The Evolution of Brakes:Essex/AP Racing Radi-CAL Pro5000R Comp. Kits, must see!

[jritt@essex]

To those of you eagerly awaiting an Essex Designed AP Racing Pro5000R Radi-CAL REAR BBK... Here's a sneak peek at our new Pro5000R four piston caliper. It will be called a CP944X (final number will vary based on specs, as there will be several variants added to the line).

This one will be used in rear BBK's to mate up with our front CP9660 and CP9668 BBK's. It's a four piston with all of the same features as the other calipers in the Pro5000R line...Radi-CAL design, domed-back, ventilated stainless steel pistons with AKB springs, etc. It will use the same commonly available pad shape as the current CP9441 caliper and the venerable CP5040 caliper that many of you are using in the rear brake kits we currently offer for the e90/92. Estimated weight is a feathery 4.8 lbs. It will be moving into production very soon, and should be available later this year.

Below is a solid model.

[roastbeef]

what a work of art! which size rotors will these be mated with?

redpriest upgrade to these and sell me your rear brakes!

[MPACT]

Don't tease me Jeff. After the drama I better be on the beta list for this kit

[e92zero]

When can we expect to see this out? And will they come with the anti-rattling clips? Thanks in advance.

[jritt@essex]

Originally Posted by MPACT

Don't tease me Jeff. After the drama I better be on the beta list for this kit

Save the drama for your mama! You're on the list!

When can we expect to see this out? And will they come with the anti-rattling clips? Thanks in advance.

I'm hoping for October/November, but can't guarantee anything at this point.

[jritt@essex]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

what a work of art! which size rotors will these be mated with?

redpriest upgrade to these and sell me your rear brakes!

Thanks...or rather thank the kick-arse engineers at AP Racing!

We're looking at a 365x30mm, 72 vane rear disc most likely, that will retain the factory parking brake.

[e92zero]

Originally Posted by jritt@essex

Save the drama for your mama! You're on the list!

I'm hoping for October/November, but can't guarantee anything at this point.

I just got done evaluating a solid model of an anti-rattle solution for the front CP9660/CP9668 caliper bridges. We'll work on the rear as soon as it's finalized. I should have something to show for the front within the next two weeks.

That would be so cool. My rear brakes will need replacement soon, maybe I can make a case for upgrade over Christmas. Decision, decision.....

Great looking brakes!!!!

[d0o0fy]

I order my CP9660 front kit from Essex a couple of weeks ago and got to install it recently, so I wanted to update everyone on the installation process and first impressions. I'll have some on-track feedbacks after next week-end.

Everything went very well with the installation. I had a couple of comments for the team at Essex in order to make the installation instructions even better. I'll be happy to share those with anyone that might want to hear them. The one thing that I will say however is to get yourself a set of EZ-out. This was a life saver when I had to remove the set screws of the OEM rotors. Even though the car is barely 3yrs old, those were seized. I only got one out intact, the 3 others I stripped almost immediately and had to drill them out. Honestly that's what took the longest of the whole installation. Everything else is a perfect fit and everything that you need is provided. As expected from AP and Essex, the kit is beautifully designed and really high quality.

One thing that should be absolutely clear is the need for a stud conversion. I cannot imagine trying to get this kit to work on bolts. And that's probably the only issue I find with this kit (even with a stud kit installed) is the lack of any set screws to secure the hat to the hub, causing the rotor to easily slide out. Ironic that I should ask for more set-screws when they gave me so much trouble.

I did get the opportunity to weight both the OEM system and the AP system and here is what I got:

Caliper (APRacing/OEM): 2.7kg / 3.3kg
Braket (APRacing/OEM): 0.4kg / 2.2kg
Rotor (APRacing/OEM): 9.8kg / 9.7kg

Overall: 25.8 kg / 30.4 kg (56.8lbs / 67.0lbs)
Weight reduction: 4.6kg (10.1lbs)

I didn't include the weight of the dust shields since they were already off.
Overall 10lbs of unsprung mass removed with very similar rotational mass.

