milling machines etc, so wasnt too difficult, definately not a bolt on job and as i have said to the new owner, although the brakes are the best performing mod on the car, I would do it differently next time.

[grinder]

ah right - thought it was "plug and play" so to speak !

[Brett]

You don\'t drive yours fast enough to need better brakes :spank

[billybobbooth]

i just wondered as i have just rebuilt all the brakes all round, i have to admit the pads seem to be a crap, but from my experience with mr2 brakes again there is no big brake kit for these and due to the 3 years i have done work on cars i had no intentions of changing the fronts without the back, seen and driven mr2s with 6 pots up front and standard but bigger discs on the back and on mr2\'s 45% of the braking is done at the back coz of the engine being there and it ant fun!
 
also though my mate has just put some carbontec pads and groved standard discs on his mr2 as i said and this was amazing to see the diffrence and i had just rebuilt his brake callipers at the same time,
 
what pads ect would people recomend?? im not even going near ebc red, green or yellow there pants had a set on my mr2 and they were actualy worse than standard ok when warm but if you were in slow moving traffic bad news!!! and even when hot with ap600 flewed they just couldnt cope!

[billybobbooth]

p.s. only reason i was looking into a big brake kit was one if i got to spend the money on new pads and discs insted of spending it on a well recomended and tries uprated set of standard brakes then having to ether sell it all and then get new bigger stuff just thought i would look into a bigger kit,
 
as again with mr2s there is a lot of work envolved but the uk supra brakes are a big kit upgrade all round as front is 4 pot insted of 2 and back is 2 insted of 1, also you can run near to standard pads and discs from the supra so cost is down but braking is near to 60% better!

[Prof]

I use Black Diamond discs and Hawk Pads - excellent braking, but the pads only last about a year as I do a lot of twisty country roads ! :driving
 
I would also say that in my experience brake pad life is reduced with drilled/grooved discs, as when I used the Hawk pads with standard rotors they seemed to last longer.  The trade off is better stopping power and less fade and for me that\'s more important than longevity of pads.

[antnicuk]

i loved the hawk hp10s but they are dirty

[billybobbooth]

well im going to use groved discs what ever, due to the fact that they take a slight layer off the pad when braking, meaning you always have a nice clean serface with less fade. unlike standard discs which can make a glazzing on the pads and then you have to take sand paper to them to take the glazzing off, and drilled discs dont take a layer off all the pad only where the drills are and also sometimes when the discs get hot the holes can crack unlike slotted discs. so thinking of slotted standard discs just pads i dont know as dont know what is out there for rx7s if was mr2 would be carbontec, also do fd\'s have vented rear discs or turbo fc?? as mine are only single non vented discs at the back and i dont like that! as can warp quicker and crack easyer. so are there any vented rear discs if so what callipers would i need? dam my last front brake is almost re built and is seased sollid had to use the brake peddle to get the pots out! 4 brakes in 6 hours so far not bad going from all on to full strip rebuild and clean and put back on!