Have you done brake temp paint on the rotor to see what temps your getting to? Regardless of Brake temps or pad choice not all rotors are created equal. I typically run plain face rotors because they take longer to crack. But not all metal and manufacturing is the same. Going down to The local autoparts store I can buy plain face white box rotors for my R53 for something like $22 a rotor (IIRC). Dirt Cheap. But darn near destroyed after 2 days on track. OE Style Brembo's are about $50 a rotor and would resist cracking about twice as long. Twice the price, but twice the life. Ok saves me having to change rotors every track day I'll buy the brembo's. Thinking I got smart I decided to try the ATE slotted Rotors at only a few bucks more and ended with the same life as the brembo's. On my old Civic race car the Brembo's were $50 and the White Box rotors were like $12 and that made it worth while to buy new white box every weekend. Now on the Honda S2000 the white box rotors will not last a whole day, in fact it's dangerous how fast they fail. They crack at an extremely rapid rate. But I'm getting the brakes beyond the brake temp paint range of 1471f degrees. This is what a Bran new HONDA (longest lasting I've found) OEM rotor looked like after 2 days on track...
I don't disagree but doesn't the type of pad being used also affect rotor-life? I'm guessing you were using full metallic race pads because I have seen many guys with S2000s at the track that don't have rotors that crack after two days. My guess is the difference is that they are using a less aggresive pad (i.e. a Hawk HP+ or EBC Redstuff).
I've used Carbotech, Hawk, and Cobalt on the car. It's actually a huge issue on the S2000 boards. Talking with the guys at stoptech they only see the issue on the east coast. Either we drive harder over here or our tracks are different. Think the tracks here have more straights and harder brake zones so the brakes get heated up and cooled more often. Sebring has 4 120-130 mph straights each one followed by a relatively hard brake zone (120-40, 120-55, 130-70, and 125-100). Combined that with the known fact that East coast has better drivers and you've got brake death.... :cornut: On a serious note When talking to the guys at stoptech they did say that the cracked brake rotors was only an east coast issue that they don't see it on the west coast likely due to the track layouts. I've seen threads of it happening at buttonwillow, just far more rare. The S2k's in the southeast, we all have issues with it. One of the reason's the car now has stoptech's on it.
The Funny part is I pulled the car off the trailer and drove it around the block (to turn it around and annoy the neighbors) and never felt anything funny with the brakes. I pulled the wheel off and was shocked that it felt perfectly normal. Imagine had I done one more session on track and not given the brakes a good once over. There was a guy in an S2000 a couple years ago that died during TT's and I believe these rotors failing was the blame for the crash.
wouldn't cryo help to stop all the cracking? i know that they would still at some point crack to but maybe you would get a lill more then a weekend or 2 out of them. (I m asking more then saying I know... because I know nothing about this stuff but everything i read is saying the it would help):arf:
I was also wondering if cryo treating would extend their life a bit. That picture is hell scary. Yikes!!!
There is another issue that is not addressed here. Rotor thickness The stock and replacement rotors are VERY thin. I have a set of Wilwoods, 12.8" x 1.25" thick, drilled and slotted. Could not find a better set up than these.
Isn't there a limit to a rotors thickness? Seems if one has stock calipers there would be not enough room to run a thicker rotor.
I've had very good luck with the Zimmerman drilled/slotted rotors and the Hawk HPS pad combination. As a daily driver, I have noticed a difference in the stopping ability over OEM. With only about 5000 miles it may be too soon to tell about wear, but thus far everything is beyond satisfactory. The rotors are German made and make for a great look, regardless of whether or not one prefers the added features... Here's a couple pics. The closeups are kinda hard to see and appreciate the look on a dirty car after a weekend trip to the coast.