When I got the GT4 I had thought I could get away with doing very few upgrades to make this a dual duty street and track monster. I started out with racing belts and half cage, then did suspension, and then did wheels and tires. My hope was that I didn’t need to upgrade the brakes and after a couple days at Sonoma I felt that plan was possible. The stock brakes are surprisingly good and I was confident in their stopping power and feel.
That changed once I did a two day track event at Laguna. As I got faster I realized the stock setup was not up for the task of a true track car. I never had brake fade but my confidence was declining as the day went on and I could tell I was pushing the pads beyond their heat limit. By the end of the track weekend I had glazed the pads and the brake feel was terrible.
So I have decided to do the following upgrades:
Front Brakes
Rear Brakes
There are more aggressive pads but I was looking for a pad that still worked well on the street. The Girodisc rotors will allow me to lower my replacement costs in the future as I can simply replace the ring, and this design has better heat management and is lighter. I wasn’t sure if the brake lines really needed to be replaced with stainless but felt it was a low investment considering the other upgrades I was doing. I will report back on how this setup performs but at this point it wont be until the spring.
UPDATE: So now that the rotors and pads are installed I can report back on initial thoughts. The feel of the brakes is much improved. More responsive, higher bite, firmer feel in the pedal. The downside is that when cold and doing light braking the pads squeak which is fine for the track but annoying for the street as you rarely get the pads up to temperature. I will see if that squeak settles down after some wear. If not I might need to go to a two pad solution (driving season = squeaky race pads, non-driving season = quite boring pads).