So are you saying that Baer never sells something just because people want to buy it?

Everyone sells drilled rotors, but they don't recommend them for performance applications. Give em a call...


The thing I notice about your rotors is that there is little rotor wear at all. If you've had these for as long as you say you have then thats evidence of very light usage. You should see my rotors after one good day at the track. Lots of evidence of getting very hot. significant wear.

 

My rotors are the originals. The car has about 62,000 on it total. I always use organic pads, Wagners and the rotors just keep getting polished.
NO I am not on the track, don't care to be, never will be. I just drive the car fast and love to wait until the last minute and feel my powerful brakes pull me down.
I will try harder with the new 14 inch Coleman rotors. Maybe I can get them to look ratty after a few years.

 

Organic pads...

(edit: Norval beat me to it.)

 

UKPaul my car probably sees 120 mph every time I take it out. I do drive too fast. Rain, Never. 1980 was the last time it rained on my car. Almost got caught last summer the made it home. I am replacing the front rotors in the next week with 14 inch racing rotors and will not drill them. I have been adding weight to the car in the last few months and will accept the weight penalty if there is one.
I do have hydraboost from a 1 ton truck so my braking strength is high. I do occassionaly lock all 4 wheels.
I am not hard on brakes, proud of it, I have had good luck with drilled rotors.
I too had a racing 1200cc KAW with twin drilled front brakes and a single drilled rear and never had a problem. Probably never went fast enough and needed to stop in a hurry to test them.
Anyway over 25 plus years have never had a problem with drilled brakes.

 

Ignoring for a moment hydraulics and the geometry of the caliper/rotor system, and admittedly my experience has been with motorcycles in a racing environment where I have had the oppertunity to experience braking a 500 lb motorcycle and a 250lb rider from speeds in excess of 160mph for an hour at a time in a six hour endurance race on a big track like Pocono...

Opinions in braking performance perception in no particular order...

o Braided lines and fresh brake fluid (my preference is DOT3-4 synthetic...Do you guys change your brake fluid every year?)

o Good quality brake pads and rotors for your application. (compound and rotor material matter) (do you remove the old pad material from the rotors when you change brake pad compounds ?) Have you ever tested stainless or ductile iron rotors on the same day? Stainless in the wet, ductile iron in the dry is my personal preference. (other materials exist such as carbon fibre, it has demostrated benefits and drawbacks)

o The best tires and the correct chassis set up. (something has to transfer all that brake torque to the ground) The first stop of the day on cold tires will be different than repetitive stops with warm tires and warm brakes. The performance between tire compounds is quite exciting on a motorcycle.

o The least amout of unsprung weight and rotational mass that you can afford.

o Full floating rotors (where the rotor is allowed to move slightly from side to side in the plane of rotation). This is to cope with thermal effects on the rotor and like braided lines it very noticably improves feel and control.

o Oh yeah and that all important practice!!! Do you practice braking? Do you brake right up to the point of lock up? Do you know what lockup feels like in lever or pedal? Do you pracitce how you push on the pedal? Are you smooth and deliberate in your braking action? Do you know what it feels like when the fluid starts boiling in the system?

 

Is Brembo a performance brake manufacturer?

Is AP Racing a performance manufactuer?

A good brake reference site is located here... http://www.apracing.com/car/brakedisc/index.htm

Wilwood says slotting or drilling was a hold over from organic pads

 

Norval,
While I have no doubt at all that you know what you're doing, a lot of people don't & just piling into a job because that somebody else appears to have done the same without knowing what you're doing can lead to catastrophic results (seen it happen). I'm just trying to give a heads up
Last time I got caught in the rain was on the way home from the Nationals (big Vette meet here) last summer. I was on a horrible motorway, called the M25, near Heathrow airport (busiest section of road in the country, which the song "Road to Hell" is about). The heavens opened with a full on cloudburst & thunderstorm so I turned on the wipers..... & they didn't work The cause was a connector that just needed a wiggle (probably corroded due to lack of use) but I didn't find it til I was off the motorway & able to pull over. The brakes got a good workout that day
Would that 1200 Kwaka be a bored out Z1000 by any chance (ZD1000?)?
84rzv500r,
My old bike had AP Lockheed brakes fitted as standard & I can't fault them. In 1981 a popular bike mag here tested them and (being very pro *** & anti everything else) found that they were the best brakes fitted to the 750 class. As you say, the only real improvement I gained was by fitting braided hoses. Been running DOT5 synthetic in it since the day I first changed the fluid & have never had any problems with it. I once got hold of a pair of those AP racing callipers you linked to & the weight saving was massive over the stock cast ones, but I had to sell them due to redundancy (still kicking myself for that). The worst thing I ever did with the brakes was to drill the rotors because they weren't that good in the wet as in the dry, as you say. The only way to ensure they work well in the wet is to keep giving them a little dab every few miles to keep them dryish.
Excellent suggestion to practice emergency stops, whether on a bike or in a car (on a quiet road with nothing behind you!). So many people don't do it & if they ever have to during a genuine emergency they often lose control. Apart from anything else it shows up faults that you may not be aware of (one wheel locks while no others do, veers to one side, etc).

 

I have issues with Brembo...

Ap is cool but I see zero technical info on their website.

Wilwood is the best place I'v ever found for technical info.
They actually encourage you to use their products. brembo and ap couldn't care less untill you order in mass quanties or are on an F1 team

 

Doesn't the C6 have cross drilled rotors on the optional brake package?

That car is meant to be driven hard.

I wonder how they got away with that?

 

Drilled or slotted decreases sweep area, but under heat they have degassing benifits. All my rotors are blue/brown from heat. I've bought sloted and a drilled sets over the years. One set was the VB&P actually i didn't see any lack of durability or cracking.

The idea of less rotational and unsprung weight like Norval's idea is a plus.

I just go through 3-5 sets of PF pads on the fronts and the rotors are warped or worn past the service limit. I never get more than a year or two out of the rotors. I've got a stack of used ones that I keep thinking about having turned. It just easier to buy sets of four and keep replacing them.