4pots

[Adam L]

never had any issues with the hi-specs ive got , so much better at stopping in my opinion , and im just using a standard set of volvo pads from local parts place .
not been on track but on the road they have been awesome tbh braking hard from over 100 mph is no issue and gives me alot more confidence

maybe the set your m8 had Mart were badly fitted ?? surprised though that you slate them so much when you have never had them on a car of your own

I have, however they were on a car 400kg's heavier than a 5. That was the 4 pot kit with 310mm discs and they were terrible. The standard brakes on my 200sx were better.

[olidaviesuk]

Just thought I'd chuck my experiences in, as may prove useful. As mart says, nothing much wrong with the stock setup on the 5, it's not a particularly heavy car, doubt most track spec cars will weight in at more than 850kg so gonna take less mechanical effort to stop than something bigger weighing more. Have used the ebc greenstuff and redstuff - green is utter sh*te no pedal feel, red is better, but nothing comes close to the mintex 1155's and know the Ferado 2500's are really rated as well (like Mart I give my brakes a real hard time, but never had any probs) the 1155's can certainly be got for under £80 in standard fitment, not sure if it has been mentioned, but with the right master cylinder combo in conjunction with multi pot calipers will give you better pedal feel...

[Adam L]

Mintex do good pads, I used 1144's, which were better. Not sure if you can still get them to be honest.

[Mart]

maybe the set your m8 had Mart were badly fitted ?? surprised though that you slate them so much when you have never had them on a car of your own

I fitted them, and if you read all of what I posted before, you'd have seen that they were found to be leaking from one of the pistons, hence a manufacturing error/defect

If you check where Hi-Spec are based, and where I used to live for 30 odd years, it might register that I also know a bit more about Hi-Spec than what I'm posting on here.

If the setup works for you, fair enough, but I like to make people aware of inferior quality from my experience of a given product.

[Woznaldo]

Ok, fair point. I know the K Sports are fitted to Evo's, 200's, Skyline'ss, 300zx's, 350z's, Impreza's...

They probably would do a kit for a Renault if you had at least 17's and a good order for the small PCD

K-Sport do make a kit for the Super R5 as I got a quote from them for $2200 for their 4 Pot 286mm 2piece disc set up.

[olidaviesuk]

Heard more than a few horror stories about their early stuff myself, back when I used to work for a popular car magazine...., most of it due to inadequate dust seals and piston seal leakage, mind you that was almost ten years ago now, having had a set of their billet 4's on my old pulsar they seemed okay, some of the more race and kit car oriented stuff seems to be earning a decent rep in the last few years, however, I doubt I'd put anything other than ap, willwood or brembo on the cup given the choice....

Last time I looked rally design were doing a 4pot willwood kit that would fit under 15's for around £500.

I fitted them, and if you read all of what I posted before, you'd have seen that they were found to be leaking from one of the pistons, hence a manufacturing error/defect

If you check where Hi-Spec are based, and where I used to live for 30 odd years, it might register that I also know a bit more about Hi-Spec than what I'm posting on here.

If the setup works for you, fair enough, but I like to make people aware of inferior quality from my experience of a given product.

[Adam L]

Heard more than a few horror stories about their early stuff myself, back when I used to work for a popular car magazine...., most of it due to inadequate dust seals and piston seal leakage, mind you that was almost ten years ago now, having had a set of their billet 4's on my old pulsar they seemed okay, some of the more race and kit car oriented stuff seems to be earning a decent rep in the last few years, however, I doubt I'd put anything other than ap, willwood or brembo on the cup given the choice....

Last time I looked rally design were doing a 4pot willwood kit that would fit under 15's for around £500.

Funny you mention Pulsar, I had them on mine and thought they were **** from the start. I changed pads and bled them several times still thinking they were turd. They certainly weren't slowing me down from the rate the car was accelerating.

[Mart]

Heard more than a few horror stories about their early stuff myself, back when I used to work for a popular car magazine...., most of it due to inadequate dust seals and piston seal leakage, mind you that was almost ten years ago now

A quick Google search of 'Hi Spec brake quality' reveals they're still as cr8p today, it would seem.

Popular car magazine, Bromley; wouldn't be Fast Car per chance?

[benj88]

Iv got greenstuff pads on the 5 and I think they are crap, I was actualy going to get the Mintex I should have now, would people say they are the best oe pads? One of my mates had willwoods before and he said they were great

[Mart]

Mintex are good, although I found them to be a bit 'dusty'.

Pagid FTW.

[olidaviesuk]

You certainly paid attention in geography in school Mart

Had the same problem with mine Adam, they got a lot better when we disconnected the ABS on the car... not that it should have made a blind bit of difference, but strangely did..

A quick Google search of 'Hi Spec brake quality' reveals they're still as cr8p today, it would seem.

Popular car magazine, Bromley; wouldn't be Fast Car per chance?

The ABS just stops them from locking up prematurely. It seems to be the in thing to remove with larger brakes on the Jap motors. You can usually feel it kicking in when hard on the pedal. I've not removed it myself but I don't feel the need, I just want better pads.

[Mart]

If it was Fast Car, around that time, you must know Suzy (and Giles) then?

[olidaviesuk]

Yep, good mates of mine, was karting with them last weekend

If it was Fast Car, around that time, you must know Suzy (and Giles) then?

[Mart]

Small world! I'm good mates with them too.

In fact, thinking about, you might be the Ollie that I gave a lift from theirs a good few years back

[olidaviesuk]

Isn't it! more than likely, especially if you dropped me off @ a house in orpington which had about 30 cars outside of it in various states of being put back together

Small world! I'm good mates with them too.

