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Recommendations for upgraded rotors on stock calipers?

Location
St. Olaf
Tarox have a great reputation* for their 'stockish replacements', say when you
want to retain the stock calipers and rotor size. Many do run these rotors along
with some serious Endless, PFC, Ferodo, Carbone-Lorraine or Carbopad compounds.
That said I'm a fan of their plain 'Zero' rotors, which look exactly like stock while
they don't cause and noise.



*in particular in the European amateur racing scene
 

IanCH

Autocross Champion
Location
MA
Car(s)
'20 GTI
I mean they make great products and are still a little lighter than stock ones and have performance options as well. Obviously they're not a two piece light weight but they are definitely an upgrade


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Im sorry to break it to you, but they aren't an upgrade. They are normal iron rotor blanks with 150 bucks of markup per pair.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news

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tonipepperoni77

Drag Race Newbie
Location
Mass
Im sorry to break it to you, but they aren't an upgrade. They are normal iron rotor blanks with 150 bucks of markup per pair.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news

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Never said anything about what they are made of. They have been weighed and come in slightly less than stock. Also they offer all sorts of slotted and dimpled which certain once are improvement in performance depending on what style you get. They're not two piece yes. But they are definitely an upgrade over stock. Just like any of the basic stop tech slotted direct OEM replacement ones. And upgrades an upgrade. Yes there a bigger upgrades like two piece but in reality are only worth it if you are going with a big break kit and tracking alot


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greggles

Drag Race Newbie
Location
usa
Car(s)
GTI
They have been weighed and come in slightly less than stock. Also they offer all sorts of slotted and dimpled which certain once are improvement in performance depending on what style you get.

Dimpling, slotting, or drilling a rotor doesn't increase its performance. They are primarily for aesthetics only, outside of rally events. They are a byproduct of an age when gases would form between the brake pad and rotor. That no longer occurs. Now they exist because when people spend a lot of money on a rotor, they want it to look different then everyone elses rotor. That's it. Can do a few web searches (don't read the pages that the manufacturer posts) if you want to learn more.

Braking is all about the surface contact between the tire and the road, and the surface contact between the pad and the rotor. Anything that reduces that surface area will reduce its effectiveness.

You can find this argument/discussion on every car forum since the beginning of the web. Also top favorites...why is my car slower with the new giant rims I bought? And I put larger wheels on the rear of my car, why am i understeering everywhere? The more money invested in the bad unnecessary product, the larger the argument. You should see the BWM and Porsche forums go at each other over the super expensive rotor options...
 

tonipepperoni77

Drag Race Newbie
Location
Mass
Dimpling, slotting, or drilling a rotor doesn't increase its performance. They are primarily for aesthetics only, outside of rally events. They are a byproduct of an age when gases would form between the brake pad and rotor. That no longer occurs. Now they exist because when people spend a lot of money on a rotor, they want it to look different then everyone elses rotor. That's it. Can do a few web searches (don't read the pages that the manufacturer posts) if you want to learn more.

Braking is all about the surface contact between the tire and the road, and the surface contact between the pad and the rotor. Anything that reduces that surface area will reduce its effectiveness.

You can find this argument/discussion on every car forum since the beginning of the web. Also top favorites...why is my car slower with the new giant rims I bought? And I put larger wheels on the rear of my car, why am i understeering everywhere? The more money invested in the bad unnecessary product, the larger the argument. You should see the BWM and Porsche forums go at each other over the super expensive rotor options...



I was only talking about slotted which do help with initial bite. But yes I agree with the dimpled and drilled etc


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greggles

Drag Race Newbie
Location
usa
Car(s)
GTI
Same thing with slotted. It's just aesthetics so others know you paid for upgraded rotors. Real brake performance upgrades are generally in the vane construction (inside the outer surfaces, like the DBA's) and in 2-piece (which is mainly for weight savings).

Basically the best brake upgrades, no one can see at all (pads, ducts, internal), so almost every company has an "aesthetic surface modification" so you can show off where your money went.
 

Geomets

Ready to race!
Location
South-Eastern Europe
Car(s)
Golf mk7 GTI
Same thing with slotted. It's just aesthetics so others know you paid for upgraded rotors. Real brake performance upgrades are generally in the vane construction (inside the outer surfaces, like the DBA's) and in 2-piece (which is mainly for weight savings).

Basically the best brake upgrades, no one can see at all (pads, ducts, internal), so almost every company has an "aesthetic surface modification" so you can show off where your money went.

