AP Racing by Essex Radi-CAL Brake Kit Selection Guide

[jritt@essex]

Hello Gents,

Based on our client conversations over the past couple weeks, it's obvious that many of you have a shiny new AP Racing by Essex Brake Kit at the top of your holiday wish list. We have several brake kits available for the e9x chassis, which can make it difficult to decide which one best fits your needs. We wanted to share the assets below to help ensure you make the proper selection during your holiday shopping.

Planning for Future Brake Needs

Are my current brakes up to snuff? What if I add race slicks or a supercharger? Will I need something different as my driving skills improve? Our video, "How to Plan for Future Brake Needs" examines these topics and offers some points for consideration before taking the plunge on a major brake upgrade.

Competition Kit or Road Kit?

Whether you're looking for the most gorgeous brake package to fill up your 20" wheels, or you're trying to cut every hundredth of a second from your lap times, Essex has an AP Racing Brake Kit to fit your needs. Check out our Road Kit vs. Competition Kit comparison page to help figure out which type of brake kit is the best fit for your situation.





Which Pro5000R is right for me?

For those of you specifically considering our Radi-CAL Competition Kits, our blog article, "Which AP Racing Radi-CAL is Right for Me, the CP9660 or CP9668?" will help you narrow down your options while covering the topics such as wheel fitment, pad volume, unsprung weight, etc.





Thanks for your continued support gents, and I hope you find these resources helpful!

[Mr_Reeves]

I have the CP9660 kit on the front of mine and I absolutely love it!

It's definitely a track setup though and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone wanting a 'fast road' brake kit as it will be overkill.

Replacement parts and general maintenance of the kit is laugh-out-load cheap.

[slowdown_dan]

Do you guys offer the 9665 front calipers? What are the differences between them and the 68's, if any? I see they both use the same thickness brake pad for one...

[//steve\\]

What's the name/size/shape of the pad we want if looking at other options? Are these fairly limited in pad selection?

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by //steve\\

What's the name/size/shape of the pad we want if looking at other options? Are these fairly limited in pad selection?

For PFC, the F 9668/9660 caliper uses the PFC 7790, and the R 9449 caliper uses the PFC 7768. These pads are readily available as well as from Ferodo, Hawk, Carbotech, Porterfield, etc (you can check Essex’s website for part numbers from other manufacturers). Most manufacturers offer both street and race brake pad compounds.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by butte2butte

Do you guys offer the 9665 front calipers? What are the differences between them and the 68's, if any? I see they both use the same thickness brake pad for one...

Different radial mount hole locations and pad shapes.

[jritt@essex]

Originally Posted by butte2butte

Do you guys offer the 9665 front calipers? What are the differences between them and the 68's, if any? I see they both use the same thickness brake pad for one...

The 9668 and 9665 are slightly different. We use the 9668 in our program for several reasons. The primary one is that the 9668 shares its mounting center spacing of 180mm with the narrower 9660 (distance between the two mounting holes). That means the 9668 and 9660 are interchangeable on the same discs. We have racing customers who use the 9660 for sprint races to save weight, and then they install the 9668 for endurance races. Nothing else changes during that swap...same caliper bracket, same lines, fits on the same discs. The pad shape on 9668 and 9660 are also the same (9665 uses a different shape). That means if you have a set of pads for the 9660, they work in the 9668. If you have a worn set of pads from a 9668, you can run those in the 9660. That increases the overall flexibility/interchangeability of parts, lowers the number of parts a racer needs to hold in their trailer, etc. It also makes it easier for pad producers to offer the pads in volume for both calipers.

The 9665 uses a completely different pad shape from the 9660 and 9668, and has different mounting center spacing (210mm) and pad shape. That means you can't swap it out with the narrower 9660. If we used the 9665, we'd have to build completely different caliper mounting brackets, inventory more of each pad shape, etc. It just doesn't make any sense for us to do so, and would limit our customers' options.

[jritt@essex]

Originally Posted by //steve\\

What's the name/size/shape of the pad we want if looking at other options? Are these fairly limited in pad selection?

The AP Pro5000R Radi-CAL line of calipers was intentionally designed around a very common AP Racing pad shape introduced many years ago. That was a 'must have' for us. We didn't want to force our clients to use a proprietary pad shape. Every pad manufacturer makes the shape in some form another (different thicknesses, radial depths, etc.). At any track event, it's likely someone at the track has a set of these, including the track shop (if there is one).

From our website:

Brake Pads in A Commonly Available Shape

The basic pad shapes for the Pro5000R calipers were created by AP Racing many years ago, and are used by a wide range of racing calipers today. They're available in just about every popular racing compound on the market. That means you’ll never end up in a pinch without pads.

Pad modificationDimensions= 152.1 x 54 x 25 mm

Pad Retention Loop

The basic pad shape above comes from some manufacturers with a small loop on the top edge (the portion above the red line in the drawing above). On certain calipers a pad retention pin is placed through that loop to hold the pads in place. That small loop is not used in the AP Racing Pro5000R Radi-CAL's however, and must be removed for the pads to fit properly (it can be sawed or ground off in a matter of seconds).

Pad Thickness, CP9660 caliper (18mm) vs. CP9668 caliper (25mm)

For many of the platforms we are servicing, we have both the CP9660 and CP9668 calipers available. The biggest difference between these two calipers is the thickness of the pads that they can accommodate. The CP9660 caliper uses an 18mm thick pad in the above shape, while the CP9668 caliper uses a 25mm thick pad. Which one is right for you? If you're running multi-hour endurance races, or want to reduce the frequency of pad changes, the CP9668 is likely your proper choice. If you're running standard 20-40 minute HPDE/Time Trial sessions, or sprint races, the 18mm thick pads will be more than ample. There are two primary tradeoffs when going with the CP9668 caliper: It is about a pound heavier (including the difference in pad weight), and roughly 14mm wider than the CP9660. You will lose that 14mm on wheel spoke clearance vs. the CP9660 kit, so please make sure to check both fitment templates if you're debating caliper choice.

The available pad compounds that Essex sells for the CP9668 caliper can be found below. Please keep in mind that there are many other compounds available on the market from other manufacturers. The list below represents only what Essex sells. Underneath the manufacturer list below, the pad compounds are listed from most aggressive to least aggressive.

Ferodo Racing

DS3.12
DSUNO
DS3000
DS1.11
DS2500

Note on using brake pads different from those listed above.

Again, please keep in mind that the above is not an exhaustive list, and that there are many other pad compounds available in this shape from other manufacturers. Please note however, that the pad shape we use in our caliper is available in a variety of radial depths (heights), and that Essex recommends the 54mm radial depth version. Another common radial depth in this pad shape is 51mm. The 51mm depth pads will fit into our caliper, but you will be leaving an unswept 'ring' around the disc near the attachment points to the hat (the pad will not hang as low in the caliper). Leaving a portion of the disc face unswept can create a temperature differential across the face of the disc, and doing so could lead to premature disc cracking.

Pad Cross Reference
Since we do not sell most of the brands listed below, Essex cannot guarantee the fitment of these pads in the AP Racing CP9668 caliper, and they may need to be modified as shown above (loop removed). Based on our research however, we believe that these are the appropriate cross references for the basic shape. However, you should verify with either the manufacturer or your installer prior to purchasing any of them for use in the Pro5000R calipers.

[jritt@essex]

Gents,

FYI...our Black Friday Sale goes live tomorrow! You can see the details here:

http://essexparts-7337884.hs-sites.c...s-now-at-essex