RacingBrake MKV R32 2 Piece Front Rotor Review

[abeR]

[pandavw86]

Anyone else having good results with Carbotech XP20's on the RacingBrake rotors?

I'm planning on getting new track pads for my RB BBK that I have on a MK6 GTI.

If I go with XP20's.... Can I use them on the street for several days before the track event to clean off my RacingBrake ET500 transfer layer? Then bed the XP20's at the track? Then use the XP20's for several more days of daily braking to scrape the XP20 material off before going back to the ET500's? Cause I'm too lazy to actually clean the rotors with steel wool.

If I was gonna do this, would I be better off with Hawk DTC-60? Or RacingBrake XT960's? Trying to decide what todo since Carbotech can give me credit for the XP10's I have that are unused.

Last time I was at Buttonwillow, had the XT930's (know known as XT910) which worked out nicely, good feel, good stoping power with a very nice transfer layer... But they wore out pretty quickly.

[nkgneto]

Ryan can answer that.

[Ryan E.]

I'm technologic on the MKV board, just an FYI I put a short response over there yesterday.

I really like the XP20's for track, they can hold from 250-2000°F and have a lot of torque with no fade. I have beat them hard at the track with great results @Buttonwillow, Streets/Big Willow (big willow is easy on brakes though), and Roval.

I usually drive to the event with the XP20's and drive back home like that due to time. I actually still have the XP20's on my car from the last event, they stop fine on the street but have a lot of torque and are real noisy, they do seem to stop my R fine when it's cold. I usually go back and forth with the Carbotech 1521 for street and XP20's for track, switching back and forth causes compounds to mix, which Carbotech doesn't recommend but I haven't had any issues. The XP20's wear well too, they still have a lot of meat on them, Mike Jr mentioned the wanted to make a pad wear longer so the XP20 was part of that solution.

I don't have any experience with Hawk DTC-60.

I recently got some ET500 for the rear and was thinking of trying out RB's more aggressive compounds like a XT960 for track use when I get their BBK.

The XT910 states it's light duty HPDE pad, that's why it probably wore out fast. I'd be interested in seeing how there XT960 works....

Let me know what you end up doing.

Best,
Ryan

[3626]

I was looking around the forum the other day, and I could swear I saw a member from Lombard Illinois that was selling the Racing Brake rotors at a discount. I was going to bookmark the page, but I was like.........nah, I'll be able to click my way back there in a day or so. Now, I can't find the posting with the link to the members' site. Does anyone have an idea who I MIGHT be talking about? I would rather buy from a forum menber if I can.

[mfbmike]

I was looking around the forum the other day, and I could swear I saw a member from Lombard Illinois that was selling the Racing Brake rotors at a discount. I was going to bookmark the page, but I was like.........nah, I'll be able to click my way back there in a day or so. Now, I can't find the posting with the link to the members' site. Does anyone have an idea who I MIGHT be talking about? I would rather buy from a forum menber if I can.

Could be nkngeto. Luis.

[Mr_Peach]

http://automobiledayspa.storenvy.com/

[3626]

Thanks guys, I found Luis and ordered a set to go on 3626 with the other stuff week after next.

[Ryan E.]

Just wanted to update everyone on long term wear. I measured the rotors after 9 track events and I only have .18mm of wear, that's Huge!

[Mr_Peach]

Just wanted to update everyone on long term wear. I measured the rotors after 9 track events and I only have .18mm of wear, that's Huge!

Ryan -

I don't mic much, so forgive me if this is a dumb Q:

On my worn OEM rotors, I have a unworn berm at the outer edge, my pads don't quite reach out that far. How does your mic measurement account for that? Or do your pads wipe out to the edge? Mic measurement points are farther in? Something like that?

[Ryan E.]

These rotors don't have a lip yet, that's how hard they are.

edit: In your case you might want to mic them...

[jmh2002]

These rotors don't have a lip yet, that's how hard they are.

Is any lip a question of hardness, or more just a simple question of pad wipe?

[Ryan E.]

It's both pad surface contact and how hard or soft the rotors are. The OEM rotors are a lot softer and will get grooves and a lip a lot faster. The RB rotors will eventually get a lip since there's about 1mm edge where the pad doesn't come in contact with the rotor, just as the OEM, it's just going to take a lot longer and I mean years when I say longer.

I've run these rotors through 9 events and the surface is smooth with no little to no lip...

Is any lip a question of hardness, or more just a simple question of pad wipe?

[Mr_Peach]

These rotors don't have a lip yet, that's how hard they are.

edit: In your case you might want to mic them...

Or buy new RB rotors.....

[ywang98]

Yes, I am amazed by how hard the rotor material is! After just normal driving for a month or two and some hard braking, the surface machine marks on the rotors are still there!

