Big Brake Brembo, AP racing, Stoptech

AP - Chris_B

Mr. Newton,

I don't see any way we will agree on this, but I've seen these (and the other Far East competitors) up close and in person at SEMA and elsewhere. They may or many not have had the same logo, but the tooling they are made from is recognizable. No, we have not been approached by anyone from your label, but I continually receive communication/spam from that factory and other similar ones. So, if I choose to wire some money over, I will be competing with your brand with essentially the same components under a different label in just a month or two (but I get to pick my colors!). I'll pass.

While it can be a good indication of customer service, positive feedback on eBay has nothing to with testing in a demanding environment such as professional racing. What I wrote is certainly a generalization of what I have seen in my experience. Not all points may relate directly to your particular product line, but I have not seen anything to disprove them as of yet. I am always open to learning something new and do respect the ingenuity in the market, so I will continue to evaluate new products as they come out. The market generally reserves respect for those who earn it, and this takes time -- lots of it. Just calling up one of the copycat factories (we know who they are) and ordering product does not qualify a brand in the eyes of most.

If you care to do a little research, you will find that AP Racing and Stillen components are NOT made in the Far East. AP is located in England and controls all aspects of their manufacturing and supply chain. AP's history goes back almost 100 years to the days of the original Automotive Products, LLC, company. They have been involved (officially) in the highest level of motorsports for nearly 40 years -- including 651 F1 wins as of last weekend. "PhatBoy" has --- how many? 87% of NASCAR teams use AP Racing brakes with ZERO sponsorship -- they must pay around $30k per car set for them (with no pads, lines, fluid, hardware, etc.). Are any of the remaining 13% secretly running "PhatBoy"?

Stillen is located in Southern California and has been involved in performance brake solutions for over 20 years, being the company that first brought Brembo to the North American aftermarket. Stillen has complete in-house engineering and manufacturing capabilities as well. It is important to understand that Stillen is an engineering partner to AP Racing and not simply a distributor piecing brake kits together, which is why you won't find AP Racing kits on eBay. The Brembo Group, parent company to both Brembo and AP Racing brands (although run entirely separately) does have two plants in China for OE programs for Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru and others (not the high-end Gran Turismo aftermarket or racing lines), but AP has no manufacturing there or in Taiwan. I'm afraid there is no involvement between Stillen and/or AP Racing with your company as you boldly claim.

Best of luck to you sir,

Chris Bernal
STILLEN/AP Racing USA