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Noticeable Difference

1K views 9 replies 3 participants last post by  Gareth83 
#1 ·
Is there a big difference on the road between 17x9 wheels, and AP/Alcon brake kit, whatever size will fit under 17's and moving up to 18x9 wheels and associated bigger disks?

Want to put together a solid road car and weighing up expense vs function of more expensive heavier larger wheels/brakes over cheaper and lighter smaller wheels/brakes.

Any information welcome.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Last week I drove my car with 17x9 and 343mm Alcons, back to back with another 6 with 18x8.5 and 365mm Alcons around Donington. This was with the same pads and fluid on both cars too, XP10 and RBF660. The other car was caged, but I assume the weights were roughly the same. In fact, even the wheels were the same model on both cars, TE37.

I couldn't tell the difference with the brakes efficiency, both very powerful. Mine seemed to last longer before cooking, but I have dedicated cooling ducts/piping/brackets.

Bonus -- I've not had a set of 17's that haven't fitted over the 343mm kit, and so far the car has worn 5 different sets.
 
#3 ·
Last week I drove my car with 17x9 and 343mm Alcons, back to back with another 6 with 18x8.5 and 365mm Alcons around Donington. This was with the same pads and fluid on both cars too, XP10 and RBF660. The other car was caged, but I assume the weights were roughly the same. In fact, even the wheels were the same model on both cars, TE37.

I couldn't tell the difference with the brakes efficiency, both very powerful. Mine seemed to last longer before cooking, but I have dedicated cooling ducts/piping/brackets.

Bonus -- I've not had a set of 17's that haven't fitted over the 343mm kit, and so far the car has worn 5 different sets.
Ok that's good to know and pretty handy as I was looking at TE37's and the Alcon's are within budget too. I don't have any plans on tracking it in the future so I shouldn't see too many situations on the road where I don't have confidence in the brakes, pad choice dependent anyway.

Thanks
 
#4 · (Edited)
I would keep the wheels and brakes as light as possible I felt a difference when I changed to lighter wheels only slight but car felt more nimble. I will also say I didn’t notice much difference between standard Brembos and Alcons with same pads on the road definitely not £2500 worth of difference but when on track they are worth the money!
 
#5 ·
I would keep the wheels and brakes as light as possible I felt a difference when I changed to lighter wheels only slight but car felt more nimble. I will also say I didn't notice much difference between standard Brembos and Alcons with same pads on the road definitely not £2500 worth of difference but when on track they are worth the money!
Thanks for your input, ideally yes I'd like to keep everything as light as possible but as it will never be used to chase seconds off lap times etc I'm not too worried about a bit of extra weight with the added bonus of filling out the arches and looking nice. If the bigger option makes a real world noticeable difference on the road then I'd have to look into it more as no one wants a "slower" car after changes.

The current Brembos are in need of an overhaul and feeling/looking pretty tired, along with the disks and pads needing changing too so figured if I was taking them off then may as well upgrade at the same time and then overhaul the Brembos and resell to offset a little bit of the cost. Plus shiny new wheels will be going on along with new suspension so may as well all be new and shiny.

If there isn't a massive difference on the road though may look at other braking options and costs.
 
#6 ·
Alcons do make a difference on the road but it’s up to you if you think it’s worth the money. They are amazing on track though transformed the car to be honest. The trouble I find on the road is keeping heat in them because they cool very quick not dangerous though just not optimum heat for the pads I run. If I ran a more road biased pad I might not have that trouble.
 
#8 ·
Thanks for your input, yeah eventually wanting to get to around 450, although that will be sometime as most of money goes into my house. But figured If I'm starting from the bottom then I don't want to have to change things again in 18-24 months when everything is hopefully finished.

I want to buy the best I can afford even if it means a few years go by before everything is sorted the way I want. Had the car about 13 years already and it doesn't look like it's going anywhere!
 
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