Yiannis' Albi Blue R27 - Toning down...

[TB Rich]

Reyland are fine, I've used them for a while and no issue with Pagid as blanks, just a basic oem disc essentially but at 330mm there is enough heat dissipation - crucial thing as always is the pad and fluid is correct. True they are not curved veins on the internal structure like you'll find with AP and PF etc, but I've not had brake fade with them on or off track.

My rotors are looking a bit worse for wear after its excessive 'hibernation' the last couple of years, but I remember on here a while back now someone had a set of rotors from Godspeed put on their Reyland bells as an upgrade. These did have curved veins internally, so I would simply speak to Godspeed about machining a set of rotors to suit the PF bells you have. If they can't should be able to run their whole setup but seems a shame to replace the PF bells you have. It's certainly my intention for the Reyland bells I have, and I want to keep them as they're Gold!

 

[Yiannis197]

Thanks Rich.

I did have a look on Godspeed's website as well but they don't seem to have floating setups neither sell rotors on their own which is a bit strange given that they sell 2 piece discs. I did however sent them an email after reading your input asking whether pairing my PF would be possible.

I have to say though - and after seeing how expensive discs are in general - that £600 is not bad at all given the quality and size. Trophy R discs are 3 times the price of that and they are nothing special! Also, my V6 buddies paid £2k for replacing rotors on their 2 piece OEM setups which in fact are smaller than mine!

On the other hand, £160 will get me the discs that racer cars have...albeit not as sexy and light as the PFs. Damn

 

[TB Rich]

£600 for rotors is quite steep I think, especially when it's arguably not needed. If these cars absolutely needed them then you accept you're over the barrel... But I think the cheaper options are worth exploring.
Kamracing resell godspeed, they have rotors only listed at £295, so Def more palatable! Doesn't say if they are curved vein or not, I seem to recall it was Chris200Cup who had them done, needed to ask godspeed direct and think they called them their race rotors or similar...few years back now so a bit hazy!
Let us know what they say though, cheers.

 

[Yiannis197]

Godspeed got back to me stating that their rotors would not fit the PF bells. Balls...

Ideally I'd prefer aluminium bells on my car, that or take it easier on the mountain downhills. I seem to remember that everytime I went to the Alps before the PF setup I would run out of stopping power due to temps (first time doesn't count though, I was totally OEM).

As an absolute price I'd agree with you, £600 is expensive full stop. But relatively speaking, given the brand, the quality and their applications on more exotic cars, is not bad. I'm not trying to convince myself here, on the contrary. But when a set of one piece Megane mk3 TR is at £1720 then £800 for a floating kit seems like an absolute bargain.

Another car will be purchased soon so expenses need to go down on the Clio - which is staying obviously. I think my shout would be on the original ones and take it from there...

 

[suj]

Love reading this thread and the pics of the Alps.

I agree all type roads do get temps quite high on cars, but I'm surprised they are so bad, what setup are you running (I read the discs, but what about pads and fluid)?

In my 200sx I ran OEM type discs and Pagid RS29 pads and even on the worst roads around Europe I never had a problem (maybe I wasn't driving as fast as you haha, but I sure as hell wasn't driving Miss Daisy hehe). I also used Carbone Lorraine RC6 pads with no problem.

I ran AP Racing stuff earlier on in the cars life (had a lower wet and dry boiling point) and Castrol SRF later on, of course totally different cars, but I ran similar on my E36 328i track car (although that had E36 3.2 M3 front hubs so I could use the brakes and their floating discs, to aid some heat dissipation / stop distortion of the discs).

 

[N0ddie]

I definitely seen it in here somewhere, but which wheel bolts do you have?

 

[Yiannis197]

@suj Thanks mate

First time out I went stock just to see where the car stands. My pedal would go soft within literally 5 minutes of - admittedly steep - decent. As at the time I wasn't certain of the condition of the fluid and whether it was bled properly I attributed the failure to it.

Next year I fitted some ATE superblue just to make sure that all old fluid was bled properly (different colour you see) but left the pads the same. Little did I know that this time around the pads would be the weak point so third year around I fitted DS2500 with Motul since I got squeaky clutch with ATE. Nasty smells and deposits on the discs and soft pedal all over again.

That was the time that I said enough is enough so I hit the PF discs, SRF and a pair of pads that I didn't really know what they were. I got them from a member in here, they came in a blue Renault box and they were allegedly race pads. The guy sold them to me nearly new as they were overkill for the road and the way he'd use his car. He forgot to mention though that the dust was so corrosive that it ruined my Ultras...However, the stopping power and endurance was out of this world.

Next year I fitted RC6 and then PF compound 8 and now RC8. Never had a problem since. With that said, I never tried OEM disc with SRF and a metallic pad.

I definitely seen it in here somewhere, but which wheel bolts do you have?

I had been using TPI bolts for years mate, black, small and very resistant to corrosion. I very recently replaced them with studs though due to the fact that I take off my wheels very often. I used TRS studs and the below nuts;

https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/a-i-tech-coppered-steel-open-wheel-nut-240307/

I don't have a proper close up but the below are some random pics I took the other day after washing.

 

[N0ddie]

Very nice. Which length studs you got?

