The X1/9 Gets a Prima Brake Upgrade

A couple of months ago, I was fortunate to pick up a brand new set of Vick Auto Sport Prima front brakes for my X1/9 at a very reasonable price, without copping the outrageous cost of freight from the USA.  And when I say outrageous, how does $US1,000 (AU$1,500 at the time of publication) sound?  

Just to be clear:  we're talking the cost of transporting them from the US to Tasmania.  It does not include the actual purchase of the brakes themselves, which, at today's rates, come in at $US500 ($AU750) per pair.  The freight component is as per Vick's quote, although they did note that it was less expensive to ship to mainland Oz.  Not their fault but still a firm no thanks from me!

Powder coating is a Vick option, although mine came raw and have been painted with Duplicolor caliper paint.  US$ 30 buys slotted and cross drilled rotors, too.  

According to Vick's website: 

 

Original vintage Fiat brakes utilize archaic and troublesome solid rotors and the sliding wedge caliper design, which requires the moving portion of the brake assembly to grind and slide across large steel brake wedges. These surfaces are prone to rust, corrosion, brake dust accumulation, and more, which leads to dragging brakes and horrible, inconsistent brake performance.

Vick further state that their Primas:

[are] not merely an oversized stock brake system; [they are] a modern brake system with vastly improved sliding pin calipers, and oversized VENTED rotors.

(https://www.vickauto.com/parts/prima-front-brakes-fiat-x19-128-l-scorpion-sku-05-211x/, accessed 19 NOV 22 / emphasis original). 

The kit includes:

• NEW Front brake calipers [single pot],
• NEW Vented Front brake rotors,
• DOT Approved Stainless Steel Brake Hoses, and
• All necessary mounting hardware (ibid),

which is both comprehensive and great value.  My mechanic says they were a breeze to fit, too. 

The eagle-eyed may spot that we swapped out the wheels bolts for studs while we were at it.

So how do they perform?  I'm going to have to admit to being a little underwhelmed, especially when I've read reviews that rate them more highly than Wilwood offerings for X1/9s.  I'm still very pleased with the purchase; the price was very, very good and I thank the seller for having made them available.

In general use (this is a road car only), they seem to have fractionally more bite - say around 10% - so nothing to write home about.  Mind you, I never found the standard brakes to be "horrible" or "inconsistent," just consistently uninspiring.  It is possible to lock the replacement Primas up in the wet but inducing skids on dry tramac has so far eluded me.  

However, they can clearly handle a significantly higher level of abuse than the standard brakes, remaining cool when used quite hard over fairly extended periods on some tight, twisty Targa-style roads.  That's a win! 

Of course, it is possible that the rest of the braking system is sub-par but we've bled the rears and still not really made much improvement.  This is something that we'll be exploring further over the next few months.  I'll provide an update if we discover or learn anything that helps. 

U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)

iPhone images.