What rotors you used on racer or track car?

What rotors have you run with good results?

Background:

The original OEM 280zx rotors on my Datsun 1200 finally wore out last year (on the car over 15 years). Installed a set of parts store cheapo rotor they had lots of run out. Next Rockauto, they had a bit of run out so in an over the top effort my buddy precision ground them, there is half a thou run out. I broke them in while breaking in some tires in a Friday morning practice. Ran the car in the afternoon and maybe four laps in they started shuttering but the pedal pulse is gone. Inspection revealed what appear to be hard spots in the rotors. As I steer a car with the pedals, lots of trail breaking and often have the brake and gas on at the same time. Both sets of rotors discolored pretty quickly, I double checked and the calipers are not sticking. The rear 240Z Alloy drums were check and they are not out round etc. This is only an 1600lb car and in the past I have slapped new pads on, often not even bedding them in properly and had no issues. So a better quality of rotor seems to be in order. Brembo are no longer available, I know nothing about Stop Tech, OEM Nissan ones can be had at $160 each!! I could bite the bullet and go to Wilwood which would require some fabricated rotor hats. Leaning towards the Stop Tech ones but again would like opinions.

Thoughts, opinions, slings and arrows welcome.

     Tom

My experience with StopTech 2 piece rotors was excellent, but that was 9-10 years ago. No experience with their 1 piece slotted if that's what you have in mind.

What pads & how are you ducting?

NAPA premium smooth rotors, if they have them for your application. Also, are you bedding the new pads properly? Improperly bedded pads can mimic a warped rotor, OTOH, cheap made in China rotors are always suspect.

We had very good luck with Centric rotors on the Lemons Civic. 14 hours of abuse and no warping or cracking. We ran Porterfield pads and stop quality was great.

I've used cheapo Chinese rotors most of the time, if I have time to order them I'll get Centrics, if I was feeling really fancy I'd get Centric Premium which are machined a little finer for less runout.

If you're using left-foot braking to alter the car's handling, I usually recommend fixing the car's handling so that there's no advantage to doing that. The brake/gas overlap dumps a huge amount of heat into the brakes. You might also want to consider getting a brake vent system.

I always use cheap Chinese rotors. Never had a problem. Hell, I rarely even bed tbe pad. First session takes care of that. But we usually crack them in a few weekends.

Dusterbd13 wrote: I always use cheap Chinese rotors. Never had a problem. Hell, I rarely even bed tbe pad. First session takes care of that. But we usually crack them in a few weekends.

Duster, you're contradicting yourself. I would call cracking rotors every few weekends a problem.

HappyAndy wrote: NAPA premium smooth rotors, if they have them for your application. Also, are you bedding the new pads properly? Improperly bedded pads can mimic a warped rotor, OTOH, cheap made in China rotors are always suspect.

I second this. I run napa plain rotors on my zx and they work great.

Brembo blanks on the E30 and the Caprice, with no failures yet, and I abuse the hell out of both of them. The E30 has more power and grip than it does brakes, and the way the brake bias is on the wagon from the factory, it may as well not even have rear brakes.

jstein77 wrote:

Dusterbd13 wrote: I always use cheap Chinese rotors. Never had a problem. Hell, I rarely even bed tbe pad. First session takes care of that. But we usually crack them in a few weekends.

Duster, you're contradicting yourself. I would call cracking rotors every few weekends a problem.

C5 corvette. Race pads. No life difference between the cheap Chinese, brembo, fectory gm, cryotreated, ppremium aftermarket.

All of em crack in a few weekends. Nature of the beast for us.

jstein77 wrote:

Dusterbd13 wrote: I always use cheap Chinese rotors. Never had a problem. Hell, I rarely even bed tbe pad. First session takes care of that. But we usually crack them in a few weekends.

Duster, you're contradicting yourself. I would call cracking rotors every few weekends a problem.

If you're using stockish brakes on a heavy, or fast car, this has been my experience. They're a wear item. I use Carbotechs and replace rotors more often than the pads. New front rotors every race for crapcan Civic. Every season for a track car, which equates to a few weekends in my case.

I'm assuming all of you guys are paying attention to ducting. It's pretty critical to making brakes last on a track car.

My track cars run Wilwood rotors on the front. No complaints. When I was running PFC97 pads, I went through about twice as many rotors as pads due to high levels of wear. A lot of that was due to running the PFC97s outside their ideal temp range, but they always stopped. Now I'm running Wilwood pads and consumables have dropped considerably.

Keith Tanner wrote: I'm assuming all of you guys are paying attention to ducting. It's pretty critical to making brakes last on a track car. My track cars run Wilwood rotors on the front. No complaints. When I was running PFC97 pads, I went through about twice as many rotors as pads due to high levels of wear. A lot of that was due to running the PFC97s outside their ideal temp range, but they always stopped. Now I'm running Wilwood pads and consumables have dropped considerably.

Big +1.

I spend the majority of a day running ducting on the Civic. The Porterfields last 2+ races, the rotors seem to stay in one piece and the stock calipers handle the abuse just fine.

I had to go from 2" hose to 3", with my new powerplant the 2" just wasn't moving enough air.

Remember that the load on your brakes is directly proportional to weight, but also directly proportional to the square of the speed. So a light, fast car needs to pay more attention to the brakes than a heavy, slow one.

OEM or NAPA on my ZX2SR.

@gameboyRMH handling is fine, preload the throttle to settle the car under extreme circumstance, regardless you are correct it does indeed put a bunch of heat in the brakes. As for cooling, the car has no air dam of backing plates, and the problem surfaced after changing the rotors. The replies leave me thinking there is possibly something else going on......we'll see.

  Tom

I've been able to buy ATE brand for my VW for a reasonable price so I will stay with them as long as this is true.

Centric OEM replacement rotors. Either the cheapies, or the fancy ones with the black painted hat.

I went a bit nuts and got the V8 Roadsters big brake kit, expensive, but they sure work. +2 on what Keith said, just because a car is lighter, if it's faster, the brakes will still get hotter. One perk about the big brake kit is that the disks bolt to the top hats. Apparently this is a huge deal manufacturing-wise because new discs blanks are ~$25 each for 12" x 1" parts, and of course are much lighter than the one-piece units. It also future-proofs you against not being able to get OEM discs since blanks are available from Wilwood, Coleman, etc.

Regarding the OP's 1200, I can't help but wonder if it could be my old car, as I had that exact same setup. Of course, I suppose it's fairly common for any 1200 set up for serious track work. What's the engine setup?

Blanks are available from Wilwood, Coleman, etc if they share the same bolt pattern. Important distinction that. Picking a brake rotor that's shared with a very common racing series - something that goes in circles is a good bet in the US - is a good start.

If you're not feeding cold air to your brakes, you're not really trying to make them work properly. All a big brake kit will do is store the heat for you, you need to get rid of it.

ATE's or Brembo's with Mintex Redbox have been a good combo for my FWD cars over the years. Autox and track days are the most common affairs so nothing as sever as the track guys. Big fan of decent brake cooling as it's really easy to make it work.