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9000 Aero Brake Upgrade Kits

6K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  1989agoodvintage 
#1 ·
Does anyone have any experience with the MapTun 6 pot brake upgrade kits? If so what has been the experience? Any advice on wear rates of the rotor. Also what pads do they typically supply with the upgrade kit? I currently have the Abbott Racing Sports Upgrade kit (aka Viggen 308mm kit) fitted. It has been an improvement over the standard 9000 brake system, however rotor wear has been atrocious. I notice that Abbott have removed this kit from their web site. Interesting!!!
 
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#2 ·
I have been doing a little research into this again (now I have a job and some sort of spare income available) and on other forums, I get a feeling that rotor wear is quite common and that also the improvement from a single piston caliper to a 4 or 6 pot isn't that great.

There were also comments on whether the under-servoed nature of the 9000 (in some people's opinion) may be the reason why only a small increase in braking performance is noticed. (off memory). This led to the opportunity of fitting the more powerful servo from the 9-3 viggen, however, without understanding overall weight and its distribution in comparison with the 9000, I'm not sure how much more benefit this will be. Another option of adding a second servo was also discussed, but it sounds easier to pinch the more powerful setup from the Viggen.

Then there is the issue of the increasing braking power at the front causing issues with the rear sliding out more or having other different braking characteristics.

As of yet, I don't know if anyone has tried any of the above and done some reasonably accurate analysis of the improvement. I suppose in most cases, the results will be fairly subjective unless someone at least measures the difference in straight line braking from a variety of speeds and then provides comparison data of improvements in circuit lap times i.e. to prove that you can enter corners and brake later etc etc.

Great topic to start the day with.

Sadly, back to the day job and less dreaming until after 7pm tonight.
 
#3 ·
Not 6 pot kits, no, but I've had AP 4 pot on my 9000 for some years now. The braking seems to remain pretty well balanced, but I am using DS2500 on the rear which have a higher coefficient than standard pads.

They work consistently well on and off track, and you can leave braking much later. I reckon they were buying me a good 2 secs per lap at Goodwood.
 
#4 ·
I have the Maptun 6-pot 336mm Brake kit on my 9-3 Aero, and certainly on my car it has made a huge difference in stopping power.
Original brakes use to fad quite quickly even on fast runs on B roads. Now no problem at all, and high speed stops are just awesome!
Have only done about 4K miles on them since they were fitted, and there is no sign of wear yet. The pads came in an unmarked bok, but they look like EBC 'Redstuff' to me. Just to keep a fairly good balance, I fitted EBC grooved and drilled discs on the back, along with redstuff pads and braided hoses all round.
Hope this is of some assistance to you.
 
#9 ·
If you are going to change to using Brembo discs (or anybody else's apart from Abbott supplied ones) remember that the centre hole in 9-5 discs is 70mm whereas the 9000 disc has a 68mm hole. You will find that the Abbott supplied discs have a spacer ring push fitted to the centre hole, which must be removed and fitted to the new discs otherwise they will be off centre and all sorts of evil will occur.

Brembo's website has dimensional drawings.
 
#10 ·
If you are going to change to using Brembo discs (or anybody else's apart from Abbott supplied ones) remember that the centre hole in 9-5 discs is 70mm whereas the 9000 disc has a 68mm hole. You will find that the Abbott supplied discs have a spacer ring push fitted to the centre hole, which must be removed and fitted to the new discs otherwise they will be off centre and all sorts of evil will occur.

Brembo's website has dimensional drawings.[/b]
Thanks for that. I could forgotten about the difference in bore centre sizes.
 
#11 ·
Not 6 pot kits, no, but I've had AP 4 pot on my 9000 for some years now. The braking seems to remain pretty well balanced, but I am using DS2500 on the rear which have a higher coefficient than standard pads.

They work consistently well on and off track, and you can leave braking much later. I reckon they were buying me a good 2 secs per lap at Goodwood.[/b]
Hay Bubbles, are you running standard rotors on the rear witha DS2500 compound??? Or are you running some other rotor claiper set up on the rear??
 
#13 ·
Plain Brembo discs are best at the rear- the DS2500 pads are non gassing so you don't need grooved/drilled discs[/b]
Bubbles, are you still running the AP 4 Pot caliper system on the front (as suggested in your earlier posting) or do you now run something else. I know there is a Bill David (UK I think) who has suggested going Brembo (grey Iron?) on the front with the DS2500s is a pretty effective system and also leaaves quite a bit of change from the cost of the 4 pot/6 pot system. Cheers Tony
 
#14 ·
On my 9000 I do still have AP 4 pots on the front- with DS2500 pads. Almost unbustable.

Prior to this I did have the Brembo/DS2500 setup with stock size discs and it was a huge improvement over stock. For a road car, it's probably adequate- indeed they also stand up to a fair amount of track abuse as well and as you rightly point out are a lot cheaper (you can buy a new set of discs, pads and recon stock calipers for the price of a pair of AP discs!).

The APs have a really fantastic feel and just work so well. They are admittedly a bit of a luxury but quality don't come cheap...
 
#15 ·
Just to add my tuppeneth....

Compared to my old 92 9000 CD with ATE discs and Pagid FR pads, Mark's AP setup was immensely superior, eye-popping in fact. So, if I were going for bigger calipers I'd choose the the AP's. Certainly if you're current calipers are quite corroded and in need of renewal then it would be a good idea to save your pennies and go for the AP kit and a set of 17" wheels to accommodate the larger calipers.

Personally though, as Mark concede's, if your present calipers are working as they should, you will get very good results by putting Brembo/DS2500's on the front (as a minimum). I'm currently running Brembo/Pagid on my 9000 which were fitted by Adrian, the calipers on my car have been well maintained and as a result the braking power is up there with most modern cars. As I commented on a recent thread on UKSaabs I will be trying DS2500's when the time comes to replace the front pads to see if I can improve things further.

It's also important to consider the state of your brake lines and hoses. Replacing rotten lines and hoses will "firm-up" the brake pedal and improve responsiveness no end.
 
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