Are the Stinger Brembos a little undersized

[Bbrownjohnd]

This is just sheer curiosity. Is the Brembo package on the stinger a little small? For context, I came from a 370z and currently have a G37s, both have the akebono BBK package. Those vehicles are lighter yet the brake rotors are 1 inch larger and are also thicker. When I did the brakes on the stinger, they just seemed kinda small and thin for such a big heavy car especially in AWD config. I know 2 different cars yada yada. But even not comparing to the Z and G, they seem a little small. I must admit tho, once I finally fixed the stinger vibration issue, I haven't had any probs and it doesn't seem to fade, and I drive spiritedly.

 

[undymm]

They are fine for normal driving. But- over the weekend I drove in Austria on the Vorthersee-Malta circuit in the hills, a pretty difficult circuit, serpentines in the hills, climbing, full throttle and so on. My son was there on a Camaro SS, a friend on an M5 competition and the other on an M3. The rides were generally balanced, but my brakes smoked especially down the hill... M5 has carbon, so of course they were OK, but neither the M3 nor the Camaro smoked nor did they fade that much after a few braking manoeuvres

 

[Bbrownjohnd]

They are fine for normal driving. But- over the weekend I drove in Austria on the Vorthersee-Malta circuit in the hills, a pretty difficult circuit, serpentines in the hills, climbing, full throttle and so on. My son was there on a Camaro SS, a friend on an M5 competition and the other on an M3. The rides were generally balanced, but my brakes smoked especially down the hill... My M5 has carbon, so of course they were OK, but neither the M3 nor the Camaro smoked nor did they fade that much after a few braking manoeuvres

Interesting, that's the kinda confirms in a way my thoughts. Thanks for the reply

 

[undymm]

I'm still surprised by the gearbox. The engine oil and water didn't go above 110 degrees Celsius, but the gearbox oil was up to 128 degrees Celsius.

 

[Bbrownjohnd]

I'm still surprised by the gearbox. The engine oil and water didn't go above 110 degrees Celsius, but the gearbox oil was up to 128 degrees Celsius.

Pleasantly surprised, or disappointed with gearbox temp? Is that temp on the high side?

 

[Brendan @ K8 Stinger Store]

Hey @Bbrownjohnd,

I definitely agree with you. We offer a Big Brake Kit from Stolz for the Stinger!

 

[Snicklefritz]

A little small compared to a track car. But that would have upped the price without any purpose since a grand touring car is not a track car.

 

[Volfy]

Stinger is a 4-dr gran turismo (GT) car, and shouldn't be compared to pure sports car like the Z, Camaro SS, and M3. That's just wishful thinking and unfair to what this car is and excels at. I drove 4 of us in my family up to Tail of the Dragon last Summer - 1000 mile each way - in excellent comfort, and still had a hoot dicing and slicing the Dragon. Can't do that with those 2-door sports coupes. Even the M3 would've been cramped, harsh and noisy on the long drives there and back. How about the M5, you say? Well, with a starting price of $125k+, why not throw in the Panamera? Yeah... let's be realistic here.

When you ask questions regarding braking system competence, you need to define exactly what metrics you're qualifying. The big two being (1) braking power and (2) thermal capacity.

We all know about the less-than-stellar OEM Brembo pads, so let's just toss those aside. Suffice it to say, if you want proper HPDE out of your Stinger's Brembos, upgrading to aftermarket brake pads are a must.

For regular street driving, with stock Brembo calipers and a good set of street compound brake pads, a Stinger has more than adequate braking power for just about any sort of spirited driving you could safely do on public roads. Even in mountain passes, as long as the driver does his/her part, those Brembos have adequate thermal capacity. If your brakes are smoking on steep descent, you're are not exercising proper downshifting. If you ride the brake going downhill, you can cook even track-worthy BBK on lightweight sports coupe. If you're a competent driver and a sane sober prudent person, there aren't too many public roads you couldn't enjoy on your Stinger on Brembos. OTOH, if you are, uh... not competent sane sober prudent , then all bets are off.

Speaking of track... that is legitimately where the Stinger's stock Brembos will show its limitations. Yes, you can install high-temp and High Mu (coefficient of friction) track compounds pads on the Stinger to increase its braking power and thermal capacity. That is what I did with EBC Bluestuff. However, when you go WOT down on the back straight, slam hard late-braking just before corner entry, and trail brake into the turn... then repeat the same lap after lap, at some point, there is just no defying physics with a 4dr grand-touring car pushing 4000 lbs. On a very technical track, with short straights, you might do an all-out 20-min session on track compound pads. I did Eagle Canyon Raceway and MSR Houston just fine. On faster tracks like COTA... I wouldn't want to try.

