Brake rotors are CRACKING! Need info!

[Silver Streak]

I bought a full set of drilled and slotted rotors and pads from wholesalepartsdirect.com 2 months ago... put them on less than 3000 miles ago.. and the rears are severely cracked in more than one place! Now their phone number is disconnected, they wont answer my e-mails.. and their "Best warranty in the industry" states later that once they are installed, the warranty is void... HOW THE HELL IS THAT A WARRANTY?!?!?!?!

Any sponsors sell slotted rotors? I wont go back with the drilled ones.... but need these ASAP as I don't need these breaking on me!

PLEASE HELP!

[cobrahunter]

That sucks! Not sure I can help much. I got my Powerslot cross-drilled rotors back in 2003 and I've had no issues whatsoever. Whew!



Now do you know if the rotors you bought were designed (i.e. the manufacturer used a CAD program) with the holes and slots in mind? Or did the manufacturer just take rotors and drill the hole patters in the rotors "afterwards"? I can't say that I constantly do HARD braking like week after week autocrossing, but I have on a number of occasions had to panic stop. And again, I have no problems with cracking or warping. Hope you get some kind of resolution with ur problem.

[Silver Streak]

Well... from what it looks like.. since I have no way of contacting them... I'll just have to eat the HIGH cost of replacing them and get a set of slotted.. hopefully from a sponsor here..... anyone?

[slims00ls1z28]

Thats the gamble with ebay rotors. I have a set that I've had for 3 years and have put heavy abuse on them an no cracking. They finally started to warp, but given my driving style and country roads I warped 2 sets of stockers in 6 months each so I'm doing good for 3 years.

[Silver Streak]

Except they weren't from Evilbay.. they were directly from their website..

[00ssSLP]

Thunder Racing is having a good sale right now for the weekend on the powerslots. I'm oredering mine right now as we speak.

[SeVeReDiStOrTiOn]

Drilled rotors are known to crack...slotted and dimpled would be better.

[myk02k]

iRotors drilled/slotted rotors out-lived my car (had em for a good 30,000 miles and were great). I opted for semi-metallic brake pads to increase pad life. Only mistake was not getting the zinc coated ones, which reduce rust.

[AKIRA]

I am sorry about your luck, but I died laughing when I read your description of the warranty + the install void.

[Silver Streak]

Yeah... how shitty is that?????? "I'll warranty the part and replace it if antyhing goes wrong... while its on the shelf"

[Mr. Luos]

Yeah....stock rotors for me. Seen WAY too many drilled ones crack.

As soon as I saw the thread title I was sure it would be of drilled and slotted rotors.

[AKIRA]

How did you not know the warranty ahead of buying it? Thats some crazy shit there...but it could protect them from suits..

[Silver Streak]

Because it was a tiny link at the bottom... and several guys in my club got them from there with no problems.. but then again they were able to call them up, etc.. and got their order in a couple days... Me not getting a hold of them by phone whhen I ordered them should have been my first clue.. then no answer by e-mails.. ten it took 3 weeks to get my rotors.... then thhey disconnected their phone.. <sigh> But AVOID THAT COMPANY!

[AKIRA]

How much were they? You got all 4?

[LS2Tuner]

I sell and install BAER brakes for years now with drilled and slotted rotors and I've only had one customer crack 2 rotors........
The only reason was he neglected to read the instuctions I gave him that are included! He went to a road race deal the next day and WAY over heated them in the first couple uses.
Sorry about your shi_ty rotors. Make sure you do this with any performance slotted or drilled.


Brakes 202- How-to Guides
Rotor Seasoning for Street or Light Track Applications

The first step in preparing the brake system for duty is to “SEASON” the rotors. The most visible effects are that of burning the machine oils from the surface of the iron and establishing a wear pattern between the pad and rotor. The most complex task it performs is that of relieving the internal stresses within the material. If you’ve ever poured water into a glass of ice, and noticed the ice cracking, then you’ve witnessed, first hand, the effects of internal stresses. The rotor casting and cooling processes leave the rotor with internal stresses.

