When my TT 2+2 auto arrived from Japan a couple of years ago one of the first things I did was fit DBA front disks with the slotted grooves. At the time I did a little research and finished up going with Racebrakes pads (Nth Melbourne based www.racebrakes.com.au) RB74s they might have been. Well 20,000km later I've never been impressed. The reality is they are probably too racy for my style of driving. I don't like being hard on brakes for one and with these pads you really needed to push the pedal hard, cold they squealed. Basically I probably never got em hot enough. So down to Wallards last week for a service and I thought I'll even try stock factory pads if that means an improvement. Brett down there recommended Ultimates and they might have to machine the discs. To be honest with all the squeals I wasn't sure how much pad was left. Picking up the car I find hey presto decent brakes at last. Like the iron fist in velvet glove that the TT is in the go department now I have matching brakes. Plenty of feel, not too much pedal pressure needed, the feeling of plenty of stopping in reserve. Thanks to the boys at Wallards again. Understand the back brakes on a Zed don't do much of the work. But perhaps when it's time, I'll go the DBA route with the back brakes and Ultimates there as well.
DBA rotors I fitted some DBA rotors to the front of my zed about 10000k's ago. At the time i fitted bendix ultimates which are still on the car with heaps of meat. But the rotors are stuffed, warped so badly they need replacing already. Not keen on them now, would much rather RDA's but they don't make them for the NA.
I use the same combination on my NA (Macman take note, or maybe the front discs are RDA's - can't remember). They work really well. But be prepared to wash your wheels more often, they are a fairly 'dirty' pad generating lots of dust. So far as disc warping is concerned, Brett (@ Wallards) suggested leaving a bigger gap to the car in front when stopping and creeping forward several times to avoid hotspots on the disc.
Yeah, but you would still have the hot pads in the one position on the rotor (they are ALWAYS in contact, just that there is no pressure applied unless you are actually braking), creating a hot spot, and possibly leading to warpage. The point was to make sure the rotor had the heat spread evenly. Seems to be working so far (about 8 months). I had previously had the stock front rotors machined because of warping, and within 3 months they had warped again. Obviously, the thinner the discs the easier is is to warp them, so the thicker new discs are more resistant to this, but methinks there is something in what Brett says.
Thanks Red32 will keep that advice in mind. WIth the old Racebrakes pads there wouldn't have been any of this pulling up short and creeping. I always seemed to stop at a set of lights with the front of the car somewhat over the line. The Racebrakes were supposed to be low dust... didn't really turn out that way. I guess that's modern brakes. My wife has a Golf and it's exactly the same. Great brakes but lots of dust and the alloys on that while looking great take a lot of cleaning. But in poor old drought stricken Vic while it's not impossible to have a clean car it's not quite as easy as it once was!
ultimates yeah I get really dirty wheels after one day. Also I see your logic in the heatspot thing, but...whats the deal with buying a brand new part for your car and having to alter your driving so it doesn't break. Surely in this technological world we can create a user friendly metal for use in brake rotors. When you buy a new car they don't say make sure you do this this and this so you don't get warpped discs . This is why I want do get RDA's, my guess is they would be better.
i have DBA slotted front and rear same as bendix ultamate. Before on stock rotors and mild preformance pads I used to get brake fade (evry time thu the hills) craked rotors burnt out the brake seals and so on. So I put in this combo oh and sprayed my calipers red so they brake faster and I added 600C motul race brake fluid and rebuilt calipers and basicly the braking is slightly imroved but the brakes last for ages with no fade and coz the rotors arnt warped the abs comes on later and is alot smoother. I love em :biggrin:
Max It is most unlikely your rotors are warped. More likely they are just glazed ~ similar symptom - often misdiagnosed.
glazed went to pedders and asked them to check. So if their wrong what should I do, get them machined? Would glasing cause massive shaking in the wheel on the highway when not braking?
nar could be a few thing like your bushes or wheel alighnement/bearings ect And yes you would have to machene your rotors
I've got RB74's and DBA rotors fitted to my Z and find the brakes to be fine, no more dust than I would expect (far better than factory pads) and no squealing. I did have problems with squealing on my first Z after fitting the RB74's but turned out to be wrong compound in wrong box (or would that be wrong compound, right box? ). Spent ages trying to find the problem until I took it to RBA in Sydney and had the problem sorted quickly. Have new similar setup laying here on the floor waiting for my Z to come back and as soon as it does, I'll be fitting these (only difference is now using 4000 series rotors). Have to replace my rotors as I spotted what looks like a heat crack on the front left, and decided to just do the lot again. Cheers Mark
I have RDA slotted + Bendix Ultimates and I nursed the brakes for a week or so after fitting until I felt they had been properly bedded in. They brake beautifully, predictably and have never faded nor squealed. It is true that there is a bit more brake dust with the Ultimates, but I reckon they are worth it.
checked everything while it was at pedders, nothing wrong with the bushes. not the wheel alignment cause that was done 5000k's ago and had the shake b4 and after. Also the shake is consistant when breaking but intermitant on the highway without breaking.
yer could be warped but only bad enough to be noticed at high speeds but basicly the faster you go the more vibrations you get. So yer warped rotors expecialy when you got the check done.
I've had DBA slotted for 8 years on my TT and never had a problem ... but a mate got them fitted to his TT and cracked a front rotor in two days .with Bendix too... DBA didn't want to know about and was useless. Still I'm happy with mine .... Maybe some are hard on the brakes ? Driving technique or bad luck not sure which
