With all the Warped rotors going around on the TL/CL. I upgraded to Rotora Rotors and made a custom air ducts to cool my rotors down to prevent my rotors rrom being warped again.

I did this on my TL-S, here's the post on the A-TL.com forum

http://acura-tl.com/forum/showthread...&postid=640071

 

thats sweet! good thinking

 

That's a hell of an idea. Looks great.

 

wow.

 

Are you concerned at all that a lot of the water/debris that comes flying off of your tire and against the back wall of the wheel well is going to end up on your brake rotors?

 

Was put water and debris into consideration before i started the project. The exhaust duct has "guards" on them, so nothing too big will get through, and the chances of having a rock or pebble flowing through the intake duct and get past the guarded exhaust duct is unlikely.

And water, when it rains, your rotors will probably get wet without the mod. And after the mod, i think there is not a significant amount of water that actually passes through the duct. Water usually is kicked up after the tires. However, anywater that is kicked up by the car infront you will will be "caught" in the ridges of the duct. So water doesn't just fly straight through, it's gonna get stuck and slowly makes it's way through.

The rotors are hidden inside the tire, so there is no direct contact with the air or water that passes through. I mounted it leveled with the center of the rotor as possible and as far inward to the car as possible. The brake sheild is still there, so it will not let stuff hit the rotors.

There are other custom brake mods that actually direct the ducts straight to the rotors, which require you removing the brake shield. But the main design with my mod was just to get air passing throught the wheelwell creating a current of air to cool the brakes down.

 

You should do a temperature check on the rotors with and without the ducting. See if it makes a difference.

 

Easier and works better------------>

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 1killercls
[B]Easier and works better[QUOTE]

Well, i upgrade to Rotora Slotted Rotors....I just don't want these rotors to get warped also. Some guys on the TL board went though several pairs of hi-performance x-drilled and slotted rotors and they still got warped. I don't plan on spending $300 for rotors & pads every year

Got slotted and not x-drilled because of less mass of the rotors, more cooling but less braking effect

 

those air ducts might actually cause more problems than solve. If you're running the Brembo GT system those things are already so efficient you wont need them. I can run them really hard and come to a stop and immediately touch the rotors.

 

Agreed.

 

It's just a more efficient way is all he's saying...

 

Well, to make sure they do work in water, I did my own experiment. I did three test, each time achieving a higher degree. I took a computer fan i had, and turned it on, and start spraying it with a Spray bottle with tap water. I drenched the entire fan, and IT STILL WORKED . I then decided to immerse it in water, i pulled it out of the water and turned it on, IT STLL WORKED. I then decided "what the heck, i'll just turn it on when it's still immersed. Long and behold, it was still working underwater.

For those unbelievers, i have a .MOV file i took with my digitial camera to prove that it works underwater. The reason is water has ions in them H+ and OH- , but the ions concentrations aren't enought to conduct electricity to short out the fan.

Last edited by acuratlfan on December 28th, 2003 at 10:23 AM

 

nice work. innovative and low cost way of keepin the temp down.

brembo is expensive, so at least there is an option now.

 

dets...those rotors are only $250.00!! And they will last MUCH LONGER that the stock ones because they simply just DON"T GET TOO HOT.

I admire the dude for the Effort and Idea for the Brake Vents...I just dont think all that labor and CUTTING up of your 20 something K car is worth it.

It appears there are EASIER ways to remedy the problem. (IMO)

 

Maybe the rotors are only $250 to you. But i can't afford $250 each year. Spending $20 and 2 hour of work i think is worth all the future problem that i might run into. I'm just cutting into cheap plastic pieces, you can get those as replacements parts.

If you notice, Acura answered the TL/CL rotor problems by putting these Air duct into the 04 TL's. So to some point, i think my mod does work.

If you look at the picture, my mod is a similar design of the 04 TL

IF you have an affordable and easier way to rememdy the problem, please share

 

Quote:

Maybe the rotors are only $250 to you. But i can't afford $250 each year.

Hey...why would you buy new rotors every year???

My wifes G20 has 80 k on it and I finally got new rotors for the FIRST TIME The car is just about EIGHT YEARS OLD

So...the cost of $250.00 may seem high, but I figure it to be a "one timer" considering Comparble Attrition Levels of the G20 rotors and other cars I have owned.

