guilleracing Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Last week I ordered some Hi-Spec ultra-lite calipers. The calipers arrived this afternoon, seven days after placing the order. They were not a stock item, and were machined up for me. I have examined the calipers, they are beautifully machined, have quality parts and look like the proper job. I will add a progress report to this thread when I have bolted them up onto the car and have tested them out. The box containing the calipers was clearly labelled with my address, the contents were properly wrapped and the cost of postage to me in the channel islands was £20.00. I am very impressed with my dealings with Hi-Spec motorsports and would recommend them. I will be happy to fit the product onto any of my future projects. Big thumbs up to them. Greg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Plato Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 do they have all equal size pistons ? here is my Duratec R .... C7 TOP Taffia joint AO with Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaudidly Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 ...and watched them flex like crazy as you press the pedal because there's not enough material left to make them strong enough.... Edited by - beaudidly on 20 Nov 2009 18:44:51 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guilleracing Posted November 20, 2009 Author Share Posted November 20, 2009 Bonsoir! I believe they are all fitted with equal sized piston. They will be able to give you details if you give them a call. I'm planning to run them on the seven to see what they are like. They may then get put onto an ultralight racing car I have in "build up" at the moment. I will report back on the flex or otherwise on these calipers when fitted. Does anyone have any factual evidence of flex? I have some Wilwoods on the Prototype car. I read lots of stuff about them flexing when I was in the initial stages of building up the car. I would have to say flex or not the Wilwoods still pull your eyeballs out of your head when the pads have warmed up. Greg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative bluenose Posted November 20, 2009 Area Representative Share Posted November 20, 2009 I have Hi Spec Ultralites fitted to my car and they seem fine to me, very good braking performance, very light and very cheap to buy. They are fitted to the £100K+ Levante so not sure why they get slagged so much Nick Lava Orange Caterham Blackbird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guilleracing Posted November 20, 2009 Author Share Posted November 20, 2009 I noted with a little interest that the couple of phone calls I had with them left me with the impression that they are a small firm and not a multi-national. Maybe the detractors want a snazzy telephone sale blurb and prices to match. Almost without exception I have found one of the best things about England is that it has small enthusiastic engineering companies selling modestly priced parts. AP calipers have many millions spent on development and have prices to match. I will reserve judgement until I have them on the car and have tried them for myself. One thing I did think was, perhaps calipers in this range with very wide discs may be at risk of flex but my car retains the standard 3/8th thick discs this shouldn't be a problem. Given the fact that light cars need correspondingly less braking, I hope to have had value for money. Greg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnty Lyons Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 let us know which std pads these use as i believe that MAY have caused adverse comments in the past 🤔 jj MTM , N.I. L7C AR 🙆🏻 Membership No.3927. 240BHP 1900cc K Series 40th Anniversary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guilleracing Posted November 20, 2009 Author Share Posted November 20, 2009 Hello again, I think the pads are the same as the original Spitfire size pads. I'm sorry I can't verify this for a few days as the Seven is locked in the back of the transporter and It's raining! ( Poor excuse!) When I get a chance to strip off the original calipers, I will have a look and put something of this thread. Are you saying that very hard pads need so much pressure the calipers flex as a result? I have gone for the softest pads I can find, my driving style doesn't lend itself to monster stops and I have found hard pads never get enough pressure from me to get the best out of them. Mintex DS 11 pads are about the hardest thing I have used and again they were marginal as far as getting heat into them. Greg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F355GTS Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 One of my HiSpec calipers has cracked in line with the bottom outer piston, it's currently at Hi Spec being rebuilt, I'd thought that this was caused because the top inner Piston may have seized causing twist in the caliper during application, hadn't considered the Caliper may not be strong enough? Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guilleracing Posted November 20, 2009 Author Share Posted November 20, 2009 Please can you tell me, How many miles did you drive before this failure happened? how hard pads, were you running? Thanks, Greg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stationary M25 Traveller Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 impression that they are a small firmIndeed ....... they are based in a tiny industrial unit a couple of miles from us on the edge of Dartford Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EFA Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 .... and the same industrial unit that once housed Dartford Composites - manufatcureres of all Caterhams GRP bits until the mid-late 90's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugene Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 I've been isong