Some pics from Spring Mountain & brake questions

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6 December 2005
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Here are some pics from the recent PCA event at spring mountain. There was a professional photographer there and he got some good shots of the NSX.

The NSX ran great and that track is lots of fun. I highly recommend Spring Mountain in Parhump (45 mins from Las Vegas) for anyone that likes a technical track with lots of turns (18 of them).

I was pretty hard on my brakes at this event and my front rotors have several small cracks around the drilled holes (ya I know, last time I will get drilled). Should I replace them? I have another track event at California Speedway comming up and I wonder if they will survive, the cracks are small... maybe half an inch or an inch and they do not extend to the edge of the rotor.
 
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Scin said:
I was pretty hard on my brakes at this event and my front rotors have several small cracks around the drilled holes (ya I know, last time I will get drilled). Should I replace them? I have another track event at California Speedway comming up and I wonder if they will survive, the cracks are small... maybe half an inch or an inch and they do not extend to the edge of the rotor.
I would replace them before going on the track again.

When cracks first start to appear, they are like spider web type hairline cracking; you can keep using them at that point. However, when the cracks themselves start opening up - and, if they're at least half an inch long, they're opening up now - that's the time to replace the rotors.

One other thing to realize is that, when you go out on the track and heat up the brakes, the rotors expand, filling in the cracks. They open up when you come back into the pits and the brakes cool down. So you may not notice the cracks out on the track... unless they have widened enough that the rotor falls apart. :eek: Obviously, you want to keep an eye on them and don't let them reach that point.

Incidentally, all rotors can crack after extensive track use. I've used drilled rotors, slotted rotors, and solid-face rotors, and I've had all three types crack. I have observed no difference in lifespan (measured by number of track miles) among the three types.
 
Thank you for the response. I broke down and bought the Stop Tech two piece floating rotors. This may look a little silly since I will now have the absolute top of the line rotors up front and rusted old looking original rotors in the rear.

The rotors I just cracked were drilled/slotted brembo blanks and they only lasted four track days. I was a lot harder on them on the last day, I was braking later then the 911's in my run group. I took the advice from our instructor "don't break until you see god".
 
Scin said:
I broke down and bought the Stop Tech two piece floating rotors. This may look a little silly since I will now have the absolute top of the line rotors up front and rusted old looking original rotors in the rear.
Who cares about looks? :D

The Stoptech two piece rotors will work fine. They should last longer. But they, too, can eventually crack (been there, done that) so take a look at them every once in a while.

Rear rotors don't do all that much and last forever, thanks to the weight transfer of heavy braking. I've changed my front rotors eleven times on my NSX. (That's what 10K track miles will do. ;) ) I changed my rears once, years ago, when I went to slotted rotors, not because they cracked, but just so they would match in appearance. I checked them not that long ago and their thickness is still more than spec.

Oh, make sure you bed your new rotors ahead of time according to Stoptech's procedures on their website. That will apply a uniform layer of brake pad deposits on the surface, and will prevent shudder. (You're probably already aware of this.)

Scin said:
The rotors I just cracked were drilled/slotted brembo blanks and they only lasted four track days.
Four days is not very long at all. The only set I had that cracked that soon were defective ones (visibly defective) that Comptech refused to replace or refund.
 


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