Complete front AP Racing by Essex Radi-CAL Competition Brake Kit for the Toyota GR Supra.

• Features AP Racing CP9660 Radi-CAL calipers
• 372x34mm, 72 vane AP Racing disc
• Saves 23 unsprung lbs. from nose vs. OEM brakes!
• Clears the OEM Supra wheels without a wheel spacer
• Will fit behind many aftermarket 18" track wheels
• Every component designed to resist the heat of extended track sessions
• Pistons sized properly to maintain proper brake bias and work with the OEM master cylinder and ABS system
• Front kits designed to work with either OEM rear brakes or our rear AP Racing BBK

WHAT'S IN THE BOX?

• One pair AP Racing CP9660 Radi-CAL Pro5000R six piston calipers
• One pair 372x34mm AP Racing CP7177, 72 vane, J Hook racing discs, with fully floating 6061 hard anodized aluminum hats, and attachment hardware
• One pair caliper mounting brackets and hardware
• One pair Spiegler Stainless Steel Brake Lines with abrasion resistant coating
• Detailed installation instructions
• Brake pads are NOT included with our system. Racing brake pads are a highly personal choice. Many manufacturers include a set of inexpensive, low quality pads with their brake kits. Rather than artificially inflating the price of our system with a set of pads you probably don't want anyway, we've decided to remove the cost from our system and allow our customers to choose the pads that best suit their needs/wants. When purchasing our kit, you are able to choose one set of front pads at a substantial discount vs. the retail price. Please use the drop-down menu to select your pads.
• Pad Tension Clips (frequently referred to as anti-rattle clips) are NOT included with our Competition Kits, but we do offer them as an option if you're concerned about NVH. One of the great benefits of the AP Racing calipers in our system is that they are designed to accommodate pads from a wide range of manufacturers. Each manufacturer builds their pads with specifications that are slightly different. As such, pads from different manufacturers, or even from different batches, won't always fit in the calipers in exactly the same manner. Some pads are a snug fit, while others may rattle around and produce noise. The Essex Designed Pad Tension Kit is designed to dramatically reduce pad movement inside the caliper, along with just about all resulting noise. 

Hard Anodized Finish

The first obvious weakness when looking at a typical aftermarket caliper is the finish. Most aftermarket calipers come in a painted finish, whether they are red, black, or gold. That painted finish is designed to look pretty and prevent corrosion in harsh winter environment. Unfortunately, for all of the compliments painted calipers generate, there is an associated price if you drive the car in a track environment. That price is the chipping, flaking, fading, color shift, and general degradation of that finish in a fairly short period of time. Some OEM calipers can go from the as-delivered color to a nasty shade of brown in as little as one weekend. While this is typically worn as a badge of honor among our more hardcore customers, let’s face it…they still look terrible. More importantly however, all of those bits of paint end up in places they’re not supposed to, which we’ll get to in a minute.

Why does this happen? Heat. Paint and powder coat cannot adequately handle track temperatures. Powder coat also has some notorious issues with shrinkage. The powder coat layer expands and grows when the caliper is heated. When it cools, the powder coat doesn’t necessarily shrink in step with the caliper body itself. What’s left is a loose shell of finish hanging limply on the caliper body. That shell then cracks and falls to pieces.

Paint can also have similar issues depending on how it is applied. If you were to line up a few aftermarket calipers from the same manufacturer, you would likely see that the painted finish on each of those calipers is slightly different. Some have a thicker coat, some thinner, slightly different shades of red, etc. Painting is to some extent an art form, and must be performed in a tightly controlled environment. If it isn’t, you’re always going to see variation. A thick coat makes the part look soft around the edges, and is prone to cracking off in the same manner as the powder coat described above, leaving the underlying finish exposed. A part without enough paint will look uneven, and will not protect the underlying aluminum particularly well either. In addition to problems with cracking, flaking, and uneven application, paint and powder coat also experience extreme color shift when heated. Red becomes maroon or black, gold becomes brown, and black just gets uglier.

The calipers we are using in the Essex Radi-CAL Competition Kits are ultra-lightweight, stiff, and durable under all track conditions. The finish is a hard anodizing, which is the business under track conditions. When raw aluminum reacts with the oxygen in the air, a hard surface film develops on aluminum which prevents further degradation. The process is called oxidation, and you can think of it like rust. The anodizing process leverages this natural phenomenon, and takes it a step further to produce an extremely hard protective layer of aluminum oxide. It does so by running an electrical current through an acid bath, and dying it to the desired color. If you want to know more, Google it.

The result is a finish that is far more appropriate for racetrack use. Anodizing creates a uniform surface that is much more abrasion resistant than paint or powder coat. That means if you ding an anodized caliper with a box wrench when bleeding it, a big chunk of the finish isn’t going to chip off into your hand. While anodized calipers will still exhibit color shift, it will take a lot more heat to get them to change, and they won’t change as dramatically. More importantly though, you aren’t going to have bits of anodizing sticking to the sides of your pistons.

Pad Cross Reference
Since we do not sell most of the brands listed below, Essex cannot guarantee the fitment of these pads in the AP Racing CP9660 caliper, and they may need to be modified as shown above (loop removed). Based on our research however, we believe that these are the appropriate cross references for the basic shape. However, you should verify with either the manufacturer or your installer prior to purchasing any of them for use in the Pro5000R calipers.