StopTech or Alpha Rotors and pads? Help me decide please.

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This should get interesting .....

My personal set up : Slotted rotors / Hawk 5.0 pads / MC Brace / properly bled system filled with Stop Tech STR 600 ..... better tires ...

3-2-1 here comes the threw money at it and never been happier post.....and about that braking "test" ......

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EDIT : Some light reading : ABS and Big Brake Kits

EDIT-EDIT: No that was not a plug for Stop Tech .. just food for thought...

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I had gotten the Stop Tech Kit from Cycle Springs during Daytona Bike Week. Don't race BUT I never felt comfy with the stock brakes when driving aggressively and was sick of playing games with double pump, etc on stock. Got about 3500 miles on them and VERY happy with the consistent stopping ability coupled with no fade. They worked great on SSITS rides like Tail of the Dragon. Got them when CS had a $200 off coupon. Maybe they'll have another 10% promo code for 4th of July like they did on Memorial day.
Big Brake Kit Stop Tech for the Polaris Slingshot

I run the ceramic pads and the stoptech vented rotors. I warped my stock rotors with the bigger pads and this was the next step. So far I haven't warped these rotors yet. They stop fine. I would say at the very least that they seem to stop the same and they haven't warped. So I would say it's a winner. It's kind of a catch22. The rotor isn't any bigger so it's not going to stop any faster. However heat is your enemy. The hotter the pads and rotor get, the worse your braking is going to be. So if these can fend off the heat and keep the rotors a bit cooler then you will KEEP your brakes. And that is fine with me. ...

@Switchblade, haven't tracked the Slingshot yet (where did you?), but did take it down the Tail of the Dragon during SSITS with the StopTech Big Brake kit from Cycle Springs. Ran a very aggressive pace (with Nitto 555's and QA1s set really tight). Zero fade the whole time, and I pushed them hard. Halfway down, you could smell the brake pads (like when you break them in). At the end, they started to squeak a little (which went away). Overall, very pleased! I too had a coupon (only $150 off), and personally couldn't justify the additional cost of Alpha's Big Brake Kit. I was also running out of time before Maggie Valley, so I couldn't try just pads and rotors. Hope this help...

@rabtech, if you were going to buy your setup, what would it cost? The Rotors are $600, and I thought the pads were at least $400 for all ends. Just curious what the delta is between your setup and what I paid for the StopTech Big Brake Kit.

@Switchblade, the Alpha's kit does look great, but I just couldn't justify spending $2,000 more than the StopTech Kit. BTW, almost any pad/rotor combination can lock up the wheels. It's what happens after repeated steps (hence the fade and warped rotors). Enlarged, Slotted, Drilled, Vented, etc. are all done to remove heat and get the temperature of the rotors down. What a lot of people are really looking for is pad "bite", or how aggressively the brakes slow the vehicle down with minimal effort. There's also a "force" curve as well, just like how an engine horsepower comes on. Some grab great at first, then taper off. Most race pads are very linear and consistent. Back to temperature. On the street, this can work against you since if there isn't enough temperature in the pads/rotors, it won't stop as well as when they're in optimal temperature range. So far, the kit I have seems to do great in both scenarios. I don't have experience with this setup on the track, though, but @Noel Hughes has run them at the FIRM track and said they're great, so they're probably good there as well. Make sense?

BTW, where are you located?

Quote from Speedr117

@Switchblade, the Alpha's kit does look great, but I just couldn't justify spending $2,000 more than the StopTech Kit. BTW, almost any pad/rotor combination can lock up the wheels. It's what happens after repeated steps (hence the fade and warped rotors). Enlarged, Slotted, Drilled, Vented, etc. are all done to remove heat and get the temperature of the rotors down. What a lot of people are really looking for is pad "bite", or how aggressively the brakes slow the vehicle down with minimal effort. There's also a "force" curve as well, just like how an engine horsepower comes on. Some grab great at first, then taper off. Most race pads are very linear and consistent. Back to temperature. On the street, this can work against you since if there isn't enough temperature in the pads/rotors, it won't stop as well as when they're in optimal temperature range. So far, the kit I have seems to do great in both scenarios. I don't have experience with this setup on the track, though, but @Noel Hughes has run them at the FIRM track and said they're great, so they're probably good there as well. Make sense?

BTW, where are you located?

Just a couple quick notes -

Here is a good example of the force vs. temperature for Hawk Pads -

It is very important though that when picking brake pads that you work in the heat range that you are driving the vehicle. On the Slingshot, there is not a lot of mass to stop since the vehicle is relatively light and the rotors are actually rather large for the weight of the vehicle and its weight distribution. If you go with a pad that is overly aggressive you may never get the brakepad into its ideal operating range, which a lot of the times means lower coefficient of friction, more dust and non-linear braking force.

As for the big brake kits, the 4 piston or 6 piston setups if sized correctly will not apply more force to the pads, they do provide that force more evenly across the pad surface though to prevent tapering of the pad. All of the big brake kits I have seen use larger pads, our DDMWorks kit, Alpha's or Stoptech's all have larger pads than stock. The larger pad volume has the benefit of higher thermal mass. This higher thermal mass of the pad helps with temperature spikes under hard braking, takes more energy to raise the temperature of the pad and also the larger pad volume helps with longevity. The big brake kits also have larger rotors (14" on our DDMWorks kit, 13" on Alpha's, etc.) which also have more thermal mass also. Larger thermal mass of the rotors allows them to absorb the initial thermal load under heavy braking and since all of the aftermarket kits have better vanes internally, typically directional, they are able to disapate the heat faster than the stock rotors also. One note with the big brakes we found during testing of our kit, with the bigger pads and rotors it is actually difficult to get some of the more aggressive pads up to operating temperature at all, unless you are doing hard braking repetitively with sticky tires.

