Brake Rotors
 

1987 RX-7 GXL N/A

The rotors on my car right now have deep groves.

Should I:

Get rotors from Autozone?
Get rotors from RX7 specific websites?
Get rotors turned, or the other technical word for machining them?

Please give a reason for your answer to support my decision.

All participation is Appreciated!

Just buy some new plain vented Brembo rotors. You can get them from many dealers such as Tire Rack for about $40-55 each. That is what I have on my car.

if they are within spec, just get them turned.

+1 for tire rack, super fast delivery, great product, great price

NAPA or Brembo NAPA is actually starting to stock Brembo.

The auto shops I have in town are:
Autozone, NAPA, Advanced autoparts, and O'reilys.

I bought lifetime rotors from the O'Reilys and run really aggressive pads. So every time I change front pads I get free rotors because the aggressive pads wear down the rotors. It works good for me.

Ha!! I love people who figure out how to screw "Da Man" Who knows next time I need pads I may copycat. Which pads are you using? You have problems with noise, etc?

thats a very good idea. i need new brakes soon, and i might try n do that!

my poll failed, it is asking me to vote, i lol'd

I like the aggressive pads technique!

NAPA w/ life time warrenty

I was running Hawk HP+ pads, they stopped great. But they were noisy sometimes and they put out a shitload of dust. So this time I tried the EBC Red Stuff, and they are quite and don't dust near as much but they also don't stop near as well. I will not be trying any more Red Stuff pads after these, they just don't stop near as well as the HP+ pads but is is nice to have clean wheels most of the time.

I fell in love with the Porterfield kevlar r4 after I locked up a set of 26.5x8-15 Goodyear G-24's a buddy lent me.
Im now using the r4s pads as they are about half the cost and need lots less heat than the r4's to work its best. best damn pads under $100 I've found.

So if my rotors are in spec, it would be cheaper to get them turned and get hawks pads. If they aren't, than I should get brembo's with hawk pads.

Turning rotors isnt always a good idea cuz it might be cheaper than buying new ones. With that you can run the risk of them possibly getting too hot and creating failure or stress cracks since there isnt as much of the rotor when it was first bought.

A preformance pad on a non preformance rotor will wear the rotor faster than a non prreformance pad. So you can do what George84 does or get preformance rotors and pads IMO.

Brembo blanks from Tire Rack are your best bet as Evil Aviator has mentioned. They are cheap and Tire Rack has great customer service.

So the combination is Brembo blanks with OEM pads, or Hawk pads? NAPA has Brembo here.

For the track I agree, for the street...no. Those pads need lots of warm up time to grab.

To the op, I would grab a pair of rotors and a set of pads. But if out of budget then you can get it turned (for about half price of new rotors) and a set of pads.

I'm planning on getting Brembo rotors, Hawk HPS street pads, and a separate set of autocross/track day pads for my GXL. If you race your car, get a second set of pads specifically for racing (i.e. Hawk Blue 9012). That way, you'll get better braking performance on the track and not wear through your street pads prematurely.

If you're worried about looks, remember to paint the center section of the rotors as Brembos and most PepAdvanceZone rotors come unpainted.

For the street, brake pads will ultimately come down to your personal preference. Everyone I talk to about street pads for the S4 seem to like Hawks, so I'd use that as a starting point. If you know someone with a stock brake system but different pads, ask them if you could try their car.

I have hawk HPS pads on my car and love them. I took them to the track a few weeks ago, and there was no hint of fade. It wasn't a heavy braking track, but thats still pretty impressive, especially considering the rotors/pads/fluid has 3 years and 15-20k miles on them.

I also second the brembo blanks from tirerack.com idea, at least for the front. My rear's weren't too bad so I just had them turned, but I got new ones for the front.

This is mostly street. Looks to me don't matter as long as I can stop. I'm replacing my rotors because when I checked them(I've had this car for 2 weeks) they have 2 groves in them. It feels mushy when braking. There could be air in the lines to explain the mushy feeling, but the contact on the brakes is very minimal.

So far, my decision is Brembo blanks from Tirerack.com, with Hawk Street Pads from Tirerack.com.
This decision falls under the RX-7 Specific website(kinda)

since you are going to change the brakes, you should also change the brake fluid, and change it all!!!

Flush the entire brake system clean with fresh brake fluid. It will do WONDERS!!!.
Always start with the wheel closest to the master cylinder and work your way out, that way all the old fluid will be gone.

I flush my entire system once every year just to get rid of water and contaimenated fluid. I recommend everybody do it .

DOT 3 is fine, but if you want better you can go castrol SRF, Motul RBF, or ATE Superblue. Always better to have a higher wet boiling point, and dry point.
Motul you cant mix DOT 3 with it, ATE superblue you can, I dont know about Castrol SRF

Flushing the brakes is a great idea! The fluid is BLACK!

