JantzenRX-8

iTrader: (9)

Just thought i'd share my install will everyone.

Long story short, i needed new rotors because my OEM rotors had 70k miles, lots of autocross and 8 track days on them. At one of my last track day my pads bit the bullet prematurely (Racing Brake ET800 -- dont buy them if you want to take your car to a track) and scored the front rotors pretty good. They were too low to turn so i just decided to run them for a while to try and smooth them out again but the grooves were too deep. I had about .5mm left of material on the fronts and about 1mm of material left in the rear. I had originally planned to replace just my front rotors but a couple weeks ago i noticed a 1-1.5 inch crack in one of my rear rotors so i just decided to replace all of them. I was planning on buying the one-piece rotors to save money but I waited until the last minute to order them (track day next weekend) and they were completely out of stock. So rather than but some cheap crap i'm just going to end up replacing i just went for it and got the two piece.

I was surprised with how easy rotors are to replace but i ran into a bit of a snag. the hardware that holds the friction surface to the hat was rubbing on the caliper bracket. So i whipped out the dremel and went to town on it. I had to do this (see pic below) on all four rotors but the front were the worst.

So far i've just bedded them in and went for a short test run. They seem solid though. No strange vibrations or noises so i think the install was a success

Like i said, track day is next weekend so i'll really get to see how they perform. I'll be running Carbotech XP10/XP8 and have some new stainless lines installed thanks to epikeddie. I'll update as i go.

Crappy iPhone pics -- left my good camera at the g/f's

Front on left, rear on right


Backside of front rotor


Dremel action.


Rear semi-installed


Front semi-installed


Finished product

WTBRotary!

iTrader: (6)

Looks great, cost a arm and a leg though as well ehh??? haha

JantzenRX-8

iTrader: (9)

yeah kind of. $1128 to my door in 3 days. I wasn't thrilled spending $600 more than i planned but i figured for as much as i'm at the track it would be worth it. From what i've heard these things wear very good and should last me quite a while. Friction plates are only slightly cheaper than One-piece rotors so i guess that's a minor plus. I'll probably break even in about 30 years

elysium19

iTrader: (1)

hey random questrion - what endlinks are those in the picture? And are they adjustable? Any good? I've gone through like 4 sets and they keep breaking or other problems, I'm trying to get a good set.

RX8pwnage

iTrader: (1)

those are Evo-Rs pretty sure

and they are adjustable

Mazurfer

Strange and I'm puzzled, they look nothing like my Racing Brake two-piece which fit perfectly?????
Did they change the design or something?

I'm all over the RB site, and I can't find any that look like yours. Can you link the page?

Regardless, I'm sure you will like them. Mine are doing fine and have been on about 4 years now I guess. No real track duty though.

Highway8

iTrader: (11)

I ran the same ones except open slotted for about 10k miles, with 1k being track miles. Upgraded to a bbk front and rear, so I will have mine up for sale soon along with some track pads and new ss lines.

I had a minor rub on the caliper bracket when turning. The rotors did the sanding for me after 5 min of doing circles around the block.

RX8pwnage

iTrader: (1)

His rotors dont seem to have the RB patented "center mount design" which they display on their webpage. I have a set of front and rear 13" rotors coming next week, ill post pics of what they look like. Not sure Im liking the "new" design as much if they changed it. Looks like they would be heavier and lack in ventilation compared to the old design...

JantzenRX-8

iTrader: (9)

I did realize they looked different than the pics on their website. I just assumed they had a different design for each application. But if Mazsufer's look different than mine i dont know what's going on. Maybe they changed their design around a bit.

Yes the end links are EVO-R. They're decent but my rears are completely rusted. Must have been salt getting kicked up on them from over the winter

JantzenRX-8

iTrader: (9)

BTW - i just emailed RB asking them for an explanation why the design changes were made.

WTBRotary!

iTrader: (6)

^^^ Good idea

TopGear8

iTrader: (3)

I have the ones Mazurfer pictured as well. I hope they didn't send you the 1 piece rotors..

