124Spider

To underscore Ry's point:

You should check your brake pads, among many other things, before a day on the track. It takes a second or two longer to check your rotors at the same time. Heck, you can do a decent check of your rotors without taking your tires off your car.

You certainly have to change front pads regularly. It's hardly any more trouble to chang a front rotor at the same time. Rotors (at least blanks or OEM from H&A) aren't expensive, and if the worst that happens is that you swap one out when it might have lasted another day, that's not a bad result. And a heckuva lot cheaper than a BBK, and expensive rotors.

spdracerut

[QUOTE=krazik,Dec 1 2010, 04:16 PM] Time does equal money, but if you can't change a rotor between a session you're VERY slow.

psychoazn

Once there are more data points, I'd seriously consider a two piece rotor. As stated many times, the total cost would have to be equal to or better than replacing OEM replacements.

Plus, changing rotors gives you something more to do between sessions

krazik

sorry spdracerut, there is no way to make the math work out, notice how you don't post a total or actually add it up. You throw out fictional numbers to rationalize it to yourself. There is no way to add it up using real world numbers, including made up numbers like cost of your time.

You can chose to spend more money to save yourself time, thats fine, its your money, but in no way is it cheaper. 2pc rotors make the costs calculations MUCH better but they still don't beat the bang for a buck of disposable oem rotors.

Bottom line tho is if cheap is what you want. Constant replacement of OEM rotors is going to be cheapest.

If your time is so valuable, you really should be charging more than $50/hr That'll help you justify the cost of a proper BBK that works better than stock.

VitaRenovatio

^ I agree.

I swap rotors and pads for each track event (and use OEM rotors and pads for daily driving). It gives me a chance to inspect the pads and rotors for wear and small cracks. I got 14 track days out of my last set of front rotors, which I threw out because I decided there were too many small cracks. I now have 6 track days on these rotors, and they're still going strong.

So, I paid $40 per front rotor, and got 14 track days out of them. The 2-piece rotors are 10 times more expensive. I don't expect to get 140 track days out of them, nor do I necessarily ever want to. Now, that doesn't mean I don't want to bling out and get the 2-piece rotors for added peace of mind and cooler brake temps which means less brake fade toward the end of sessions and possibly longer pad life. But I'll try brake ducting first, and I think that'll solve my problem of brake fade on XP12/XP10.

Bottom line, rotors are a wear item, no matter how blingy or expensive they are. Always inspect them, and keep a replacement on hand. I suspect it'll be bigger a PITA to swap the rotor on the hat vs. replacing the entire 1-piece rotor, should you ever crack a rotor during a track day.

spdracerut

Ha, I'm not posting up a number b/c it's not worth my time And it would all be hypothetical/ballpark based on other peoples' experience as I don't have any significant data generated myself. Rob would probably have the best data. I could calculate it out if you REALLY want me to. Yes, replacing OEM rotors will be cheaper than a BBK for a very large number of track days. So, on a pure cost basis, it doesn't make sense for probably many people. I think the additional cost is worth it for added reliability. At a point however, the cost of the BBK will become cheaper, it's just at a point that you perceive to be too far out to consider worthwhile.

And hey, $50/hr isn't bad! That's a $100k/yr salary.

Edit: So I ran some numbers because it was on my mind.
Cost of Stoptech BBK = $2000
SS lines = $90
Stock rotors = $50/per
Replacement rotor/friction surface for Stoptech = $230/per

Case 1: buy replacement rotors $100, brake lines $90
Case 2: buy Stoptech BBK which includes lines $2000
Difference = $1810

Assumptions:
stock rotors last 3 track days per Rob
Since the Stoptech rotors are bigger than the 2-piece Rob used, lets say 25 days vs. Rob's 23.
Track pads = $200 for both stock and BBK
Pads for stock brakes last 5 days (from what I've read from others)
Pads for BBK last 10 days (based on my wear rate)

# of track days to break even = ~52.

krazik

52 / 8 track days per year = 6.5 years. How long you gonna have the car?

I don't about you, but when I fictionally price the value of my time off, I go for broke! I'm at least $2,000/hr. If you're taking unpaid time off work to change your rotors...

krazik

for anyone who doesn't know. it bears repeating, I do run a stoptech bbk on all 4 wheels in my racecar. They're a GREAT product work very well, but my needs are different than most.

spdracerut

I did own one of my cars for 10 years It's a ballpark number, give or take 10 days. I have met a few guys that do 20+ days a year, so their payback would be about 2-3 years, and that's not too bad in financial terms.

Time working on car could be time riding the motorcycle/bike, playing volleyball, snowboarding, going out to dinner, watching a movie, sleeping, etc. I like the option of having more free time.

Like I said, it won't pan out financially for a lot of guys. But it's a pretty good place to spend money as opposed to weird body kits, three different sets of wheels, etc.

krazik

if you want more time and have lots of money, why not just pay someone else to change your rotors?

body kits are always a good use of money for the average track whore. three sets of wheels on the other hand has MANY good uses.