Props on the job dude...

 

yep and all the TSXers on our sister site a bitching about Warped Rotors too

 

I think warped rotors are a concern to "bitch" about. It's unsafe to drive around with warped rotors. I'm not talking about a little vibration. I;m talking about HEAVY/Sever vibration in steering wheel and brake pedel. My car will steer in random directions when i brake on the freeway. Fisrt warped rotors at 7K miles, then got them turned buy Acura for free. Warped again at 14K miles, Acura would not turn them again. Called around to get quote on Resurfacing rotors = $60. I can go pay $120 each year to get resurface, or i can get hi-perf rotor to prevent or to decrease the chance of warping. So i got new ROtora rotors with new pads. $250 is the cost for them. Found out that after the 2 resurfacing, i was pretty close to the MIN. Thickness. So my only option is new rotors & pads every year. That's why I "copied" this mod from the 04 TL when i heard they had it.

I don't konw if you have warped rotors on ur CL, but nevertheless, the number of warped rotors from the CL/TL/ Accord V6 is unacceptable.

Like ur wife's G20, new rotors after 80k. My old 89 Toyota Camry is still running on Stock Rotors. So i think Acura has a design problem that they should directly fix.

 

 

Eh, the drilled rotors really aren't a solution to this IMO. I've read a ton of info on braking systems lately trying to decide what to do with my car. The reason the big brake kits like the Brembo cool better is simply b/c of the larger rotor. The drilling only aids in fade resistance. Slotting is only good for keeping a clean surface on the pad - they used to be good for venting gases created from the pads, but this hasn't been a problem for years b/c of the materials they use in pads now. Venting absolutly helps. Take a look at any real race/track car. You will more than likely see some nice, large drilled rotors and some nice cooling ducts for both the front AND rear.

AcuraTLSfan, props for the effort. I've been thinking about trying something like this. Do you have a cold air intake on your car? I was thinking of something similar to your air intakes, but with a metal plate over them parallel to the ground/bottom of the car, also with the sides and rear covered. This piece would be about 1" lower than the bottom of the car, kinda making a slot for the air. I wasn't planning on using that large of tubing tho, I was only going to use ~2" or so. I also planned on having the tubing come out more at a 45 degree angle or so to the rotor behind the tire.

 

It sounds like this is the first new car with any power which people have owned. My last five cars (Typhoon, GS-T, GTP, E46 328i Yes, BMW, and the CL-S) all with about or greater than 200HP have warped rotors.

Nice work though. Need an IR Pyrometer to test with...

 

You might try one of these instead of a computer fan:

12V DC, 240CFM. Only downsides are the 5 amp current draw.

 

I really don't think these will make a big difference. I could be wrong. Once you get rid of the the stock stuff, & make sure your lugs are tightened to specs you should not have a case of warped rotors. The Acura's problems are becasue of a pad/rotor varation. Not just the heat.

 

proaudio,

I do have a CAI. I know exactly what you are talking about. I had considered that, but the passenger side with the windshield fluid resivor really kills the space, you have about 2 inch b/t the fluid container and the plastic piece, not much space to work with.

Adding a coving will increase the amount of air that goes throught, i'll probabaly get some sheet metal and cover up the bottom side so it will be a "real air scoop"

And getting the duct to the rotor is the best way to do things, but when you turn ur tires all the way in, they will interfere.

I was going to use slanted air vent ducts as air scooops, but it was going to hang too low from the car and the pastic was 'fragile' and would break when you hit a dip.

My other option i saw was to use Rain Gutter ducts. They would mostlikely fit on the passenger side without moving the windshield fluid. And they already have 45 degree angle pieces. The opening is about 2 in x 4 in. I think i should've gone with this instead, would've been eaiser.

Nice electric blower, but they probably run >$85

 

Thanks for the info - again, good job.

That axial blower is ~$45 from McMaster Carr. I didn't think it was too steep. They also have a 3" version (the one pictured is 4") that flows 140CFM for ~$40.

 

THanks proaudio, i'll take alook at them, might do it. I'm not runnig any audio stuff so 10 amp, should be no problem