I'm coming over from the dark side . I raced a highly modified 911 for many years. I plan to track my 2014 Corvette z51 after the brake-in period. I was surprised about all the hassle in having to put on and than remove the rotor cooling ring. What are your thoughts / advise . Thanks in advance.

Drdavid121

Suggestions welcomed.

I appreciate this forum

 

If you are otherwise changing the pads to a track pad just do it then. Having said that, it is a PITA.

 

i'm with you. frigging ludicrous. i've run BBKs (stock and AM) on four other cars before this one and have NEVER had to do something so asinine.

i would opt for all-new, PROPER two-piece rotors with Al hats and forget this whole procedure. sure, the C7 rotors are two-piece. two pieces of IRON and a horrible (read: cost-effective) design.

 

I'm leaning in that direction. For as much thought they put in the C7 gen. You would think they would have approached this differently. Especially with all the focus they place on performance driving.

 

 

Does anyone make a "real" two piece rotor rotor that can be used with the stock caliper?

Is a brake duct kit available?

 

Look for the 'real' brake ducts to emerge around the time of the Z06 debut. For now, you'll have to engineer an extension, or cut and re-direct the flow.

 

My rotor rings are installed all the time in my Z51. Never going to take them out. I just ordered a new set of OEM rotors for it from gmpartsdirect, and they cost me $84 each. Just in case I get any kind of corrosion like the manual says, and it looks bad, I will have a spare set. So far rotors look just fine with the rings.


I have contacted PFC a couple of times to see if they make an OEM sized 2-piece rotor, but nothing yet. My contact there told me they are too busy with supplying Porsche Cup now that they are the official supplier, and also for another race series. He says they don't have time to take on too many new projects for the moment like making new model track rotors. I love their rotors on my GT-R. Also waiting for final break-in before taking my C7 to the track. Likely will end up with Jeff Ritter's AP Racing BBK from Essex Racing. I have asked MTI Racing about any brake cooling solutions, but no response as of yet.

 

Hmm.... I like the way you think... That's the only reason they advise them to be left off in the first place. Cheap replacements, too.

 

I think this qualifies:

http://weaponx-c7.myshopify.com/coll...front-complete

 

Tomorrow is my first HPDE of the season... just got in from putting my Carbotech XP10 pads on the car. Guess what dumba$$ me forgot to do? Here I am talking about putting the rings on when you change the pads and then I forget to do it

Well, I'm tired and not putting the rings on. Ambient temps are cool'ish tomorrow and it's the first day out. I'll take it easy on the car and put them on tomorrow night before Sunday at the track. It will be interesting if I can even tell the difference.

 

When you stare long enough at them, it begs the question of if they really do anything, or were just a massive (silly) afterthought...

 

Are cooling rings a Z51 thing or do other high performance cars need than as well?

BTW what are the Z51 rotor P/N's.

 

Z51 Rotor Part Numbers:

Front: 20981821

Rear: 20981822

 

I put them on to run 10 laps at Talladega. Mistake, .... $55 for dealer to put them on and $55 to take them off. Never again except maybe for a serious track event which is not likely. I plan to go to Spring Mountain in August and it will be interesting to see if they use the rings. ...

 

Looking forward to see if you can tell the difference.

Do you have any way checking rotor/caliper temps i.e. IR or temp change paint?

 

Just finished my 2nd track day in my c7 with carbotech xp10/8 pads and rotor rings. Taking my rings off Monday but leaving pads on( in case I track later this season). No fade after 20 min sessions. Most braking from 90-30 before coming down ridge corkscrew. Great bite with these pads. Better than OEM in my opinion. Just returned from 2 day level 2 spring mountain may 12-13. Rotor rings and stock pads used there.

 

The cooling rings force the air coming in from the cooling ducts (in-board) through the cooling vanes in the rotors versus just through the open sections between the hats and rings. You may be able to get away with not using them on some tracks, but others that are hard on the brakes will probably require them. Was this a GM afterthought? Yeah, probably...

If you're going to the track you should bleed your brakes anyway, so it's not that much more effort to put the rings on. A couple of notes for making it easy: 1) loop the wire from the front and around the back of the rotor "spokes" and twist in front (instead of GM's instructions, which would require you to remove the rotors and thus the calipers as well), and 2) this is essential.

Likely the optimal choice will be to go with a properly designed aluminum hat and good quality rings, e.g. AP Racing. With my Audi R8 and RS 4 I've found that high quality racing rotors tend to outlast OEM rotors by as much as 3X, and actually help pad wear as well, so in the end they're more cost effective while providing better brake pedal feel. I am new to the Corvette world, however, so I don't know if this statement holds. I've got some researching to do...

 

Hey Seapar - who are you running with? I'm in the Seattle area - Woodinville - and instruct with the Audi Club but sometimes do HOD and/or Turn 2.

 

Gmpartsdirect rep gave me a different front rotor part number than the one above based on my Z51's VIN which he asked me for before placing the order. The part numbers he gave me are:

Front for Z51: 23439965, same for both sides

Rear for Z51: 20981822, same for both sides

Rears were on backorder and I ordered a pair of the front ones but have not received them yet. Hopefully the rep gave me the right part numbers.