*Testing of the K-Sport 304mm 6POT Brake kit*
- Thread starter fubar andy
- Start date
skiddusmarkus
Active Member
I have 300's under 15s,maybe you're thinking of me.
skiddusmarkus
Active Member
Poooof!
Cadwell Park
Well I’ve come back in one piece and with a working set of brakes. ;-)
As Cadwell Park goes, I’d say its one of the more technical tracks you can drive on. It really tests you as a driver, your cars suspension as well as its brakes and other areas.
I normally spend most of the year sorting out problems on my car, suspension bits and trying out brake compounds. Once I am happy I’ll head to Cadwell Park and give it death. Normally it will show you what’s still wrong with your car and what’s failing.
So let’s see what Cadwell Park makes of the K-Sport 6POT brakes: As I’ve only been able to bed in my pads over 36hrs it’s been a bit of a rush to get them ready, but a nice drive down to Cadwell gave me time to sort that out.
So the big question is, are they any good?
Yes, they are!
As I’ve mentioned the build quality is good and installation wasn’t too difficult at all. I still have the problem that the bolts for bolting the bracket to the hub were the wrong size, but I’ve had to use my old Wilwoods ones for now.
Although I spoke to Kev about this, he pointed out that the bolts are threaded to pass through the hub holes to screw into the bracket (like an AP Racing calliper) once tightened they should stay put.
Personally I found it disconcerting is that there is not nut to thread onto the bolt unlike the Wilwoods. I think that since I’m used to that with the Wilwoods, I feel more comfortable with that set up than what is with the K-Sports (I’ll take some pictures to clarify). Even if I had the right bolts I would probably go out and buy some hardened threaded bolts and nuts for my own personnel comfort and reassurance (recreate the same set-up as the Wilwoods).
With that covered the actual performance of the brake kit is excellent. It took me some time to learn how they react to hard braking and that I can leave it later until I applied the brakes.
Under hard braking the peddle feels strong and I had good confidence within the kit. (Also I’d like to point out that I was also using a servo support bracket make by Mr Steve Pudney)
From 110mph down to 60mph I was very pleased with its performance and it shed the speed quickly without any problems.
Heat build up was also a major thing for me and I’m glad to say that I had very little problems with it. It did take around 10 laps of heavy braking to feel the peddle going soft, but I must admit I purposely went out to make that happen. Even with the peddle going spongy it was only slightly and I still had excellent confidence within the kit when it came to braking. Was just a case of pushing a little harder on the peddle to extract that extra performance. I’ve also stripped out my car and only has two OE seats (soon to be one Sparco seat when I fabricate my sub frame), dash and door cards remaining, so it has less weight to hump around with it too!
One other thing that I noticed was that the bleed nipples were leaking a little fluid from the threads.
I have tightened them up quite a lot, but I didn’t want to shear off the actual nipple itself which I have done in the past on my Wilwoods. Over the day I only lost a few ml of fluid, but I was enough to notice on alloys and calliper.
I might look at tightening them more or take them out and wrap a little PTFE tape around the threads for added sealing.
With the callipers being a 6POT system I was also keen to see if the brake servo could handle them, again no problems there. Never missed a beat and I will not be looking at changing the servo for a bigger one.
I would also recommend that if anyone was to use this kit for a trackday then it would be a good move to remove your ABS fuse. (Do a search if you want to find out how ;-) ) I did one lap with the fuse in and I was almost lethal. It cuts in far too early and the peddle goes very hard, not what you want when your on track. However once you’ve finished on track you can install the fuse back in again, ready for normal road driving.
When your back on normal roads and town driving the kit is again a good performer and offers good braking. I would like to point out that with the discs being 28mm thick they do need some heat in them to make them bite, as do the DS2500’s pads. However I would put it more down to the pad than anything else.
I also performed a mock emergency stop yesterday (40mph – 0 mph) and it took a little longer than I wanted it to stop from cold, it was only slight but it was an area that I made a point in the back of my mind. I did the same emergency stop again straight after the 1st attempt and no problems, I nearly slammed my head into the dash! (Just that initial cold bite)
I think that I’m going to invest in some Mintex Pads (1144) as they have excellent cold bite and for normal road/town driving I found them to work well in that environment.
As for track the DS2500’s are excellent and I had no problems or mental notes about them. They worked well and as it was my 1st time using them I was very pleased. (I’ll be trying other compounds and brands in the future to see how they cope)
I’ll keep updating this thread about the kit and if there is anything that I feel is needed to be commented on or test I’ll post up.
