Unique FTO: Brake Upgrade Kit ... Group Buy all FTO's

Post by **smorison** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 9:14 pm

Firstly thank's to Robert (Kaveman) for lending his strut tower a few months ago whilst doing an engine transplant at Unique for fitting.

The upgrade kit is finally finished so what do you get?

PBR light Weight Aluminium Brake Calipers (see details below)
DBA Slotted Rotors 328mm (17 inch wheels or larger required)
Mouting Bracket for New calipers

This kit will fit all FTO's

Price $1600.00
over 3 people and the price is reduced by 10%

This group buy will be available for the next month or so, you have plenty of time to save up

PBR Calipers

Technical Details:
PBR's slimline aluminium brake calipers combine lightweight, low
drag design with excellent aesthetics to improve the braking
performance and look of almost any vehicle on the road.

The benefits of PBR's slimline calipers are many:

* Weight saving of around 30%
* High torque output
* Uniform contact pressure
* Minimum dynamic caliper drag
* Lighter brakes contribute to a lighter overall vehicle enabling better road holding
* Less wear & tear on high stress parts Shock absorbers / tires
* Aesthetically pleasing appearance
* With opportunities for enhanced styling effects
* Proven thermal performance enhanced by substantial cooling fins

Is Bigger Really Better?

There are fundamental reasons why people upgrade their brakes.

* The vehicle has been modified so that it has increased power and therefore needs improved brake performance to stop it safely.

* Their driving style is more agressive than that of the average driver.

* Their vehicle has been modified to have more aggressive styling and larger brakes suits this style.

If you are working your brakes harder than the average driver then a brake system with larger disc rotors and stiffer brake calipers will help shorten your stopping distance and ensure a much more consistent stopping distance over a series of hard stops.

When brakes heat up, there is a tendency for stopping distances to increase - this is known as brake fade. A good Performance brake system will keep brake fade to a minimum so that you can be confident in your braking performance under heavy braking.

Please register interest here and ask all questions here.

D-TRAIN · Post by **D-TRAIN** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 9:48 pm

1. Does PBR have a website? I only did a quick search but didn't come across any "official" sites.

2. Does the price include fitting?

3. Is it possible to do a trial fit, just in case the offset of my rims are too big? Are the calipers the same width as the stock GPXs?

4. What brake pads does it come with (if any)?

5. Last but not least, any pictures?

Thanks.

FTO338 · Post by **FTO338** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 10:37 pm

How many spot caliper is this upgrade kit?

Had anyone tested this kit before to see if its really work or have any side effect?

As i'm aware you need to upgrade the master brake cyclinder inorder to get the maximum effect (e.g. pressure), so do we need to upgrade that too?

When brakes heat up, there is a tendency for stopping distances to increase - this is known as brake fade. A good Performance brake system will keep brake fade to a minimum so that you can be confident in your braking performance under heavy braking.

I though this mainly got to do with brake pad not caliper.

Post by **smorison** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:10 am

D-TRAIN wrote:1. Does PBR have a website? I only did a quick search but didn't come across any "official" sites.

2. Does the price include fitting?

3. Is it possible to do a trial fit, just in case the offset of my rims are too big? Are the calipers the same width as the stock GPXs?

4. What brake pads does it come with (if any)?

5. Last but not least, any pictures?

Thanks.

1. www.pbr.com.au
2. no
3. probably i'll find out...
4. checking
5. coming... i've got a picture but they used the wrong rotor but i'll put it up anyways

Post by **smorison** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:18 am

FTO338 wrote:How many spot caliper is this upgrade kit?

Had anyone tested this kit before to see if its really work or have any side effect?

As i'm aware you need to upgrade the master brake cyclinder inorder to get the maximum effect (e.g. pressure), so do we need to upgrade that too?

When brakes heat up, there is a tendency for stopping distances to increase - this is known as brake fade. A good Performance brake system will keep brake fade to a minimum so that you can be confident in your braking performance under heavy braking.
I though this mainly got to do with brake pad not caliper.

the calipers are 2 spot calipers - doubling of the pistons used

there may be a side effect for GR's as these are a lot bigger... however the GPX should cope with the larger calipers...

larger rotors / larger pads means you are able to absorb and dispate the heat generated during braking faster... this is how they help

MADFTO · Post by **MADFTO** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 10:54 am

Hmmmmm, MIVEC models already comes with 2 (s)pot calipers, I believe taken from the earlier lanevo (Before they moved to Brembos =P)

However, the calipers will be required for the larger rotors, can't have one without the other (Or it'd be a waste =P)

Anyways, a question that people haven't asked yet is the brake upgrade for the front only?

