Dba Rotors

[GD2ILA]

Just got my DBA rotors fitted, have been researching and found people have hair line cracks in them. But from everything I've read and found it's only happens on track. I only street my car so something like that should never happen right?

[ssxRicho]

Can't see you having a problem on the road.

Cross drilled have problems on track, the DBA4000's in general had problems on track.

DBA have a new design to prevent this now.

[GD2ILA]

have been driving alot lately from west to east side, and have found the combination off DBA rotors and Remsa pads to be a great combination. I'm comparing this to standard rotors and pads from Nissan, from cold start in the morning i find the brakes to be really good bites harder than standard set up and also the brake pedal feel is more progressive than standard. Have done alot of stop starts in traffic and works well, stops from 100 to 0 feels good aswell the harder I press the braking force eg 20% braking is like 35% braking with standard set up if you know what i mean. also have done a hard stop from from 120km to 0, and have made the abs kick in, over the last 4years with standard setup i have never made the abs kick in but this new set up does. Pads seems good and no brake dust so far 2days after fitting. New set up gives more confidence and also looks hot.

Warm up: is there a proper way to warm than up? eg do 2 or 3 light stops from 40km or something like that

Cool down: best way to cool down? do a slow lap or just drive for a few minutes without using brakes hard?

[mystery_kid]

you don't need to warm up or cool down your brakes if you're just driving from point A to B

[GD2ILA]

you don't need to warm up or cool down your brakes if you're just driving from point A to B

Hi Mate, not for street. If you ever get to a point that you need to cool your brakes down on public roads, you shouldn't be driving in public.

I'm going to track the car so would like to learn the do and do not's when it comes to driving on track. thanks.

[sydking]

Nice to hear good feed back on these Resma pads, im getting a set soon aswell, there a good price.

[djr81]

Hi Mate, not for street. If you ever get to a point that you need to cool your brakes down on public roads, you shouldn't be driving in public.

I'm going to track the car so would like to learn the do and do not's when it comes to driving on track. thanks.

For the track.

Get proper rotors.

Get proper pads.

Get proper fluid.

Try & sort out some cooling air for the front rotors.

Get a little heat into them on the out lap.

Cool them as progressively as possible on the cool down.

Change the fluid when it looks horrible.

Check the pads for wear etc regularly.

Check the rotors for wear and cracks regularly.

Edited September 21, 2011 by djr81

[Roy]

I'm going to track the car so would like to learn the do and do not's when it comes to driving on track. thanks.

If you are doing track work on DBAs then its best that you have done plenty of street kms. The gentle temperature cycling makes the rotors more durable for when you take them on the track. If you have done less then 5,000kms on them I would go as far as saying you are reducing the life of the rotor by tracking it so early.

I have bolted on sets of DBA 4000 rotors and within 50kms having been tracking them...surprise surprise they all cracked within 1000kms of use When I was able to put thousands of street kms on them before track work they seemed to be far more durable, where I got years and 25,00-30,000kms out of them. (though they were old 4000 design and I think between buying my original set in 2002 and replacing them in 2005 they changed their method of manufacture and slots to their detriment)

Which brings me to warming up and cooling down. On your out lap i would tend to just bring your left foot over and carry a little brake when you are accelerating out of corners...just for 2-3 second intervals on corner exit. Then depending on the length-space you have between corners I would lightly brake to wash off around 20km/h once or twice....and then brake early for an upcoming corner and have two applications of the brake to wash off the speed you need for entry to the upcoming corner.

Do that on your out lap, and then on your first full lap I always have a big lift-off the loud pedal before braking for a corner, combined with short shifting at about 5,500rpm when accelerating.

The short shifting on your first full lap also helps with getting engine oil temp up to temp, gearbox and diff temps, exhaust manifolds up to temp and of course your brake rotor.

Then on my second full lap I only then start to get up the car proper, even then its about finding a rhythm which only normally comes for me on the 3-5th lap.

Re cooling down, its really car and track dependant. At least one lap where you cruise at around 80-100km/h, no WOT, only very light braking for the slow corners..try not to even touch the brakes. Keep an eye on your mirrors and make sure you are managing the faster traffic...some times its best to just go for a drive on the main highway outside the track and just cruise at the speed limit to cool everything down. My preference is to have my brake rotors cool enough that I can touch. By then coolant temps have usually dropped back to below 80 deg C as well.

Even with the cool down, when I park I always leave it in gear and hand brake off

If you are doing track work in Melb keep an eye on the events section of the Vic thread and come say hello to us in attendance. There isnt anything really complicated about it....I think of it as good housekeeping when doing track work.

[bigkevracer]

I've just been talking to DBA, and have just received my set of Clubsport T3 rotors, which is their new design for the 4000 series.

Their recommendations for track days are:

• The rotors must be at least 400km old (The first 400km of a rotors life needs to be normal driving)
  
• At the beginning of each session you should always do one warm up lap using moderate braking to bring the rotors up to temperature.
  
• At the end of each session you should do a warm down lap using moderate to light braking to bring the temperatures back down.
  
• When you park the car don't apply the hand brake, you also should push the car forward every few minutes to prevent heat soak into the rotors.
  
• You will notice light crazing on the surface of the rotor after a session, this is nothing to be alarmed about this is all normal.
  

I'm tracking my in November at the SAUSA track day, so trying to get prepared.

[djr81]

[*]When you park the car don't apply the hand brake,

God this annoys the crap out of me. There are two types of handbrake - of those the Skyline has an internal assembly using shoes. Putting the thing on after you have allowed a decent amount of cooling down of the rotors is fine. I have never yet seen a brake rotor ruined by an internal handbrake.

If they looked like the one below fair enough - but they dont and its not.

Oh and I thought the DBA rotors were supposed to be heat treated?

Edited September 23, 2011 by djr81

[Beer Baron]

yeah the no handbrake is more a lowest common denominator thing and probably not a bad habbit should you one day be driving a car on track that does have a second handbrake calliper or even one that actuates the main brake caliper with a cable (many cars with single sided/sliding calipers have that type). in that case it's not good having the pad clamped against the rotor.

[GD2ILA]

wow. thanks for all the advice. seems i have a lot to learn.

plus was told that if you can't afford to throw everything away and replace (warped rotors, tyres etc...) you can't afford to track

[cobrAA]

Can't see you having a problem on the road.

Cross drilled have problems on track, the DBA4000's in general had problems on track.

DBA have a new design to prevent this now.

what is that new design?