orgnlprankster7

hey guys, my front rotors have been warped for a while now and im looking for some aftermarket rotors that wont warp easily, im thinkin slotted, but i need advice . what do you think would be the best chose for my car? also im thinkin thatr i will buy the rotors and pads online and have my local shop install them. what is a very good site to buy these items,cheap,but good. whats the best brand name? any and all advice welcome .whats the best and cheapest way to go? i need your . thx.

VietGuy03

iTrader: (4)

Hey I'm in the same situation and from what I've gathered from the site, Aftermarket rotors and ceramic pads are your best bet. Now since you said you are getting some warpage I'm guessing you are getting a shaking in the steering wheel like I am, if you are getting a vibration in the brake pedal when you are braking then chances are your rear rotors are warped as well.

When you replace your rotors it is highly recommended that you replace your pads as well. If you put pads on that were warped by your old rotors then they will warp the new ones, which is exactly what you were trying to get away from.

I'm going to get Rotora Slotted rotors from Excelerate and possibly ceramics as well, in his group by thread. Here's a link to take a look:
https://acurazine.com/forums/sponsored-sales-group-buys-10/rotora-slotted-drilled-slotted-rotors-special-cl-tl-tsx-324531/

If you have any questions ask Excelerate, his an excellent vendor and answers all questions very promptly.

Oh by the way the total cost for buying rotors, pads, and having them installed will roughly be about $300.00? This all depends on the price you get everything of and obviously labor, just an estimate. There are DYI for installing rotors and pads, and from what I saw it doesn't look hard at all, but I don't personally have any experiecnce with brake work so I'll let a friend do it. Plus he's only charging $20.00 per rotor and pad so I can't argue with letting him do the install.

orgnlprankster7

hey thanks, i was looking at excelerates rotors they seemed good, and people have been buying them since 05 so i know hes reputible. im guessing they are better than the OEM roters? and acura was gonna chagre about $340 for OEM rotors so aftermarket may be the way to go.

MrAlex

Rotora slotted + ebc greenpad

randomthought

I would say search, but it doesn't really matter. OEM rotors suck, or so I have heard. If you don't want to spend too much, brembo blanks and the oem pads should do fine. if you want a bit more performance, rotora with ebc is a good choice. EBC pads have a dark brake dust which is still visibile, but it washes off easily.

MikePA

NJ Aegean 03

orgnlprankster7,

I just did the brakes on my TLS 3 weeks ago because I had the same problem as you, rotors were warped and the backs needed pads (none left..hehe)

Anyways, I ended up getting the Rotora slotted Rotors with Rotora H2 Ceramic pads and let me tell you, there is a huge difference in stopping power compared to the factory brakes. I broke the rotors/pads (400 miles of easy braking and cool down periods per Rotora) and now that I'm driving normal again, this setup does stop on a dime (good tires help also).

I also go the brakes from Excelerate (https://acurazine.com/forums/members/excelerate-25144/) for a great price and extremely fast shipping.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

heehaaw

my 99 tl had the same rotor warping issue. never ever found a concrete fix for it. i bought brembo rotors with stock acura pads and they worked fine for about 6-8 months, and then to my dismay the warping returned. this is hands down the most annoying thing about the car.

whats strange is, the brakes wobble when you brake lightly (build up heat), but if you do a hard stop they dont wobble. i seriously think the problem with the tl's is not the rotors by themselves. its the calipers or the master brake cylinder or something else. perhaps a seized piston thats not releasing in the caliper or something. i think it was a design flaw from day one, one that acura should have recalled.

ive never seen another so called "luxury" car with such shitty brakes. thankfully i sold my 99 recently, and bought a, 04 tl (not to say that all my problems are solved, now they're just different... sometimes i hate cars.)