Do I wish the Stinger has 6-pot fronts and 4-pot rears, with matching size rotors? Of course. As much as I wish it had double-wishbone front suspension and a well-calibrated e-LSD. But I doubt we could've gotten our Stingers and G70 for the prices we bought them. Everything is a tradeoff. Learn to enjoy it for what it is.

 

[Bbrownjohnd]

Good

Stinger is a 4-dr gran turismo (GT) car, and shouldn't be compared to pure sports car like the Z, Camaro SS, and M3. That's just wishful thinking and unfair to what this car is and excels at. I drove 4 of us in my family up to Tail of the Dragon last Summer - 1000 mile each way - in excellent comfort, and still had a hoot dicing and slicing the Dragon. Can't do that with those 2-door sports coupes. Even the M3 would've been cramped, harsh and noisy on the long drives there and back. How about the M5, you say? Well, with a starting price of $125k+, why not throw in the Panamera? Yeah... let's be realistic here.

When you ask questions regarding braking system competence, you need to define exactly what metrics you're qualifying. The big two being (1) braking power and (2) thermal capacity.

We all know about the less-than-stellar OEM Brembo pads, so let's just toss those aside. Suffice it to say, if you want proper HPDE out of your Stinger's Brembos, upgrading to aftermarket brake pads are a must.

For regular street driving, with stock Brembo calipers and a good set of street compound brake pads, a Stinger has more than adequate braking power for just about any sort of spirited driving you could safely do on public roads. Even in mountain passes, as long as the driver does his/her part, those Brembos have adequate thermal capacity. If your brakes are smoking on steep descent, you're are not exercising proper downshifting. If you ride the brake going downhill, you can cook even track-worthy BBK on lightweight sports coupe. If you're a competent driver and a sane sober prudent person, there aren't too many public roads you couldn't enjoy on your Stinger on Brembos. OTOH, if you are, uh... not competent sane sober prudent , then all bets are off.

Speaking of track... that is legitimately where the Stinger's stock Brembos will show its limitations. Yes, you can install high-temp and High Mu (coefficient of friction) track compounds pads on the Stinger to increase its braking power and thermal capacity. That is what I did with EBC Bluestuff. However, when you go WOT down on the back straight, slam hard late-braking just before corner entry, and trail brake into the turn... then repeat the same lap after lap, at some point, there is just no defying physics with a 4dr grand-touring car pushing 4000 lbs. On a very technical track, with short straights, you might do an all-out 20-min session on track compound pads. I did Eagle Canyon Raceway and MSR Houston just fine. On faster tracks like COTA... I wouldn't want to try.

Do I wish the Stinger has 6-pot fronts and 4-pot rears, with matching size rotors? Of course. As much as I wish it had double-wishbone front suspension and a well-calibrated e-LSD. But I doubt we could've gotten our Stingers and G70 for the prices we bought them. Everything is a tradeoff. Learn to enjoy it for what it is.

Excllent points made although I detected a lil snark in there, lol, Buts all good tho . Good to hear they've performed well on certain tracks. Gives me more confidence to hear that. I will never take this car to the track or drive it anywhere even approaching something akin to track driving, so good to know they held up for you.

 

[Volfy]

I must admit all these comparison of Stinger to cars that are not anywhere close to being in the same category do get tiresome. But... I understand the reason why: Stinger is almost in a category by its lonesome. As much as I just scoffed at the comparison with Panamera, Porsche's 4dr fastback gran turismo is actually the closest kin to Stinger's raison d'etre. Both too portly to be a true sports car. Both offer a blend of practicality, performance, and sport-touring comfort. One just happens to cost 3 to 5 times the other.

Yet, if you look closely at Panamera's specs, the base model weighs in at close to 4200 lbs (to Stinger base model's 3600 lbs) but it has rotor diameters that are pretty darn close to Stinger's Brembos. Panamera's front rotor starts at 360x36mm, compared to Stinger 350x30mm. Panamera rear rotor starts at 330x28mm, compared to Stinger's 340x20mm. Rotor diameter correlates to braking power, whereas rotor thickness correlates to thermal mass/capacity. On my 2.0T and 2.5T Stingers with Brembos, I don't doubt their threshold braking power to weight ratio might possibly best Panamera base models. Or at least comes very close. That is impressive considering we are comparing $30-40k MSRP base Stingers to $110-150k Panamera lower trims.

One might argue the thicker rotors' higher thermal mass give Panamera an edge in sustained heavy braking, but again that is really only a concern at the track (as I previously eluded to). I dare say 99+% of both Stinger and Panamera drivers never take their steeds to closed circuits. If so, that added thermal mass is just plain dead weight for 99% of the drivers probably 99.9% of the time. And that's the worst kind of dead weight too - unsprung mass and rotational inertia.

Once again, everything on a car is a compromise - one way or another. What might be "a little undersized" for some folks might be a perfect balance for a whole lot of other folks.

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