[pandavw86]

I don't have any experience with Hawk DTC-60.

I recently got some ET500 for the rear and was thinking of trying out RB's more aggressive compounds like a XT960 for track use when I get their BBK.

The XT910 states it's light duty HPDE pad, that's why it probably wore out fast. I'd be interested in seeing how there XT960 works....

Let me know what you end up doing.

Best,
Ryan

yeah, the XT910's where pretty nice, but there was probably some other factors that led to them wearing out fast such as a bad wheel bearing which caused rotor to caliper contact which only occurred on track because of the heat and stress on the track leading to excessive heat which was probably further exacerbated that my dust shields are still in place.

Anyhow RB rebuilt my overheated calipers and replaced the rotor ring for me and got it all sorted out

I ended up going with Hawkd DTC-60's for the track because Carbotech strongly didn't agree with driving with more aggressive pads on the street for a week to clean the old material off for the track day. Also XT960's were still on order at the time so I went with DTC-60's as the compound is probably most similar to the RB compound.

The DTC-60's worked out great on the track... But likely due to me over tightening the bleeder valves (I've never bled brakes before so I cranked them tight) and a combination of the dust shields holding excessive heat in.... Very hot fluid erupted out of the bleeder valves eating the finish of my brakes off in the process

So now I have new bleeder valves installed and torqued to spec... But they still weep just slightly with aggressive street braking... So I might have to take it back to RB to retap tha bleeder threads then I have to repaint the calipers and ditch the dust shields... Hopefully I can get sorted out before Fativus cause I've got some R20's to chase

[deepclue]

Hi all,

I have a MkV R32 and bought these exact rotors a couple of weeks ago. I've mated them with Hawk HP+ pads, and I've noticed the outside pad's braking area is offset toward the axle with respect to the outside rotor's surface by some 4mm. Something like this:



rrrrrrrrrrrr (outer rotor ring)

ppppppppp (outer pad edge)


(contact area)


rrrrrrrrrrrr (inner rotor ring)

ppppppppp (inner pad edge)


(axle)


This worries me. I've used those pads with ATE one-piece rotors before and they aligned perfectly. I'm worried about loss of friction area, but also about the "step" wear on the inside, where the pads may eventually meet the hat's screws.

Any similar experience? Any thoughts?

[VR64ANT]

I had that issue with Ebc red stuff. I ditched them and got Hawk HPS pads. No issues.


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[Ryan E.]

You can also loosen your bracket and reposition more towards the outer edge of the rotor and re-tighten, should get you a mm or 2, otherwise a little pad overhang isn't an issue.

The stock caliper binds the rotor with most of the pressure around the top of the rotor ring.

Also, be aware HP+ can be very squeaky.

FYI I'm still on my orignal RB rotor rings, these things last like no other.

Hi all,

I have a MkV R32 and bought these exact rotors a couple of weeks ago. I've mated them with Hawk HP+ pads, and I've noticed the outside pad's braking area is offset toward the axle with respect to the outside rotor's surface by some 4mm. Something like this:



rrrrrrrrrrrr (outer rotor ring)

ppppppppp (outer pad edge)


(contact area)


rrrrrrrrrrrr (inner rotor ring)

ppppppppp (inner pad edge)


(axle)


This worries me. I've used those pads with ATE one-piece rotors before and they aligned perfectly. I'm worried about loss of friction area, but also about the "step" wear on the inside, where the pads may eventually meet the hat's screws.

Any similar experience? Any thoughts?

[ywang98]

The machining marks are still there... This is after many months of using and braking hard. As I said before, since I don't track, these rotors will probably be my last set on this car.

Correction, it's been over a year!

[Ryan E.]

damn, they're no joke

The machining marks are still there... This is after many months of using and braking hard. As I said before, since I don't track, these rotors will probably be my last set on this car.

Correction, it's been over a year!

[deepclue]

Just in this morning:

http://forums.racingbrake.com/showth...=4908#post4908

The post seems to suggest that the Golf R's caliper is different from the MkV R32, and I don't know whether that is accurate since I do not own a Golf R, but I can attest that my MkV R32 suffers from the same problem with these rotors. On RB's web site the rotor is listed as 348mm, but from what I gather the MkV R32 and the Golf R OEM rotor is 345mm. That alone could explain the offset friction surface I described above, if both rotors have the same surface width, resulting in an effective braking surface of 342mm (I have not measured any of this).

Not happy.

[deepclue]

Just in this morning:

http://forums.racingbrake.com/showth...=4908#post4908

The post seems to suggest that the Golf R's caliper is different from the MkV R32, and I don't know whether that is accurate since I do not own a Golf R, but I can attest that my MkV R32 suffers from the same problem with these rotors. On RB's web site the rotor is listed as 348mm, but from what I gather the MkV R32 and the Golf R OEM rotor is 345mm. That alone could explain the offset friction surface I described above, if both rotors have the same surface width, resulting in an effective braking surface of 342mm (I have not measured any of this).

