stoptech vs. DBA 4000's

very simple question, im days away from ordering replacement rotors for my legacy. stoptech rotors and the dba 4000's are in the same price range and no matter what will be mated with hawk hps pads. Whats a better rotor. I will be doing a couple track days next year, so i need something good for street and mild racing applications. thanks

According to StopTech: "The internal vane structure is identical to stock rotors, but they are available slotted or drilled. "

 

That means they would be straight vaned. The DBA4000s have a better cooling vane design and would be a better rotor for the track.

 

DBA4000 also has a few more features like temperature paint and a better manufacturing process.

 

Please let me know if I can help. Thanks!

take the DBA 4000s, they have done well for me all of last year through my abuse.

take the DBA 4000s, they have done well for me all of last year through my abuse.

Keefe, is there any weight loss advantage over stock rotors by going with the DBA 4000s? I also have had my eye on these rotors but wondered about any unsprung weight loss advantage.

Keefe, is there any weight loss advantage over stock rotors by going with the DBA 4000s? I also have had my eye on these rotors but wondered about any unsprung weight loss advantage.

 

for track use? i dont think you want to do that.. autocross is fine, but for the track, you want as much mass as you can get. Unfortunately, unless you go with Carbon-Kevlar rotors, all affordable rotors will be made out of iron. So really there's no weigh savings unless you are using a thinner or smaller rotor.

 

The DBA4000s weigh as much as the stock rotors, which is fine. The cooling effects from the vane design are better (although if you are carrying speeds like I do through the turn and you are turning out qualifying-lap-style driving, then you may want to upgrade to DBA5000s with brake ducts (which Im leaning towards).

 

The GT is one heavy car, and using wider tires and generating that much heat requires larger rotors (assuming that you are using iron) to be able to handle that kind of heat generated.

 

While Autocross and a daily driving, you could get away with lighter rotors, (by going with a 2-piece setup by using an aluminum hat would be better, and not taking away the mass from the rotor itself) because you are not repeatedly beating on the brakes every 30 seconds. If you really want to save some weight, go with the DBA5000s 2-piece which you dont lose the heat capacity and save weight by having an aluminum hat instead of an integrated/casted one as a 1-piece like the DBA4000s (or any other normal rotor for that matter).

Keefe, in my case it would be strictly for street/autocrossing use, I'm not quite to the track stage yet, though I aspire to be there someday. I will take a look at the DBA 5000s, though my wallet will take more of a pinch with those; chalk it up to the price of fun. We do appreciate your sagely advise on these matters, keep up the great posts. Thanks again, B.B.

take the DBA 4000s, they have done well for me all of last year through my abuse.

 

When you recommend the 4000s...your speaking of the standards...right. Not the slotted or cross drilled. I want to upgrade my braking....I don't go to the track and don't want extra noise.

Blanks are hard to come by right now since DBA is mostly importing slotted from Australia.

 

DBA5000s Id say are more for bling. You arent saving all that much weight and it is not worth the cost IMO.

What's the weight difference?

 

I got the blanks DBA 4000s thru TDC. Took long time get them.

BTW, the directional vanes in the DBA rotors work. I found out by accidentaly mounting them backwards (swapped left to right) before a track event. I got severe brake fade within 2 laps. Swapped them to the correct sides, bled the brakes, and all was well.

 

Sorry Eric:redface:

When you recommend the 4000s...your speaking of the standards...right. Not the slotted or cross drilled. I want to upgrade my braking....I don't go to the track and don't want extra noise.

 

 

technically, I ran the slotted because the blank version wasn't aviable to me at that time.. but yes, the blanks will do just nicely...

 

I've never had noise from my slotted rotors.. more so is the brake pads you run that are noisy.. my Carbotech XP series brake pads make noise (because they are track pads by nature).

Keefe, in my case it would be strictly for street/autocrossing use, I'm not quite to the track stage yet, though I aspire to be there someday. I will take a look at the DBA 5000s, though my wallet will take more of a pinch with those; chalk it up to the price of fun. We do appreciate your sagely advise on these matters, keep up the great posts. Thanks again, B.B.

