Essex AP Racing GT350 Brake kit now available

After months of testing the Essex Designed AP brake kit for the GT350 is now available. This kit is derived from the FP350S and is identical to what you see on the race car.

Benefits:
-Saves 29lbs over the OEM Brembo system
-Simple 2 Allen head bolt removal for quick pad changes
-Speigler SS Brake Lines included
-HUGE selection of brake pads.
And more.

Features:
-AP Racing CP9660 Radi-CAL calipers
-372x34mm, 84 vane AP Racing disc
-Every component designed to resist the heat of extended track sessions
-Pistons sized properly to allow for seamless integration with OEM master cylinder and ABS system
-Designed to work with OEM rear brakes or our Essex/AP Racing rear BBK (in development)

Kits are shipping now for $4299 which includes one set of pads of your choice with free shipping! CLICK HERE

We also have high temp Ferodo and AP Racing Brake Fluid.

Please feel free to ask any questions!

Please be aware that if you plan on driving on the street and are sensitive to NVH you should consider these pad tension clips. CLICK HERE




Please note that the picture below is a pre production kit, caliper brackets will come anodized.

That is some beautiful hardware.

Epiphany said:

That is some beautiful hardware.

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I agree. We've been using AP kits from Essex for over a decade and are still blown away by their quality and improvements over oem.

What are all the benefits associated with this setup over stock?

"Softball question lobbed up before all the questions"

50 Deep said:

What are all the benefits associated with this setup over stock?

"Softball question lobbed up before all the questions"

Click to expand...

More pad selection.
Can run 18" wheels.
Anti knock back Pistons.
Better, lighter rotors.
Anodized and not painted.
A true track brake and not a production oem brake.
Faster pad swaps without removing the caliber.

Redline8250 said:

More pad selection.
Can run 18" wheels.
Anti knock back Pistons.
Better, lighter rotors.
Anodized and not painted.
A true track brake and not a production oem brake.
Faster pad swaps without removing the caliber.

Click to expand...

Couldn't of answered it better myself.

If you track your car heavily or are building a race car this is what you want.

Redline8250 said:

More pad selection.
Can run 18" wheels.
Anti knock back Pistons.
Better, lighter rotors.
Anodized and not painted.
A true track brake and not a production oem brake.
Faster pad swaps without removing the caliber.

Click to expand...

all while removing 29lbs, thats pretty badass!!

There appears to be several advantages for serious racers wanting to downsize their wheels/tires. However, let's not discount the reduced thermal capacity of this brake set-up. If it's 29 lbs lighter than the OEM system (14.5 per side, I assume), I would guess that 11 or 12 lbs. (per side) is in the rotor friction ring. That reduces braking capacity, which increases rotor temps - all things equal. The reduced diameter and (what appears to be) thickness of the rotor also reduces the heat dissipation ability of the rotor.

For the race car, which I suspect is somewhat lighter than the stock GT350, they used ducted cooling, yet thermal stress cracks are evident. Just something to consider.

Thermal stress cracks occur on the oem brakes as well as well as for any other high performance car over time.

You are also forgetting that the oem system will not release heat as quickly as this system. With this caliper air is able to get to where in needs to be to cool the system quicker and more efficiently.

All things are not equal because comparing the oem 2 piece disc to the AP disc is comparing apples to oranges.

Here are some point below.

Ventilated, Domed Back, Stainless Steel Pistons
There are people who will tell you that aluminum pistons are great for track calipers. They will tell you that the expansion rates of the pistons and caliper body need to be the same when heated. This argument is completely invalid and unproven. Those same people tend to get upset when you point out the fact that every serious race caliper, from every serious race caliper manufacturer on the planet uses either stainless steel or titanium pistons, period. There is a reason for this: they're better!
Stainless steel pistons are far superior to aluminum pistons in creating a thermal barrier. They are much better at keeping heat out of your brake fluid and preventing a soft pedal from fluid fade on the track. This has been proven over and over again at all levels of motorsport. While most aftermarket calipers use a pressed aluminum piston, the Pro5000R's use an expensive machined stainless steel piston.
To add stiffness to the pistons, AP designed the back of the piston with a domed back. At first glance this seems like a trivial design element. It is not. When domed back pistons were introduced in professional racing, driver feedback was immediate and resoundingly positive. The domed back adds considerable stiffness that can be felt through the pedal, and they have now become the standard vs. which all designs are judged.
For even greater heat resistance, there is ventilation on each piston. The air gaps around the piston edge allow for even more cooling air circulation around the pistons. All of these features slow and repel the influx of heat into the brake fluid, preventing brake fluid boiling and fade

