[[email protected]]

Hey guys and gals,

Just wanted to share a little side project we have been working on for the past month. This forum here will be the first to hear about it so let me know what you think and if you feel this is a product we should offer to the public.

In our effort to push our SKYACTIV-G racecars and further enhance the platform we discover weakness throughout the car. The latest one stemming from the chassis and more specifically the brakes. As the season heats up so did our brake temps. So much so that we found the limit of the OEM calipers and where destroying the OEM caliper pistons. This lead to really poor heat transfer of the heat around the braking system and a pedal that felt poor. The brakes simply could not convert all it's energy like we needed it to so we had to create a solution. A little background first. This specific race class does not allow for any sort of BBK or rotor upgrade. So all we could do to start was SS lines, high temp fluid, and race pads. All of which are on the car and of high tier performance.

Even with our SS lines, our Motul RBF, and custom cut Cobalt racing pads we still were generating tons of heat in the front brakes and could not get rid of the heat fast enough. The biggest headache coming from simply melting the pistons. After looking for cooling options for the brakes and realizing none existed we decided to make our own. What you see in the pictures below are vehicle specific brake ducts design and tested for the OEM calipers found on the 2014+ MZ3. These have seen 1 race weekend so far and are about to see another one tomorrow. So far initial runs and flow test are super promising. We have been able to get rid of a lot of heat from our front brakes and will continue to develop these and see how much temp we can drop.

So take a look at these ducts and let me know if you think your car could use a pair.

Vincent

 

[GerryB]

Looks super simple and effective. I'd be down for a set.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[g60_corrado_91]

Damn this is pretty cool. My 3 is a daily driver, but I'm looking at upgrading to better pads up front given that I do like driving spiritedly. What sort of price are we talking for these?

 

[Road Trip]

I would be interested in learning more for my daily driver, as cooler brakes is always a good thing when hustling a car around corners/down mountain roads. I have a couple of your products on my WRX, one on my Mazda 3, and am always are looking for more.

Thanks for continuing to update us on this project, including in simple terms, what it would involve or not to install them.

 

[arathol]

There is obviously more to this than a single bolt-on shroud. What do you use for ducting, how is it routed and where is the air sourced from?

 

[Cookie_Thumper]

Looks similar to what I did the our Maz 2 race cars, Big slotted rotors/willwood 4 pots/stainless lines and a higher spec fluid All meant nothing when the heat was killing the pads (winmax w4's), ducted the front brakes and the pads are now a lot happier, a very worthwhile upgrade if you drive hard.

 

[chutoyy]

There is obviously more to this than a single bolt-on shroud. What do you use for ducting, how is it routed and where is the air sourced from?

I'm guessing it's a complete back plate replacement with hi-temp silicone/flexitube that will draw air from the fog light opening.....

I'm more interested in the complete set of SS brake lines though...

 

[[email protected]]

Damn this is pretty cool. My 3 is a daily driver, but I'm looking at upgrading to better pads up front given that I do like driving spiritedly. What sort of price are we talking for these?

Can't honestly say yet as we are still in R&D and seeing if the market would support a product like this. As well would depend if we just sell the plates themselves or a whole kit with ducting as well.

 

[[email protected]]

There is obviously more to this than a single bolt-on shroud. What do you use for ducting, how is it routed and where is the air sourced from?

Allstar Performance 3" brake duct hose routed alongside the sub frame. For convenience and a clean look we opted to source our air from the OEM fog light locations. This allowed us to keep all the OEM shrouds and ducting for the radiator and fan as well as retain all the under-body trays for aero efficiency.

 

[[email protected]]

I'm guessing it's a complete back plate replacement with hi-temp silicone/flexitube that will draw air from the fog light opening.....

I'm more interested in the complete set of SS brake lines though...

That is how we have it and would probably sell a kit similar to it. Depends on how many people don't care to have fog lights.

 

[g60_corrado_91]

That is how we have it and would probably sell a kit similar to it. Depends on how many people don't care to have fog lights.

I wonder how it'd work for those without foglights at all (I have an iSport). I guess I could get different housings to work with this. All depends on the cost haha.

 

[Moto-x_Mike]

I would be interested in learning more for my daily driver, as cooler brakes is always a good thing when hustling a car around corners/down mountain roads.

Thanks for continuing to update us on this project, including in simple terms, what it would involve or not to install them.

This nails it for me. Interested, depending on cost & what it takes to install them.

 

[ADarkerBreed]

Very cool (pun intended) idea, if I ever take up autoX brakes and cooling are the first place I'd look.
For my usual daily driving I love my foglights, but I'm pretty interested in the SS lines, do you offer them a la carte?

 

[arathol]

That is how we have it and would probably sell a kit similar to it. Depends on how many people don't care to have fog lights.

My car doesn't have them anyhow. :smile2: Many 2.0 cars don't come with them.

I wonder how it'd work for those without foglights at all (I have an iSport). I guess I could get different housings to work with this. All depends on the cost haha.

Fog light bezels are easy to source and cheap, about $20 a set.
Already have been looking into this very thing. A ready made kit would make things easier....:smile2:

 

[Road Trip]

As you are asking, I choose to keep my fog lights -- not to personally pursue this important performance upgrade.

However, for other M3R members, I hope @CorkSportVincent, that you continue to fine tune this project's development, there are many who wish to instead use their fog light openings for your improved brake ducting option.

 

[[email protected]]

Wrapped up the weekend at Portland Intl Raceway and collected some more data. These ducts look very promising.

 

[zs_3]

Yeah mine might just be a daily driver but cooler brakes are always a nice reassurance. I'd be down to buy a set of these and the brake duct hose as well all in a kit. I'd have to source out the bezels for my 2017 but I'm sure I can find a set through a Mazda dealer.

 

[dradernh]

Wrapped up the weekend at Portland Intl Raceway and collected some more data. These ducts look very promising.

Do you have rotor temperature-drop data you'd care to share, along with which Cobalt pad compound you were running?

 

[Midnightsky228]

I don't want to lose my fog lights, BUT, the risk of melting my calipers is something I wouldn't want to experience as Im sure warranty wouldn't cover it. I have not been overly happy with my oem brakes and will be investing in some upgrades to them next year. It looks like this kit(if sold) would be within the realm of something I would want to do for combating high brake temps. Are you planning to include any type of mesh screen/cover to prevent road debris from entering the ducts? I do quite a bit of back gravel road hooning and these ducts could create problems with debris if there wasn't some type of mesh screen ect.

 

[[email protected]]

Do you have rotor temperature-drop data you'd care to share, along with which Cobalt pad compound you were running?

I'll be going over data in the coming weeks so I can get you guys something later. As for pads it varies a bit per circuit on the front but normally XR1 front and XR4 in the rear.