Well I just noticed my front rotors are shot or atleast I think so. New ATE last year with Hawk Blue pads. I either need to be less aggressive of a driver or get better rotors!

What is a good rotor to last a while longer? I am considering Powerslot. They are Brembo blanks finished by PSL I guess? Need to find rotors that will stand up to the pads and hard use. TIA! Dal

 

You may want to consider cryogenic processing. I've found on my 964 that it makes a significant difference in terms of rotor longevity. I use Diversified Cryogenics (www.frozenrotors.com). Have sent them rotors for processing and bought slotted rotors from them.

 

Bill...I considered the same as well. Just not enough testimonial yet to make a decision. I will look into it more! Thanks Bill! Dal

 

I highly recommend Porsche OEM rotors. I have had fantastic success with them so far!

-Z.

 

What make OEM? ATE and Zimmerman are OEM?? I went through 2 sets of OEM rotors so far. Are you using your brakes!! lol.......Perhaps I am missing something here on what is considered OEM. Thanks Dal

 

I just had this conversation with my mechanic, yesterday, and he recommended I save my money and go with Factory replacements. His primary business is working on Porsche racecars and he says he's tried them all--frozen, drilled, slotted--and didn't see a difference in longevity.

Here's my shop's website if you want to get a feel for them.

Have you considered switching pads? I like the Hawk Blues, myself, but maybe there are compounds out there that offer similar performance/price but are rotor friendly?

 

I use the factory rotors and have had good success.
I checked into some custom slotted rotors for my 993 and I would have done it, except for the price which was 3x what a set of factory rotors were.

 

Have run stock Zimmerman drilled rotors with great success on my 944-spec car.

I am not sure that the drilling is really good, but I do think that stock solid vented zimmerman's will work quite well.

This is even with Hawk blue pads.

 

Yeah, I've heard of Hawk Blues as being great, but real hard on rotors. Never tried them myself.

 

Dal:
I have a non-turbo 944: I need to conserve all the momentum I can!

I know that Porsche uses ATE and Zimmerman for their brakes, and that both offer their own as well. I am uncertain which ones I have and which ones I had, but the 'rotor hats' are painted grey, and there was a 'made in Germany' sticker on them, if that helps you at all.

From what my mechanic has told me, there is a difference between the Porsche OEM rotors that they have Zimmerman make for them, and the Zimmerman rotors. According to him, the Porsche OEM rotors are made to a stricter spec, and as such they tend to be more reliable.

Do I use my brakes, you ask? Well, once I stopped dragging my brakes through the brake zone, and consequently over-heating my fluid in 15 minutes ( ) I have become much more aware of "brake management." I am learning to use my brakes effectively and efficiently. (Note that I only do DE's and autox: club racing is not in my future at this point!)

The biggest reason I praise the Porsche OEM rotors is this: my last event of last season was at VIR. My rotors were at spec in the rear, and slightly below the minimum recommended thickness in the front. Despite this, my rotors behaved flawlessly: no warping, no fading, no cracking! For a worn out rotor to behave that well, I gotta stick with stock!

Hope this helps to explain my recommendation,
-Zoltan.

 

I got 35 days of DE out of stock rotors (my wife added another 10) and even then, I swapped out because I got tired of measuring. They were still technically within the approved limits.

I never thought I'd live to see the day where Z-man got accused of not using his brakes enough!

 

I have 47 track days on my rotors. I have gone through about 6 sets of pads in that time.

2 sets of Street pads
2 sets of KFP magnum gold
2 sets of Hawk blues

I have not check rotor thickness, but they appear to be fine. Only minor cracking from the holes. They might be due to change soon.

I do run 3" cooling ducts to the front rotors to keep them cool and my car is 2600lbs with me in it.

 

I may be able to turn them. They just look bad. I will see if I can clean them up first. I do need to connect my cooling though and that will help, just ran out of time before the event. The Hawks were not my favorite choice for the reason I face now so may try to find some Performance Friction if I can find them for my car! Thanks all! Dal

 

Hey Fellers;

I have never used anything but OE rotors sourced from aftermarket venders. No matter which brake setup I had (stock or Turbo now), I have never had any rotor wear at all. ZERO! Rotor wear to me is machining them down with the pads. I NEVER have any ridge on my rotors whatsoever.

I have used Metal Masters, Porterfield Race & Enduro compounds, and Performance Friction -97. All of these pads have worked well and never given me any rotor problems at all.

I have small cooling ducts in the front, but I really don't think they provide overwhelming air flow. I also slot my rotors, and this makes a big difference in my opinion. Lastly, I make sure not to use the brakes hard once I go down past half pad thickness. One should never under estimate the importance of pad thickness. It is CRITICAL

The only rotor trouble I have ever had is when I decided to change my braking style, from long duration to short threshold. They then suffered from pad glazing, I did not realize this quickly enough, and the rotors overheated on the surface and became discolored and stress cracked. I did this with the Porterfield Enduros.

These stress cracks were very small and have not gotten worse. I switched to Performance Friction because of their old rep of having a very aggressive pad that I thought would machine my rotors clean. The rotor surface has now returned to a more normal state as I have maintained my old braking style and re-established the original even transfer of material, and even better, the -97 pads do not wear the rotors at all.

Dal, I think you either need a different pad or a change in braking style, or both. I don't think the problem is with the rotors.

 

John,

Agreed! I practiced on "reverse braking" quite a bit so I do feel I am not too hard on them. I do have an airdam that cuts most undercar air that would help cool better to a degree but no signs of overcooking them, just grooves and ridges.
I found that my brakes tend to go soft on pads half gone so I make use of them for street. Seems to lose caliper pressure when half used. I wanted the PF pads from the start but can not find them for my car in a race/street compound. I use full race now and swap to street so perhaps there is a PF for my car in race compounds? Thanks Dal