Hi guys,

Tuesday I ****ed my front brake rotors(discs) at a trackday on the nicest circuit in the world, Spa Francorchamps (Belgium)

It was really hot that day and I was pushing it every stint more & more. At the end of each stint I felt a trilling noise on the front brakes. I guess the discs got overheated and are now screwed.

My actual setup :
- OEM brake discs
- Pagid RS29 yellow brake pads (race & endurance)
- Goodridge steel brake lines
- ATE dot5 brake fluid

Not sure if you know Pagid & ATE in the States, but in Europe their know for high quality and used in professional racing.

Now I want to buy some new brake rotors. What would you recommend or totaly not recommend ? I prefer slotted for my next rotors.
I got a good price offer on StopTech slotted rotors. Are they any good with race brake pads ?
Is their any other brand which is known to be very good at our S2000 ?

Thanks for your input !

Laurent

 

Laurent,

I love Pagids, but they are the most expensive pads in the US.

Factory disks hold up well, but is sounds like you should be looking at floating disks. Lighter and better performance.

 

Red Ibiza,
First off, what's the actual problem you're experiencing? Is it just a noise or did you actually see a failure of the break rotor, like a crack? Could it just be that your pads were glazed?

Either way, I recently purchased StopTech slotted rotors front and rear for my S2K. I bought them from a company called Zeckhausen that I found online. I paid $90 each for rotors front and rear. In all honestly the OEM rotors or Centric blanks will work just fine for most any application, but I really wanted the "look" of the slotted rotors, so I bougth StopTech slotted rotors. I'm happy with them so far. I'm using OEM brake pads, and Goodridge SS brake lines also.

Yes, we know and use ATE and Pagid brand products in the U.S.

Why are you using DOT5 brake fluid? If I remember correctly this is racing fluid and is silicone based, which has a higher propensity to absorb water, which is not a good thing. I use ATE Superblue DOT 4 brake fluid instead.

Regards,
Christopher

 

I was in doubt about the brands, you don't read a lot overhere from the brand Pagid. In Europe it's known as the best brake pad on the market, and used in professional racing in endurance races like 24H or FIA GT

@ITNJ : what do you mean by 'floating discs' ?

@Nofar : It's just the noise, it was very present at the end of each stint on the trackday...so I guess everytime they we're heating up to the max.
I washed my car yesterday, just some rust..no cracks as far as I can see.

Thing is, by putting the car in my garage for a whole day...the discs cooled down totally. I did a quick testdrive down the street to check on the brakes, sounds was still there but lighter. So I guess, maybe they're OK for some street use unill the new discs arrive. But iIf I would not replace them, next trackday I would have the same issue.

Do you have actual track experience with your StopTech rotors ? I don't care about the looks that much, I prefer they function really well street use & light track use (couple times a year).
I'm in doubt because they seem so cheap ? I have a good offer on them from Paul @ MVP motorsports (S2Ki sponsor). But I have to be sure they will work fine with my Pagid pads before shipping them from the States to Belgium, Europe if you understand.

Paul @ MVP also talks about Cryo Treated StopTech slotted rotors which would be even better ... does anyone knows them ?
My local performance parts dealer recommends ATE discs.
So I'm in serious doubt...all those brands...which is best to choose in my situation, or said otherwise, which rotor will work fine with Pagid pads ?

In Europe DOT5 is the common used trackday brake fluid

Thanks for everybody who can help on this matter

 

DOT 5.1 or DOT 5.0?

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/fa...parison.shtml# Floating are better.

 

Red Ibiza,
I've used the StopTech rotors at the track and they worked just fine. Worked just as well as the OEM pads.

In regards to cryo-treating it's supposed to stabilize the crystal structure of the rotors and make them more robust. I've never used them before but I've read about them.

Floating rotors are made using an aluminum "hat" or "hub" bolted to an iron disc. It's supposed to be for weight reduction. Again, I've only read about them, never used them.

From your posting, honestly, I don't think there is one "best" rotor for your application. I think multiple rotors would work just great. I think your best bet would be to buy Centric rotors, which are basically the same as OEM, and call it a day. All those rotors will work ok with Pagid pads, just make sure you properly break in the pads to the new rotors.

Regards,
Christopher

 

[QUOTE=Nofar,Jul 23 2009, 03:44 PM] Red Ibiza,
I've used the StopTech rotors at the track and they worked just fine.

 

DOT 5 is not abs friendly, it's water proof silicone base fluid, they use it on salt water boat trailer brake system so the water will not get into the system and mess things up when you stick half of the trailer into the ocean.

DOT 4 is a higher boiling point racing fluid(there's no reason to run it on the street btw), it's more hydroscopic thus requires more change per period. ATE super blue is dot 4(abs friendly too), higher wet and dry boiling point but shorter service life, which doesn't really make sense to run it on the street, you will not get better braking from it, you probably can't boil fluid in the street, it's way more expensive than dot 3 stuff and require flushing more often.

racer use dot4 stuff because they see that temperature in a race, fluid get flush/bleed very often and consider to be safety practice.

 

If we talk about 'Centric rotors', do you guys mean like the ones on Tirerack.com ?

http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brakes.jsp?...lar=&perfCode=A

They also exist cryo threaded :

http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brakes.jsp?...lar=&perfCode=A

And my local performance parts dealer is advising the ATE Premium rotors (which are not for sale in Europe for the S2000 btw)

http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brakes.jsp?...lar=&perfCode=A

Are the ATE rotors any good by the way? In Europe they are know for very high quality.

Let me know the ones you mean please.
Choices are down to :
- Centric Premium
- Centric cryo-threaded
- ATE Premium
- Stoptech slotted

I can let them shipped to Belgium, but probably expensive. In september I'm also in Miami for my vacation, shipping to my hotel will be less expensive I guess

btw, I'll check the sort of DOT-brake fluid which is used...maybe I'm mixing up the number.

 

Laurent, you are in the wrong forum for this question. If you want better answers about track use questions, I recommend the Racing & Competition forum.

But the quick answer is that most of the track guys just use OEM-style blank rotors. Usually we use whatever we can find cheapest, because they are disposable wear items.

My first guess from what you described here is that as much as you like your pads, you overheated them. You might need brake ducting, or higher temp pads, or backing off just a bit on really hot days. Did you pull your pads off and inspect them for signs of glazing?