Possible New K11 Brake Setup

Mate showed me this from an Almera Forum. They fit the Almera, no adapters needed so therefore should fit the Micra.

A Mitsubishi FTO front caliper with Renault Clio 280mm disk.

http://www.almeraownersclub.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=3663&page=10&pp=15

Interesting, that, although pretty severe overkill for most though

Should be an interesting upgrade.

Just another point I would like to make out, that forum is a prime example of the why the MSC doesn't allow signature images, that forum is a complete and utter mess, difficult to read and looks all over the place.

no more than sunny gtir, besides there is no such thing as overkill when it comes to brakes

that looks like a nice idea the best thing about big brakes is you can use them for longer withour brake fade, so in the case of a stock micra you could just brake all the time and be fine

They're over an inch bigger that the GTi-R setup so, although they appear to be a few mm thinner, they're gonna weigh more - an absolute tonne to be precise, this extra weight is going to slow the acceleration down.
Also, if you've never experienced brake fade, then you don't really need bigger brakes, the 1.6 upgrade is adequate for most Micras, the set that I had on mine had hardly worn in 2 years, with a fair amount of use, so it shows that really, bigger isn't necessarily better with regards to brakes.

Craig said:

They're over an inch bigger that the GTi-R setup so, although they appear to be a few mm thinner, they're gonna weigh more - an absolute tonne to be precise, this extra weight is going to slow the acceleration down.
Also, if you've never experienced brake fade, then you don't really need bigger brakes, the 1.6 upgrade is adequate for most Micras, the set that I had on mine had hardly worn in 2 years, with a fair amount of use, so it shows that really, bigger isn't necessarily better with regards to brakes.

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where do you get this from? if you have never experienced brake fade it doesnt mean you dont need bigger brakes. you can always get better stopping power and that is always a good thing.

they weigh precisly a tonne do they?

so what if the 1.6 brake upgrade is adaqute, what if you want better than adequate brakes. Plus the 1.6 brakes are not even that lighter than the gti-r (trust me ive had both) and i bet 100-1 that there isnt a huge difference in weight between the gti-r ones and the fto were talking bout.

Also i bet you wouldnt even notice the small increase in weight

so that goes to show you know precisly naff all

if the GTI-R setup is good enough for the micra rally teams then who am i to argue...but wouldnt it be good to say, "hey ive got mitsi-evo brakes on me micra..lol"

I have had GTI-R brakes on the car for years now and can honestly say even with the power I get from my 1.3 I wouldn't have the need to go that big.

yeah you dont neccersarily need them do you, but it doesnt exactly hinder you having them does it?

Craig said:

Interesting, that, although pretty severe overkill for most though

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This argument has been around in the motorbike world for years, how much pressure do you actually need to apply to a brake pedal/lever before you lock up the wheel ? the better the brake efficiency the less pressure you need on the pedal, its just a matter of re-educating yourself to the power of the new brakes isn't it ? Besides, braking efficiency is also affected by your choice of pads, its pointless having a set of 6 piston calipers up front using crap pads if you're only putting out the same friction coefficient as a single piston caliper with superb pads.

59 bhp is more than enough said:

where do you get this from? if you have never experienced brake fade it doesnt mean you dont need bigger brakes. you can always get better stopping power and that is always a good thing.

they weigh precisly a tonne do they?

so what if the 1.6 brake upgrade is adaqute, what if you want better than adequate brakes. Plus the 1.6 brakes are not even that lighter than the gti-r (trust me ive had both) and i bet 100-1 that there isnt a huge difference in weight between the gti-r ones and the fto were talking bout.

Also i bet you wouldnt even notice the small increase in weight

so that goes to show you know precisly naff all

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I have also had both, the 1.6 upgrade is more than enough for 99% of the Micras on here, it doesn't matter that you bet 100-1 that the FTO ones will not be drastically heavier than the GTi-R ones, they are still gonna weigh loads more than the Micra ones, it's like when you're looking at PCs and keep on looking at better and better models becuase it's "only £50 more expensive than the other one", next thing you know, you're looking at something £200 more than what you were originally going to pay.
You will noticeably slow your car down with brakes that big, not to mention the fact that you'll need bigger wheels. They are totally not necessary.

Sonic has some good points also, a set of decent pads/disks will make a noticeable difference for less cost and effort and with brakes tht big, locking up will be a cinch, especially in the wet.

so a set of fto calpers are going to be more expensive than gti-r ones? or even 1.6 almera ones at that?

there is absolutly no way that on a micra you will notice the extra weight in brakes. Its not as if the discs weigh a huge amount and the calipers are not even turning.

yeah a set of decent pads are a good upgrade but no mater how good the pads are theyre are not going to be as god as a full discs, pad and caliper upgrade

i think you all need to learn how brakes work before going on about which is better.. bigger isnt always better.. put those brakes on a micra and put it against a micra with standard brakes make then both have standard cheap rubber and brake test them ill put money on them both being exactly the same.. up unitll about the 4th test when heat will come into play and the extra cooling will help on the bigger discs.. put some more expencive tyres on with better mechanical grip and then you might just be to see a difference but the only thing that will kill the micra ones will be heat buildup.. somthing that isnt a problem going from your house to somerfield unless you drive like a pillock or unless you take your car on a track which i dont think anyone on here has done aside from ed or jo and john...

