Raybestos Rotors?
 

Anybody have feedback of them? I'm just about due for a new set of rotors and pads. Looking into affordable but solid alternatives.

"Go-to" rotors tend to be Centric on this forum, and I'm currently using a set of Centrics. They seem to run hotter then the OEM rotors. First time on track with the centrics coming in after a cool down lap it was still hot enough to smoke my PMU Hc800+. Whereas the OE rotors, after one cool down lap, even stoptech pads did not seem too bothered by the remaining heat trapped in the brakes. Too bad I did not measure the temps, but I'm almost 100% sure they run hotter. (at least with the way I drive my car)

http://www.raysbestbrakes.com/raybestos_rotors.php

These are not bad lookin
http://www.raysbestbrakes.com/Images/R300_Detailed.JPG

If you dont need stock brakes for classing just get a sprint kit and not have to think about it ever again.

With stock usually i just see guys buy the cheapest blanks they can find and throw them away as needed

Its gonna be hard to keep temps down on stock front brakes and IMO these fancy stock size rotors (not raybestos specifically) are not worth the money unless you like the looks.

Are you sure that Centrics "run hotter then OEM"? And not by chance that with more experience on track you drive faster? (more experience? different tires/speeds? brake more intensively?)
Also slots/grooves almost don't do a thing to "cooling". They are mostly there to offer more leading edge/bite for pads (mentioned "outgassing" is more for ancient pad materials, that let out lot of gases when overheated) .. but also may increase wear and a bit cracking reliability too (though not as bad as also drilled, or even more so slotted and drilled, rotors). And I doubt price will be as low as for centrics.
Braking is converting car kinetic energy into heat via friction. To slow down car from speed X to Y about the same amount of heat is made with whichever brakes/rotors. Of course, there is also bit how effectively and how soon that heat is cooled off .. but i doubt a bit for OEMs and blank centrics to differ much in that regard given same size/shape/area. Maybe, just maybe, rotor metal compound heat conductivity also plays slight role, but i don't think it will make difference more then some 10C. Even more so that if rotors are hotter, then they cool off more heat due higher temperature delta between air & rotor. So again, imho it's more how you brake now vs how you did then with OEMs.

I'd rather think of:
a) adding brake ducts
b) getting Essex AP Sprint kit, as others suggested, if oem brakes heat capacity limits how you drive/brake.

I thought centrics (plain) = oem in terms of performance

@Tcoat should have a good, reliable opinion on this



It doesn't take a lot to over work HC+800. On only my 3rd track day I had killed a set in less the 5k miles and 2 track days. Had 1-2mm of material left lol.


I dropped time my last even with Winmax W5 and did not have as bad smoking coming off track, though it was much cooler ambient temps last time. Running centric blanks for all HPDE.


I would venture that you just got faster and/or the pad couldn't handle it and lead to excessive smoking

Sure.. I'm currently taking donations. paypal will do just fine.

While not 100% indicative of brake usage, on the HC800+ and centrics, I was just about 1 entire second slower than OEM rotors paired with Hawk HP+.

Centrics = smoke after 1 cool down lap
OEM = no smoke even though I was doing faster laps.

Barring temp measurements that prove otherwise, I"m convinced the centrics run hotter.

As far as the raybestos rotors go.. I dont think the slotted option is available for our cars. The "professional" and "advanced" blanks are and if you look online they tend to be cheaper than Centrics as well.

Did you ever run the HC800+ with OE rotors? Identical tires with identical heat cycles and pressures? Weather? Telemetry data? Was the spare out of the trunk? When was the last alignment? Cross weights? How long since the last damper rebuild? Did you have a good breakfast that day? Hydrated? How soon did you back off due to lack of confidence in the brakes? Did the tires get up to temp before you did that?

I'd say it's not indicative at all without a few more details. A rotor is a lump of metal and the OE ones are mass produced to the lowest bidder that meets the specs, in a bin of rotors that fit an 86 more will go on an Impreza or Forrester than get put on an 86, they're not special.

I agree with others, I'd be looking at different pads based on your description, the HC800+ aren't designed for more than casual track days and I'd bet they just don't agree with the braking style you developed on the Hawks and Stoptechs. But hey you can try out other rotors and see if they do you any good first, nobody is stopping you.

Real question: first day on the PMu's? And do you DD them? How's the noise? They're on my shotlist for autox pads but I've heard mixed things about how they DD.

I just want to know if anyone has tried the Raybestos rotors.

I do not have any recorded data besides lap time. Tires used were different but similar (RS-3 v2 vs RSR federal) and on totally different day. I dont have time nor really interesed in doing back-to-back comnparisons to proove something. I'm only going by that I've noticed my brakes overheating more so with the centrics regardless of pad im using compared to OEM.

What I'm hoping to hear is that raybestos are just as good or slightly better than centrics from people that have used them. Makes it easier to buy these over another set of centrics.

But then again many had used centrics blanks with good success aswell, and are getting them instead of OE due good-old cheaper price, that matters a lot for one tracking and going through wearables relatively fast.
I won't tell that you are wrong in any way with your observation, just that several factors changed (tires, driving style, maybe ambient temps, maybe other things, but i'd rather bet on tires), which doesn't automatically point to rotors as being culprit from that list of changed variables. Good luck, if different rotors will help your issue. If so, post your experience with those. I somewhat doubt that to change anything in relation to temps though, just brake feel (more bite).
BTW, for OE replacements i've seen sometimes mentioned also DBA rotors.
I for myself dropped brake temps after i got performance alignment (that changed grip bias more to neutral from understeer biased stock alignment). I simply didn't have to use brakes as much in most turns for mass-transfer/rear-rotation. Also started using pedal dance instead of VSC. Grippier tires brought to me more speed .. and also more heat in brakes. There are many things that may affect brake temps/wear, thus it's simpler if there is one change at a time, to locate problems/deficiencies.

I've got 100k miles DD on HC+ 800


They stop well even when cold, but eat rotors for breakfast and dust like mad. I have had sets that made noise and sets that weren't noisy but the last couple sets I had were pretty quiet until the end of their life. Every once in a while they got noisy I would just rebed and it would stop.

Pretty much my exact experience. Friend of mine went through the same thing on his car.

I'm well aware of that different variables that may contribute to difference to wear or heat generated. My gut feeling tells me the factory stock units are superior based on what I've experienced. I suppose I could just get a set of OEM rotors if i think they're that much better than Centrics, but nah..

Maybe I'll be the first to try the Raybestos rotors and I'll let you guys know what I think. How bad could they possibly be, right? Raybestos is a pretty reputable brand. Unless Mr @Tcoat can chime in.

100K miles??? how many miles do you have on your car?

To be honest, I did some DD and one single track day with these pads and I took them out. After I took them out and saw that they well already 50% done, I started to look for other compounds to try for track. Never put them back in. Pretty damn good for DD any canyons, but no bueno for track. I figured they'd at least do just as well if not better than the HP+ on track, but that was not the case.

While I've not confirmed this, but maybe the number and shape of vanes are different between the OE rotors that came from the factory and the centrics designed for our cars? Wouldn't that contribute difference in heat dissipation and/or retention? Maybe I'll compare OE vs Centric vs Raybestos. Just the number of vanes in the casting.

142k miles on the clock lol

Yeah, for DD and canyons I loved them. Im gonna try the Stoptech Sports for daily in hopes of getting better rotor life, but if it isnt a big improvement in that area I'll prob just go back.