Brakes, how to have fun safely!
Lets face it, most classic cars have inadequate brakes at best. With help from BCC Performance Braking, Classic Collective can give you modern stopping power with no other alterations to your braking system.
With brakes, quality matters!
When upgrading any component on a classic car, it is essential that the replacement meets or exceeds the standard of the original. Nowhere is this more critical than within the braking system.
Many low-cost brake “upgrade” kits available online, including from some established parts suppliers, fall well short of acceptable engineering and manufacturing standards. These systems may look impressive but often lack proper testing, material quality, and long-term durability.
We work with BCC Performance Braking because their calipers are properly engineered, thoroughly tested, and manufactured in the UK to aerospace-grade standards. This ensures consistent braking performance, reliability, and confidence where it matters most.
How are BCC calipers better?
Disc brakes were first developed by Dunlop in the 1950s for Jaguar and played a key role in the success of the D-Type at Le Mans. Jaguar subsequently adopted disc brakes across its road car range, even highlighting their presence with a warning label on the rear of the vehicle. Since then, the basic disc brake design has continued to evolve through improved materials, more efficient caliper design, and advances in brake pad compounds.
BCC Performance Braking calipers allow classic cars to benefit from over 50 years of braking development, offering significantly improved stopping performance. In real-world use, braking distances can be reduced by up to 40%, depending on vehicle specification and condition.
BCC calipers are designed as direct replacements. They mount to the original fixing points and do not require modification to the rest of the braking system. While installation is straightforward, performance is improved across every critical area.
Key features of BCC Performance Braking calipers
- A minimum four-piston design for increased and more consistent braking force
- Designed, manufactured, and tested in the UK to ISO 9001 quality standards
- Constructed from high-grade aluminium and stainless steel
- Modern fluid and dust sealing, eliminating traditional rubber dust boots that degrade over time
- Supplied with copper-nickel brake pipes and brass bleed and feed unions to reduce corrosion
- High-grade stainless steel pistons, pins, and fittings to minimise internal corrosion
- Black anodised finish for improved corrosion resistance and a discreet, period-appropriate appearance
- External bridge pipes rather than internal porting, helping to keep brake fluid cooler under heavy use
- Extensively tested to deliver a genuine, measurable braking improvement of up to 42%
- Supplied with EBC Ultimax brake pads as standard, with EBC Greenstuff available as an option
What is the real world improvement?
We don’t think that there are replacement calpers on the classic car market that have been more extensively developed or tested. During a session at Millbrook proving ground, using a MKII Jaguar and Land Rover Defender, the stopping distance from 60 MPH was improved by over 12 meters, or 42% by simply fitting BCC calipers.
Not only this but after repeated stops from 60 MPH (5 times) the temperature in the caliper was reduced by 20 degrees. By improving the heat management of the brake calipers, the fluid remains dense and pads operate more consistently even under heavy use.
Our customers have been amazed by the improvement in feel of their brakes. They tell us BCC calipers help them stop quicker, without locking up and skidding.
How do they compare with modern brakes?
The average modern car can stop from 60 mph in around 55 metres. Even the Jaguar Mk II, which was regarded as having excellent brakes for its time, typically requires around five metres more to stop from the same speed.
In real-world driving, that additional distance can be critical. If a modern car ahead brakes hard, a classic car on original braking equipment may simply not be able to stop in time.
By upgrading to BCC Performance Braking calipers, stopping distances can be brought much closer to modern standards. This significantly reduces risk not only at motorway speeds, but also during everyday driving where sudden braking is far more common.
Fitting & costs
Each caliper set is specifically designed for the car you are fitting it to. This means that fitting and bleeding them is pretty straightforward, taking about an hour each side, for outboard brakes. Where things get a little more tricky is taking the old components off!
Sadly the condition of all classics is not equal, so you might find that we have to repair or replace some of the brake pipes/fittings prior to the flexible hoses. A fair average for the whole job is 2 hours per axle, but we can give you a bespoke quote once we have seen your vehicle.
Get your car booked in today
With a dedicated upgrades team we can provide a rapid response for fitting BCC Performance Braking calipers. Call us or click the button below to contact us and we can have your classic collected and on the ramp in just 24 hours!
CALL – 01869 221 870
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