I’ll add some more images tomorrow (hopefully) of some gap measurements and about bolting the bracket to the hub. I’ll also add about what I’ve do about the nipples. ;-)
Good work from K-Sport and Apex, I’ve been very pleasantly surprised and performance was better than I was hoping. If your going to get some I’d recommend the group buy to save yourself some £££’s
Well I’ve come back in one piece and with a working set of brakes. ;-)
As Cadwell Park goes, I’d say its one of the more technical tracks you can drive on. It really tests you as a driver, your cars suspension as well as its brakes and other areas.
I normally spend most of the year sorting out problems on my car, suspension bits and trying out brake compounds. Once I am happy I’ll head to Cadwell Park and give it death. Normally it will show you what’s still wrong with your car and what’s failing.
So let’s see what Cadwell Park makes of the K-Sport 6POT brakes: As I’ve only been able to bed in my pads over 36hrs it’s been a bit of a rush to get them ready, but a nice drive down to Cadwell gave me time to sort that out.
So the big question is, are they any good?
Yes, they are!
As I’ve mentioned the build quality is good and installation wasn’t too difficult at all. I still have the problem that the bolts for bolting the bracket to the hub were the wrong size, but I’ve had to use my old Wilwoods ones for now.
Although I spoke to Kev about this, he pointed out that the bolts are threaded to pass through the hub holes to screw into the bracket (like an AP Racing calliper) once tightened they should stay put.
Personally I found it disconcerting is that there is not nut to thread onto the bolt unlike the Wilwoods. I think that since I’m used to that with the Wilwoods, I feel more comfortable with that set up than what is with the K-Sports (I’ll take some pictures to clarify). Even if I had the right bolts I would probably go out and buy some hardened threaded bolts and nuts for my own personnel comfort and reassurance (recreate the same set-up as the Wilwoods).
With that covered the actual performance of the brake kit is excellent. It took me some time to learn how they react to hard braking and that I can leave it later until I applied the brakes.
Under hard braking the peddle feels strong and I had good confidence within the kit. (Also I’d like to point out that I was also using a servo support bracket make by Mr Steve Pudney)
From 110mph down to 60mph I was very pleased with its performance and it shed the speed quickly without any problems.
Heat build up was also a major thing for me and I’m glad to say that I had very little problems with it. It did take around 10 laps of heavy braking to feel the peddle going soft, but I must admit I purposely went out to make that happen. Even with the peddle going spongy it was only slightly and I still had excellent confidence within the kit when it came to braking. Was just a case of pushing a little harder on the peddle to extract that extra performance. I’ve also stripped out my car and only has two OE seats (soon to be one Sparco seat when I fabricate my sub frame), dash and door cards remaining, so it has less weight to hump around with it too!
One other thing that I noticed was that the bleed nipples were leaking a little fluid from the threads.
I have tightened them up quite a lot, but I didn’t want to shear off the actual nipple itself which I have done in the past on my Wilwoods. Over the day I only lost a few ml of fluid, but I was enough to notice on alloys and calliper.
I might look at tightening them more or take them out and wrap a little PTFE tape around the threads for added sealing.
With the callipers being a 6POT system I was also keen to see if the brake servo could handle them, again no problems there. Never missed a beat and I will not be looking at changing the servo for a bigger one.
I would also recommend that if anyone was to use this kit for a trackday then it would be a good move to remove your ABS fuse. (Do a search if you want to find out how ;-) ) I did one lap with the fuse in and I was almost lethal. It cuts in far too early and the peddle goes very hard, not what you want when your on track. However once you’ve finished on track you can install the fuse back in again, ready for normal road driving.
When your back on normal roads and town driving the kit is again a good performer and offers good braking. I would like to point out that with the discs being 28mm thick they do need some heat in them to make them bite, as do the DS2500’s pads. However I would put it more down to the pad than anything else.
I also performed a mock emergency stop yesterday (40mph – 0 mph) and it took a little longer than I wanted it to stop from cold, it was only slight but it was an area that I made a point in the back of my mind. I did the same emergency stop again straight after the 1st attempt and no problems, I nearly slammed my head into the dash! (Just that initial cold bite)
I think that I’m going to invest in some Mintex Pads (1144) as they have excellent cold bite and for normal road/town driving I found them to work well in that environment.
As for track the DS2500’s are excellent and I had no problems or mental notes about them. They worked well and as it was my 1st time using them I was very pleased. (I’ll be trying other compounds and brands in the future to see how they cope)
I’ll keep updating this thread about the kit and if there is anything that I feel is needed to be commented on or test I’ll post up.
