Anyone here ever warp a set of Rotora's?
 

I just put on Rotora front/rear slotted rotors last week and after my 3rd session at Watkins Glen, I was getting rotor shake through the steering wheel. I bedded the pads in on the way up there (300ish miles), but they just didn't seem to last the session.

FWIW, I have the slotted, vented OEM replacements. Doesn't look like the guy that sold them to me is responding to his e-mails any more...got them through a group buy a few months ago.

Probably should have gotten the drilled and slotted ones, but I didn't think that I was going to burn through them THAT quickly. Was hoping to maybe get 3-4 days out of them.

Joe

shouldn't happen. I would think that slotted would be better than slotted and drilled. I had powerstop (i think) slotted rotors on my old car and they never wrapped during track days.

Besides could it be pad transfer? what brake pads are you running?

There are ppl a lot more knowledge than me so i'll let them take a stab at your question. i just don't think u can warp a rotor during your first track day.

also was this your first time at a track? Whenever you get new rotors try and get them cryo treated...

Yeah, warping shouldn't be happening. I'd be willing to bet that they aren't actually warped but like what KZEVO say, there's pad transfer. You may already know this but you gotta be hyperparanoid at the track to avoid pad transfer. Leaving your foot on the brake pedal after you've super heated the brakes will leave enough transfer to cause a "warped" feeling. I don't even use the brakes in the paddock if I can avoid it, not even the emergency brake.

I just finished a weekend at BeaveRun. I totally killed my brakes using stock pads on the rear and some Carbotech Bobcats on the front with the stock rotors. The Bobcats wore right down to within a 1/16" of the backing plates. It was bad enough that I got the "meatball" to come in because the corner workers were seeing sparks coming from my rotors. My calipers turned the telltale burgundy color and the rotors were blued and somewhat scored but they never warped. This was my second track event.

I had the rear rotors turned and some new Stasis two piece slotted rotors on the way. I hope the Stasis rotors don't warp.

Pull the rotors and inspect both the fronts and the backs. If you see the impression of a brake pad on either side you've got pad transfer. I've been told that you should be able to sand it off to get rid of the grabbing.

I was going to replace my stock rotors with the Rotoras due to cost. So, this thread may put the nix to that. I hope this is something other than the rotor, because they look well made, and their inexpensive. I don't want buy the StaSis rotors at $900, but if I have to, I guess I will. I'll be going to Beaverun this weekend for the ITR track day and the day after with the Evolution autocross school.

Hey 4G63, what kind of pads were you using? I was tracking my car with the stock rotors and Carbotech Panther+ pads and developed the same problem. My wheel and front of my car was shaking terribly under braking. I got the rotors turned at a machine shop because they were glazed and i thought they were warped. Turns out they weren't. I have since upgraded to Performance Friction pads (heard great things from Porsche guys) 97 copound. Hopefully this will stop the pad transfer from happening because they are designed to prevent it. Hopefully they will work out well for my 3 day watkins glen event next weekend.

Oh, and i am installign brake ducts too because one of my p.o.s. brake air guides melted and fell off!

I was using brand new Ferodo 3000's at the time and agree with the pad transfer thing. Kept the 3000's on for the 3 days I was at the track, then switched back to the 2500's. I'm going to try sanding them down to see if that helps any.

The Stasis are very well engineered, just like all their stuff. I'd prefer a 2 piece design, but I'd really prefer not to spend a grand on rotors I don't need...yet. :D

Who's running at the Glen next weekend?

I'll be running with the PCA (porsche club). Both my dad and older brother have porsches. I go there and blow them all away with my japanese econobox. Its quite humorous.

I tried to sand my rotors down and it was pretty pointless. I'll let you know how these pads work out. Their rated up to 2000 degF so they shouldn't wear out after 3 days like the carbotechs.

Yeah, it was a hoot dominating the Audi guys. At first they were making comments like, "wow, that thing is really fast in the straights but I can keep up with you in the corners". Of course I was faster in the straights, I hadn't learned the line yet! Once I had two runs under my belt I was passing every one in my run group and then even lapping some of the slower guys. Too bad there wasn't any serious hardware like some turboed 911/993/996s.

