whiteshadow

Is anyone out there tracking the Rotora big brake kit on an FD?

What do you think of them?

How's pedal travel? Does it need the 929 master cylinder upgrade?

Where do you find brake pads for them? Are they available with any of the popular performance brands (Hawk Blue, Performance Friction 01, 93, etc.)? Cost? Availability?

Any information would be useful.

Thanks,

Rich

rynberg

If you actually NEED bigger brakes than stock (and if you aren't regularly tracking the car, you don't), I would stick with a brake company that developed their products through or for racing and have easily accessable parts and that use common pad sizes -- AP Racing and Stoptech (and Brembo, but they are so overpriced and also cross-drill the brake rotors ).

That being said, I don't have personal experience running the Rotora's, just my 2 cents about brake kits...

whiteshadow

Those are my exact thoughts. I'm at a point where I am on the ragged edge of the stock brakes (single turbo, 6-10 track days per year). I'm eating stock sized rotors for breakfast at this point. The rotora kit seems interesting, but I don't know if it's more show or go. Seem to be big in Japan, but if the only place I can get pads are Japan, then it doesn't do me much good.

Rich

7racer

Rich,

if your doing that much tracking you might want to scan the racetech forum or run the asp system like maxcooper. I think rynberg will be doing the same IIRC

Jesuscookies

iTrader: (1)

They are the best brakes EVAR!!!!!!!!!

whiteshadow

I assume you meant the AP brakes. Yeah, they basically kick ***. My wallet winces every time I look at them. :-( I, being the cheap bastard that I am, was hoping for an economical solution to the problem. The stoptech's and even wilwood's come to the top of the list.

Glad to see your brakes sold, Jesus.

Rich

rynberg

I will be running the Stoptech front kit with custom caliper sizing to match with the Mazda 99+ rear brakes. Contact Dave at Zeckhausen Racing for this custom order.

Stoptech's are used extensively in touring car racing, the pad size is easily available in any performance compound (if not cheap), and they are cheaper than the AP and Brembo setups. To me, this was a no brainer. The stock Stoptech kit is designed to match with the stock rear brakes -- the ability to order custom caliper sizing to match the larger 99+ rear brakes sealed the deal.

For the rears, Mazda's 99+ upgrade to 12.4" rotors in the back should be enough for any kind of track driving I'll ever do. Find another way to upgrade the rears for under $800 with retaining the parking brake!

patfat

Rich, thanks for the N-tech pads! Now pony up the funds and do it right. AP all the way

falken-ls1fd

We used the rotora big brake kit on my Motorsport Dynamics/ Falken S14.5 car this season. They are the worst brakes ever. It is apparent that there is no engineering devoted to them except for cosmetics. Rotora brakes have had rotors explode not just crack, Crappy disc material that wears like nothing i have ever seen, pedal feel, and modulation that doesnt even compair with a go kart.


They do look nice though.

Go with stoptechs if you are in that price range.

Aps are better but only if you want to pay that much more.

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

Rich knows this already, but i'm totally pleased with my StopTech kit so far. I'm still figuring out my pad choice, but the quality and ease of use... not to mention the fabulous looks... can't be beat for the price.

I could have had the AP kit that matched the one Crispy has, but I got off for about $4-500 less for a brand new kit (more like almost $1000 over a retail-price AP kit), AND didn't need an MC upgrade (another couple hundred), AND don't need matching rears.

It can't be beat.

whiteshadow

(sigh) Yeah, yeah. If I wasn't such a cheap bastard, this would be much easier. :-) Thanks for the feedback guys. I had to LOL at falken's post, for some reason.

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

Nothing wrong with the Mandeville deal... except for finding stock-sized pads in the compounds you want.

falken-ls1fd

Huh? What?

whiteshadow

From the msg: "They are the worst brakes ever. It is apparent that there is no engineering devoted to them except for cosmetics."

Sounds like typical rice: all show and no go (or stop, in this case). The good news: the rice market gives just enough blood to the race market to keep them both alive.

falken-ls1fd

Haha so true.

whiteshadow

I think my next upgrade will be a whistle tip ... 'cause it's all about the "Wh' whooOOOO!"