Not happy.

After a bit of digging, it was quite interesting to find this:

http://forums.racingbrake.com/showpo...40&postcount=3

In this 2010 post from RB they announce they will likely be producing the VW 345mm rotors by simply re-using the BMW 335i design and creating a new aluminum hat: "Looks like the front rotor is the same as BMW 335i front which was just released, being 345x30mm which we already have the disc tooling, so making two piece rotors for Passat CC would just have to have the aluminum hats designed."

Except that if you click on the thread for the 335i design, RB clearly say (repeatedly) that their rotor is 348mm, not 345mm:

http://forums.racingbrake.com/showpo...88&postcount=2

[Mr_Peach]

Mine, from WSIR/Fastivus:

[Ryan E.]

RB makes the tolerances so close that they realized there are manufacturing differences, some R's have it more than others, so designing the rotors not to have a large rust ring makes it really difficult. The caliper like Mr_Peach has fits perfect.

They're a little different than the MKV.

The benefits of the rotor and weight far outweigh a couple mm of overhang, I tracked mine like that for more than 10 events while occasionally street driving as well.

Google pad overhang and most people will say it's not an issue.

Have you tried to adjust the bracket like I mentioned?

Just in this morning:

http://forums.racingbrake.com/showth...=4908#post4908

The post seems to suggest that the Golf R's caliper is different from the MkV R32, and I don't know whether that is accurate since I do not own a Golf R, but I can attest that my MkV R32 suffers from the same problem with these rotors. On RB's web site the rotor is listed as 348mm, but from what I gather the MkV R32 and the Golf R OEM rotor is 345mm. That alone could explain the offset friction surface I described above, if both rotors have the same surface width, resulting in an effective braking surface of 342mm (I have not measured any of this).

Not happy.

[deepclue]

RB makes the tolerances so close that they realized there are manufacturing differences, some R's have it more than others, so designing the rotors not to have a large rust ring makes it really difficult. The caliper like Mr_Peach has fits perfect.

They're a little different than the MKV.

The benefits of the rotor and weight far outweigh a couple mm of overhang, I tracked mine like that for more than 10 events while occasionally street driving as well.

Google pad overhang and most people will say it's not an issue.

Have you tried to adjust the bracket like I mentioned?

I saw your recommendation (thank you!) but I just don't see how one can move the caliper carrier even a fraction of an inch--the bolts leave no play. Did I misunderstand?

As for your explanation, are you implying that German auto makers somehow manufacture with larger tolerances than RB? I find that VERY hard to believe. To me this is all very simple: it's a re-use of the BMW rotor design on the VW disregarding the fact that they actually have a 3mm difference. Who can blame VW for not making calipers in the Golf R that clear rotors that are a full 3mm too large? So much for close tolerances.

Mr_Peach's fit perfectly because he's using RB's upgraded calipers as well, which I bet take different pads. That's a $1,500 proposition, and in my case it would probably place me out of the STX solo class I run in.

As for the pad overhang, instead of doing an Internet search I contacted Hawk's tech support in regards to the HP+ pads I use. They warned me that the overhang could eventually cause the pads to fail to separate from the rotor when releasing the brake pedal, and they recommended that I go in and file the overhang manually every now and then. I find that completely unacceptable.

[Ryan E.]

Yes, there's some play in the 2 large bracket bolts, loosen, pull towards front of car while snugging up.

Tolerances in regards to rust rings, outer and inner.

Golf R different car, slightly different rotor.

Good luck!

[VR64ANT]

I just looked at mine again and I do have some overhang. I'll try readjusting the carrier.


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[Slave IV]

Yikes! This is not something I would want to deal with...

[deepclue]

Yes, there's some play in the 2 large bracket bolts, loosen, pull towards front of car while snugging up.

Tolerances in regards to rust rings, outer and inner.

Golf R different car, slightly different rotor.

Good luck!

Today I took them off the car, packed them, and sent them back. I had to file the pads so they'd be flat again. Interestingly, my old ATE PremiumOne rotors feel like they give me more bite than the RBs did.

There was no play on the caliper carriers.

[VR64ANT]

I just looked at mine again and I do have some overhang. I'll try readjusting the carrier.


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Looked closer today. Overhang is maybe 1.5 mm. I didn't bother trying to adjust them.


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[Ryan E.]

Yeah, that's not worth the effort, completly fine .

Looked closer today. Overhang is maybe 1.5 mm. I didn't bother trying to adjust them.


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