What Carbotechs were you running? I was using the Bobcats which is totally the wrong pad for the track. Marginally better than stock but not up to the task of track laps. My instructor was using the Carbotech XP9s and claims to have had no issues with wear or fade. I can testify that his braking was fine throughout the entire run I rode with him. He was driving VERY hard.

Where did you get your Performance Friction pads?

4G63....my best bet is "film transfer" on your rotor. Did you share the rotora with other brake pad? I used to run ds3000 on my ITR during track day......they are great pad but if I somehow drag the brake too long under heavy braking, film transfer can happen. All you need to do is "re-bed-in" the pad and the rotor......and the "warpage" will go away.

Propellerhead.....I'm not surprises you "lost the brake" at BeaverRun. That track is brake killing track (so little long straight to allow the brake to cool down). I remembered even hondas have brake problem there and they are ~400lb lighter than our car.


I just went to Summit Point at the past weekend, I had been to that track more than 10 times but first time with the Evo there. I use stock pad and rotor, during the first session.....I start losing the brake after 4 laps flying down on the main straight at ~130mph and brake into T1 at 60 mph. I then change the way I apply the brake and it was fine thoughout the whole weekend. it was the first time I use stock pad on track and i did learn how to watch the brake point more carefully in order to "save" the brake :)

I think the stock pad did a great job for a car have 3200lb and 300hp {thumbup}
however, if I have track pad I'm sure it will be more fun on the track.

No kidding. I was even being considerate of conserving my brakes by only using them in short hard bursts and avoided getting in situations where traffic forced me to ride my brakes.

One thing I need to say, using the Bobcats on the track was a big mistake. The compound on those pads is not intended for track use. They are really a street compound pad. I used them because I couldn't get my hands on a more suitable pad. At this point I'm thinking my next outing will be using the Carbotech XP9s.

if you plan to use a track pad like XP9......get ready to buy another set of rotor just for the track pad. Film tansfer can almost be certain to happen if you use 2 very different brake compound on the same rotor.

one of the reason I havent use track pad is the price of rotor for our car is just too pricy :(

I got them from www.stoptech.com

The backing plate numbers are 7781 (front) and 0109 (rear). These numbers just so happen to coincide with the STi and the 350Z track. Coincidence? nope.

Later,
EvoMike

Hi 4g63
This is Greg with red evo.
It was nice running with you in Watkins Glen.
I will e-mail your pictures this evening.

I am sorry to hear you still have problems with brakes.
As you know I put the same rotors on my car first day on that track with the difference of running ferodos 2500's.
Mine held up pretty well.
I warped rotors before so I know it hurts.

I am really thinking of putting brake ducks on my car.
I have mitsubishi's air guides but that is not it.
I would hate to pay for rotors every time I will do one or two driving schools.
Does anybody know where I can do it in NY area?

Also, just so you know every time I got off the track I would drive for a couple of minutes just to cool them off.
Maybe that was the diference :dunno:

Greg,
Every time I got off the track, I went around the paddock at least 3 times (where all the blue barrels were set up) and never touched the e-brake. I'm thinking I either didn't bed the 3000's in right or they're too much pad for those rotors. I'm going to try taking them off and grinding them down, but only after I get the wheels re-balanced. Hopefully I just knocked a wheel weight off.

The 2500's are a really nice pad, stick with em. I'm going to try Home Depoting some air guides, will post pics if it works.

Joe

Joe - I've found on the WRX's that the Rotora rotors tend to like a milder compound pad - along the lines of a Hawk HPS, or Axxis Ultimate's. I have a feeling the 3000's may be a bit too much pad for those rotors to keep up with. I had the DS3000's on my Subaru way back when as they initially were the pads supplied with my Prodrive/Alcon brake kit. After my first track day at Watkins Glen with them the rotors were already starting to score a bit, though I never got any shaking. I went through that first set of pads pretty quickly, but the big thing was the brake dust....that was some hard stuff to clean! I remember scrubbing for a long time after that track day! I ended up swapping out to the more mild Mintex 1144 on the recommendation of some of the UK guys, and was really happy with them - not the all out track pad the Ferrodo was, but was much kinder to the rotors.