New parts for the GTO

[AMCRambler]

So after working overtime restoring power during that snow storm at the beginning of March, I made some extra scratch and decided to throw a little bit into brakes for the GTO. It still has the original rotors and it was coming time to replace them. Got the pads 2 weeks ago and the new rotors came today.

I think I'm gonna put them on tomorrow

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Rotors sure do look pretty, doubt they will make you stop any shorter.

Pads are definitely an improvement over stock though!

 

[fbrdphreak]

You wasted your money on the rotors, but new brakes are always a good thing!

What year?

 

[Fenixgoon]

sweet :thumbsup;

 

[alphatarget1]

Why drilled rotors...?

 

[exdeath]

I was always in the drilled rotors are for looks on a street car crowd... but I think that view has changed...

Pads on my Cobra are glazed right now, really sucks having weak brakes in a 3600 lb car and not being able to stop as fast as you can accelerate. There are discolored hot spots and micro cracks all around the 13" Brembo blank rotors. Going to 14" rotors to see if that helps with the heat. Most studies show around 60 degree reduction in brake temps just from going from 13" to 14" rotor with nothing else changed.

Have to admit if that doesn't help I'm considering drilled/slotted rotors too, as well as 4-6 piston calipers with longer pads to spread out the load so the brakes don't heat up so fast.

You don't need to be on a race track 24/7 to drive a car hard the way it was meant to be driven.

 

[fbrdphreak]

^^
Surely they make brake ducting kits for your Cobra? Bigger rotors and calipers are good too, but there needs to be effective ventilation to help dissipate the heat.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I was always in the drilled rotors are for looks on a street car crowd... but I think that view has changed...

Pads on my Cobra are glazed right now, really sucks having weak brakes in a 3600 lb car and not being able to stop as fast as you can accelerate. There are discolored hot spots and micro cracks all around the 13" Brembo blank rotors. Going to 14" rotors to see if that helps with the heat. Most studies show around 60 degree reduction in brake temps just from going from 13" to 14" rotor with nothing else changed.

Have to admit if that doesn't help I'm considering drilled/slotted rotors too, as well as 4-6 piston calipers with longer pads to spread out the load so the brakes don't heat up so fast.

You don't need to be on a race track 24/7 to drive a car hard the way it was meant to be driven.

The brakes in my car are fricken worthless. One hard stop from 70mph and they'll fade pretty badly. I really need to do something about that actually...then again, it's not exactly a performance car but it sucks having brakes like that on a fairly lightweight midsize sedan with 255hp.

 

[exdeath]

^^
Surely they make brake ducting kits for your Cobra? Bigger rotors and calipers are good too, but there needs to be effective ventilation to help dissipate the heat.

I'm not going fast for any long enough period to use cooling ducts, this is from short sprints and daily stop and go type of driving and playing around. Side effect of bumping up power incessantly and not touching anything else.

I might just see if I can turn the rotors and replace the pads with some high temp Hawks and see if it happens again. Big brake kits are stupid expensive for what you get.

Anyhow, just saying, from my experience now I'm not so sure about downplaying bigger brakes and/or slotted/drilled rotors anymore on a street car if you drive it hard enough to need them.

 

[AMCRambler]

It's a 2005.

Yeah, I've heard varying opinions about cross drilled helping with fade on street cars. There are those who think it's a good idea and those who say the rotor is going to crack and fall apart.

I decided to give it them a shot and see for myself. The car was still on the original rotors after 35,000 miles so I figured I'd put new ones on. I decided I wanted an anodized set so they'd stay looking nice and when I was pricing them out, the cost of stock rotors vs slotted/cross drilled/anodized was like and extra 25 bucks a rotor. So I said what the hey, worst case they'll pretty and not work any better. I don't think they're going to fall apart. The rotors on the GTO are massive. I think the ones that fall apart are the little Honda and Acura rotors that aren't big enough and are severely weakened when you drill out material on them.

I think Mercedes and BMW have been putting cross drilled rotors stock on some of their cars for a while now haven't they? If they're really snake oil, why do it?

 

[fbrdphreak]

They're not snake oil per say, but have little to no value on the street.

And they shouldn't fall apart as long as the holes are cast into the rotor and not drilled. I think the concern there is really only with the eBay cheapies.

35K miles on stock rotors is doing pretty good for the heavy Goat, but if it's a 6-speed I'm not surprised. If you use engine braking as you should, the brakes tend to last a while. That said, if you weren't getting any pulsing in the pedal you likely didn't need new rotors.

 

[zerocool84]

It's a 2005.

Yeah, I've heard varying opinions about cross drilled helping with fade on street cars. There are those who think it's a good idea and those who say the rotor is going to crack and fall apart.

I decided to give it them a shot and see for myself. The car was still on the original rotors after 35,000 miles so I figured I'd put new ones on. I decided I wanted an anodized set so they'd stay looking nice and when I was pricing them out, the cost of stock rotors vs slotted/cross drilled/anodized was like and extra 25 bucks a rotor. So I said what the hey, worst case they'll pretty and not work any better. I don't think they're going to fall apart. The rotors on the GTO are massive. I think the ones that fall apart are the little Honda and Acura rotors that aren't big enough and are severely weakened when you drill out material on them.

I think Mercedes and BMW have been putting cross drilled rotors stock on some of their cars for a while now haven't they? If they're really snake oil, why do it?

Well on those cars that have them drilled/slotted, they are the cars that are paper racers and are show-off cars. Made to extract as much performance out of the car as they can. On a car that's driven every day it just doesn't make sense to me. You're not going to be taking advantage of them on a daily driver. You're also going to need to buy pads more often but it's your car and your choice.

 

[alkemyst]

You don't need to be on a race track 24/7 to drive a car hard the way it was meant to be driven.

Usually 9 times out of 10 glazed pads on the street is because of someone not knowing how to drive.

just saying.

 

[AMCRambler]

Spent the evening putting the brakes on the car. They are on now and they look great and stop great! Here's the results:

Before

After

Wheels on

Also swapped the snow tires out while I had the wheels off. Probably jinxed myself now and we'll get hit with an April snow storm.

 

[AMCRambler]

They're not snake oil per say, but have little to no value on the street.

And they shouldn't fall apart as long as the holes are cast into the rotor and not drilled. I think the concern there is really only with the eBay cheapies.

35K miles on stock rotors is doing pretty good for the heavy Goat, but if it's a 6-speed I'm not surprised. If you use engine braking as you should, the brakes tend to last a while. That said, if you weren't getting any pulsing in the pedal you likely didn't need new rotors.

The car is on it's second set of front pads since I've had it. When I replaced the pads last time, I took the rotors to have them turned and they told me they were close and turning them would put them under spec. Decided I'd put them back on the car at that point with the new pads and fuck it. Well that was about 10k miles ago and I'm noticing the pedal traveling further than it used to so I'm pretty sure those rotors were done. The backs may have been fine but since I was going with the plated rotors it would look stupid with them just on the front.