I’ll add some more images tomorrow (hopefully) of some gap measurements and about bolting the bracket to the hub. I’ll also add about what I’ve do about the nipples. ;-)
Good work from K-Sport and Apex, I’ve been very pleasantly surprised and performance was better than I was hoping. If your going to get some I’d recommend the group buy to save yourself some £££’s
O
Odin
Guest
fubar andy said:
I don't agree with this statement at all :doh: , The way Wilwood attach their calipers is one of the reasons I don't like them!
My AP's are just bolted through the caliper in to the the mounting plate and have never moved or come loose in 7 years of very hard use including track days ;-) , The Wilwood's on the other hand have a nylon locking nut holding the bolt in place which is millimeter's away from a scotching hot caliper :doh: .
I've worked on a few wilwood equipped cars and the nuts have all been in very bad condition indeed, It's also very tight to get a spanner on them in the first place having to use an open ended spanner rather than a ring, Which means they round off pretty easily, I think it's easier if you remove the disc but I can't remember now as it's been a while.
Rob
i know what you mean about being concerned with locking nuts close to high temperatures,
it does seem to be a small risk of the plastic melting and becoming a non locking nut:shock: but in my experience there has been no probs with the willwoods and ive had them fitted for a good 4 years
we arent all lucky enough to be able to save enough ''maccy d'' vouchers in a week to pay for expensive tuning parts :lol:
e.g ap brakes,motec ecu,charge coolers,agra engine builds, and last but not least the ability to run more than one bar;-)
it does seem to be a small risk of the plastic melting and becoming a non locking nut:shock: but in my experience there has been no probs with the willwoods and ive had them fitted for a good 4 years
we arent all lucky enough to be able to save enough ''maccy d'' vouchers in a week to pay for expensive tuning parts :lol:
e.g ap brakes,motec ecu,charge coolers,agra engine builds, and last but not least the ability to run more than one bar;-)
O
Odin
Guest
kirko said:
Neither do I ;-) , That's why I get my wife to pay for it all :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: .
Regarding the bolt issue, The mounting plates that AP use are made of some very tough hardened alloy so their is no chance of them coming loose if torqued up correctly, I did have to have one of the threads heli coiled because one of the bolts broke :shock: , That just goes to show how tough the alloy is ;-) , Had to have it drilled out and professionally heli coiled
. Rob
Interesting comments bob, I’ve personally not had any problems with the nylon inner, its not melted or distorted in anyway. Yet it could be possible to replace that nylon nut with a full steel nut instead to eliminate that possible problem or switch the nut so it faces away from the disc to reduce any heat damage?Odin said:
However if your bolts have not come lose in 7 years then perhaps its not going to be a problem, not only that if there is any kind of failure then all the parts are specific to that kit and there can be no issues
antgtir
New Member
Just to add about the bleed nipples. These are on a tapered thread so dont over tighten them as like you say they will snap, i always hate tightening these up as they are so fragile.
Sounds like the testing went well and so these brakes seem a good alternative to the others on the market now.
Ant.
Sounds like the testing went well and so these brakes seem a good alternative to the others on the market now.
Ant.
gunmetalgtir
New Member
Yup, plus do you really wanting to be flying around a track knowing that your losing brake fluid by the second? :shock: :doh:youngsyp said:
O
Odin
Guest
youngsyp said:
Not if you're using Mintex racing blue ;-) , But I don't think it's a very good idea to be losing fluid :doh: , Hopefully the ptfe tape will cure the problem ;-) .
Rob
I havent seen the exacts of the bolt "problem" but as I said to andy if he wants some more reassurance they wont come loose just locktite them in, many kits, including standard brake just have 1 bolt through the caliper into the hub.
We have never had an issue with leaking nipples, I hope they just need a little more tightening, I wouldnt be happy if they needed PTFE.
Glad that the braking performance was good
These will be available on the Group Buy now
We have never had an issue with leaking nipples, I hope they just need a little more tightening, I wouldnt be happy if they needed PTFE.
Glad that the braking performance was good
These will be available on the Group Buy now
O
Odin
Guest
youngsyp said:
The blue stuff I'm using doesn't damage paintwork at all, It's synthetic ;-) .
Rob
Just the wrong size was sent, M8 bolts for an M10 hole ;-)KevD said:
I'll give you a ring tomorrow.
I’ll look to see if I can tighten them anymore, but I’d rather not push my luck as I’m fed up of sheering off nipples and having to drill them out. As Ant pointed out over tighten them and snap!!!KevD said:
Iirc the Mintex blue is a silicone based fluid, so you can’t mix it with any other normal fluids, if you did want to replace it its hard to flush out. :shock:Odin said:
O
Odin
Guest
fubar andy said:
I only flush it with more of the same, It works very well so I've not felt the need to change to another product ;-) .
I also use it in my clutch system as well.
Rob