 

[suj]

@suj Thanks mate

First time out I went stock just to see where the car stands. My pedal would go soft within literally 5 minutes of - admittedly steep - decent. As at the time I wasn't certain of the condition of the fluid and whether it was bled properly I attributed the failure to it.

Next year I fitted some ATE superblue just to make sure that all old fluid was bled properly (different colour you see) but left the pads the same. Little did I know that this time around the pads would be the weak point so third year around I fitted DS2500 with Motul since I got squeaky clutch with ATE. Nasty smells and deposits on the discs and soft pedal all over again.

That was the time that I said enough is enough so I hit the PF discs, SRF and a pair of pads that I didn't really know what they were. I got them from a member in here, they came in a blue Renault box and they were allegedly race pads. The guy sold them to me nearly new as they were overkill for the road and the way he'd use his car. He forgot to mention though that the dust was so corrosive that it ruined my Ultras...However, the stopping power and endurance was out of this world.

Next year I fitted RC6 and then PF compound 8 and now RC8. Never had a problem since. With that said, I never tried OEM disc with SRF and a metallic pad.

Ah! You unfortunately got the crap DS2500, I am not a fan at all of them! I have used them and was so disappointed I sold them and got RC5 first, then I went to RC6.
I can understand why you want the same, as you know they work, but you took a huge leap from your initial setup, so you have scope to reel it back and save a lot of money.

I think you could easily get away with standard discs with RC6/8 as long as fluid is good (get some Brembo HC + good fluid, but it looks like the fluid is covered).

 

[Yiannis197]

Very nice. Which length studs you got?

I got 48mm thread length all around mate as I didn't want them to extrude from the inside of the wheel. Perfect fit for the 55ET wheels in my opinion.

@suj you are correct mate, as I said I haven't tried metallic pads and good fluid on OEM discs, I'm probably looking to save myself a few quid and buy normal discs for now and give it a go. If not then at least I will have tried

 

[peter]

hmm ... coppered steel wheel nuts. bought a set a couple of years ago. they look like sh*t now. wonder how long yours will keep this shiny.

i'm running brembo HC's, ferodo DS1.11's and endless RF650 fluid. we have a track here which is very hard on the brakes. they never failed me once. i would be very surprised if HC's and your RC8's wouldn't survive the alps.

i see you've got the yoko AD08RS on your car now. what's your thoughts on them? i used them only once since i bought mine. track was damp and cold, so couldn't quite compare them to the old AD08R yet.

 

[peter]

from the tweeks site on the wheel nuts ... "... and will not corrode."

wonder what i'm doing wrong then?

 

[suj]

@suj you are correct mate, as I said I haven't tried metallic pads and good fluid on OEM discs, I'm probably looking to save myself a few quid and buy normal discs for now and give it a go. If not then at least I will have tried

Yep I'd say like Peter said, worth a try and even if the discs wore 3x as fast....you'd still save £300 lol

 

[Yiannis197]

@peter they'd better not be!! I had the tpis for years and they lasted beautifully, if these - expensive - one go tits up I'll go back to demon tweeks with a vengeance.

I've got no personal experience on the RS compound at all as I've just fitted them but people say they are sh1t. A few friends had them on the Lotuses last year in the Alps (as they couldn't get hold of the R any more) and they were totally disappointed, not as grippy as the R, the cars were sliding around and they were squeaky and unpredictable at that kerb weight. Problem was that I had already bought a set to fit after the trip so I had to fit them. I did try to sell them but it didn't happen so I decided to cut my losses and then move on.

I'll report back after my first TD on them.

Problem with braking in the big Alps' passes is the actual repetition and descents, brakes do not have the chance to cool down as it's corner after corner whilst the car accelerates like crazy due to steep descents. Also bear in mind that the task to stop the car on the straight line is not the same as the task to stop the car when it's on a x% slope, that eventually take its toll to the brakes, especially on a loaded car with tools and - on occasion - passenger. Heat dissipation is a big issue there but that's not to say that the OEM discs won't cut it. I'd have to try and judge!

 

[Yiannis197]

MOT time then...ooops

Reminder to myself and everyone out there - frequently spanner check everything - even more so if you use the car in anger!

 

[N0ddie]

Oops

 

[suj]

Active Dampers mate.....

 

[Dan-]

MOT time then...ooops

Reminder to myself and everyone out there - frequently spanner check everything - even more so if you use the car in anger!

Good job you caught that in time. Going back to rotors, have you looked at Hi-Spec rotors? The are £125 each in 330mm x 28mm and available in many PCD's. I'm using them on my 312mm 2 piece kit and think they are great, could be worth looking at.

Hispec Rotor Sizes

 

[turkie172]

The government test centers in Northern Ireland were closed here since the start of the year due to the inspection lifts in all test centers had cracks so my MOT in Feb was exempt until today now with the virus my car has an exemption until December now that's almost a year without needing MOT how many times has cars failed MOT that's a real time bomb of dangerous cars on the road and a bigger bill when they start again 2 years work in one go.

 

[Yiannis197]

Good job you caught that in time. Going back to rotors, have you looked at Hi-Spec rotors? The are £125 each in 330mm x 28mm and available in many PCD's. I'm using them on my 312mm 2 piece kit and think they are great, could be worth looking at.

Hispec Rotor Sizes

I haven't actually and good shout even though I doubt it - the mounting or the rotor on PFs is kind of bespoke but definitely worth contacting them.