Originally posted by Aeroadster:
Godspeed they tell me that I can't even have their standard 308mm £595 brakes kit upgrade as my 16" Super Aeros have too little clearance.
>> Correct, there isn't enough distance between the disc face and the inside of the wheel to allow the caliper to be mounted in there.
I've had the car serviced and the brake fluid checked and topped up. Sadly the car's breaking doesn't improve.
>> As standard the 9000 brakes are less than confidence inspiring considering the performance on tap.
The former motorsport technician at my garage used to have an 1996 aero and he tells me that the Ferodo or black diamond setup makes little difference even when using different discs of the same size.
>> If you haven't tried the DS2500 Ferodo pad yet (or any other 'perfomance' pad) I'd give these a go, with the following caveats. They do tend to squeal slightly but not all the time on light appliactions at slow speeds. Also they do dust more than Saab OEM pads, so if you like clean wheels you'll be out cleaning once a week (If you aren't a concours fanatic forget about this aspect). On the upside they work as well from cold as when being beasted around a track, there is certainly no need to warm them up at all. Lastly the co-efficient of friction for the DS2500 is markedly higher than standard Saab pads and produced shorter stopping distances than the Mintex 1144 pads I had originally. Response to gentle pressure on the brake pedal was far better due to this higher friction.
I agree that different discs make little difference. I've had grooved discs etc. and they just seem to make more noise. IMHO it's the pad compound that matters most.
He told me to get real and either try for a modded 308mm kit or go for 17" alloys and a bigger brake kit.
>> Unless you are really hard on the brakes a 'big brake' upgrade is not necessary, but only you can tell how you drive. If you do use your car on a track then the larger calipers/pads will handle a greater amount of heat than the standard sized pads & calipers. The 'big brake' upgrade comes into it's own when braking from high speeds, not something I do often other than at a track.
Don't like the idea of the 17" alloys as they draw too much attention and I love them original super aero alloys.
>> The 17" size is quite normal on cars now unlike a few years back (When I bought my CD Carlsson, 16" tyres were costing me £180 each! Now a Focus etc. will run around on 17's from the factory and 18's aren't that unusual on prestige cars.)
Can't help but agree the Super Aeros are lovely .
Nick.
