I've got 10,000 actual track miles in my '91 NSX. (The exact number is 9,896, including 246 track miles this past weekend.) I have experienced most of the alleged problems with the NSX brakes, and I think most of them are being misdiagnosed when anyone claims that the stock brakes are inadequate. And some people get items like big calipers and stainless steel lines just because they like the looks; hey, if that's your thing, go for it. I'm still using my original calipers and lines, and they work just fine.
My suggestion: Start with the stock brakes. If and when you feel that you need more, then upgrade on an incremental basis. There is no sense in going out and spend $5-10K on a big brake kit (along with wheels/tires to fit) if you don't really need it. And you won't know if you really need it or not unless you try a few other things first - and those other things are not only much less expensive, but also are things that you will need to be replacing periodically anyway. So it costs you almost nothing to find out.
The stock brakes - calipers, pads, rotors - are actually excellent, in my experience. Fade? Baloney. I would bet that 90 percent of the claims of stock brakes fading are due to "green pad syndrome" - the fact that brake pads need to be heated up and outgassed for a couple of hard track sessions before they will be fade-free. This is true of
any brake pad, not just the stock pads. Take them out a couple of times, and they won't fade for the rest of their life.
However, pads are "consumables", meaning, they are an item that you will use up and need to replace over and over again. This gives you the opportunity to try different pads, if you don't like the ones you are using. As mentioned above, the stock pads are an excellent pad for street use as well as beginner/intermediate track use. There are aftermarket street/track pads that are also very good for this purpose. (For example, right now I really like the GT Sport brake pads from
Cobalt Friction.)
If you want a track-only pad, there are many good track pads on the market, including Cobalt's Spec VR pad, among others. The downsides of track-only pads are that they usually squeal (a LOT), they dust (a LOT), and they require warming up before they are effective. If you are willing to live with these downsides on the street (or if yours is a track-only car), you can use them all the time; otherwise, you can change your pads before and after each track event.
Rotors, too, are consumables; with a lot of track usage, they will eventually crack. Two-piece rotors usually last longer before cracking. In my experience, I haven't noticed any difference in longevity between different one-piece rotors - stock, aftermarket, solid face, cross drilled, slotted, etc. I also have found that NSX rotors don't warp; however, you can experience shudder in the brakes if you don't bed them properly. You can read more about bedding brakes on Stoptech's website
here and
here.
Fluid? Sure, use a good high-temperature fluid like Motul RBF 600. Do a search and you will find topics here that give the boiling temperatures for various fluids, such as
this one.
So do all of that. If you find that you are still encountering braking problems, you might consider installing cooling ducts like mine, shown in
this topic.
That's as far as I've gotten, using the same incremental approach that I'm recommending here. I'm very happy with my car's braking. If I wanted more braking power, I would get track pads, but I'm willing to sacrifice a little bit of braking power for the convenience of not changing pads before and after events and not having gross squealing on the street. If I wanted still more braking power, I suppose the next step would be a big brake kit; however, I find that it's totally unnecessary for my needs, since I am not experiencing any braking problems whatsoever with my current setup.
ncdogdoc said:
I think we need to decide what we mean by brakes and what we mean by good. (And no, I am not a Bill Clinton wannabee )
Who? Oh, you must mean a George Bush wannabe.
ncdogdoc said:
Then there is fluid. If you have solid rotors, use the best fluid you can get or afford due to higher rotor temps (see above). Look at both wet and dry boiling points, but many think wet is more important.
I can't imagine why anyone would think wet boiling temperature is important for track use. Most people who track their cars flush their brake fluid pretty often - at least once a year, and usually more often than that. Because the fluid doesn't sit in the car for extended periods of time, it doesn't have much chance to absorb moisture that would lower its boiling temperature.
ncdogdoc said:
The big boys now are Castrol SRF and a couple of formulations by Project Mu and Prospeed. Many use Motul or ATE. I use Ford Super Duty. Between the two piece rotors and speed bleeders, it works beautifully for me. Many will scoff because it only costs a little over $3 a pint.
No, I wouldn't use Ford because its dry boiling point is 550 F and its wet boiling point is 284 F. I use Motul, which has a dry boiling point of 593 F and a wet boiling point of 420 F. And it costs less than $20 for enough fluid to completely flush the NSX brake system. For me, $20 spent once a year on a higher temperature fluid is worth every penny.