Thread: Breaks
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Old 03-26-2002, 06:21 AM
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Beav Beav is offline
Not as old as Randy
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 3,883
Significant Technical Input
I don't think you're going to find pads made for OE applications that are hard enough to withstand racing's rigors, especially not on a 3600 pound car. If pads are available for the SVX that could take that abuse they would definitely be unsafe when cold.

The problem I see with rotors on the average street car is many are just cheap junk. Let's face it, drums and rotors are a hose job in the first place. They aren't rocket science, they don't require nth degree machining (if they did, could a 16 year old kid with five minutes instruction refinish a rotor?) Tha amount of metal used is negligible. I don't see much reason for most rotors to cost more than $20 - $30. I remember only a few years ago I could still purchase rotors for my 124 Spider for $6 each. Some Chryslers I work on will show a small pocket or hole, if you will, that becomes a huge crater when machined. Nothing but the highest of quality here. The worst rotors I've seen come from China, Mexico and South America. The best come from USA and Canada and Italy. IMHO, of course...

My take on rotor warpage is most are cheaply cast and have high amounts of density variation. Nothing you can do except constantly resurface them. The next problem is the way some people drive. You and I both know that smoothness and consistency wins the race, but you can't convince the average 'hot shoe' on the street of that. That doesn't matter to them anyway. They want to be the street version of what they watch on t.v. and it's not so much about being fast as it's about "Look at Me!" If the car can't take their abuse and it's maintenance costs cut too deep into the party fund it's a POS.

Most OEs are now recommending that if the rotor surface isn't warped and any grooving present is less than .060" deep (GM spec) machining is not to be done. I guess the grooves are another way to give the rotor more surface area, in their eyes. Let's face it, the brakes don't perform at their best until the rotor surface is highly polished by the pads and the pads themselves have baked their resins.

Scoring can be the result of road grit, pieces of the rotor embedding in the pad and the particles of sintered bronze, ceramics and iron (whatever they use today...)

Oh well, I've got more to say but I'm under the gun to go to work.

Beav
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