Regarding fitment, I was able to confirm that the front kit fits the following wheels:
OZ Challenge HLT 18x10 ET 25 (Track)
OEM 359M ZCP 19x9 ET31 (Summer Street)
OEM 220M 19x8.5 ET29 (Winter Street)

On the road, the only (minor) issue I have at the moment, is the rattle made by the pads. I'm used to running track pads with no clips and with titanium shims, so I'm quite used to a bit of rattle from the brakes. But, hopefully all that will be fixed quickly by the tension clips coming out soon. I'm running DS2500 on the street and they are pretty well behaved with very minimal squealing.

I'm already looking forward to upgrading the rear with the upcoming kit.

As I said earlier, my next track event is this coming week-end and I am excited to be able to put the kit through its pace using the DS.Uno pads. They will be paired with RC6E at the rear.

Lots of goodies in the mail:


Here is the kit installed:


And on the 359M:

[e92zero]

Congrats and very nice! Just a comment. You can use something like this to remove the set screws on rotors: https://www.craftsman.com/products/c...-impact-driver

[Striker73]

I have been waiting way too long for the rear kit since I have last spoken to you and finally here it pops up again!!

Still holding off from buying the front BBK and my car has been parked for the past year EAGERLY waiting for some TLC with the AP Racing Pro5000R

[Hujan]

Wow. That rear kit looks phenomenal.

The only consistent complaint I've heard about the latest AP/Essex offerings is the pad rattle. If you are able to sort out some clips, the Pro 5000R kits will absolutely sell like hotcakes. Hell, I would be very tempted.

[jritt@essex]

Thanks for the feedback dooofy! You're going to be really pleased this weekend. Your brakes will feel exactly the same from the first lap of the first session to the last lap of your last session. Enjoy creeping deeper into those brake markers. Please take some pics for us out at the track!

One thing that should be absolutely clear is the need for a stud conversion. I cannot imagine trying to get this kit to work on bolts. And that's probably the only issue I find with this kit (even with a stud kit installed) is the lack of any set screws to secure the hat to the hub, causing the rotor to easily slide out. Ironic that I should ask for more set-screws when they gave me so much trouble.

We've never included set screws with any of our BBK's. The only time we ever did is on the Cayman GT4 discs, because the way Porsche has the discs register makes them very prone to falling off the hub while working on them. I'll mention this to engineering though. Thanks so much for the suggestion.

I have been waiting way too long for the rear kit since I have last spoken to you and finally here it pops up again!!

Still holding off from buying the front BBK and my car has been parked for the past year EAGERLY waiting for some TLC with the AP Racing Pro5000R

Thanks for your patience. Our purchase order is in with AP Racing for the rear calipers. Now we just have to wait for them to make their way through the production process. It will definitely be worth the wait. Hang in there!

Wow. That rear kit looks phenomenal.

The only consistent complaint I've heard about the latest AP/Essex offerings is the pad rattle. If you are able to sort out some clips, the Pro 5000R kits will absolutely sell like hotcakes. Hell, I would be very tempted.

This particular barrier to entry is gone. We believe we have solved this concern. Our prototype Pad Retention Clips have been running on an M2 for a couple months now, and have virtually eliminated all rattle or noise. I'm hoping to post up more details and a video of the results next week. As always, thanks for your patience folks, and keep giving us feedback so we can improve our products.

[Hujan]

Originally Posted by jritt@essex

This particular barrier to entry is gone. We believe we have solved this concern. Our prototype Pad Retention Clips have been running on an M2 for a couple months now, and have virtually eliminated all rattle or noise. I'm hoping to post up more details and a video of the results next week. As always, thanks for your patience folks, and keep giving us feedback so we can improve our products.

That's great news, Jeff. Your responsiveness to, and consideration for, customer feedback is one of the things that really sets your company apart from others. I really feel this kit is going to be the best of any on the market for the E9x M3 from virtually every perspective (cost, aesthetics, track performance, livability). Keep up the great work, Jeff.

[Bx Tpr]

This thread makes me want to sell my stoptechs and get these

What are the chances you guys might make a 4 piston front kit using this new rear caliper?

[jritt@essex]

Originally Posted by Bx Tpr

This thread makes me want to sell my stoptechs and get these

What are the chances you guys might make a 4 piston front kit using this new rear caliper?

