Well... I was never impressed with the stock
brakes in the Mistress. Especially at the end of the 1320 and you are doing
107MPH! The brakes just never inspired a lot of confidence. I found
myself always using the entire shutdown area to get the car slowed down.
Now we've been working on the Mistress's suspension and handling which
greatly improved her handling in the corners. But I really wasn't all
that thrilled with pushing the car in the corners without stock
brakes. I needed some thing with a bit more grab!
Now, of course I could spend $$$ and do a big brake upgrade, with new
calipers, rotors, etc. This of course is very expensive... Well I
wasn't quite ready to put out that kind of cash quite yet... so I thought I
would try a less expensive option. Enter Rich at Rotor Pros!!!
(www.rotorpros.com)
After numerous e-mails asking Rich all kinds of question, I finally settled
on a set of slotted rotors and a set of semi-metallic brake pads. I
opted to have the rotors zinc plated in black! The cost of the whole
package simply amazing! Great pricing to go along with Rich's great
customer service!
Nasty looking stock rotor
Nice new slotted rotor
New rotor and pads installed
Now a word about the black zinc plating...
Why would you want to do it? Take a look at the stock rotor. The hat
(center area) is rusty and corroded. I think it really detracts from a
nice set of wheels... and since the Mistress is a daily driver, it pretty
much impossible to keep the rust from happening. The zinc plating
should prevent that from happening. (Time will tell) I also went with
the black as it goes with the rest of the yellow and black color scheme.
Eventually the calipers will be done in Yellow!!!
Now the plating does wear off the rotor surface. Now you do need to be
careful when you first install these rotors. They are a bit slippery!
You need to "bed" the pads... I found some good articles on the proper
procedure for "breaking in" new pads and rotors. So here is the rotor
after the zinc plating is worn off...
As you can see in these pictures the hat is
still black.. and looks GREAT!!! Now to turn those calipers yellow and
get some nicer wheels!!!
So, they look good... But how do they work? WOW,
these brakes GRAB!!! I've haven't done any scientific testing but I
did do some PANIC stops! The feel is vastly improved over stock.
I have a lot more confidence in the Mistress's brakes now! This is how
the car should have felt from the factory! The rotor/pad upgrade
was money well spent! Now to get the snow tires off and really give
them a working in the corners! Come on Spring!