 

Let's put it this way, have the best of both worlds by not comprimising the repeated braking performance and a lighter top hat so you can shave some weight (possibly a lbs or two at best?). Granted that the Racing Brake HP rotors are lighter, but if you do goto the track, eventually, they will wear and tear faster than a stock set of rotors.. if you are looking into braking for autox, save your weight from the rims and run a shorter tire (like a 245/40/17 or stretch a 235/40/17 over an 8.5" wide rim) for better performance overall without comprimising all that wonderful mass that we call a 'car' at 3500+ lbs of force.. believe it or not, when you have your car co-driven on a hot day, I've even experienced fade from a set of my Endless SS-Ms and Carbotech Bobcats. I've taken my set of Endless SS-Ms also out on track as well, which didnt last too long either until I got brake fade by the 5th lap.. simply put that our cars are just plain heavy and generate a lot of heat (see my DBA rotor threads in the brake section for review and data).. long story short, I've got the rotor temps beyond 1250C degrees.. yea, that's hot, too hot for even some of my track pads to work properly. If you are running R-compounds, expeect to generate more heat.

 

After a lot of testing and hard driving, the stock rotors are pretty stout for what they are.. so for anyone to get something that can handle reproducable braking performance, one should not just look into weight savings as an alternative, but look for a rotor that can handle the heat just like how your brake pads can handle the heat range you are operating them on. If you want to save weight, save it from the wheel and tire combo and possibly go with something shorter of a tire for better accleration (since the GT's gearing doesnt favor 2nd gear all that well for the power band.. either you end up putting too tall of a tire and end up losing a lot of the actual acceleration or go shorter and run the risk of redlining 2nd gear and needing to shift into 3rd in an autox). Many normal drivers that dont care or want to know what a taller tire feels like isn't going to care about running redline to find out the max speed is or even care about shave 0.2 seconds off their acceleration time. It depends if you are a racer or just a daily driver as your priority.

 

having the lighter mass makes the suspension work more effectively, but you are pulling that performance away from consistent braking. So unless your braking is very simple, short and fairly light, I wouldn't just skimp out on the mass of iron.

Keefe, thanks again for looking out for us noobs on the forum, your advise is well taken. Mass and heat dissipation=consistant brake performance, of course the pads factor in as well. My guess is that you found out the lighter Racing Brake rotors did not hold up to the repeated abuse on the track. Good to know from experience what works and what doesn't, thanks for being our forum track tester. B.B.

there is no winner or loser to me, i give great prices on both sets

awesome, thanks for all the responses, im going DBA, ordering this week i think

I need some too Looks like DBAs. Hey Keefe what about just replacing the stock ones. mine are warped.

mine have been warped for 7000 miles..lol, got my rotors today, waiting for the pads then its off to work to put them on...can't wait!

mine have been warped for 7000 miles..lol, got my rotors today, waiting for the pads then its off to work to put them on...can't wait!

7k:lol: Try 17k:lol:.I was waiting for the pads to go,

cough group buy!? maybe? $435 shipped on front + rear dba's!? hmmm

Do it!!!!!!

i already bought mine, that would suck!...and i bought from you too i believe..lol

Just got mine today or so the my neighbor said (havent seen them yet since I'm out of town). Josh at Importimage is the man. It took all of two days to arrive; ordered Sunday received on Tuesday, Awesome price too!!!!! I've heard of other guys who ordered these from other vendors who have been waiting weeks. In fact I got the rotors before the Fedex tracking number:lol:.

sorry about that, since you were in cali (and we are on the east coast) we had them drop shipped because it would be A. faster to get to you and B.. cheaper on shipping normally we have tracking for all ...technically sunday doesnt count for shipping days (neither does saturday unless its fedex/usps)

sorry about that, since you were in cali (and we are on the east coast) we had them drop shipped because it would be A. faster to get to you and B.. cheaper on shipping normally we have tracking for all ...technically sunday doesnt count for shipping days (neither does saturday unless its fedex/usps)

So what your saying is, it only took 1day:lol:. You cant beat that!!!

yep pretty much

 

hehe