NC Stage 3 Little Big Brake Kit

The NC Miata comes with pretty decently sized brakes from the factory, larger than the big brake kits we offer for the earlier car. So we didn’t see the advantage in adding rotors the size of a pizza, adding a bunch of expense. Instead, we took a page from the Little Big Brake Kit we developed for the earlier cars and did the same for the third generation. We’ve tested these brakes on track with a V8 Miata, so we know they’ll do the job. Naturally, the calipers were properly selected to work well with the stock master cylinder.

Because the new calipers are aluminum, there is a significant unsprung weight savings: more than 6 lbs per wheel in the front and 1.75 lb per wheel in the rear. 

Up front, we kept the stock 11.5″ rotor and replaced the single piston sliding caliper with the latest aluminum four-piston Dynapro design. This caliper is very stiff and gives excellent pedal feel. It also cuts weight compared to the stock one, and gives more even pad pressure. As an added bonus, it’s very easy to swap pads if you’re taking the car to the track. 

In the rear, we used the same exclusive four-piston Powerlite rear caliper that we used on the earlier cars. This stiff little aluminum caliper includes a parking brake mechanism, so you’re not sacrificing anything. In order to fit the caliper, we had to change to a slightly larger 11.9″ rear rotor. It’s originally from a Mazda5, so replacements are easy to source from Flyin’ Miata or elsewhere.

The Powerlite rear caliper has been modified to use the factory handbrake cables, even using factory clips so it’s a really clean install. The handbrake is not as powerful as the stock setup, so while it can be used to hold the car on a slight grade, it is not suitable for initiating handbrake turns. If your yearly inspection involves a handbrake inspection, it may not pass.

The rear brakes fit under NC stock 16” and 17″ wheels. In front, for both 4 and 6 piston, you will need a 3mm spacer, available from Flyin’ Miata – stock NC3 Club wheels require a 5mm spacer. They fit under most aftermarket 17″ wheels without problems, including the TRM C3M 17×9 and the Enkei PF01 17×8. Please note that the stainless steel brake lines included with the kit are not the same as the ones used with stock calipers, so you will need the lines.

Templates to check clearance! The four and six piston front calipers share the same clearance.
Front
Rear

The kit includes:

• Wilwood four-piston Dynapro front calipers with BP-10 pads
• Stainless steel brake lines
• Wilwood Powerlite handbrake rear calipers with BP-10 pads
• new rear slotted rotors

You can reuse your existing front rotors. Our NC front rotors match the new rear ones perfectly. Please note that some small modification of the dust shields and the front upright will be necessary. These modifications will not be a problem if you need to revert to your stock brakes in the future for any reason.

The included BP-10 pads are great for street use and autocross use, you’ll probably want more aggressive front pads such as our BP-20 or BP-40 for track use. We’re unable to remove pads from the kit. 

You can choose red powder coat or grey hard anodizing as a coating for the calipers. Bear in mind that the hard anodizing is un-dyed, which means that the final color can vary from caliper to caliper, due to differences in the forgings themselves. This difference can be especially noticeable between different caliper types, e.g., the front Dynapro calipers and the rear Powerlite calipers that we use. We can’t accept returns for calipers that have different shades of grey. If it’s important that your calipers match each other perfectly, you’ll need to choose the red calipers.