Billy Sacco

Well I am pretty sure my car had stock breaks and they started shaking at about 75k I think. So they did last for a while. I just replaced the front rotors and pads since I had replaced the rear pads only a few months ago. I went with Power Slot/EBC Greenstuff since autobarn sold them both and I did not want to order from 2 different places. Shipping was free I think it ended up being around $250 for rotors and pads for the front. The new rotors do not shake at all now and the stopping power is much better and smoother then the stock stuff. Have you ever done any maintenance on your car? The breaks are pretty easy to do there is a PDF writeup on the site that is very good. The hardest part was having to drill out the two little screws that hold the rotor on (thoser were a freaking PITA). Either way good pad with some nice slotted rotors like Power Slot, EBC, or Rotora and you can't go wrong IMO.

pmptx

Rotora slotted with EBC Greenstuff coming in this week.

You should just change the rotors and pads yourself. It is literally 2 screws and 2 bolts per wheel. Save the money and learn about your car. PLenty of DIYs here and I am sure you have many AZ brothers in the NE who could help you.

Good luck

Edward'TLS

Rotora slotted rotors are not immure from warpage. My Rotora fronts have warped after going through one set of Axxis Ultimate (till it hit the squeechy clips) and now half way through the EBC Greenstuff. I have done everything mentioned to bed the rotors when they were brand new. I can't find any brake shop that can machine slotted rotors. So I have ordered another set of Rotora slotted fronts and EBC Greeenstuff pads.

This time I won't do the high-speed braking shits to bed them in, but just drive gently for the 1st few hundred kms and see if they will last longer before warping. But the quality of the new rotors seems to have gone way down this time compared to the same ones I bought several years back. The new ones have paint chips all along the edge of the painted-black hub area, and the slots are not cut as long and as deep as before.

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

No rotor is immune to warpage. The ROTORA's are just less prone to warpage than the OEM rotors. I would say a set of one and half pads might be close to 40-50k. If you are an aggressive braker that is not abnormal. I've seen some ROTORA setups last 75k and some last 40-50k depending on how aggressive the driver/braker is. There are some shops who turn slotted rotors but they are far and few between b/c it wears down their tool/bit quicker. The quality has not gone down IMO. If there are a few paint chips just spray it with high temp caliper paint (black) or any black high temp paint. Sometimes in shipping those chips will occur; whether it be inbound freight or outbound freight. Also, the slots are not going to be as deep since your rotor has been used for thousands of miles and material has been shaven off from repeated use.

Edward'TLS

The new rotors are wrapped in plastic bags inside individual factory labelled cartoon boxes. The cartoon boxes do not show any damage or crushed impression, plus that there is not a single trace of chipped paint piece inside the plastic bag. So it cannot be blamed on shipping or transportation. The paint chipped rotors have to be packed in the Rotora factory by Rotora workers. Rotora is shipped paint chipped rotors to its customers. The QUALITY HAS GONE DOWN. I'll love to see the expression on the buyer's face if a salesman tell the buyer to go home and spray paint the paint chips on the new rims or the new car he just bought.

When comparing the rotor slots, the slots on my current Rotora rotors which has accumulated thousands of miles are still deeper and longer than the BRAND NEW Rotora I received few weeks ago. Not the other way round. So the slots on the NEW rotors will wear out sooner than the OLD ones if they manage to last unwarped longer. The QUALITY HAS GONE DOWN.

No offence, Excelerate. It's your duty to defend the stuff you sell, but I'm just a regular customer who is surprised about the change in quality when comparing the newly arrived Rotora slotted rotors with the same old set I bought 3 years ago.

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

Edward you are certainly entitled to your opinion. However, I spoke to ROTORA about the slots to confirm. The slots are in fact deeper than they used to be a few years ago. They may not be as long b/c they use a champher slotting process to prevent pad material buildup, at least for this application. You need not worry about the slots depth not lasting.

Also yes sometimes some scratches do occur in shipping but it is not abnormal to see a couple marks/scratches on the outer black hub b/c that happens when the factory workers stack the rotors. If you looked at any other brand the same occurs when stacking is done but it may not be as noticeable since they are either painted gold, silver, etc or cadmium plated. That being said nothing bad is going to happen b/c there are a few scratches or chips on the coating. We're not talking about new wheels or your paint on your car. We're talking about a scratch on the e-coating of the hub of the rotor. It isn't going to affect the quality of your rotor. OEM rotors don't have this coating in the vanes nor the hub; they seem to last just fine.