so your saying that a car with bigger brakes than the same car with standard brakes will have the same braking force and the only reason that you put better brakes on is for cooling purposes?

what about more clamping force, better brake compounds, bigger brake pad areas on slotted and grooved discs

59 bhp is more than enough said:

so your saying that a car with bigger brakes than the same car with standard brakes will have the same braking force and the only reason that you put better brakes on is for cooling purposes?

what about more clamping force, better brake compounds, bigger brake pad areas on slotted and grooved discs

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your micra brakes will lock your front wheels up when slamed on will they not? i know mine would have.. this means there is more than enough clamping force to overcome the mechanical grip supplied by the tyres.. the tyres are what are stopping you brakes mearly change the energy of movment into heat.. bigger brakes with different compunds ect can handle more heat.. what you have to think about is the mass your trying to bring to a stop (micra so not very much) the mechanical grip you have (not much as people seem to always neglect tyres in favour of other mods like ice) and how many times your likely to performe an extream stop.. (not very many times going to work i would guess) has anyone on here really ever suffered from extream brake fade?? if you do then i would look into bigger brakes but untill then i wouldnt worry about it..this is why i am also not looking at putting rear brake discs on my car.. Drums are a tried and tested method of braking there downside is they suffer from heat buildup faster becuase of there enclosed makeup. but in a stripped micra when i used to put my brakes on hard using the most of my grip i had the fronts did 90% of the braking anything stronger on the rear would have resulted in me locking up and god forbid causing a spin. you wouldnt say a f1 car couldnt stop but the size of a f1 disc is probly equal to that of an evos maybe a tad smaller.. i know which one will stop quicker..

^^ Pretty much spot on, I remember Beachboy talking about brake fade after enjoying Cornwall's roads, one reason why I upgraded mine was braking down from 70+ didn't feel very confident at all.

Also, I seem to recall Dave saying that when he looked at the rear disks on his they were barely worn at all.

I think that a F1 car weighs a little less than an Evo, although tyres are much stickier

It was actually my front rotors which have hardly worn. The rear discs wore a fair bit but nothing out of the ordinary. Have a new set on now though with re-built calipers and better pads. OEM's were ok but lacked the bite of a drum from cold......the Mintex's take care of that

For 90% of people I would stick to drums, cheap, effective....just keep an eye on the cylinders.

My bad, you still in the Soton area?

f1 brakes are slightly different though arnt they, yes they might be the same size discs but the materials that are used are beyond anything that would go near a road car. The calipers thatare used are again in a completly different league. Plus the fact that the tyres are ginourmous in comparison.

Put it this way, people are more likely to upgrade there wheel and tyre package before the brakes. So you have got 195 rubber on 15's let say, the mechanical grip with this (especially in a micra which weighs naff all) is quite substantial. Besides even if you have the standard steels, if you learn to brake properly you can easily brake hard without locking up. The whole drums on the back are okay, yeah they are but there is always room for upgrades and better braking.

has anyone on here really ever suffered from extream brake fade?

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rich can back me on this it was pretty scary flying into chesterfield roundabout with my foot welded on the brake and my hand yanking the handbrake around. Interesting read... nice work

59 bhp is more than enough said:

f1 brakes are slightly different though arnt they, yes they might be the same size discs but the materials that are used are beyond anything that would go near a road car. The calipers thatare used are again in a completly different league. Plus the fact that the tyres are ginourmous in comparison.

Put it this way, people are more likely to upgrade there wheel and tyre package before the brakes. So you have got 195 rubber on 15's let say, the mechanical grip with this (especially in a micra which weighs naff all) is quite substantial. Besides even if you have the standard steels, if you learn to brake properly you can easily brake hard without locking up. The whole drums on the back are okay, yeah they are but there is always room for upgrades and better braking.

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F1 brakes arnt that different there carbon for weight purposes and there calipers are the same as road cars they just have cooling ducts forcing air through them you can buy AP calipers with that feature on them.. leanring to brake properly will only mean you can hold it at right on the point just before the wheels lock... but that doesnt matter about the brakes under the wheels.. those tyres will only slow the car down at a certain rate before they break traction regardless of the size of disk material of pads or number or pistons in your calipers.. but you have said it yourself the mass of a K11 is naff all so the energy required to stop it will be quite small resulting in only a small amount of heat buildup. sunnys car felt brake fade after 2 massive stops from high speeds coupled with the fact that on his march they are K10 disks and calipers so can stand even less heat than the K11 standard items

My 1.0L is also ways suffering from brake fade but then again i still have the original pads, i just want to upgrade to vented discs. These fto calipers only real purpose is for show!

Still in London but keep the car at my dads. So I'm part time in Soton. The car's back on the road now, so if you see a white haired 62yr old driving it that'll be my dad tearing up the roads

Craig said:

My bad, you still in the Soton area?

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Wrenchable said:

These fto calipers only real purpose is for show!

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i'd say they was more for track day minded people than for show, you've also got to remember, that's an almera site and their cars are heavier than our micras.

i upgraded our micra brakes to the n14 1.4/1.6 calipers, because i spend alot of time in and around matlock, there's always fast hills which need sudden stops from time to time, i scared myself once when i had very slight fade and that was enough for me to want to upgrade my brakes.
i will be changing my rear drum brakes for discs, but that will be mainly for show, i think they just look loads better than drums.