Brake Rotors

[Kdubski]

Gentlemen, that time has come. I have to replace my factory front rotors. Despite my well tempered driving, they have outlived my headgasket, rod bearings, and many other parts on the car in my 25,000 miles of ownership. ECS tuning has many cool options (blanks, slotted, drilled, drilled AND slotted), but which is most worthy of my money? Which is the best bang for the buck, or best upgrade over stock for the $$$?

This car is a daily when it's nice, not when it isn't, I do 3 track days a year, and tons of spirited driving in-between. I have experienced fade a few times on stock rotors.

[sdwz_m3]

I’ve always stayed away from drilled rotors as I heard they were more prone to (micro)cracking

[Sharocks]

Centric Blanks from Rock Auto

[JamesSJ1]

I don't think a Centric blank would be an upgrade if that's what you're going for. Zimmerman rotors are OEM, about $90 each, and it sounds like they lasted you a good while there.

Pads probably have more to do with the fade you've experience on the track than rotors, and many have noted avoiding slotted and/or drilled rotors on here, which I would agree with unless you spend the big $$$ as part of a full brake system upgrade on the front. Search and you'll probably find a thread even on this newer forum for best track pads, or even pads that balance daily+track if you don't want to be swapping them before every track day/weekend.

[r4dr]

ECS-branded rotors strike me as Chinese rotors but marked up. I wouldn't bother.

Drilled rotors are to be avoided, slotted is fine. Slots help with bite but generally speaking I wouldn't go out of your way just to find a slotted version.

OEM-quality rotors (Centric - but not the C-Tek budget line, Zimmermann, etc.) are all more or less the same thing. Personally I like the Centric high-carbon rotors as they have that black coating that seems to last and in my experience they show up cast well and with no noticeable runout. FCP sells Zimmermann if you want to use their lifetime replacement warranty.

If you want to upgrade to combat fade, the first step would be to make sure to use track pads on the track. And if that scenario still results in too much heat, ducting or adding thermal mass are your options (bigger rotor such as CSL rotor, or BBK). I wouldn't run ducting on the street, though.

[bmw m3 s50]

I had a question on the ECS rotors. Are the ECS 2 piece ZCP rotors worth it? They promise weight savings over OEM ZCP rotors. I know they are a lot for expensive but with the weight savings, I wonder if people are running them?

[Tbonem3]

Centric/meyle blanks. Cheap.

[erickhoyos]

ECS has a Powerstop kit that has both front and rear drilled and slotted rotors and carbon fiber brake pads for about $500. I wonder if anyone has any experience with them.

[BIllybilly2]

I would look into a better street pad and just stick to centric blanks, but if you really wanted slotted or drilled the stoptech rotors are nice and what I used to run before i went to to ZCP brakes with ECS 2 piece rotors. The ECS V4 rotors are also good option and made by a company that has been mentioned in thread a few times...

[Zack]

ECS has a Powerstop kit that has both front and rear drilled and slotted rotors and carbon fiber brake pads for about $500. I wonder if anyone has any experience with them.

I am using Powerstop pads and I really like them, quiet for the street, great initial bite. I can imagine this kit would be pretty good for the cost.

[yhp2009]

Ive had stoptech slotted rotors for 10k miles now all street driving. They work very well for street without breaking the bank

[r4dr]

I had a question on the ECS rotors. Are the ECS 2 piece ZCP rotors worth it? They promise weight savings over OEM ZCP rotors. I know they are a lot for expensive but with the weight savings, I wonder if people are running them?

I'd like to see just a photo of the rears. AFAIK there's not enough room between the swept area and the hat for 2-piece hardware. Even PFC had to offer a special pad shape to clear the hardware on their Direct Drive.

[Estoril]

Zimmerman blanks.

Any fade on track is caused by your pad choice, fluid or fluid age.

[jareds941]

I'd recommend Zimmerman blanks from FCP. Lifetime warranty. I ran them this year on my track car, using a combo of Pagid RSL29 pads and Hawk DTC-60s and they still are in good shape, which was about 10 days this year.

[mrgizmo04]

If you are going for function, use FCP Zimmerman rotors (use the same rotor for street and track), and get a set of DTC 60 or 70 pads for track (swap them in before the event), also from FCP. You can ship rotors back to them for warranty in USPS fixed rate box.

Rotors were probably not your reason for fade. Plenty of guys running stock sized rotors and calipers with upgraded pads/fluid and do fine running hard on track for 20 min sessions. Longer sessions or private events where you can go 7 hours straight, you start needing heat capacity and extra cooling.

Just like with everything, it's a package, so if you change things in isolation, issues will arise. If you put super aggressive pads on, and you are running 300-500tw tires, you will be in ABS all day and running the tires hot pretty quickly. Opposite is also true, if you put 200tw tires without upgrading pads, you will cook the pads really quickly. Then it also translates into more forces on other rubber bushings, etc.

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