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Scalloped rotors?


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http://www.wilwood.com/Products/002-Rotors/007-ULS/index.asp

 

Anyone tried these things? I still haven't purchased my rear rotors and it looks like I can drop 4.1 lbs PER rotor with these, at a cost of about $100 more for the pair than standard Ultralight rotors. I don't think I'd do it in the front, but I think I could probably afford the loss of mass in the rear. Kinda worried that they might be more prone to cracking or warpage.

 

Any thoughts?

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Well JM, I thinks its like any other engineering exercise.....its always a trade-off! Give up a little of this for a little of that. My personal opinion is, it's more likely an initiative to sell more product.I think some people use the word "BLING BLING" to describe such items. I would hope that a reputable brake company wouldn't resort to that, but hey. Shoot, this design has been used in the mountain bike word for a number of years. Do they work any better? I don't know, but I'll bet if you ask someone who has shelled out the $$$ for them will tell you how incredible they are.

 

Now if you can loose the unsprung weight without loosing any brake surface area and they survive as well as the round type, which is debatable, then it should be a plus up item. There's always a price to pay.....just one man's opinion.

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These are for dirt track cars, to clear out mud packing up in front of the calipers. They may work OK on the rear, since most Z's seem to have too much rear brake anyway, but I think the only benefits will be reduced weight, not any increase in performance. Definitely not for the front IMO.

 

John

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Yeah I'm definitely not looking at these for any increase in performance or cooling or anything like that. I know they'll run hotter since they have 66% of the mass of the full sized rotors. I'm just a cheap *** and saving 8 lbs on rotors for $100 is cheaper than buying wheels that are 8 lbs lighter.

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Yeah I'm definitely not looking at these for any increase in performance or cooling or anything like that. I know they'll run hotter since they have 66% of the mass of the full sized rotors. I'm just a cheap *** and saving 8 lbs on rotors for $100 is cheaper than buying wheels that are 8 lbs lighter.

 

There you are then :) if the loss of 34% of the mass will not be a problem brake temperature wise, give it a go and let us know.

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That just doesnt look right to me. Just get some lighter normal rotors. Think about it. If you made that rotor in a normal shape it would have a larger diameter and still weigh the same. You would get more brake torque as well.

 

Douglas

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It might be an improvement if they bolt right on in place of the existing rotors, without changing the caliper mounts, hats, etc. If you can maintain desired brake balance and not fade them, 4# per wheel would be noticeable IMO. When I went to wheels that were about the same amount lighter, I could tell a difference under braking and accelerating. Somewhere I've read that losing 1# rotating mass is roughly equivalent to losing 4# sprung mass.

 

Probably worth a try.

 

John

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My understanding is that they are only good for short track events and not for prolonged use. I don't think they could handle daily street driving (especially if, like me, you live near a major metropolitan area and are subjected to stop and go driving). I imagine that with the scalloped rotors that you will lose some effective surface area and that conventional rotors would be more effective. But I'm just a shmuck! Lol

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I could get my brakes hotter in 5 minutes of racing than in 2 hours of stop and go. Never seen anyone pull off the freeway with boiling brake fluid. Back to the subject though.

 

Has nobody actually USED these? Zhadman makes a good point, since the pad ends up at the outside of the scallops there would be a pretty significant part of the pad that would not be in contact with the rotor at any given time. Kinda like a drilled rotor in that respect. Is that going to affect the balance of the braking system?

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I could get my brakes hotter in 5 minutes of racing than in 2 hours of stop and go. Never seen anyone pull off the freeway with boiling brake fluid. Back to the subject though.

 

True... but I was thinking more of a dirt circle track. I'm not overly familiar with this form of racing but it doesn't seem like they brake too much.

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A customer of Erik Messley's put a set of those scalloped rotors on the back of his Viper and ran it at a VRL event at WSIR (a track that's pretty easy on brakes). They were blue and cupped by the end of the day. He went back to Brembo rotors.

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A customer of Erik Messley's put a set of those scalloped rotors on the back of his Viper and ran it at a VRL event at WSIR (a track that's pretty easy on brakes). They were blue and cupped by the end of the day. He went back to Brembo rotors.

 

I seem to recall a GT-2/3 Mazda that uses something like this at Portland (PIR). But they aren't wilwood. They are an expensive stacked and furnace brazed rotor. So in concept they work but I think the problem as John mentions is that the Wilwoods can't handle the heat. Now for an autocross car getting heat into the rotors quickly is good and would allow you to use a real race pad and keep unsprung weight down.

 

Cary

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bwahha i guess if you wanted you could proportion the rear brakes so well that the rears would lock up on the rotor surface farthest from the hub then unlock as it approached center followed by relocking... creating a pulse. Probably damn near impossible but hey, its abs?

 

if you didnt get this it has something to do with leverage

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