Crixtala

I read car magazine's a lot (mainly Sport Compact Car, but sometimes others like Super Street and Import Tuner), and I pride myself on knowing a good bit of information on other cars as well (Honda's, Nissan's, Subaru's, etc.).

A lot of times I see that cars use stock brakes (or at least brake setups) from other cars made by the same manufacturer on their car. I know that a big brake modification on a lot of 240SX/Silvia's is swapping 300ZX brakes in, and I know that a lot of Civic's swap out their front disc and rear drum brakes for Integra (GSR or TypeR) all-around disk brakes.

So my question is, could FD brakes be put on an FC? I haven't really researched it, and I don't even know if the change would be worth it, but I need to get new brake pads (white wheels with a polished lip don't get along well with old brake pads... ), and was sitting at work this morning thinking about this and whether or not people have done it.

gergrx7

they are the same...

ajsuper7

if you have the 4piston front brakes and vented rears on your fc then you pretty much have fd brakes. they are a little different but the stock fc 'sport brakes' are already all you need. if you have the base model brakes then youll want to upgrade to the 'sport' ones which you could get from a s4/s5 gxl, tii's, s4 sport, s4/s5 vert, or a GTUs. they were also put on some 91 coupes but were an option.

ProjectRESuperG

Yup, what ajsuper7 said.

If you really want FD calipers, I do believe they bolt on directly, but you still can't fit the FD's bigger rotors.

Trav

I don't know that you'd gain that much. Do some searching around for brake swaps etc. I think you'll see that the prevailing opinion is that the stock brakes are more than adequate for most street driving and track activities. IMO, the best upgrades to make here are some performance pads (search) to actually apply that stopping power to the rotors and better tires to apply that force to the pavement. It would also be wise to select some good brake fluid (search) and completely drain, fill, & bleed your system. You'll be amazed at how much your stopping distance can be decreased by these simple modifications. I'd spend your money on those items and save the rest for stuff to go faster. I doubt that most folks would benefit that much from bigger/different rotors.

By the way, I'm not trying to be a dick -- I know your question was very specific -- but as you contemplate your brake upgrades, I would definitely do a lot of searching as there are a LOT of threads out there on this topic and some very good information in them. This topic is covered very frequently, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding too much information. Specifically you're going to want to search for topics on brake pad selection, tire selection, brake fluid, bleeding, etc. I think you'll be overwhelmed by the amount of info you find.

good luck!

Icemark

Waste of time and money to do any brake upgrades on a car that still has the original booster/master cyl and brake lines. Rebuild/replace those first before any mods should even be contemplated.

Return the car back to stock performance levels and you'll see that the brakes are more than adequate for 99% of the drivers on both the track and the road.

Crixtala

Thanks Trav, your reply definitely helped the most. I know that FC brakes in stock form with better pads, SS brake lines, and all that stuff is definitely adequate, and that's all I plan on doing to upgrade my brakes. I was just wondering if this was possible, it's definitley not in my future plans, I wouldn't want to spend the money.

One more question though... are slotted or cross-drilled rotors worth the money...? I kind of want one or the other just for the way that they look, because I have pretty open wheels, but I definitely am looking into them more for the performance aspect.

Icemark

Slotted are ok, and add a minor performance, but drilled are not really for street driven vehicles unless you want to replace rotors and pads often.

Crixtala

Gotcha, thanks for the help Icemark.

And another question... sorry for all the questions...

I have a GTU, so I know that I have single piston rotors, so if I wanted to upgrade to 4 piston rotors, would it just be a direct replacement...? And could I get either S4 of S5 (I have a S5) 4 piston calipers?

Black91n/a

The only differences in rotors are (front) between the 4 lug cars and the 5 lug cars and (rear) between 4 lug cars and 5 lug non-vented and vented rears. The 2 different 5 lug rears need different calipers. the 4 piston calipers are an easy retrofit. I don't know exactly what you need for it though. I've read that FD rotors (which are a little bigger ~.7 in) do not fit due to the different offset of the hub to the rotor. I've got single piston calipers all around with the solid rear rotors and I can say from experiance that they are fine for track use with upgraded pads (I like HP+'s for track use, not for street though) and high temp fluid (Ford DOT 3 is a good cheap fluid, 550 degrees F, just bleed the brakes a little more often). I've been to two, two day driving schools at Spokane Raceway Park and they can lock up all seasons (never tried it with my FK-451's). They never faded, ever, and I was going hard enough to pass a Lotus Esprit S4, amongst others.