The other big factor to consider with braking is your tires. No matter how good your brakes are, the tires are what contact the ground and actually stop you. So if you have some really sticky tires, you can go with more aggresive pads because you can develop the higher friction with the road to stop faster. If you are on stock tires you really do not want to go with something too aggressive, otherwise you will just engage the ABS and never really get the pads to their operating range.

The slingshot setup stock is not that bad, mainly just a pad replacement takes care of most people. The 2 piece rotors are nice and offer better cooling and less rotational weight and with a pad upgrade definitely takes care of almost everyone. The big brake kits are typically not needed unless you are doing some hard track days with sticky tires, although they do look great

Hope that helps,
Dave

Quote from Switchblade

I went to a track day a few weeks ago. I had lots of brake fading and in general my brakes aren't great. I am going to go through and re-bleed them etc.. I do have Hawk 5.0 pads on the front and stock pad on the back. Stock rotors.

I know @rabtech went with upgraded rotors and pads etc so his opinion would help. One would think that the rotor and pad would be the difference maker. Not sure how a 4 piston caliper will provide better braking force over the stock? I have seen its 107 ft from 60-0 with the stock setup and 77 ft from 60-0 using the Stoptech or Alpha setup. Can you get the same result with a similar rotor and better pads but not an upgraded caliper? If I can get away with the better pad, proper bleeding, and slotted/drilled rotors, will I still achieve the same? There is a big price difference. I can't afford the 6 Pistons from Alpha though, but interested in their rotors.

@Noel Hughes

@Turbosling

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Just wondering why you went with the 5.0 pads up front and left the stock pad in the back? The rear brake setup actually does a fair amount of work on the Slingshot and can definitely use the same upgrade in the back.

Quote from Switchblade

@Dave@DDMWorks with the Hawk pads I understand you have to grind the face down to get them to fit. I was going to do just that and my harbor freight grinder took a dump on me on start up. I haven't had time to go up North to get it replaced. I know stupid excuse

I keep hearing that about the Hawk pads and I have no idea where that is coming from. I am sure some of you saw us installing brake pads up at Maggie Valley and all of those were just straight out of the box, no grinding at all. I will say that the rear brake caliper can be a pain to reset by turning and pressing it in at the same time, maybe someone just didn't spend enough time to turn and compress the rear caliper to fit the pads? I would love to know, since we have never ground down any of the Hawk pads before installing them. If someone knows, please share

Quote from Dave@DDMWorks

I keep hearing that about the Hawk pads and I have no idea where that is coming from. I am sure some of you saw us installing brake pads up at Maggie Valley and all of those were just straight out of the box, no grinding at all. I will say that the rear brake caliper can be a pain to reset by turning and pressing it in at the same time, maybe someone just didn't spend enough time to turn and compress the rear caliper to fit the pads? I would love to know, since we have never ground down any of the Hawk pads before installing them. If someone knows, please share

I run the 5.0 Hawk pads with the stock rotors and do not have a heat problem. But in the twisties I use my brakes very little, just ask those that followed me in Maggie Valley. Now as far as having to grind the pad to install on the rear, that was me. Nothing I tried worked until I took a file to the rear pads to get a little more clearance where I could slip over the rotor. This is not my first rodeo, I have done my own work on all my cars and motor cycles since I was 14 years old. There is only 2 things that I have not done and that is the transmission and the rear end, I always let someone else do those. DO NOT TAKE A GRINDER TO YOUR BRAKE PADS the surface needs to be flat and smooth. Matter of fact I have got to put rear pads on the wife's Equinox tomorrow.

Quote from Switchblade

@Dave@DDMWorks thanks for the technical explanation. Really helps.

On another note I see you are offering a sway bar with spherical end links and poly mounts. Can you explain the difference between diff over the stock bar? The look to be the same diameter. I thought the thicker the bar the stiffer it is thus better. Can you provide further education?

Quote from FunCycle

I run the 5.0 Hawk pads with the stock rotors and do not have a heat problem. But in the twisties I use my brakes very little, just ask those that followed me in Maggie Valley. Now as far as having to grind the pad to install on the rear, that was me. Nothing I tried worked until I took a file to the rear pads to get a little more clearance where I could slip over the rotor. This is not my first rodeo, I have done my own work on all my cars and motor cycles since I was 14 years old. There is only 2 things that I have not done and that is the transmission and the rear end, I always let someone else do those. DO NOT TAKE A GRINDER TO YOUR BRAKE PADS the surface needs to be flat and smooth. Matter of fact I have got to put rear pads on the wife's Equinox tomorrow.

Did you use the backing plates maybe?

I am running Alpha Rotors Drilled/slotted and ceramic pads and not the expensive set. I am very pleased and more confident
than ever in the braking of my SS and running all the runs at maggie valley the whole week and coming home on interstate driving
did not feel fading that I had with stock rotors and brake pads.
Also bleeding the whole system I am sure added some help .
After 2500 miles on this setup with braking I am just now thinking of bleeding to take up a little brake pedal fall off I feel.
I wanted big brakes but like most did not want to spend 2 to 4 K and I am so happy with Alpha Rotors and Ceramic Pads.