RX8pwnage

iTrader: (1)

Those arent 1 piece rotors...they are indeed two piece. But they arent ventilated like the 2 piece rotors are supposed to be....if mine show up next week looking the same Im not gonna be happy lol

Highway8

iTrader: (11)

13" front and rear? When did rb make a 13" rear rotor kit for the rx8? The front bbk is 13.1" but you didn't say you ordered a bbk.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

Guess I didn't notice the change. My latest set don't have the windowed hats. Can't say that I can tell performance wise. Rocked the house at a time trials event last weekend and the RB brakes were flawless.

I've used OE endlinks without issue. My car is corner balanced too. Never had any issue with OE links. If it ain't broke don't throw money at it .....


.

Spin9k

Hey! I got new rotors this Spring and I noticed they had different slot design design and placement but not the "missing" RB patented "center mount design". Guess I wasn't paying attention, but now that I look again....WTF!

Not only, these have so little air vent spacing aound the ring... like 3/8in not the 3/4in holes of the earlier ones. Time for a little discussion with RB Monday

Mazurfer

Yeah, he's got two piece or he wouldn't have any tabs at all, but the hats aren't windowed as everybody is now finding out. WTF? That's what I found odd.
I also searched the site for about 1/2 an hour trying to locate what they sent him. Not sure it's a big deal, but seems odd.
I
'm off to find an actual picture of mine on the car. I'll also check the date and see how long mine have been on. I was afraid I'd take some **** for pointing out that they are different, but it seems like I have peaked others curiosity as well.


No pictures really worth putting up. There are just rotors, so I guess I didn't take a shot other than having the wheels on and showing the painted calipers........can't see the open hats all that well in my shots, but they are there! I bought them in March of 07.

Mazurfer

Exactly, that's all I was really questioning.


Oh and rears are ~12", but fronts are ~13".


Funny, just found this picture where they are talking about interference issues on some cars and it does show the open hat design either.



I do not remember back in 07 any talk of any interference issue and I had none.

JantzenRX-8

iTrader: (9)

I see why you're thinking they dont have the center mount design when you compare it to this



But the mounting points on this rotor are exactly the same as the mounting points on my rotors



If you look at the back of my rotor the tabs bend in and mount what looks like the center.

JantzenRX-8

iTrader: (9)

Except i just read that center mount was to allow for more air from the inboard and outboard sides.. not just the fact that it's mounted in the center of the rotor.. Oh well i tried.

edit: Actually, you can kind of tell in the RB pic that the tabs alternate side to side. So never mind again...

Mazurfer

Jantzen,

Again.......sorry didn't mean to thread jack, but I thought it was strange and I noticed it right away that they weren't open.
I wonder what they will tell you?
Let us know please.

JantzenRX-8

iTrader: (9)

No its fine. I'm glad you guys brought it up. I'm curious to what they will say as well. It's very odd they would just abandon one of their patented technologies. The only thing i can imagine i a strength issue. But i kind of doubt it and i can't find any info on people having problems with them.

Mazurfer

That's what I thought.....strength? Maybe they have data that shows strength outweighs the cooling effect of having them open?
Maybe they got some feedback that showed cracked tabs?
Regardless.............they should update the pics/diagrams though........IMO.
They have a loosely worded disclaimer on some of the diagrams/pics, but not on them all and it certainly isn't clear is it.

Let's see what Brian says.

Spin9k

Jantzen I too discovered the bracket scraping clearance issue and I had to use a bench grinder to take away the excess material on the OEM calipers brackets....and it wasn't just a bit here and there but a good slice of each side of each one. I don't see how RB could have test fitted them sucessfully without this being done. Kind of strange and a bit of PITA work to take so much off the caliper brackets.

First set I got years ago I had just the front ones. Same issue but much less of a problem. Rather than grinding, I just put a washer on the bracket bolts to hold them a bit inwards. That worked, but this time there was much more interference and I wanted to do it 'right' lol.

RX8pwnage

iTrader: (1)

I bought BBK. The fronts are ~13. Rears around 12.