By gradually heating the material, the crystalline matrix will reconfigure to relieve these internal stresses. After these stresses are relieved, the rotor is ready to accept the heat of bedding pads. Heating the rotors before they are fully seasoned can result in material deformation due to the unrelieved internal stresses in the material. This deformation may cause a vibration from the brakes. In order to prevent this vibration, all PRO-RACE+ rotors are trued before shipping.

Rotors need to be gradually elevated to “race” temperatures before any severe use. A “nibble”, or slight vibration, normally indicates rotors that were heated too quickly. After initial “Seasoning”, when running your car at open track events or serious canyon carving, you should use the first lap of a session (or first couple miles of open road), to warm the brakes as well as the engine, gearbox, etc. Where an engine turns chemical energy into motion, the brakes turn that motion into thermal energy.... and lots of it! And where there is no cooling system for the brakes as there is for the engine, and there’s not,
the brakes could use the courtesy of a warm-up lap.

Remember to ALWAYS WARM THE BRAKES before any heavy use!

Seasoning Procedure:

Before you begin, please note: The following represents the minimum recommended, “Seasoning” process. If your situation offers any opportunity to perform gentle preliminary “Seasoning” outlined in Step 2 below for a longer period of time, this will
generally render even better performance and increase further long-term rotor life. Use the vehicle for 5 to 6 days of gentle driving. Use the brakes to the same extent that you used the stock brakes, DO NOT TEST PERFORMANCE or ATTEMPT HEAVY USE UNTIL ALL ITEMS OUTLINED HAVE BEEN COMPLETED. It is imperative that excessive heat is not put into the rotors at this stage. They need temperature-cycling to relieve the internal stresses.

Note: Zinc plated rotors (which are an extra cost option) need a couple of extra days of driving to wear through the plating before “Seasoning” actually will begin. Find a safe location where the brakes can be run to temperature. Your goal is to gradually increase brake temperatures with progressively faster stops. Start by performing four 60 to 70 mph stops, as you would in the normal course of driving.

Next, perform four medium effort partial stops (about 50 %) from 60 mph down to 15 mph. Follow this with five minutes of freeway driving with LITTLE to NO BRAKING to allow the rotors to cool.

Then, perform four medium-hard effort partial stops (about 75 %) from 60 mph down to 15 mph. Follow this with ten minutes of freeway driving with LITTLE to NO BRAKING to allow the rotors to cool.

Park the car and allow the brakes to cool overnight to ambient temperature. You are now 50 % done with the rotor “Seasoning/Bedding” procedure proceed to STEP 4 the following day.

Return to the safe location where the brakes can be run to temperature. Make sure the brakes are warmed to full operating temperature and then, perform four medium effort partial stops (about 50 %) from 60 mph down to 15 mph. Follow this with
five minutes of freeway driving with LITTLE to NO BRAKING to allow the rotors to cool. Then, perform four medium-hard effort partial stops (about 75 %) from 60 mph down to 15 mph. Follow this with ten minutes of freeway driving with LITTLE to NO BRAKING
to allow the rotors to cool.

NOW, make six HARD partial stops from 60+ mph down to 15 mph or until rotors have reached an operation temperature of between 900 and 1,100° (Note: Temperature paints to accurately measure rotor temperature may be purchased from Baer Racing). Every effort should be made to perform this procedure without locking a wheel. Follow this with ten minutes of freeway driving with LITTLE to NO BRAKING to allow the rotors to cool.

Let the system cool off over night. The rotors are then ready for the next step in Preparing your Brake System: Bedding Pads.

[89RS&98Z28]

Another thing that is bad for rotors is the tire store jerk who won't use a torque wrench when putting wheels back on. Just tighten the hell out of those lug nuts keep em from comming loose.