HiSpec for years, and have done many, many miles - no problems at all 😬 I really rate them, as I'm not exactly soft on brakes 😳 Small Boy - with Loud Toy! Co-founder of the BOG Club See Eugene here and see what I do here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elie boone Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 I have bought the direct replacement 2 pot caliper and indeed it's nicely made and very light at 800gr compare to 3kg for the cast one. It's for my G4, thats of similar weight of a seven and i will test them next year. Pad size is Elise so it's bigger than the Spitfire pad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 I avoided the well-publicised customer-service issues by buying through a third-party (Kitcar Workshop, I think). They did at the time (four years or so back) seem to hint/confirm that HiSpec could be a tad troublesome to deal with. Anyway, the brakes are fine. I think I've got Ultralight 4s. They have the same piston area as the standard brakes, run Elise-pattern pads and are quite a lot lighter than the standard twin-pots. With the AP 'race' master-cylinder, I've achieved a wonderfully-solid pedal - which is how I like it. With Pagids, mine are very, very noisy at times and the equal-sized pistons results (de-bugged by Blatchat) in very uneven pad-wear (not parallel to the backing-plate which might explain why they are so noisy...) Would I buy them again? Mebbe - but I'd go for some with varied piston-sizes (if they do them) probably. 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 Alcester Racing 7s Ecosse™ 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 🙆🏻 Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezky Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 I have this HiSpec kit on my 7.linky Caterham big brake kit is very expensive and replacement pads expensive. Hi-Spec were excellent to deal with. Kit had to be built to order as they were not in stock when I went. Only had to wait 2 weeks for them, they even phoned to say they had been dispatched. As bluenose said, they are good enough for the Levante Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taffyracer Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 what's the levante got to do with anything.........I only ever had 1 experience of Hi-Spec....years ago on a BMW, have to say I thought they were utter tosh and the service when I had an issue was even worse so I swapped to AP's as soon as I could, maybe they've improved but I thought the company was poor and having used decent brakes from the likes of Alcon, AP and Brembo I wouldn't put my money anywhere else, there's a reason why they are all twice the price C7 YUM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardOlive Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 A friend of mine bought a Hi-Spec "big brake" kit for his Westfield. I helped fit it and I noticed the calipers flexing whilst bleeding the brakes - once the bleed nipples were closed and a reasonable amount of pressure applied to the brake pedal the flex in the caliper body, although very slight, was certainly noticeable. Although my friend never had any problems with the brakes on the Westfield I don't think I'd run Hi-Spec calipers on my cars. Richard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSL Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 My Radical runs Hi-Spec calipers with Performance friction PF01 pads, they are awesome stoppers & have excellent modulation *thumbup* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EFA Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 Richard, was the felx within the confines of the caliper body, or was the bracket and upright also flexing? I think some of the calipers made by HiSpec are less robust to get the weight down. The Ultralite (sold for Caterhams, Westfields etc) caliper body is only 28mm wide on the non flange side. The 2 pot version is even narrower at 21mm The R114-4l (sold for the Radical etc) is 36mm in that respect. For comparison the Billet 4 pots are 36.5mm and the Monster 6 pots and their race derivatives (i.e without seals) are 33.5mm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative bluenose Posted November 22, 2009 Area Representative Share Posted November 22, 2009 As said earlier in the thread if you run the standard non vented 3/8th disks then the Ultralites should be fine. I was aware of previous problems with customer service but this seems to be a common problem accross the Caterham supplier network with many people posting problems with companies while others have had no problem. For me Hi Spec delivered on time, at a good price and they work very well. I'm sure others have had a different experience and I hope they had any problems resolved by contacting the company direct. Nick Lava Orange Caterham Blackbird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardOlive Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 EFA – The flex was in the caliper body; when the brake pedal was pressed quite firmly (as if you were braking heavily) there was definitely a very slight but noticeable flex in the bridge of the caliper as the two sides pushed against one another via the brake disc. Quite disconcerting (and completely unexpected) when I first noticed it. Richard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Howe Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 It is perhaps worth mentioning that RiF is now selling Hi-Spec, which members might find an easier route to travel, in terms of resolving any questions/problems. JH Deliveries by Saffron, the yellow 230bhp Sausage delivery machine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TobyCoulson Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 I recently purchased a set from him and so far have no complaints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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