I wanted to give a review of my racingbrake upgrade. The guys over there took care of me and all they asked was for me to post a review. Here goes...

Here's what I went with:
Front
RB 2-piece rotors (2108-311)
RB ET700 pads (PD1001-37) or ET500 (PD1001-35)
Rear
RB Slotted rotors (9094-111)
RB ET500 pads (PD357-35)
Front/Rear
Stainless steel brake lines.

The car is stock and it was time to change brakes. The front stock rotors were shimmying when they heated up so I knew they were getting thin. I am pretty hard on brakes and thought the factory TL brakes might last a while longer. They didn't so I went researching.

After about a week of searching/studying brakes I landed on racingbrake.com and was impressed with what I found. Everyone else out there was just trying to sell me some slotted or cross-drilled rotors and I had no clue what I was getting. I did not want something that "looked pretty", I wanted performance. Racingbrake seemed to know more than the rest of the guys.

I bought the setup, installed it and did the break-in procedure. I noticed a difference right away. I waited a while before getting aggressive with the new brakes. But once I did, WOW. I was very pleased.

Initial bite was increased a lot. I noticed that it takes 1 to 2 minutes for the brakes to heat up before the initial bite is good. I can totally live with that though.

Modulation was good too. With the old brakes once they heated up I lost a lot of upper-end modulation and felt I could put my foot thru the floorboard and still had no increased braking. The new brakes are very different in this respect.

Only the other day I noticed that stop-n-go braking was increased as well. In city traffic I never lost any braking power and bite and modulation remained fairly constant despite heat build up. The factory brakes' performance dropped significantly when hot.

Just a note, I did flush all the old brake fluid during installation and replaced it with the generic type. I considered upgrading but didn't feel it was all that necessary as I don't put the car on the track.

Now for the problems. I only had one problem and that was with a considerable squeal coming from the front after about two weeks. Racingbrake worked with me on this and suggested several things. I ended up putting back the factory shims and using anti-squeal grease despite their advise against it. One week later the squeal is still gone. This did change the brake performance by about 2% but I can live with that too.

Overall I am VERY PLEASED with my purchase. The brakes work so well I can engage the anti-lock on dry concrete. That's pretty impressive!

 

The stainless lines help with pedal feel. They make nice stuff, but you said you don't track the car. The setup you've got is probably way overkill for the street. Dump the generic brake fluid and put in Motul 5.1, and you'll get even better performance.

 

I love my RB setup.

 

Vinman how did the Racingbrake stainless steel lines fit? More specifically did you have any issues installing the RB rear lines?

I put them on my '06 TL 6 Speed but had some fitment issues, just curious if my specific set was off...

Thanks

 

I've run the RB slotted one-peice fronts with ET500 pads.

Only thing I'd caution for most users is the selection of ET700 pads. Those will require a higher operating temp for max braking and MAY be more prone to squeal.

For most of us, the ET300 (street) or ET500 (agressive street) series pads should be fine.

FWIW- I used the OE shims and Brembo grease too. No issues.

 

After a weekend with the ET500 pads I've decided they are better than the POS Hawk pads but still don't have the same feel as the OEM brembo pads. I'll re-evaluate after about 6 months but I'm pretty sure I'm going to be running the Brembo pads for the life of the car once the RB pads are done.

 

RB users need to do a very aggressive bedding- they like it!
When the rotors are blue streaked- where others are at trash can point- now they are bedded
It will take a few bedding sessions to get them fully settled and then braking increases
All the micro scratches of hills and valleys must mate into each other
The double cross cut rotor finish helps the pads bite faster as they bed in and will wear away as the parts connect

we are talking 60mph (or 10-20 higher if able) to 20mph slow downs with medium effort to warm the pads thru- not shock heat them with jump on suddenly

At this point you are `greening the pads`- letting excess resins bake out- they rise as they do and burn off- thats part of the smell you will get

Now do 5 slow downs with increasing effort, last should be just short of ABS (never go ABS active with new brakes, really bad for them)
higher speed makes more heat- 70 to 20 mph works really well

Do this a few sets until you smell brake smoke- no kidding- see smoke is good
Now hit the freeway and cruise 15 minutes to allow full cooling of the rotors and pads.
Do not stop fully with hot brakes or while bedding, that will cause hot spots and more work to fix those- as long as the car is moving its ok-

plan your route and use a safe no traffic road for the procedure

see www.heeltoeauto.com tech section- the pad bedding was written specific to RB pads and rotors
They are tough parts for sure!
just replaced my ET300s in front with ~25kmiles on them
1 piece rotors are perfect with no ridges or warping- just cleaned the old pad material off with 60 grit and go bed in a new set of pads