The new 4 piston Pro5000R will be usable as a front caliper, and we will apply it to some platforms in that fashion with the appropriate piston bores. That said, we have no plans to design a 4 piston kit for the e92. We honestly haven't seen any demand for such a kit. Everybody with an M3 seems to want and ask for a 6 piston on the front.

Don't feel bad about having the StopTech's. They were the only reasonably-priced game in town for a long while. Our kits are obviously the next generation of hardware, but they've only been available for a short while. You feel the same way I feel about my early iPad right now. It was state of the art when I bought it, but now I can barely stand surfing the web on it because it's so slow and clunky!

You can likely get a nice chunk of change for your ST kit on the used market. Just sell them this winter, and start squirreling away some coin to buy our kit for next spring. That will give you a little time to put some money away without feeling the impact. By then we're also going to have the rears available as well.

[jritt@essex]

Originally Posted by Hujan

That's great news, Jeff. Your responsiveness to, and consideration for, customer feedback is one of the things that really sets your company apart from others. I really feel this kit is going to be the best of any on the market for the E9x M3 from virtually every perspective (cost, aesthetics, track performance, livability). Keep up the great work, Jeff.

Thanks Hujan...really appreciate the kind words. Feedback like this makes me eager to get my butt into work each morning!

[Bx Tpr]

Looking at these calipers I'm noticing the bleed screws are on top and bottom. How do these things get bled?

[jritt@essex]

Originally Posted by Bx Tpr

Looking at these calipers I'm noticing the bleed screws are on top and bottom. How do these things get bled?

You would initially bleed the bottom bleed screw, then the top. Based on the feedback I'm getting from my customers, many of them are only bleeding the top bleed screw on subsequent bleeds after install. We haven't had a single reported issue of not being able to get the Pro5000R's bled properly. Presumably, one of the contributors is that nobody is boiling their fluid with our setup!

[K-M3]

Beautiful ... Absolutely beautiful .... This is probably the set up I would love on my car once the stocks are ready for a replacement .... I've got about 57K on the odo ... N at its recent check at the dealer , service tech informed that they should be good for another 30K at least ... Can't say that I'm not happy about the stock ones lasting so long under regular use .... But at the same time ... Can't wait to get these on ... They look like stunning pieces of work ..... Thank you for all that you guys do :-)

Heck... I may even put the money I've been saving for an akra-evo with a tune setup towards these brakes first ....

[sebaflex]

Originally Posted by jritt@essex

The new 4 piston Pro5000R will be usable as a front caliper, and we will apply it to some platforms in that fashion with the appropriate piston bores.

This would be awesome as a E46M3 front kit!

[g2]

Originally Posted by jritt@essex

This particular barrier to entry is gone. We believe we have solved this concern. Our prototype Pad Retention Clips have been running on an M2 for a couple months now, and have virtually eliminated all rattle or noise. I'm hoping to post up more details and a video of the results next week. As always, thanks for your patience folks, and keep giving us feedback so we can improve our products.

Is this clip shipping with the kits?

Also, the rear kit isn't showing on your website. Is it available yet?

[jritt@essex]

Originally Posted by K-M3

Beautiful ... Absolutely beautiful .... This is probably the set up I would love on my car once the stocks are ready for a replacement .... I've got about 57K on the odo ... N at its recent check at the dealer , service tech informed that they should be good for another 30K at least ... Can't say that I'm not happy about the stock ones lasting so long under regular use .... But at the same time ... Can't wait to get these on ... They look like stunning pieces of work ..... Thank you for all that you guys do :-)

Heck... I may even put the money I've been saving for an akra-evo with a tune setup towards these brakes first ....

Thank you very much!

This would be awesome as a E46M3 front kit!

No plans for that just yet, but who knows down the road. Below are a couple videos from last weekend of our front four piston e46 M3 kit and our front six piston e46 M3 kit / rear e46 M3 caliper kits in action at VIR. Our current kits work very, very well!

Below is a vid of our standard CP5060/355mm E92 M3 front kit at VIR. You can read more details about these customers and see more pics of their cars on our blog.