Edward'TLS

Thanks for your effort in contacting Rotora. Slot's length and depth I can understanding. They probably changed the manufacturing process. But paint chips are to do with visual quality and I'm not talking about a few paint chips. The chips are located all along the whole edge of the hub, not just in a few spots. The purpose of black coating is to prevent rust from developing on the hub area, according to Rotora. If Rotora goes into great lenght puting on the black coating and boosting its effectiveness in rust prevention, I don't see why it is not a big deal with the black coating chips all along the hub edges. The chips will start to rust !! If they won't rust, why bother putting the black coating on, and why bother widely advertizing it (advertizing scam ?).

Sure it's certainly a Rotora manufacturing handling problem because you just can't stack painted rotors on top of one another without any stacking material. If the production line workers haven't spotted the paint chips, the final QC (quality
control) workers would have done so before packaging. But Rotora is still shipping the chipped rotors instead of fixing the paint finish.

The reason why I associate this with buying new rims or new cars is that similar paint chips on them won't affect the quality of the rim or the car, but it's still unacceptable. Paint chips in new rims and new cars are signs of bad quality. Why should paint chips on slotted rotors the exception. A chip or scratch on a rim won't affect performance. But will you accept the chipped rim when you pay for it full price brand new ?

I'm somewhat taken back by you telling me to spray paint the chips back home instead of admitting the quality problem with Rotora. Is this how you would tell your customers if I (or others) have bought the rotors or other products from you and finds that the paint finish has chips in it ? I sincerely hope not. But why you're telling me to paint over the paint chips in my case. After all, defect in paint finish is a quality problem.

I have no such quality problem with the Rotora slotted rotors I bought 3 years ago. I'm not comparing with other brands. I'm comparing the same Rotora product side by side, bought now and bought 3 years' ago. I just wish that the old set had not warped.

Bxscig

How many miles do the ebcs last with the rotora slotted?

MikePA

What would you like Rotora to do? Recalll every rotor, repaint them and return them at their expense?

We are talking about the part of the rotor that is largely hidden when the wheel is put on, right? Who cares then?

Edward'TLS

Rotora is selling slotted rotors with bad paint finish to its customers. Three years ago, Rotora was selling the same rotors with excellent quality paint finish. A well-established brake shop is selling bad quality painted brake parts. That's all I have to say and want everyone to know. I wasn't expecting Rotora to do anything, otherwise I would raise hell with my vender.

My wheels are open spoked and will see the paint chips which is all along the corner edges of the hub. The paint finish is to prevent the hub area from rusting, according to Rotora's description.

MikePA, you probably don't mind paying full price for parts that have bad paint finish or paint chips, I do.

yunginTL

are EBC green available again?

Edward'TLS

I just bought my EBC green front pads with my Rotora order last month. I also bought the rear pads because these are new pad design from the 2006 catalog and are completely different from the 2005 and earlier designs. The front pads remain the same.

importvizion

I just put Rotoras w/ EBC green stuff yesterday, so far so good....but for some reason it smells after I drive it for a bit, like something smells like its burning wassup wit that? anyone kno?

MikePA

I am more concerned with function than form.

BillySacco

Well call me crazy but I don't think its unreasonable to want a part that looks new when your paying for something that is supposed to be brand new. Import they are prolly breaking in, your taking it easy on them right?

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

Edward'TLS:

If you have noticed a few chips on the hub why not contact the vendor you purchased from or ROTORA before installing? You seem to be very upset about these chips on the coating on the hub. I can assure you the few chips will not result in the catastrophic failure of the rotor. You can easily add a few sprays of caliper paint or any high temp black paint and cover over those chips if you are concerned. And besides the backside of the wheel presses against the hub and those chips won't even be noticed.

Also, the black coating is on the hub along with the vanes of the rotor; I would highly call it an advertising scam b/c you have a few chips on the hub. The e-coating is still on the hub and on the vanes; a few chips don't deny the fact that the coating is there. I'm not denying that there may be a few chips on the hub from handling of the rotors or from shipping - consider shipping from ROTORA to vendor, from vendor to customer (and UPS/FEDEX aren't the most package friendly companies). I would think if you were this upset you would have just sprayed the hub. The rotor is no less efficient b/c there are a few chips in the coating.

