I thought I'd share this information with everyone.

I had a meeting with STOPTECH brakes last week and I was pleasantly informed! They have a great brake kit on the shelf ready for shipment. 328mm aerorotor front brakes with ST40M calipers for the MP3 and Protege 5 applications. I was there talking racing with Bob and Matt, I informed them I was piloting the Protege 5 in World Challenge. They are eager to bring new applications to market and therefore supporting the aftermarket supply of parts for the Mazda's we all drive. If you are looking into larger brakes, hopefully STOPTECH will come to mind. They have a great product. The brake rotor hats are directional to move more air just as a rotor would be. The bolt in bridge virtually eliminates distortion promoting more even pad wear.

Check them out at www.stoptech.com You may also call Matt Weiss or Bob Lee at (310)325-4799 let them know I pointed you in their direction for stopping power. They will direct you to your nearest distributor.

Oh, this kit does require the use of 17" wheels.

Regards,

Roger Foo
#88 Speed Touring Car Protege5

 

i don't want to sound antagonistic (is that a word?), but those breaks have been discussed here before. the wings west protege sported a set of stoptech breaks. they do look fantastic, but i think for normal driving, the price is a bit steep. and you mention they require 17" rims. personally, i want to keep my stock 16's as i feel they provide a good compromise between road holding and comfort. (biggest rims i've ever had on one of my cars, too) i think if they can offer a rotor upgrade to use the stock calipers, kind of like the aem kits for civics, i might inquire. also, if they could offer caliper upgrades that use stock size rotors, i might inquire then also.

regardless, thanks for the info. now go out and spank some honda's!

 

long weekend ahead so i have beer on the brain.

 

Roger, welcome to the Forum. It was fun watching you race last year in the Touring series. I'm partial to the Proteges in the series of course, but what you were able to do on your own with your Civic hatchback was really impressive. It'll be great watching you compete this year in the Protege 5. Good Luck!

There are a few threads about the Stop Tech front brake upgrade already on the Forum. It does look impressive, and expensive. I'm going with an upgrade from Precision Brakes Co. It includes 13" x .810" DBA curved vane, cross drilled & slotted rotors, Wilwood billet dynalite 4 piston calipers with Polymatrix D pads, and stainless brake lines & caliper mounting brackets. It's about half the cost of the Stop Tech upgrade, but I'd like to know what you think about the differences between the kits.

http://www.precisionbrakescompany.com/

 

Thanks for the kind words Eric!

I'll do my best to get the Protege to the front in World Challenge.

Well, I'm not one to coin the phrase "You get what you pay for" , but, I'm not used to cheap parts. I just spend my money wisely where needed. I used the AP Racing brakes on my Civic the last few seasons with fairly good success. This brake kit consisted of front calipers, rotors and hats for $2000.
In my opinion this was money spent wisely, maybe not the case for some! I wanted the peace of mind of continuous use at high levels of speed to slow speeds. I agree the price is hefty for the real brake kits and for most of the people maybe over the top! I also understand most people do not have a great understanding of braking dynamics, they stop, they look good - "they work for me attitude". I was just trying to help with this information thinking that people could understand and relate to me on this level because of my no frills spending habits. I definitely do not know everything, but, I bet I have a better informed, educated opinion based on facts and prior use.

I was looking at the STOPTECH brake kits to better understand brake hydraulic technology. They offer a kit for the Protege that is well designed and offers technology to the market that no other manufacturers offer at this time. It is the best the USA has to offer. It rivals the european manufacturers and actually exceeds others in rotor/hat airflow development for castiron materials.

We are human, and this usually means we look at perceived value! To most, this perceived value is aesthetics! We would rather make a purchase based on how it looks rather than how it performs! Especially car related!

Key in point! Spoon wheels! we like the way they look and the weight- but, cannot justify the price! Ooooh! Look! Rota makes a wheel that looks exactly like it, weighs more, but, wow I can justify spending $140 per wheel ,but not $280! Is it manufactured using the same technology? NO! Is it going to perform the same under extreme conditions? NO! Will it be good enough for me? NO!

If you have a no name brand that tries to imitate a known style? sorry!
If you change the label to that of the original? well!

Again, just trying to help with my 2 cents!
I'll stop now!

rog

 

please don't stop! i hope you didn't get the wrong idea about me by saying i didn't want to pay a lot for upgraded brakes. i don't race and i really don't plan on racing, so i think that the extent of my brake upgrades will probably be pads and maybe some quality rotors. but i DEFINITLY appreciate hearing your opinion on products. escpecially which have quality.

 

Absolutely Roger, you do have more experience using parts under more extreme conditions than anyone else here. That's valuable knowledge we can all benefit from. Granted, many of us will never experience the same racing conditions you will, so everyone has to decide for themselves what the best value is for their circumstances, but it's still great to know more about the parts available. Personally, I don't care about the look of parts, but I still have to work within my budget, and keep in mind my car will spend most of it's time on the street.
So the StopTech rotors are superior in cooling due to the design of the cooling vanes in the rotor and hat? What about the calipers? Do you have any experience with, or knowledge of Disc Brakes Australia's products? What about the Wilwood billet dynalite 4 piston calipers?

 

Hey Roger, look forward to seeing you at the National Grand Prix in DC, already got tickets...

So what are you currently using for rear calipers and rotors? Are you using the stock Master Cylinder?

BTW, how about a nice little protegeclub.com sticker for the car