Phalkhan

iTrader: (1)

So I picked up a full set of RacingBrake Open Slot Rotors from Brice @ RaceRoots and I have to say that I'm pretty impressed! The rotors look great and perform even better. But Im getting ahead of myself so I'll start with the pics.


Front rotors 322mm (right) and rear rotors 302mm (left)



Front



Rear



Each slot has three elliptical holes drilled into them. I guess this is to improve cooling like a drilled rotor while eliminating the possibly of the rotor cracking from repeated hard braking.



Front rotors weighted in at 18lbs on my scale. RacingBrake website has them listed at 18.5lbs and the rears are 12.3lbs. If your looking to save weight, the two-piece design is probably a better option. (Front 14.1 lbs, Rear 9.85lbs)





Install was pretty straight forward. Unbolt the the calipers, then the rotors and then installed the new ones. I ordered new pads as well but had reinstalled my old ones simce they still had more than half of the pad left. Here is a comparison of the OEM vs RacingBrake.



Fronts installed



Rears installed. And yeah, I know my wheels are dirty- dont hate lol!




The stock calipers dont use up the entire firction area on the rotor. Notice the lighter stripe closest to the center of the rotor. This is the same on the stock rotors but but it shows as a ring of rust. Also, my driver side rotor has another light area right above the inner untouched area. I think there is some grease or something on the rotor as this is the only rotor I didnt clean myself. (I let my friend do this one.) My passenger side rotor only has the ring closest to the center of the rotor.


So how do they perform? Pretty dang good! To be honest, I was a little disappointed when I first started driving with them. At regular driving speeds I didnt notice any difference over the stock rotors. Stop and go traffic was just like normal and so were stop light to stop light braking. But then I got to some empty back roads, that's when they started to shine. Under hard braking, the rotors grab HARD! The biggest diffenence in breaking is the brake fade. I've been using RacingBrake ET500 pads for the last three year and one problem I had was brake fade after repeated hard braking. One or the back roads by my house has a 2 1/2 mile long straightaway. So I literally spent 15 minutes speeding up the 70mph as fast as I could and slamming on the brakes. With the RacingBrake rotors and felt no brake fade whtat-so-ever, which was surprising. So I took my car out thru some of the curvy back roads and was even more surpised. I considered myself a good late braker, but even my best late braking I kept finding myself finished with my braking too far from the corner entery (around 20ft or so before my usual lift point) Even after 30 mins of hard drivng and braking, I still didn't feel the usual fade in braking ability. I know it sounds wierd to say but the best way I can decribe the braking is that the car "keeps braking??" lol?? Normally the car starts off braking really good and then slowly starts to decline. The RX-8's braking has always been good, but now it just feels better lol.

So all-in-all I'm extremely satisfied with the RacingBrake rotors. I think next time I need rotors I with spend the extra cash on the two-piece open slot rotors. My next track day is on May 5th at AutoClub Speedway in Fontana, Ca so I will have an update on how they do after a full day at the track.

Thanks for reading and thanks to Brice for carrying such a good product,

Jon

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

get those used pads off of there before you hose up those new rotors

edit: never mind, you just had to go out and beat down on them rather than break them in gently, oh well ...

monchie

Thanks for showing. Anyway, i wanted an upgraded brake, but oem is just fine with me.

darkraven.r6

^ +1 Brake pads wear to each rotor, so even though the old pad looks fine it's not the best thing to do to use them on a new rotor. Sure if you're tight on cash and aren't really concerned for rotor life... Future reference.

G_ man

iTrader: (2)

^ +1 always new pads with new rotors

Phalkhan

iTrader: (1)

Thanks everybody for your feedback. I was switching from RacingBrake pads to Hawk pads so I left the old ones on so I could get a good idea of the difference between the two different rotors. I've already switched out to the Hawk pads after I did the review. Big differnce between the old pads and the Hawk HP PLus

JantzenRX-8

iTrader: (9)

Man you should have just bought my two-piece.

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-parts-sale-wanted-44/racing-brake-2-piece-slotted-rotors-229932/