And I'm sorry but your paint on your car is not a good comparison. We're talking about a black coating on the hub of the rotor.

Yes the e-coating is there to prevent corrosion, but many rotors, even OEM rotors, lack this coating, yet they still function perfectly for years and tens of thousands of miles. This is just added insurance and the job was done properly. You just have a few chips. Maybe you should contact ROTORA with your displeasure b/c to be honest I have sent out a lot of rotors and haven't seen the kind of chips you are talking about (I have seen a couple small chips here and there but nothing to this magnitude, at least as large of an issue as it seems to be from your viewpoint).

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

That is normal. The rotors are "breaking in". The pad is burning off the coating on the surface and is mating to the rotor. The smell will go away after about 25-50 miles

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

Just for the hell of it I decided to take a few pics of a ROTORA combo rotor for a reference point. Now I ran out of stock on the slotted rotors so I had to take a pic of a combo rotor, but it is still for the CL/TL front. I found the most beat up box I had and here are the pics. You tell me if it doesn't look new. You tell me if you would be upset with the "visual quality"?

MrAlex

What is the difference and how does it affect our ride ?

importvizion

thanx excelrate

derrick

Another option to go are Racingbrake slotted rotors that another sponsored vendor, HeelToe Automotive, are selling in the Black Market subforum of the Off-Topic section of Acurazine.

I have them (check my sig) along with the Hawk pads and they work well. They are a lot dustier than the OEM setup. Mind you -- I am not an aggressive driver. Had OEM pads / rotors not warp on me after 60k miles. There was plenty of rotor left on my originals (and not at the squeal part of the pads) so I'll slap them back on if I ever trade-in my car.

Edward'TLS

Below are the new paid-full-price chipped-paint-finish Rotora slotted rotors bought recently.

Below shows paint chips all along the hub edge.

Another side of the rotor.

The other rotor.

The 3-years-old Rotora slotted left front rotor. See how the hub edges can be seen through my open-spoked rim.

The 3-years-old right front rotor.

The 3-years-old rear rotor.

MikePA

Your 3 year old pics also show how the hub edges look when covered with brake dust. Even cleaned up as in the last pic, they don't look all that good. It's not like they kept their pristine, black color.

Edward'TLS

Excelerate, I wasn't upset because I bought bad paint quality Rotora slotted rotors. Like you said, it won't hurt the braking performance. If you read from the beginning of this thread, I simply tell people that the quality of the new rotors has gone down due to the bad paint finish compared to the same ones I bought 3 years ago. This is what this forum is for - share your experience, both good and bad ones.

I got upset because of what you have said. You refused to admit the quality control problem with Rotora in regarding to Rotora shipping paint-chipped rotors to customers by giving lame excuses like first blaming the shipping courier, then saying the paint chips are caused by rotors stacking on top of others. Anyone in the manufacturing business knows how important paint finish is. Stacking material and cling-on clear plastic are things that cannot be skimmed on for high quality products. Worst still, you also told me to go home and spray paint the paint chips as if people paying full price for rotors with paint defects is nothing unusual.

I have 2 questions for you.

(1) If your customers receive the same paint-chipped rotors from your shop, will you tell him to buzz off and go home to spray paint the paint chips ?

(2) Why are you saying it is ok to receive new rotors with paint chips bought full price, but not ok to receive new cars or new rims with paint chips bought full price ? What other new car parts with scratches or paint chips you think it is ok to sell from your shop to your customers ?

If Rotora goes into such length to put on the black e-coating while other manufacturers don't, why not paid more attention to protect the coating from being chipped. Otherwise don't bother advertise the black coating and don't bother to put it on like others do. Rotora advertises how good the black coating is, but has no desire to protect it, what a joke. I'm not talking about a no-name company selling rotors that are made in Taiwan or India. Rotora is a well-known performance shop that has years of experience behind it. This makes it less so for anyone to expect rotors with paint defects to be sold by Rotora. If Rotora could make rotors with acceptable paint finish 3 years ago, why not now ? If this is not quality problem, I don't know what. Please, no more lame excuses.