ET300 are good for normal humans, wife drives it and doesnt like noises, and you still can have backroads fun with great brakes
ET500 has more aggressive initial bite and quick stopping
Both work from ambient temp to more heat than your brakes should get

ET700 I am guessing (have to call tech support) is more for track day use, as the other pads dont hold up well for that, and are advised against it by RB
ET 900 is for full on race cars-- to give you a comparison

the original name marketing of 300 and 500 was about percentage of track use and street use- ET300= 30 percent track/70 street
me think marketing and technology were not at the same meeting and users found out the pads work great on track but wear out fast

 

I'm pretty good at following instructions. I did exactly what I was supposed to do. I still think the Brembo pads are the best on the market.

 

They are the best match for the TL, IMO. The only problem is they dust a lot, and aren't what I'd call durable. $150 for pads that most likely will only last 25k miles ain't cheap.

But they do work very well.

 

That is what I'm realizing. I don't mind the dust so much, but it really is hard to get a lot of miles out of the pads. Especially now that I'm not spending so much time on the highway and more around town (and SF kills the pads). Oh well.

 

1. Why did RB recommend againts using grease?

2. You can actually measure a 2% performance difference? Impressive!

I am using RB300s with original rotors, grease, no shims. Haven't had a peep from the pads since changeout (changed at 63K, currently at 86K). I can hardly tell that the pads have worn. My only problem is that my rotors will need to be replaced long before this set of pads is half worn....

I can't really tell a difference between RB300s and the OEM Brembo pads. I will say that the ET300s definitely do not outperform the Brembo pads.

Not sure if the 500s need to heat up that much more before optimum performance kicks in or what. The Brembo performance can't be beat, no doubt about that. I just got tired of the dust and wanted to try something else.

 

Good review. Just to get it straight, these are 2 piece stock sized 12.2" rotors, right?

It sounds like a great upgrade. Do you mind me asking how much they cost?

I'm sure you're not really interested but if you could shoot rotor temps with an IR heat gun, it would be really neat to compare our rotor temps. I've been shooting mine front and rear nearly every time I get out of the car for a good idea of what normal braking temps are and also what 4 back to back 120-0 temps are. I also shoot the GF's Murano which runs 100F hotter on average during normal braking.

It would be really cool to get an idea of how a smaller 2pc brake compares to my larger 1pc rotor. It would also be neat to see how they're proportioned by comparing front and rear temps. You say you have to do a little braking before getting a good bite. It would be interesting to see what your average temps are like. Mine are very cool, running about 140F front and rear on a 65 degree day. Stock 5at brakes ran over 100F hotter in the front.

 

No idea what size the OEM rotors are for the brembos but the 2 piece ones are a direct replacement.

 

I'm guessing they recommended against the shims.


According to the RB web site, ET 300 and 500 both operate optimally from ambient temperatures.



The disks (set of 2, L & R) are about $625. http://www.heeltoeauto.com/Heeltoe-B...-pr-40007.html

 

dang thats expensive.. how long do the rotors last?

 

About "regular" I'd guess.

For replaclment you don't buy the whole thing again though, just the rotor ring; ~$400 for a set of those.

Quite a bit lighter than normal and supposed to dissapate heat better.

 

I'll try to measure the thickness of my rotors tomorrow. I've had them on since July of 2007. I've gone through two sets of pads.

 

yah.. but still expensive.. how much are oem brembo rotors?

 

OEM rotors are about 130 each.

RBs also look better

 

yah.. sounds like they last longer as well.. any pics?

 

I love my RB rotors/ET500 on my Brembo's. But the whole deal is so expensive, it worth it, to look at a big brake kit with lager rotors.

 

There are also 1-Peice rotor options - both Racing Brake and StopTech - that are more affordable and work well with the RB ET series pads. These are also direct drop-in replacement rotors for either the base brakes or the Brembo calipers.

 

any pics of these rotors?

 

Or check out the link I posted earlier to Mr HeelToe.

