Brake Upgrades, Advice, Experiences

[akirasan]

Perhaps quasi-related. I recently replaced the OEM rotors with Paragon 2-pieceon my GT4 as they started showing cracks dictating replacement - Ferodo DS1.11s took their toll. The odd thing - the right front trailing edge retention spring was starting to rotate out of position, probably 5 degrees or so. This was an impossibility on my 9x7 cars, and while the mono-block calipers are new to me this just seemed wrong. I know the previous owner had done brakes before (rotor retention bolts missing/misaligned), so not sure what could've happened. Any thoughts/insight would be appreciated.

[blueline]

Perhaps quasi-related. I recently replaced the OEM rotors with Paragon 2-pieceon my GT4 as they started showing cracks dictating replacement - Ferodo DS1.11s took their toll. The odd thing - the right front trailing edge retention spring was starting to rotate out of position, probably 5 degrees or so. This was an impossibility on my 9x7 cars, and while the mono-block calipers are new to me this just seemed wrong. I know the previous owner had done brakes before (rotor retention bolts missing/misaligned), so not sure what could've happened. Any thoughts/insight would be appreciated.

That's a new one for me. It will be interesting to see if anyone here has thoughts and/or what you find out once resolved. Please post what you discover.

[Sansho]

I see rotors with grooves and EBC sells a rotor with grooves and dimples. Do they really do much for braking performance?

My two cents on rotors, after spending many years on the track ... especially for a combination street/track car, get yourself one piece slotted rotors. These are the solid-faced rotors with grooves/slots/dimples on each side of the rotor that you've seen. The slots allow braking gases between the pad and rotor to escape, as well as water if it's raining. As a side benefit, when the rotor wears down to the bottom of the slots, you'll know it's time to get new rotors.

When you do get new brake pads, be sure and break them in properly (usually involving a number of slow downs and stops from various speeds).

And talking about brake pads and HPDE, titanium brake pad backing plates are good to help lessen heat transfer from the pad to the brake piston to the brake fluid. They run $50-$75+ per axle, and just slide in between the pad and brake pistons.