Edward'TLS

Come on, they are 3 years old and warped. Of course they won't shine like new. The new ones should.

Billy Sacco

Are the 3 year old ones rusted or is that all break dust?

MikePA

Duh. I know that, although I'm not sure what warping has to do with how they look.

Exactly how long are the new rotors supposed to stay new looking?

If you started with a pristine, new rotor on one side and a 'chipped paint' rotor on the other side, how many weeks would it take before they both looked the same?

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

Edward, first of all you hijacked this guy's thread to talk about some paint chips. The quality has not gone down. I took pics of other random rotors and they all look fine. And yes this is a forum to share experiences, but it's not just your forum. I can share my experience also. And I have seen many more rotors than you have.

I am not denying you have some paint chips on your rotor. Paint chips can happen in shipping. Paint chips can happen in stacking the rotor. Those aren't excuses; those are reasons. I said that. You continued on with claims that ROTORA has "adveritising scams" b/c you had some paint chips. Apparently you are very upset and you need to call your vendor who you bought them from or ROTORA.

Since you were so upset I gave you a solution. All it takes is a few minutes to spray a coat of high temp black paint on the hub to cover up the paint chips. We're talking about a rotor here; not car paint, not wheels. There is a huge difference, both in product, price, and appearance. I'm sorry that you are upset with the paint chips. Maybe you should contact ROTORA or your vendor to have them compensate you.

1. No one has called me nor had any problems. However, if there was an issue and they were upset over the paint chips I would either give them another rotor or paint it for them. I've yet to find someone though. Or I would give them some $ to go buy some high temp paint and do exactly what I would do - spray some high temp paint on the edge of the hub. Or I would give them their $ back and let them buy another brand of rotors.

2. I didn't say it was ok. You were upset and calling into question ROTORA's quality. I'm sorry but their quality is top notch and it has been shown and proven time and time again. But you can never please everyone.

If you have anything further to say please take it to PM.

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

That is probably dust and built up grime. However, if it were to be rust it is b/c whoever installed the rotors sprayed brake cleaner on the hub and on the rotor. That will eat away the (e-coating, black paint).

Edward'TLS

Ok Excelerate, you have your own experience, I have mine experience. We don't piss on each other's experience because you have perfect rotors, I didn't. Let the fellow members be the judges.

Your experience is that you always receive top quality Rotora slotted rotors with no e-coating paint chips from Rotora, good for you. My experience is that (1) Rotora slotted rotors are not immune from warping, mine has warped, (2) I received top quality Rotora slotted rotors with perfect e-coating paint finish bought 3 years ago, (3) but I received not so top quality Rotora slotted rotors due to e-coating paint defects bought a couple weeks ago (see my pictures a few posts above).

I don't consider talking about paint chips a big deviation from the original intent of this thread. Let me recap.

- This guy asks for advices to replace his warped rotors.
- Several brands are recommended, including Rotora.
- I also pitch in with my own real life experience with Rotora, no paint chips on old set but paint chips on new set, accompanied by real life pictures, no BS.

If my Rotora rotors have e-coating paint defects, it could very well happen to other fellow members, according to the way Rotora workers stack the rotors (read from your earlier post). Excelerate always receives the rotor batch with no paint chips, but I received a pair from the batch with all paint chips. So paint chips are 100% relevant to this thread because this could be what he might be getting from Rotora next time his Rotora rotors arrive at his doorsteps, whether he likes it or not.

Edward'TLS

The new 2006 EBC GreenStuff rear pads seem to be slightly wider than the pre-2006 ones, because the new ones are now scrapping the untouched area near the base of the hub. But I doubt it will make much difference because the increase in width is very slight, and it is the front brakes that do most of the braking for our very front heavy FWD cars.

MikePA

Here's one judges opinion. You made your point long ago. You got rotors with the paint chipped. Boo hoo. Go piss and moan to Rotora and send them irritating email after email instead of making post after post here. There are far more people who either got perfect Rotora rotors or if the paint was chipped they didn't care.

Of course you don't, because this thread has become your personal whine-fest.