This is retardly simple to test. Get two honda (or Brembo, or napa gold, etc. but I bet honda is more consistent as far as suppliers) front brake disks and cryo one. Run them for 5k miles. Hell run them for a weekend with tracking. Take pictures of the wear and crack propagation. I'll do this on my sm miata this fall.

Shotpeening works. Micro mass bead blasting works, but as the man said, depends on the failure mode. No magyiccc.

You don't cryo blocks, because we have teams of materials engineers doing things like sintered alloys, and nickel silicon carbide coating, oh and FRM http://corporate.honda.com/press/article.aspx?id=4096 Oh yea

 

this is a random quote from a site after googling. dont know if it helps or not

"It is technically inaccurate to say that cryo treatment increases hardness. Testing, before and after, shows little - if any - change to hardness. What has been documented, though, is that hardness is more uniform across the part."

i personally dont understand why they dont just heat treat the gears

 

All this testing has been done. There are plenty of sites with articles attached. Most of my customers have had real world experience street driving and autocross. They keep coming back because it works. Most are getting twice the number of events they race at before the rotors start to pressure crack or wear out.

The hardest thing about doing cryogenics is explaining it over and over again to people that don't want to believe it. I don't try anymore. Once someone has it set in their mind that it doesn't work then you can't change there mind.

Shot peeing works, cryogenic processing works, cryogenic thermal cycling works. All to different degrees.

 

The theories you've read sound good, because they are. It's all based on physics. But instead of looking for that 1 article or piece of data to convince you, (because if you stay skeptical, you'll never find it) you need to realize what you're looking at. This isn't like picking out a turbo or the right paint color for your new body kit. Cryo treating and shot peening and engine coatings are all beneficial to some degree. But these are finishing touches that give you that last little bit of insurance that most of us will never need. It's like buying that C-West carbon stabilizer that fits in the door sill; it'll make an improvement, but if you don't already have the rest of the car sorted out, why bother. But the big difference is these treatments are way cheaper. If you are doing a build, and already have the block apart, you can get it all treated and coated for less than a new exhaust. Worry about the big stuff. Once that's all sorted down to the last detail and you still have some cash to burn, go for it. It deffinitely will not hurt anything. Good luck man!!

 

 

Sub-zero, or anyone in that matter, would you happen to know where I could get said cryo-treating done at in Pennsylvania? I tried searching around on Google but found nothing close... and would you happen to know if there is a visual difference after it has been treated to prove that it was actually done if I were to say, ship somewhere?