Internal Vane Quantity and Quality
The internal vane design on AP J Hook discs is quite a bit different vs. OEM-style discs and other brands of aftermarket discs. Many OEM discs feature a pillar vane design, which can be thought of as a group of posts or pillars connecting the two disc halves together (see pic below). The pillars are not organized linearly from the outside to the inside of the disc, and turbulence is created as air flows through and among them. Pillar vane discs are therefore not particularly well suited to heat evacuation. The goals of a pillar vane design are disc face stability for low NVH (Noise, Vibration, Harshness), and a low cost of production. Pillar vanes are non-directional, and the same part number is used on both sides of the car (again for cost reduction). Other OEM discs feature a straight, non-directional internal vane. While that type of vane flows more air than a pillar, it does not move nearly as much air as the directional vanes featured in AP Racing's discs. Having directional vanes means that AP Racing discs are handed. There is a unique left disc and a right disc in each pair, and they cannot be swapped from side-to-side on the car. The orientation of the vanes is optimized to spin in a certain direction, pumping the maximum amount of air possible through the disc. The shape of these internal vanes is also optimized to promote smooth airflow.

In addition to having a superior internal vane design, AP Racing discs have far more of them! Most aftermarket discs have 30 to 48 vanes. After extensive CFD and thermal stress analysis, AP designed the J Hook's with a high vane count (typically 60 to 84 depending on application). Having more vanes increases airspeed and heat transfer through the disc, reduces air recirculation between vanes, and reduces deflection at the disc face. Compared to an OEM-style disc or competitor's 48 vane discs, the 60+ vane discs are less prone to coning, distortion, and cracking, while providing less brake fade, reduced judder, more even pad contact, and a longer service life.

Thanks for the info - It makes a lot of engineering sense. What is the width of these rotors?

To be clear, the GT350 OEM discs are also directionally vaned - there is a left and right side.

The point I was trying to make is that reduced weight in a braking system is not necessarily desirable. As we know, brake systems convert vehicle kinetic energy (1/2 MV^2) to thermal energy (MCp Delta T). Reducing the brake systems M gives you more Delta T (increased temperature rise) for a given set of conditions, which is usually not desirable.

For Kinetic Energy, M is vehicle mass and V is speed
For Thermal Energy, M is rotor mass, Cp is the rotor material specific heat & Delta T is temperature rise

Another thing of note, is that AP discs seem to have a good amount of contact surface area between the disc and aluminum hat. This will lead to more conduction heat transfer from the disc, thru the hat and into the bearing carrier, raising bearing temps. The OEM uses CRES (stainless steel) pins, which are a poor conductor of heat - ~10 times worse than aluminum.

34mm is the width.

I understand what you're saying.

The biggest thing here is the cooling, this setup will wick away heat faster than the oem setup.

Also to show the size difference, here's the oem disc with the AP disc on top.

This setup in terms of caliper and disc is being used on the new M2/M3/M4, Camaro, E92 M3 and C5/C6/C7 Corvette.

mike.s said:

all while removing 29lbs, thats pretty badass!!

Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more Anthony.

Zombo said:

Another thing of note, is that AP discs seem to have a good amount of contact surface area between the disc and aluminum hat. This will lead to more conduction heat transfer from the disc, thru the hat and into the bearing carrier, raising bearing temps. The OEM uses CRES (stainless steel) pins, which are a poor conductor of heat - ~10 times worse than aluminum.

Click to expand...

Sorry that is incorrect.

It is a floating disc. The disc is floating on the aluminum hat.

Therefore little heat transfer goes into the hat.

There is a reason why the FR350S uses the exact same system! It's a no brainer.

Sorry, it looks like you had the width info in the OP.

The OEM GT350 rotors are 394mm x 40mm (I'm sure on the diameter, not so much on the width) so they are significantly larger, hence the AP weight savings.

Thanks again for the info.