With a few more miles on the car and a few more track sessions under our belts we felt that what the car lacked in power could be made up braking. Sensing this as an advantage and now almost a necessity we couldn’t help but go with a trusted name like StopTech for an upgrade for the brakes. Now the stock brakes are a damn good set up especially since the car is so well balanced, but like we’ve said before, there’s always room for improvement. The StopTech system is a real beauty. A four piston set up for the fronts with some larger than life 355x32mm slotted rotors, Axxis Ultimate pads, and steel braded lines. These babies showed up to our door and we eagerly broke into the box like a pack of crazed 5yr olds on Xmas morning. The rotors were gargantuan and made a large dinner plate look like a tea cup saucer. Then the calipers were unpacked and the glossy fire engine red gleamed under the fluorescent lights beckoning us to get them on the car.
The task of removing the stock rotors and calipers isn’t that much of a daunting task and actually took all of 45 min. With the stock set up off the car we examined both sides in greater detail. What we found is that after a few track events and some many spirited Sunday drives through the canyons, our pads were cooked and the driver side brake line was starting to bulge. That was all we really needed to warrant the brake upgrade.
The StopTech system is a complete package and that means it comes with detailed instructions, tips, trouble shooting, and proper brake in procedure. We first installed the supplied brackets that are used to mount the new caliper to the hub. Once that was done we quickly removed the stock lines and replaced them with the beefy steel braided lines in the kit, making sure to not let the fluid to drain completely from the reservoir on the master cylinder. One major thing to remember here, brake fluid should never touch any painted surface. If this happens be sure to remove it immediately with a towel, if left untouched it will give you the same effect as a spot of bleach on your favorite pair of jeans. And NO, the stonewashed look was never really that cool. With the lines capped off we grabbed our huge rotors and fitted them to the hub. The two piece design is sexy enough but it’s actually functional. When the disk portion of the rotor is worn out it can be removed from the hat and replaced. The big red calipers were last. We loaded each one up with the supplied Axxis ultimate pads and bolted them on to the brackets. One nice feature of the caliper is that the pads can be replaced from the top of the caliper though a window designed into the rotor. Again this is functional as ease of pad removal/installation but also provides some ventilation for the pads once they reach those scorching temps we see so regularly here in the desert.
Now that both sides were installed and torqued down, we had to bleed them. The Mazda owner’s manual recommends using DOT 3 fluid in the reservoir. This will be adequate for street driving but we really demand something more from our brake fluid. Since the clutch and brakes share the same reservoir we decided to use the DOT 3 for the time being with the plans of making a separate reservoir for the clutch so we can run DOT 5 though the brake system. Again, we have to consider the heat this fluid will have to endure while on the track.
After a serious bleeding session we were ready for our first road test. We had to be careful not to stand on the brakes too soon as we still needed to bed in the pads. We did this over a three day period. On each day we did about ten 60-10mph hard stops at about 70% pedal force. This is a necessary procedure that improves the performance of the brakes. If this is not done or done correctly the brakes can over heat and glaze the rotor leaving your new brake kit performing like Doo-Doo. Once the bedding in period was complete it was time to really see what these babies could do. The obvious difference over stock was the shorter amount of distance to a stop and the super firm pedal feel. After having them on the car for another week and we began to see even more improvement in pedal feel and modulation as well as stopping power. Now we need to revisit the track and put them to the test. Now instead braking way before a turn we should be able to wait a bit longer and close a few more doors on those with lesser brake systems. Sucks to be them.
