Recommend rotors?

It started with warped OEM rotors at about 80K. Installed DBA 4000 with EBC green pads. They warped after a month. Got them cut (I know its a band aid and not the right fix) and warped. I normally drive pretty hard but have been babying them and they last a little longer.

 

FYI: EBCs dust a LOT!

 

Any recommendations on pad/rotor replacements?

My guess is you aren't warping. Rotors almost never warp.

 

You are getting pad deposits on your rotors. This happens primarily when you get the pads nice and hot and then sit there with your brakes on. Some of the pad material cooks and then cools onto the rotor. Next time you brake, you are braking over the deposits and it feels like warping.

 

The trick is to re-bed your brakes. Go out and perform roughly 10 hard stops from ~60-70 to 10-20mph. Do them in rapid succession. And then try to drive for about 5-10 minutes at a good pace with no braking events.

 

You want your pads and rotors to get really hot and "wipe each other" clean, and then cool down so no new deposits transfer to the rotor.

 

I am rarely able to to full re-bedding procedure due to space constraints, but even 2-4 hard braking events and then a nice 2-3 minute cruise will usually reduce the feeling of warped rotors fairly significantly.

 

Joe

I have not seen many people happy with EBCs on these cars (based on threads I've seen). I have been just fine with the stockers, and drive pretty hard. I recently changed to Hawk HPS pads, and they are wonderful for my hard street driving. You could go higher in pad-performance, but even people running stronger-pads have not had issues with rotors...

 

Since rotors don't usually "warp" (they cause the problem from pad-deposits on the rotor) I would suspect you might be dealing with pad deposits again (the stock pads do leave heavy deposits).

 

Lastly, people have reported physically warping rotors by overtightening the lug nuts... that can reportedly cause the rotors to warp. I have not had this happen myself, but I've heard people say this.

Thanks Joe but the rotors were warped. They looked like potato chips. I've had to get them cut 3 times already. Same thing, each time, Pringles chip.

 

I use a torque wrench at about 40 lb-ft.

 

I've also tried rebuilding the calipers hoping it was something binding with no luck.

Get better pads and your problem will most likely go away.

 

We do sell OE-type slotted rotors if all you want is the slotted look. They are relatively inexpensive compared to the DBA4000s.

You only torque your lugs to 40 ft-lbs? That seems awfully low. Not sure if you can bend the rotors any by having your lugs loose, but you should be torquing them to around 80ft/lb.

Agreed...I'm guessing you are referring to torquing your lug nuts. They should be at 80-90 lb/ft, not 40.

 

I've always heard of over-torqued lug nuts warping rotors, but I'm guessing you could get warpage from under-torqued as well (that is just a guess, i'm not a mech engineer).

 

There's, AFAIK, only 3 things that can warp rotors:

 

1. Poorly made and they warp when they get hot for the first time - You've already avoided this by both buying quality rotors AND you've had them cut. They wouldn't KEEP warping like that every time.

 

2. Improperly torque'd lugnuts - Sounds like this might be a possibility.

 

3. Getting them really hot and then driving through water or hosing them down - Used to happen alot with people living in the mountains and hosing down their brakes at rest stops to help cool them off faster, but doesn't happen too often nowadays....

 

I guess theoretically you could also "warp" your rotor face by having a ridiculously aggressive brake pad cut the rotors unevenly.....but you haven't signified that type of brake pad.

 

When you refer to potato chip, are you saying you can literally SEE the warp? Or just hear it when they are being cut? I've "heard" a potato chip sound of cutting when brand new rotors are being cut, so I doubt the sound is indicative of a warped rotor.

 

Joe

they looked like a potato chip. They were out about .05-.10 each time they were cut. You could visually see the slots gone on one side of the rotors the last time cut

 

We torque four 5/8" lugs on a formula ford to 30 lb-ft. I figure 5 lugs on a street 4000 lb street car I figure a little more. Our F2000 3/4" center locks only get 90lb-ft. I did mis type I meant 60 but still looking around, it should be 80. Anyway, I never found any loose ones.

Magnetic, can you give me a price on rotors and hawk pads?

 

Thanks

Rotorpros has some nice ones.

 

You can spec them out however you like - drilled, slotted, or both.

 

The are zinc plated too, so the part that doesn't rust:

 

http://www.rotorpros.net/