In fact, thinking about, you might be the Ollie that I gave a lift from theirs a good few years back

[DK DEVELOPMENTS]

Had Hi Spec what aload of sh#t £1800 pounds of dog sh#t is what I had
once they have your money they couldn't give a sh#t the guys wife is just plane rude.

[benj88]

Mintex are good, although I found them to be a bit 'dusty'.

Pagid FTW.

Yeh I was told there a bit dusty that's what put me off lol

[olidaviesuk]

lets not turn this into a Hi-Spec bashing session gents, suffice to say they produce a product, of which there are various alternatives on the market of better quality

[Alex]

I use KTR 285mm disks with Ferodo DS2500 pads, Goodridge brake lines with fresh DOT 4 fluid. I do happen to have new callipers and master cylinder but have absolutely no fade at all on track.

[Mudslinger]

I can only say , for the money they cost which was i think £500/£600 they certainly were the cheapest option compaired to AP/wilwood set up and they certainly do the job for me and look nice ,cant see how using ap or any other 4 pot set up would make braking any better . As far as quality goes i dont have any issues .

Maybe they are like Renault/any produced cars , its just unlucky if you get a produced product that is made first thing monday morning or last thing fri afternoon.
Also considering the 5 is such a light car as mentioned previouslly by Adam maybe some of the quality issues might not affect them so much , id rather hear what peeps that actually use them on 5's think not just genreal rubbishing them when you are compairing them being used on bigger heavyier cars .

Also just to add , i did a search on google rgds Hi-spec quality and only seem to find bad reports on there 6 pots , Cant find any negative comments by peeps using 4 pots .seems the customer service sucks , never had any dealings with them direct so cant comment on that

[Mart]

id rather hear what peeps that actually use them on 5's think not just genreal rubbishing them when you are compairing them being used on bigger heavyier cars

Thank you.

Also just to add , i did a search on google rgds Hi-spec quality and only seem to find bad reports...

Ahh, good old Google, for those people who have trouble believing anything posted on here...

[car.crash]

I use KTR 285mm disks with Ferodo DS2500 pads, Goodridge brake lines with fresh DOT 4 fluid. I do happen to have new callipers and master cylinder but have absolutely no fade at all on track.

i just fitted the same setup myself but will be putting std sze discs back on for track.

[Alex]

i just fitted the same setup myself but will be putting std sze discs back on for track.

I'm likely to be going back to std discs myself at some point so I can get the 13's on

[Ross]

i just fitted the same setup myself but will be putting std sze discs back on for track.

why mate?

[Logg]

why mate?

So he can fit 13' rims to use his track slicks at Mallory.

[Ross]

Oh that's cool was thinking of getting the same set up so wanted to make sure it wasn't to do with the effectiveness

[Alastair]

I use Hi Spec 4 pots and have to say they are excellent. I have had:

STD disks + pagid - long time ago - great on the road but cooked them on track, my first ever experience of massiv fade approaching a tight bend - asshole = 50p 20p 50p 20p

STD disks then black diamond X drill and groove with pagid, and DS2500 ( ferodos were really good and took some hammering but i kept warping disks after long stops from 100+ and i moved to 285 fairly soon.

KTR 285mm and ferodo2500 (great set up but you lose the 13" rim) and associated cheap track tyres.

Hi - Spec 4 pots and 2 different size master cylinders ( i found the standard M/C better than the bigger M/C for feel as Ollie says and have gone back to std again) These get a lot of hammer, and in the tight chicanes lots of left foot braking on full gas in 2nd, they have never missed a beat, apart from once at brands hatch, where i was bleeding the brakes at 0130 the night before and the hyd handbrake wouldnt bleed so i gave up, hence the poor brakes that day. The red stuff pads i have come with a bad reputation, and i am not entirely sure about them, I am going to be changing them soon to carbon loraine ds6 as they are nearly shot. I'll happily report back feedback.

The first set of Hi Spec calipers i had were second hand and as you say were the earlier design and leaked. £35 for Hi Spec to re-furbish them is not bad though, and only a 2 week lead time. They can also re-anodize them to make them look new. I didn't have a problem with the customer service, she was lovely on the phone and gave me 10% disount after some sweet talking.

The new design Hi Spec brake calipers are awesome, and have my full confidence.

[benj88]

I use KTR 285mm disks with Ferodo DS2500 pads, Goodridge brake lines with fresh DOT 4 fluid. I do happen to have new callipers and master cylinder but have absolutely no fade at all on track.

Would you need different calipers to standard for that set up mate? How much does it come to?

[James5]

Would you need different calipers to standard for that set up mate? How much does it come to?

I run he ktec 285mm kit and it's standard calipers only difference is the caliper extenders bracket and the 285mm discs seems ok for my usage not had any probs and dare I say it I use greenstuff pads up front as that's what I got the kit with about 3-4 years ago now and still on those pads loads of meat left ( the 5 is a 2nd/hobby car)

[Alex]

Would you need different calipers to standard for that set up mate? How much does it come to?

No, standard callipers are fine.

[benj88]

I run he ktec 285mm kit and it's standard calipers only difference is the caliper extenders bracket and the 285mm discs seems ok for my usage not had any probs and dare I say it I use greenstuff pads up front as that's what I got the kit with about 3-4 years ago now and still on those pads loads of meat left ( the 5 is a 2nd/hobby car)

ideal So everything I'd need comes with the kit?