I am assuming that this is the case.

I'm guessing you probably won't be able to move the front brakes to the rear due to the handbrake.

FTO338 · Post by **FTO338** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:07 pm

MADFTO wrote: Anyways, a question that people haven't asked yet is the brake upgrade for the front only?

For $1600, i automatic assume is for front only, unless steve going to give us the good news heehhee

Post by **smorison** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 1:54 pm

MADFTO wrote:Hmmmmm, MIVEC models already comes with 2 (s)pot calipers, I believe taken from the earlier lanevo (Before they moved to Brembos =P)

However, the calipers will be required for the larger rotors, can't have one without the other (Or it'd be a waste =P)

Anyways, a question that people haven't asked yet is the brake upgrade for the front only?

I am assuming that this is the case.

I'm guessing you probably won't be able to move the front brakes to the rear due to the handbrake.

errr... lol ... umm 4 pot calipers

sorry

fronts only...

im going to look at the rears later

p13nox · Post by **p13nox** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 8:35 pm

Hi,

I'm from the UK and interested in this brake kit. We have a Brembo kit available to us for aprox. $1800

Do you know how this kit would compare to a Brembo 4 pot conversion?

Cheers

Paul

Post by **smorison** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 9:14 am

p13nox wrote:Hi,

I'm from the UK and interested in this brake kit. We have a Brembo kit available to us for aprox. $1800

Do you know how this kit would compare to a Brembo 4 pot conversion?

Cheers

Paul

these are just as good and substantially lighter... is that 1800 in AUD or pounds ??

mr_bishi · Post by **mr_bishi** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 8:19 pm

smorison wrote:
p13nox wrote:Hi,

I'm from the UK and interested in this brake kit. We have a Brembo kit available to us for aprox. $1800

Do you know how this kit would compare to a Brembo 4 pot conversion?

Cheers

Paul
these are just as good and substantially lighter... is that 1800 in AUD or pounds ??

The uk brembo kit is iirc Â£800gbp or nearer $2000aud,it uses Merc discs and Seat Cupra calipers and there are a lot of people who've had clearance issues with 17's and the pad doesn't contact all the disc so the disc insides can get rusty and look a bit messy.....you really nedd to paint them.

Would you consider shipping any of your kits to the uk? If so,have you any idea of shipping costs?
Also,it would be helpfull if you could say how much the caliper will protude from the disc so i can measure the clearance between the discs and the wheel spokes.
And will the pads be from something generally available in the uk,or will they be one offs only available from Oz?

Thanks

SG · Post by SG » Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:21 pm

is there any way at all of evening up the sensivity of the rear brakes at the same time as fitting these? - i can imagine what 3 or 4 times the braking force of the front wheels are gonna result in compared to the rears... cos u'll have to apply the brakes gentler to compensate for the extra stopping power.. and the rear brakes will be hardly working at all

would probly be only noticable in the wet though while braking & cornering hard, or just cornering hard while braking and theres a bump..

disclaimer: i may be wrong

but it does seem like it

i remember watching a race between random highly tuned sportscars, and towards the end of the race where it was a mad rush to the finish it started pouring down with rain... and nearly all the commodores, for whatever reason, spun the car completly around on a number of different corners by simply 'dabbing the brakes'.. and this was quoted by a guy intereviewed after the race when asked what happened. ...also saw a couple of them prior to the wet lock up the inside REAR wheel under tight braking around a corner..

id say u definetly need to even it out if u drive/corner hard

Post by **smorison** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:28 pm

we will happily ship kits anywhere in the world but they're expensive to ship cause of the weight....

we've been pretty slack lately due to my own work committments this kit i was hoping to have on my car for our track day in may but it won't be happening... probably fit to my car and test in june / july ... after that they'll be ready to go for everyone (once we know they're safe and work properly)

re rears:... changing compound should be enough to balance it out... probably don't need to go to bigger ones too early on... i'll know after some track time... most of the weight and brake force are in the front of the fto and you definately don't want to start locking rear wheels....