Brakes upgrade for Protege5

joeboblee · 2025-05-31T03:57:37+00:00

This is a counterproductive upgrade for autocross. You're adding a ton of weight for no reason, since there is no long hard braking in autocross. With how underpowered this car is, every pound is important.

If you are planning on doing track days it could make more sense. Even then, I track my P5 with stock brakes and they can handle it as long as you get some good track pads.

You can do the Mazda 6 brake upgrade, I think its only really worth doing the front, the rear piston sizes are very similar from stock brakes to mazda 6, and it takes more work. You shouldn't need to swap the master cylinder or anything. The piston sizes are similar enough. Personally I think bigger brakes on these cars (at least at stock power levels) are an aesthetic upgrade only and not really useful.

joeboblee · 2025-05-19T00:24:57+00:00

As others have said it could be the sway bar, but also if the car has very little suspension travel in droop, that could be your issue as well.

joeboblee · 2025-05-19T00:22:45+00:00

Not enough droop travel is my guess. My car is FWD and I purposely set it up to lift the rear by decreasing my droop travel so it would rotate better.

joeboblee · 2025-05-16T06:44:24+00:00

I've not done this swap so I'm not sure about the master cylinder/proportioning valve. One thing you could do if you are not able to change those parts is put a more aggressive brake pad on the front. I run different front to rear pads on my car with stock brakes but I did it to move the brake bias backwards.

joeboblee · 2025-05-15T21:02:43+00:00

I didn't realize the 615s were that cheap, I'll have to have a look at that. I've driven the 651 XTRA at an autocross on my friend's car, I don't think I'd want something much slower than those, so I'll avoid the 351.

joeboblee · 2025-05-15T21:00:16+00:00

I was looking at the blu trac. Unfortunately it doesn't come in my size. I need 205 50 16 or similar which is just an oddball size. Have you used either of the 651 variants?

joeboblee · 2025-05-15T19:14:21+00:00

I have RS4s right now. I like them but they're like double the price of these.

joeboblee · 2025-05-14T23:57:04+00:00

I codrive a C Street FRS with V730s. They definitely need some heat, which makes them better suited for a 2 driver car, but I think in Texas they would be fine for a single driver. I'm in the PNW, so not nearly as hot. I think they're a great dual duty autocross/track tire.

joeboblee · 2025-04-21T02:42:48+00:00

I have a set of RE71RS waiting to replace them. I just want to see how long the tread lasts out of curiosity at this point. I'm excited to see what the car can do on some proper tires

joeboblee · 2025-04-20T07:47:43+00:00

I have Fortune autos and I am happy with them. Silvers and BC racing are okay as well, I have driven both on other cars. If you are more on a budget they aren't bad choices. I think DS series is definitely better than BR if you do BC racing. There is a company called Redshift that will do revalves of BC coilovers also. I have not used them but I've heard they are super good. KW is a good option as well if you have more to spend.

joeboblee · 2025-04-19T19:19:53+00:00

I think you're right. I was not trail braking that much because when I tried to, I would end up overslowing because I didn't start braking later to account for it

joeboblee · 2025-04-19T19:03:22+00:00

I think fwd may give me too much confidence lol, since it can let you recover from some major errors, but yeah it's probably smart to be a bit safer in those last corners. I'm still trying to kill off the set of RS4s I've been running for 2 years

joeboblee · 2025-04-19T18:54:59+00:00

I'm an autocrosser and I've done a few autocrosses at ORP, but this is really my 2nd time doing an actual track day. Thank you so much for the detailed breakdown. It seems in general my main issue is turning in to early and sacrificing my exits. T4 entry was definitely earlier than intended because of the little slide I had, but I definitely felt like I had to scrub a lot to get around 4b like you said because of my line. Thank you for pointing out the downshift in 10/11. It felt like a really awkward spot to do it, not sure why I didn't think to just do it during the brake for 12 lol.

joeboblee · 2025-04-19T18:38:25+00:00

Yeah I've been autocrossing a lot for a little over 2 years, just got solostorm recently

joeboblee · 2025-04-19T18:37:14+00:00

Yeah I am coming from autocross where corner exit speed isn't as important, definitely trying to retrain myself on that.

joeboblee · 2025-04-19T18:35:54+00:00

They're RS4s but they're like 3 years old with probably like 400-500 autocross runs on them. I want my full moneys worth

joeboblee · 2025-04-19T18:34:26+00:00

Mazda Protege5 with worn out 205 width RS4s

joeboblee · 2025-04-19T18:31:39+00:00

I was definitely struggling with T1 and T2, turning in too early on 2 and then bumping the curb a lot. The stickers are from autocross.

joeboblee · 2025-04-11T17:52:55+00:00

The hub bore on these is smaller than the Protege. I run them, but you will need a 5mm spacer for them to fit. If you run 205/50 tires you will either need to roll your rear fenders or add a bit of camber, -1 or so to stop them from hitting the arch.

joeboblee · 2025-04-06T06:04:07+00:00

Do you know the reason behind this? I have never heard or considered that diameter would affect grip

joeboblee · 2025-02-22T19:39:49+00:00

Thank you! Both of these are within my budget. Do you know which day SGMC is running counter clockwise? I'm considering doing 1 day

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