Cybaster

well i searched, couldn't find the info i was looking for.... and this thread was informative, but I was wondering are the front 4 piston caliper and the brake pads used the same with the FC? i mean you guys say the Brake Rotor is bigger than the FC... understood
but can i use the FD Axxis Ultimate Brake pads on the FC front? (and i have a Tii)

http://turboimport.com/catalog/rx7.htm

wai

I think FD has bigger rotors , 11.6 in front and rear ,
compare 10.9 and 10.7 on TII

TurboIIGuy

The FC turbo has great brakes, slotted discs with high performance street pads is all you need for a car making upwards of 380whp. So if your not full of mods than your just full of it doing a swap. LoL, but seriously. There are companies that make true big brake upgrades for the FC, they cost quite a bit of cash but not neccessary unless your running an insane amount of power and taking it to the track.

KNONFS

iTrader: (14)

From https://www.kvrperformance.com/world/world.html

Cross Drilled Rotors
Cross Drilled Discs offer an enhanced initial bite (more responsive, especially in wet weather)
and greater heat dissipation (reduction in heat induced fade - "brake fade")as compared to O.E.M.
They also will last up to twice as long as O.E.M. rotors (depending on your braking style),
with 40% Better Cooling, 20% better stopping, improved wet braking,
reduces rotor warpage, less brake fade and longer life.
Please NOTE, machine pattern may not be exactly as shown


Gas Slotted Rotors
Slotted discs offer cleaning of the friction material (brake pads), but do little in terms of additional heat dissipation.
Slotted brake discs do not cool better than cross drilled discs or even standard discs.
The face grooves will slice the brake pad material allowing the pad to bite harder into the disc, therefore causing an increase in disc temperatures.
This is recommended for competition vehicles to bring pads and disc temperatures up to optimal operating ranges.
(Race cars warm-up engines, tires and brakes for the best possible performance).

Important Note: Proper slotting of a brake disc does not run off the outer diameter of the brake surface.
This method can promote cracking as all brake discs expand with their release of thermal energy.

jon88se

That isn't exactly correct...check out the suspension/brakes section for a nice thread on cross drilled/slotted rotors. KVR makes decent products but this is hype to sell their stuff, that's all. I have KVR cross drilled rotors on my Galant VR4 and stock replacements on the FC. Cross drilling USED to be to let brake gases escape in order to prevent those gases from forming a pressure barrier between the rotor/caliper. Modern brake pads do not create such gas/pressures. Cross drilling was also an attempt to create a larger brake surface but keep weight down.

Cross drilled rotors in the same size as stock do not offer any performance addition. In fact, in the most extreme cases they may reduce brake performance because the holes take surface area from the rotor and may reduce the maximum amount of heat they will absorb. A cross drilled OEM size rotor is an appearance mod. In addition, drilled rotors like KVR will likely be cheaper than parts store replacements. This is the only reason I got them for the GVR4. For a stock size rotor, good brake pads/lines/fluid is your best bet for upgrades. If you like the crossed drilled look and find a quality maker like KVR is cheaper than your local auto store, they can be a good cost effective choice.

Slotted rotors can offer an advantage in that they keep the brake pad surface constantly clean which will prevent glazing. This can cut down on brake pad life depending on what compound you use.

I have a TII motor in my FC w/ some pretty basic mods (FMIC, full exhaust, fuel pump, etc...) and my FC was a base model w/ 4 lug wheels/brakes. I still run the 4 lug hubs and use hawk pads, ATE super blue fluid, new replacement calipers/rotors and stainless lines. For a street car, there is more than enough braking power even on the single piston calipers. The car doesn't see any road racing track time and likely won't even see the autocross any longer since it's now just my weekend toy. I see no reason to upgrade the brakes any further other than the fact that the small rotors are dwarfed by my 17 inch rims.

Cybaster

well, i do not plan to swap rotors..... i was wondering if i can just use FD front pads in FC calipers.....

KNONFS

iTrader: (14)

Thanks for the info!

Snrub

iTrader: (1)

There's something called "value for your money." There are more intelligent uses of your money than expensive brake upgrades. Virtually none of the people who post brake upgrade questions need increased breaking capability. If you want better pads or have a small braking improvement, get some Hawk HPS or EBC Green Stuff pads. If you want to stave off fade, get some DOT 3 Ford spec brake fluid.

Black91n/a

I'd like to mention one thing. Cross drilled rotors crack! They are less durable than slotted or plain rotors when used for anything but normal driving. If you're hard on brakes, then don't get cross drilled, you'll regret it when they crack and you have to replace them.

Icemark

actually the cracking thing is mostly from cheapo ebay type cross drilled rotors, that have been drilled or worked on after the rotor has been hardened.

Proper cross drilling is done before the rotor is hardened, something that very very few cross drilled rotors are.

rotaryrex7

Cybaster, yes the 3rd gen pads swap right in to the 4 piston 2nd gen calipers. I use to track a 3rd gen and had extra pads which I now use in my second gen with stock GXL calipers

Cybaster

thankyou

rekx

brembo front rotors for the FD have the same part number for the FC