I agree partly. The slots deglaze the pads and improve the braking in (very) wet surfaces. The second part can be realized by you if you drive a car in such conditions with slotted discs and a car with blanks. The lack of brake responce in the first dsecs could prove fatal. I realized that when I changed to slotted in my last car. I did the same thing with the Golf.
It's not for everyone, though, as there is some noise when braking in certain Km/h in certain disc makes (fluid-engineering can tell us about the little vortexes created etc., etc.)

The best way to improve braking with stock calipers, is not to change the rotors, though. A really good pad can make the difference, plus fresh brake fluid.
 
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IanCH

Autocross Champion
Location
MA
Car(s)
'20 GTI
Adams rotors are literally the cheapest blanks you can buy, and the guy machines them which does nothing for performance.

I wouldn't​ have a problem with the setup if he charged the same as oem, but he charges a flipping 40% increase over comparable products (ECS geomet, OEM)

There is no performance difference, just a marketing gimmick. I was once looking at buying these brakes for my car and got warned by a smart forum member who saved me hundreds. I am just trying to pass on the good will.

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tonipepperoni77

Drag Race Newbie
Location
Mass
Adams rotors are literally the cheapest blanks you can buy, and the guy machines them which does nothing for performance.

I wouldn't​ have a problem with the setup if he charged the same as oem, but he charges a flipping 40% increase over comparable products (ECS geomet, OEM)

There is no performance difference, just a marketing gimmick. I was once looking at buying these brakes for my car and got warned by a smart forum member who saved me hundreds. I am just trying to pass on the good will.

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But when you compared a set of a slotted rotors from them to a pair of stop tech slotted OEM rotors you actually are saving money. The stop tech slotted front and rear end up being 530+ and add no more benefit then a set of adams rotors slotted. That's all I'm saying. Yes they have cool other options that people like because it looks cool. Nothing wrong with that but when you compare to similar OEM replacement they are actually less money. Yes the OEM ones are dirt cheap compared to stop tech or adams but when you have people pay 500-1000 for an air intake people spend their money on all different things. Adams makes great customisable products. Are they high performance track weight saving rated? No just like the basic 500 dollar stop tech slotted.


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Dominador

Passed Driver's Ed
I had a set of rotors from BrakePerformance.com on some previous vehicles. Cheaper than Adams. They use the same blanks that Adams use but don't offer the level of customization. Front and rear cost about the same as OEM.


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bebersol

Ready to race!
Location
North Texas
The guys across the pond seem to have favorable views on Tarox rotors.

Tarox are excellent race rotors and used on rally, european formula and euro class racing. They are the main competitor to Brembo's high end products.

Also remember too many slots or drilling too many holes effectively diminishes the surface area of the rotor. Typically the ideal number of slots is 6, just enough to clean and degas the pad surface during hard braking.

I use stop-tec cryo treated slotted rotors on the front. They seem to hold up way better then the OEM rotors which are a milder steel compound.

I always liked the concept of the floating rotor, but the aluminum hat can have its own fatigue issues. The weight savings is a plus.
 

bebersol

Ready to race!
Location
North Texas
Dimpling, slotting, or drilling a rotor doesn't increase its performance. They are primarily for aesthetics only, outside of rally events. They are a byproduct of an age when gases would form between the brake pad and rotor. That no longer occurs. Now they exist because when people spend a lot of money on a rotor, they want it to look different then everyone elses rotor. That's it. Can do a few web searches (don't read the pages that the manufacturer posts) if you want to learn more.

Braking is all about the surface contact between the tire and the road, and the surface contact between the pad and the rotor. Anything that reduces that surface area will reduce its effectiveness.

You can find this argument/discussion on every car forum since the beginning of the web. Also top favorites...why is my car slower with the new giant rims I bought? And I put larger wheels on the rear of my car, why am i understeering everywhere? The more money invested in the bad unnecessary product, the larger the argument. You should see the BWM and Porsche forums go at each other over the super expensive rotor options...

Porsche is a good example of they give people what they want, drilled rotors, not what's best.

The best rotors are the carbon ceramic, no holes in them.
the argument for slots on rally is the cleaning of water and debris.
 

IanCH

Autocross Champion
Location
MA
Car(s)
'20 GTI
Geomet from ECS are the same thing as oem for way less money than adams. And they have slots or slots and dimples.

The stop techs are way higher quality than the Adams. Adams are literally the cheapest rotors... Sigh.

Ever wonder why nobody posts in the adams rotors advertising threads? And almost nobody runs them?

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Location
St. Olaf
Tarox are excellent race rotors and used on rally, european formula and euro class racing. They are the main competitor to Brembo's high end products.
The main competitors to Brembo's high-end products are AP Racing
(which today is a division of Brembo), Alcon and Performance Friction.

When you say 'high end' we're certainly not talking about amateur
track days. ;)

.
 
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