Front brake upgrade to survive Stelvio Pass - which option?

[V8_chitty]

Later this month I'm following Top Gear's advice and driving up and down the Stelvio Pass with some other like-minded nutters on a boys week out (yippee!). Unfortunately, Stelvio is apparently known for frying brakes- eek!

Since I only have the standard pads and disks I am of the opinion that I may end up re-creating that final episode from the Italian job..last year, a trip to Chamonix provided a bit too much and things stopped working part way down...

What are the options available? Would fast road pads be ok (mintex 1144. greenstuff etc.?) or is a 4 pot caliper and vented disks the way to go? I have heard that peugeot 505 turbo vented disks are a cheap option and fit? likewise Rover SDi 4-pot calipers also do the job - anyone done this? I guess I could go for the Hoyle conversion but pricy?

Finally, do the cross-drilled disks make much of an improvement?

Any help greatfully appreciated.

yours, Charlie Croaker...

[Mr2Mike]

Cross drilled disks are a waste of time, grooved ones might just possibly help though are more of a fashion item in most cases. Decent quality fast road pads will delay the onset of fade, and a thorough flush of the brake fluid with decent spec. fresh stuff will prevent any boiling issues.

The best way to prevent brake fade is simply go easy on them, use engine braking as much as possible. Admittedly I ran out of brakes once I reached the bottom in a friends 2.8i Capri, but they were renown to have puny and generally useless brakes.

[Robert060379]

Westfield used to make a kit car based on the MG B. The brake and suspension upgrades available from them are excellent. The 4x114 hub are the issue, Nissan 200SX S13 and S14 run the closest I've found to that. I'm using Westfield wish bones, coil overs and Apex 200SX four pot calipers with standard (for the look) disks. SD1 (Princess) calipers are shoddy at best but KAD do a nice set up for the 200SX that could fit with a bit of effort. You'd need bigger wheels to clear that kit though.

[MG Mark]

You can fit whatever discs and pads you like, but unless you change it, the limiting factor on when the brakes run out will be the brake fluid when it gets hot from heat transmitted through the discs, pads and calipers.

Drain whatever you have in there and replace it with fresh AP Racing (or its like) brake fluid.

MG Mark

[smilerbaker]

Stelvio isn't that hard on the brakes, a couple of the other passes near it are far worse! unless your going really really early in the morning you'll be stuck in traffic jams of mad bikers and even madder cyclists, tourists who will point blank refuse to move out of the way and worse, camper vans doing 12 point turns at every corner.

I'd more more concerned about over heating trying to drive up it then the brakes driving down it.

[Alicatt1]

smilerbaker said:

Stelvio isn't that hard on the brakes, a couple of the other passes near it are far worse! unless your going really really early in the morning you'll be stuck in traffic jams of mad bikers and even madder cyclists, tourists who will point blank refuse to move out of the way and worse, camper vans doing 12 point turns at every corner.

I'd more more concerned about over heating trying to drive up it then the brakes driving down it.

When I went over it, it was as soon as it opened in the morning of Oct 14th 2007, only met one car going up from Stelvio and that was a BMW cabrio that passed me as I stopped to take a pic. There were a few people at the top when we got there and going down was a case of dodging the cyclists and bikers. Went back up it again and then down the Swiss side it was much quieter. Had no problems with the brakes only the screeching from the wife ...

[V8_chitty]

OK - update! I survived Stelvio and the brakes were absolutely fine. In fact I did the following:

Passo dello Stelvio
Umbrail Pass
Brenner Pass
Bernina Pass
Fluela Pass
St Gotthardo Pass
Furka Pass
Grimsel Pass
Susten Pass
Passo di Foscagno
Passo d'Eira
Oberalppass

For the record I fitted Mintex 1144 pads, re-filled the brake fluid with ATP racing blue, and fitted a servo.

All in all the brakes were the least of my problems! Speed both up and down is limited by the size of your testicles: In many cases there are sheer drops with no barriers, or get this,...hairpins in unlit tunnels....very scary indeed...
As you fly into the tunnel, even at a slowish speed, you lose the bright sun, go temporarily blind then realise you're heading for a wall...

Couple that with a liberal dose of snow/ice/meltwater at the apex of the hairpin then it gets kinda exciting....surprisingly there were no police anywhere and the roads were reasonably quiet - the odd camper providing some sport for mid-hairpin overtaking...
These kind of roads are self regulating - drive too quick and you won't be around to pay the speeding fine...

Overall though I can thoroughly recommend the experience - we did 5 countries in 7 days with magnificent scenery to the tune of a throbbing V8! If this sounds a little too intimidating then get this..we met a jolly nice 75 year old chap with his wife in an equally old Fraser Nash - he had just done Stelvio with no problems that we'rent solved by a couple of hot water bottles and a blanket...

[Robert060379]

http://www.essexracing.com/product_info.php?produc...

This is what I use in my B GT main beam is like a half mile of daylight. Should take care of tunnel vision in the future. Glad you had fun. I've just fitted a bigger Turbo and intercooler to my car, rolling road Monday and track (A1101) on the way home. All the best. Rob

[V8_chitty]

Hi Rob,
Thanks for this. This seems like a no-brainer.
Somewhat off topic but out of interest is it a blown 1800 or V8? How much BHP are you expecting? Also, what suspension setup to contain things?
Cheers!