OK. So I got the fronts done and went to do the rears today. Opened the box and WTF....I had a set of rear rotors that were 4 lug pattern and were the wrong size as well. Called Rotora and they sent some damn MR2 rotors. What the hell am I gonna do with those? Anyways, got it all squared away, they're gonna make a new set, the right way, and have em to me within a week, with a trade on shipping. No cost to me, but just a wait.
Well, I needed to put the car back together, so here is what I got done so far. Just the front!

Question to those who know anything about brakes though. Look at the rotor surface. Is it just me, or doesn't it look like the pad is not catching the whole rotor? Maybe the pad needs to be broken in more or grinded down a bit to a flatter surface?

 

BTW, I think the color is the heat. I just got done running the shit out of the car. Got a fat ass ticket for doing so as well. Stoptech said do a few runs from 60 or 70 and brake at about 80%. Yeah, just hit the brakes out of 65, and a cop turned the corner. 220 dollar "break in" session none the less.

 

Those rims

 

don't know jack about brakes, but what do the center caps on your advans say? KR?

 

kreuzer racing

 

rotors looking good!

 

that stinks nice brakes tho, can you pm me how much you paid?

 

It does seem like the pads aren't making full contact with the rotors. I can't recall from looking at mine but I agree that the contact area on the rotors should be larger. Is this the same for both sides? Maybe the pad isn't seated properly or there is something under one edge of it that would prevent the new pad from sitting flush against the rotor. This might also cause the brakes to heat up more than usual as you would have less pad-to-rotor contact surface to do your braking for you.

 

I just took it for a spin. I am not sure what is causing it, but the area is slowly increasing. Maybe the pads were all retarded and not totally flat?

 

Did you seat them properly? not being flat by defect (manufacturer or user ) sounds like a good explanation

 

I'm gonna go check and make sure.

 

update?

 

Still waiting on my other rotors, supposed to be here NLT Tuesday, but we'll see! I checked the seating of the pads, and everything appeared to line up. I drove around for another day, and the area on the rotor of where the pads are touching is increasing. I went by Midas to ask them and they said it was normal for that to happen, and can take up to a week or two of driving, cause the pads may have been uneven in surface. He also said the rotor could not be entirely flat. He told me to install my other stuff and drive it around for a week, and if no change take it by and he will check and ???measure out the straightness??? I don't know what he was talkin about, but he said he liked the car and he would do it in his off time w/ no charge. Pretty cool dude and races Domestic cars, so, I will probably do that. I don't drive the car alot, but I do notice that when I do drive, the area is increasing! As far as braking power, even with it not completely broken in, I can tell a difference. Stopping happens much quicker, so it's only gonna get better as everything is broken in. Just sounds kinda weird to me is all!
What do you guys think?

 

hey cmf
are those StopTech rotors 328mm? are those the same as what they got in StopTech big brake kit!?
just that...they look a bit small for me, hmmm.....maybe cuz of the pics plus that you have 18" rims
looking tight tho^o^
thx

 

the stoptech rotors are direct replacements so they are same as stock

 

Yup, replacements. Don't wanna fork out the dough for a big brake kit until I can find exactly what I want. Hmmmmm, what do I want?

 

i see i see, thx for the info
cmf...good luck on finding the right stuff for your car ^o^

 

It looked great!

 

What he said makes sense to me. The only reasons I can think of that you would get partial contact between brake pad and rotor are:
a) pad not seated properly
b) pad not completely flat
c) rotor not completely straight (i.e. thicker/thinner on outside edge)
d) any combination of a, b, c above.
You've already checked (a). If its (b) then after a week or two of use the pad will wear in and the entire top surface will make contact. If its (c) then, again, the pad will eventually wear in.

 

Cool, so should be nothing to worry about.
Man, these pads kick out a bit more dust than what I thought they would, and it's kinda weird/ cool (at the same time) that when the dust kicks off, it's all shot through the holes of the rotor. So the dust is not evenly distributed (so to say) along the wheel, instead it is shot out in bigger chunks, and kinda puts big dust chunks on the wheels. When washing the car, it apprears to be way more dust coming off than with the stock set-up.
Guess you gotta give a little to get a little. Definite inprovement in braking though!