Honda S2000 Big Brake Kits: Brembo, StopTech & Wilwood

A Honda S2000 big brake kit is the single most effective way to turn a fun weekend roadster into a car you can lean on lap after lap. The AP1 (2000–2003) and AP2 (2004–2009) chassis are light – roughly 2,835 lbs – and rev to 9,000 rpm, so they carry serious pace into corners. The problem is the factory 300mm (11.8 in) single-piston front brakes: they stop a stock car fine, but repeated hard braking on track cooks the fluid and pads until the pedal goes long. At NLP Performance in Tampa, FL, the three kits our S2000 customers ask about most are the Brembo GT-S, the StopTech Trophy Race front kit, and the Wilwood Superlite 4R rear kit. This comparison breaks down the specs, fitment, wheel clearance, and pricing so you can pick the right one the first time.

Why the S2000's Factory Brakes Fade on Track

The S2000's factory front brakes fade because they run out of thermal mass. The stock front rotor is a 300mm (11.8 in) vented disc clamped by a single-piston sliding caliper; the rear is a 260mm (10.2 in) disc. That hardware is well matched to a 240-horsepower (AP1) or 237-horsepower (AP2) street car, but a light car that carries a lot of corner speed asks the brakes to convert kinetic energy into heat over and over. Once the rotor and fluid climb past their working temperature – race fluids boil north of 550°F, and a small rotor gets there fast – you feel it as a soft, sinking pedal and longer stopping distances.

A single-piston sliding caliper also applies pad pressure less evenly than a fixed multi-piston caliper, which shows up as tapered pad wear and vaguer modulation exactly when you want precision – trail-braking into a fast corner. None of this matters for a grocery run. It matters a lot the third time you brake from 120 mph into a hairpin. That is the gap a big brake kit closes.

What a Big Brake Kit Actually Changes

A big brake kit is a bolt-on upgrade that replaces the factory caliper and rotor with a larger-diameter rotor and a fixed multi-piston caliper. Three things improve at once. First, a larger rotor – 355mm on the Brembo GT-S versus the stock 300mm – adds thermal mass and a longer moment arm, so the same clamping force makes more braking torque and the rotor heat-soaks more slowly. Second, a fixed caliper with more pistons (six on the Brembo, four on the Wilwood Superlite 4R) squeezes the pad more evenly and flexes less, sharpening pedal feel. Third, most kits ship with a two-piece floating rotor: an aluminum center hat bolted to an iron friction ring. That drops rotational and unsprung weight and lets the ring expand without warping.

In short: a Honda S2000 big brake kit is a fixed-caliper, larger-rotor braking system designed for AP1 and AP2 roadsters that need more fade resistance and pedal consistency for track days, autocross, and spirited canyon driving. Kits also include stainless braided lines and performance pads, which firm up the pedal even before the bigger rotor does its job.

Brembo GT-S 6-Piston Front Kit (355mm) – Top Pick

The Brembo GT-S front kit is our top pick because it offers the most thermal capacity and the firmest pedal of any S2000 front kit we sell. It pairs cast 6-piston monobloc calipers with 355x32mm two-piece slotted rotors (Type-3 slot, black calipers) and fits 1999–2005 S2000s. The 355mm rotor is 55mm larger than stock, which is a big jump in swept area and heat capacity, and the monobloc caliper body is far stiffer than the factory sliding unit. It is a complete kit – calipers, rotors, brackets, stainless lines, and pads.

StopTech Trophy Race Front Kit (309mm) – Best Value

The StopTech Trophy Race front kit is the value pick because it delivers fixed-caliper performance and a two-piece rotor for about $1,400 less than the Brembo. It uses StopTech's forged competition (C43) calipers with 309x32mm two-piece slotted rotors and fits 2000–2005 S2000s. At 309mm the rotor is a more modest 9mm larger than stock, which is the trade-off for its main advantage: the smaller diameter clears many factory-size and 17-inch wheels that a 355mm kit will not. For an AP2 running its stock 17-inch wheels, that clearance can be the deciding factor. It is sold as a Trophy Race big brake kit, so pads are race-oriented out of the box.

Wilwood Superlite 4R Rear Kit – Balance the Car

The Wilwood Superlite 4R rear kit is the one to add when a front BBK has shifted your brake balance too far forward. It replaces the S2000's 260mm rear brakes with 4-piston Narrow Superlite 4R calipers and drilled-and-slotted rotors, and it is the widest-fitting kit here – 2000–2009, covering both AP1 and AP2. On a dedicated track car, matching a bigger rear to a bigger front restores the front-to-rear bias so the car stays stable and rotates predictably under threshold braking. It is priced at $3,424.73 (from $3,835.69).

Honda S2000 Big Brake Kits Compared

Here is how the three kits stack up side by side. The Brembo and StopTech are front kits; the Wilwood is a rear kit, so a full-corner track build often pairs a front kit with the Wilwood rear.

The Budget Path: Better Rotors and Pads

You do not need a full big brake kit to fix most street and light-track fade. Upgraded slotted rotors and a race pad compound keep the factory calipers and factory-size wheels while adding real fade resistance for a fraction of the cost – the parts below start at $154.49. This is the path we recommend for a daily-driven S2000 that sees the occasional track day or autocross.

DBA 4000 Series Slotted Front Rotor – $154.49

The DBA 4000 Series front rotor (part DBA4482S, fits 2000–2005) is a direct-fit slotted upgrade with DBA's Kangaroo Paw vane design for better cooling. At $154.49 (from $261.85) it is the cheapest meaningful upgrade to fade resistance and pedal consistency you can make.

Hawk Talon Slotted Front Rotor Set – $210.15

The Hawk Talon front rotor set (part HTS5312, fits 2000–2009) uses 11.8-inch (300mm) slotted rotors that mount behind the factory calipers and wheels. At $210.15 (from $382.99) it is an easy, wheel-off afternoon upgrade for both AP1 and AP2 cars.

EBC Racing RP-1 Race Front Pads – $179.42

The EBC Racing RP-1 front pads (part DP81254RP1, fits 1999–2004) are a full race compound with high thermal stability for repeated hard stops. At $179.42 (from $211.18), pairing RP-1 pads with an upgraded slotted rotor gets a street car surprisingly far before you ever need a full big brake kit. Note that race pads want heat – they are best on a car that sees track use, not a pure commuter.

Fitment and Wheel Clearance (AP1 vs AP2)

The S2000's front brakes are shared across AP1 (2000–2003) and AP2 (2004–2009), so most front kits list a 2000–2005 range and the Wilwood rear covers 2000–2009. The real fitment question is wheel size. AP1 cars came on 16-inch front wheels and AP2 cars on 17-inch fronts, and rotor diameter drives clearance: a 355mm kit like the Brembo GT-S generally needs 18-inch or larger wheels, while the StopTech 309mm kit clears many 17-inch and factory-style wheels. Always confirm clearance against the manufacturer's wheel template for your specific wheel – offset and spoke shape matter as much as diameter.

If you are keeping the factory 16- or 17-inch wheels, the budget rotor-and-pad path is the safe bet because those parts are designed to fit behind the stock calipers. In our Tampa shop, the most common mistake we see is ordering a 355mm front kit for a car still on 17-inch wheels – measure first, order second.