Is this upgrade worth the money? I have a MY58 Aero TTID Sportwagon which I have had for 4 months and the brake discs look a bit scored, so even though the car is still under warranty until December I am looking into the costs to replace them as it is due for MOT in December. Neo Brothers have a complete Hirsch brake upgrade kit for sale at £773 plus £7.95 p+p and then I would need to get them fitted. The price from Hirsch is £1100 plus fitting at a dealer. Parts for Saabs do a SAAB rear discs & pads kit for £115 plus p+p and a SAAB front discs & pads kit for £115 plus p+p. This is obviously a lot cheaper but will I be looking at the SAAB discs becoming scored more quickly than the Hirsch discs?
I have the Hirsch brakes on my 9-5. The same basic set that Neos are selling. It's a bit better than the standard. And I like it.
I was not so impressed with the earlier Hirsch offering of a 4 piston kit from Brembo. Maybe OK on track, but it did not get hot enough to work in town. It was very similar to standard.
However, have a look at fitting Brembo disks of the standard size. Plain high carbon discs, no grooves or holes. And use them with Ferodo DS 2500 performance pads. This combination on the 9-5 seems to find favour with a couple of people. Have a word with "Phoenix" on here he removed the Hirsch 4 pot brakes and went back to standard size with the Brembo/ Ferodo bits and thinks it's very good. If you can find the similar bits for the 9-3 you might be happy for less money.
I would also say that I found the small 285mm brakes on my wife's 9-3 to be a lot better than the standard 9-5 brakes. So it's possible that improvements will be harder to come by on th 9-3.
Yes, I'm a big fan of the Brembo/DS2500 setup. Apart from anytihng else, you can just about get away with not declaring it as a mod to insurers. In day to day driving with braided hoses you'll find the setup hard to beat and it doesn't carry the unsprung weight penalty of the 345 kit.
I first used Brembo/DS2500 on my 9k and it was good- a huge improvement over standard. I susbesequently upgraded to AP four pots with DS2500 as I was doing track days. They were awesome- far better than the Hirsch four pots.
The only thing I didn't do with the Hirsch kit was try DS2500. I'm sure there would have been an improvement as they are a very grippy pad.
Stock discs and pads will be cheaper to replace than the 345s too.
The only donwside of them is the occasional squeal on low speed light braking.