FC3S Timmy

iTrader: (2)

Well You Wanna Woot Woot!!!!

falken-ls1fd

It go Whhoo WOOOOOOOOOOOOO. lol Bubb Rubb is awsome

JonesMechanical

I have had the 14" 6 piston kit installed now for about 3 months. I love the kit, but they really do throw off the braking balance of the car but I didn't really worry about since I was just waiting for the 13" rears (4 piston). They are incredible brakes. I just got the rears installed today. No corners cut. Full billet hats, all the hardware, lines, everything is first class. They are amazing looking, show stoppers, but beyond that, after getting the rear kit installed is completely balanced out my car. From what rotora told the dealer (Performance Race Engineering in Portland Oregon), I have the only kit like this in the US. The rears were one off, but the fit, finish, balance is oem like. Beyond that the car brakes with a level of authority and confidnece that I have never personally experinced. If it is rice, its damn good, and it tastes good. I think they are the real deal, but we will see. For the money, (about $5000) you can't get anything this size/pistons & quality. I posted a full instal with pics and weights and everything a few months back, just search rotora 14 and it will come up. I know that the shop I purhcased the brakes at uses them in all applications rally racing, enthusiasts, road racing etc. They have had no issues. As far as rotors blowing up, it sounds like someone went to the race track with their pads installed backwards (I have seen it). Definately overkill one hell of an expensive mod, but I think it really rounded out my car and completed it. Now it just needs a cage.

JonesMechanical

Pics:

MrDirt

I have been looking into upgrading the brakes on my TII. For the rears, I had planned on getting Corksport's '99 spec upgrade. For the fronts... clearly they are a bit more expensive of an upgrade. While I wish I could go with one of the super thought out and engineered kits, I cant justify spending more on front brakes than I paid for my car. I have managed to find a brake kit with 325mm rotors and wilwood 4 piston calipers for $1150. Now that I've seen these arguments about buying well engineered/matched products, I am a little skeptical. What do you guys think of this kit?

Parts List- http://www.precisionbrakes.com/newnewlist.pdf

Main website- www.precisionbrakes.com

whiteshadow

In general, willwood makes a very good kit. People have been using them on race cars for years. I know the superlite 6 piston unit has been used on friends FD's with great success over the years. Pads are readily available in many compounds. I don't know anything specific about the 4 piston kit, though. If your TII is stripped down and fairly light, they'll probably work fine, but who knows. My concern would be balance -- you want to make sure braking force is balanced between the larger rears and new fronts.

As you've seen, brakes are NOT cheap. FWIW, I ended up going with a stoptech kit up front and will stay with the stock rears for the forseeable future.

R

MrDirt

The only thing I was worried about is that it didnt seem like this kit was actually a wilwood kit, but rather some other company's kit with wilwood calipers. Do you think those 4piston calipers are better than the stock FC 4 pistons? For some reason the dynalite ones look a little small, but it is probably just an illusion. I am sure the stuff will be fairly balanced, as I plan to add a 929MC, and a proportioning valve... Plus since the rears will still retain the doo-doo stock single piston calipers, I think the 13" fronts should be more than adequate.

whiteshadow

IMHO, the limitations of the stock brakes are:
1) Rotors don't have enough mass to dissipate heat at continuous track speeds
2) Pad isn't large enough to absorb/dissipate heat, so the heat goes through it to the calipers.

The stock caliper is actually plenty big and has plenty of braking force for everything I've thrown against it. This includes repetitive stops from 120-130 mph. My only problem was that those speeds were overheating calipers (seals) and rotors, so they all wore out quickly.

Therefore, if the wilwood calipers are at least as good as the stock calipers yet fit on larger rotors and use at least compareable pads, you've won the battle.

The easiest way to get your questions answered is to contact wilwood directly and ask them about the calipers. My experience with brake companies is that they are very knowledgeable about their products. Be prepared to put on the propoganda filter, just in case.

Again, this is all my opinion. I encourage others to pipe up if they've got counter knowledge.

Rich

dclin

iTrader: (4)

3rd gen owners - anybody see the very last part of the Mazda listings? Is this old news, have I been away too long?

The thought of a drum style parking brake setup had crossed my mind a while back, but I didn't even want to contemplate a complete redesign of the rear hub assembly. Guess I'll have to make a phone call tomorrow.