After Market Calipers

Aftermarket calipers or race brake calipers are quite different to standard OEM fitment units in almost all cases. OEM fitment calipers are more rigid, they retract more efficiently after use and apply the required pressure on brake pads in a more efficient way. A good aftermarket caliper will reduce brake pad temperatures and extend pad life and if designed properly will prevent tapered pad wear, prevent pad drag and overheat and in itself will vent better. It will normally also be lighter in weight for certain and include more pistons evenly spread across the pad back plate contact area, very likely also staggered in diameter to prevent tapered wear. A properly designed caliper will allow in many cases for thicker pads to be used and will incorporate better fluid balancing including cross bleed fluid transfer holes to allow pressure in the caliper to stabilise.
 
If you compare all these extra benefits with a boring and antiquated sliding caliper used for doodling around on the street you can see why an aftermarket caliper will be a great help to your race or trackday driving. As a pad manufacturer EBC brakes has for many years fought against the weekend warrior who thinks he can transform a street based vehicle into a race car by a simple pad change. Pads will overheat, burn up and wear fast in track use with standard calipers and to be frank, this is the pad designers nightmare. Having said that EBC Brakes has done a massive number of improvements in its compounding to accommodate occasional track use and has biased a lot of its engineering towards “Living with” the standard caliper. EBC has provided more friction and highly conductive elements to “Balance” heat across the caliper and brake rotor. Caliper drag however is still a major concern and it is useful to read this article on CALIPER DRAG.