 

25kmiles on my et300s, with harder than normal human use on them early in their life, plus wife drives (she is wild hard on brakes)

Pads are done
RB 1 piece rotors still perfect- thickness 25mm, min 22, no damage from noise tab, no runout, scoring, or other bad news, cleaned them with sandpaper and throw in new pads- good to go

You can expect- based on mrheeltoes experience- that 2-3 sets of rb pads before you need to replace the outer ring or replace 1 piece rotors..that offsets cheaper parts in the long run
for 2 piece- you unbolt the center and install a new rotor surface- saves big dollars there

the rotors are the same diameter 1 and 2 piece, its the construction that cuts the weight

 

I don't see how having the two-piece rotors are cheaper in the long run, but I like them so I'll keep them with the OEM pads and be set.

 

They're not. I think what T meant was the rotor disk replacement is cheaper than having to buy a whole new two peice kit each time. You save about $200 each disk change so over a few changes, the cost of the 2-peice becomes more palatable.

And there is the expectation of better performance, so if that matters, you pay more, but you (should) get more.

 

Ahh. Ok.

 

But i dont believe the 1-piece is available for the Brembos...at least it wasnt.

 

I think you're right. I must have mis-read something or looked up the wrong part at the RB site.

 

what I meant- after 3-4 sets of RB pads on the 2 piece rotor- you only have to buy the rotor ring- at far less than what the entire unit cost you
more in line with a regular rotor lets say

the center hat is fine and you bolt the new ring onto it
Have a good torque wrench for this job

In total- you have rotors that far outlast other brands- which average 2 sets of pads then need replacement, you get more rotor life with RB and more pad life per set- thats cost saving in the long run if you plan to put 100kmiles on your TL
My pads life was shortened due to multilple-multiple extreme aggressive (sparks!!) bedding trying to find a problem in early rotor production for rb- ended up getting a warranty set of rotors and they fixed the prob--

 

RB had to make their own pad series after nothing on the commercial market would last very long--eats HPS pads for example

The extra hard rotor mettalurgy works best with its design matched pads.
the ET is supposed to mean Easy to Chose, Tough to Abuse

 

Those RB rotors must really eat pads. I've got 25K on my ET300s and you can hardly tell they've worn...At this rate, they'll last me at least 75K miles....

 

In my experience, not with the ET pads yet, but with the stock brembo pads, wear with the Brembo rotors and the RB rotors was essentially the same.

 

The rear lines fit but the bracket was in the wrong place. It was glued so the line doesn't slide thru the bracket hole. I had to break the glue to slide the bracket where it needed to be. Other than that, no problems.

 

Not sure why they recommended against the grease. They did say not to use shims if possible because you want the caliper piston directly on the pad. As far as the 2% goes, I meant to convey that I noticed a slight difference after installing grease and shims. Very slight.

 

Yes, they are the 2 piece stock sized rotors. The whole setup cost just over $1000.
I don't have an IR heat gun but funny you should ask. I saw one at a performance shop yesterday buy didn't buy it though.

 

harbor freight tools has cheap heat gauges with a laser pointer to spot aim in several locations
Caution- getting the brakes really hot then stopping is not good for the rotors at all
and is a major factor in warping
I understand for testing purposes,,
but normally when you go play- give them a lap or few minutes without use to cool down somewhat.. with whatever special trick airflow your particular choice of rotors has

I think the et300s would last a normal person longer, mine were put thru extreme use that most would never see in their early days- 40kmiles would be a reasonable estimate or more for freeway cruisers- front pads
The rear 300s have very little wear with same miles

I went thru the 2 front general exclaim uhp tires in that same time- the rears look barely used (I dont rotate tires, cheaper this way)

 

I bought my heat gun for around $20 at the autoparts store. I figured it would get me started and then I would upgrade when I got the money. However, I brought one of the $450 ones home that we use at work and when I compared, the laser is much stronger on the cheap one, the range is the same (900F) and they're within a degree of one another.

I agree on shutting it off hot. When I did the back to back 120mph stops I got out quickly with the engine running, shot the temps, and drove around normally for a while. I would have to look it up but I believe I hit over 800F on the stock fronts.

 

to clarify for others-

the heat gun we refer to is an `IR = infra red temp guage`- with instant digital readout of temp
some have a laser dot pointer to aim with, others just point in general area- looks like a small cordless drill

Racers use them to check tire temps across the width to see if tire pressures are correct- even temp reading across
and other things like rotor temps to know if you are overheating the pads limit or exhaust header or intake manifold temps

great tool for diagnosing a range of car problems-
Works around the house for ac vent temps, oven calibration etc