[s-cars] The front brake upgrade grinds forward

[Taka Mizutani]

Evan-
Thanks.

I meant, what are the advantages of a floating 2-piece rotor versus a fixed
2-piece rotor? In terms of noise, durability, truing issues, replacement
issues, etc.

As for brake ducting, yes, it does matter to me. I'm not fading my brakes on
a regular drive, but I have experienced brake fade on the street. I don't
think I'd see brake fade in the STi (3300 lb. car with 326x30 front rotors)
but I think it is very possible with the Miata (tiny rotors, albeit 2400
lbs). I know brake ducting solutions are soon to be available for the STi if
not already, don't know about the Miata- I wanted to hear some discussion
about brake ducting and proper application of such.

As for track use, I faded the Porsche 996 caliper / MBZ 320x30mm rotor
running Hawk HPS pads at the Glen. Repeated 135 to 60 on the back straight
and 100-110 to 60 on the front straight caused major brake fade by the end
of a session, major "check your shorts" moment on the front straight when
the pedal went to the floor and I had to look for a suitable place to crash.
Fortunately, I was able to scrub enough speed w/ understeer to be able to
keep the car on the track. :-)

Taka


On 3/23/06, Evan Levine <evan.levine at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> #1 - Floating/2 piece rotors are typically much lighter than solid rotors.
> This is a good benefit for the track. Once you have the hats, you also can
> simply replace the rotor rings with many different types and relatively
> cheaply which is good for track usage.
>
> IN MY OPINION - I don't believe that there is any real downside to 2-piece
> rotors other than having a MUCH higher cost than solid. For serious track
> usage the weight savings is worth something, but on the street I think the
> cost far out weighs the advantages. If you're on any sort of budget... a
> solid rotor of the same dimensions on the street should have just about the
> same braking performance.
>
> #2. I Have no idea.
>
> #3. Similar to #1, good brake ducting will allow better cooling for your
> brakes at any amount of speed where there is wind passing through the car.
> But back to the original question, does this matter for you personally? Does
> your big brake kit need better cooling driving to work in the morning? I
> would guess not considering I had no problems with mine running 25 minutes
> sessions at VIR.
>
> Also - simply putting holes in places and such does not always have the
> desired effect. While good brake ducting may be effective, I think a lot of
> the products out there and some home made solutions may really be doing
> nothing at all.
>
> Again, alot of this is opinion.
>
> Evan
>