I want to get stainless steel brake lines, but it sounds like overkill, and I don't know if all the calipers are the same on an 87 GXL Rx-7 N/A. You guys are a big help!

SS brake lines are definetly not overkill, especially on a car as old as the FC3S. If you have ever felt any sponginess in the brake pedal, it's often because the old rubber lines are bulging when you depress the brake pedal. Who knows when the last time the brake lines on your car were replaced? They could be 22-23 year-old factory stock. Steel brake lines firm up the pedal very nicely.

I'm springing for the Corksport brake lines because they're street legal (not all SS brake lines are) and have a jacket around them to protect them from the elements. Whatever you buy, make sure you get the lines for the 4-piston front calipers. GXLs have 4-piston calipers and vented rotors up front, and single-piston calipers and vented rotors in back.

+1 for the SS brake lines.

Alright I will get the ss brake lines, also I thought it was overkill because I imagined that they would be needed for really hard long track use. But if that will help me stop, its got my order!

Thanks for the reason ArtofRuin.

FYI: money is sort of an option, but these pads, rotors, and lines are definitely in my budget.

No problem. Quick FYI: SS brake lines DO NOT decrease stopping distance. They DO improve pedal feel by reducing compliance in the brake lines, thereby firming it up. Being confident in your brakes allows you to drive faster. Since you're doing brake work anyways, you might as well upgrade while you're at it, since the lines on your car are most likely old.

One other thing you can do to reduce pedal softness is build a brace for your brake master cylinder (don't worry, this one's optional. And cheap!):

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/how-diy-brake-master-cylinder-brace-718744/

Depends...
 

So by stiffing the the area around the Brake Master Cylinder, my brake peddle will be more responsive?

I haven't done this to my car yet, but I have driven someone else's S4 with this mod. Even with the rubber brake lines, the brake pedal felt much better than stock.

yea, the whole idea of the brace is to limit the movement when you step on the brake pedal. It moves the piston in the master cylinder, which also moves the master cylinder itselfs.

I planned on doing this mod myself in the comming weeks.

I'll do this as well than, its basically free.

I am telling you man, get a good set of lifetime rotors like Brembo or Wagner on the front and run some really aggressive pads all the way around. That way every time you need new brake pads you get free rotors. I have saved lots of money doing this over time. Win!

Do I do this at NAPA? I'm all for saving money:icon_tup:

Oh, forgot but my rotors are glazed, so I think they don't work right, or can be replaced.:(

On my car anyway, my rotors was glazed up, but after a week with my hp+ hawks, it wasnt glazed anymore lol. The pads are aggressive to the point where it will eat the rotors to an even surface wear.
I dont know about other people though since this is the first time I saw this happened on my car. usually when I buy pads, I also buy new rotors.

If you go with new rotors, just know that they don't always come off the shelf with true face. I know this from experience.

Use the old rotors, or get new rotors. It's cheap insurance to have them turned either way before installing/reinstalling.

Me, considering your old rotors have grooves (shape on you for letting your brakes go so long), I'd have them mic'd to get indication if they can even be salvaged. That check will probably answer you question on which way to go all by itself.

For me, if they can be turned and still be thicker than discard thickness, just have them turned.

Further, I have slotted/ cross drilled rotors on one FC and slotted on the other. Going forward, I'll probably just go stock rotors. The slots/crossdrilled didn't seem to really make much difference. For practical street driving applications, they're pretty much just bling bling.

However, the pads you use make ALL the difference. So I like George84's suggestion most of all.

Don't Shame me!! Its the previous owners fault, I haven't had this car for a month yet!

Ok, George84's suggestion is a really good idea, I would like to get the brakes and rotors at a store that has Brembo rotors and Hawk pads. further up was mentioned NAPA has brembo, but who has hawks?

You really need to have two complete sets of matched pads and rotors for that to work correctly.

I liked the Hawk HPS pads for street use. I have also had good luck with the cheaper Axxis Metal Masters, and the Porterfield R4-S were good and didn't spew dust all over the wheels like most high-performance metallic pads. Even OEM would be fine for your use. Fortunately, these cars have excellent stock braking systems.

As far as mushy brakes, that is almost always fixed by replacing the brake fluid. Castrol LMA works great for street/autocross and is only about $4 for the smaller 12oz bottle. I also like ATE Super Blue because you can tell for sure when you have bled the old fluid from the line when you see the fluid change color from amber to blue.

Also, be careful when swinging the caliper back in place. If you try to slam it back in place with the piston still sticking out a bit, then the rubber boot can catch and rip when it gets pounded against the sharp edge of the brake rotor.

^^dually noted