EBC grooved brake discs - Exige S2
Discussion
As part of my gentle improvement process on my Exige, I had the OEM brake pads swapped for EBC Yellows, which I reckoned to be a good pad having had great performance (on track with heavier car) with their Red pad. Half the price of Pagids seemed a good call, as well as not being able to get a straight answer as to whether the Pagids were road legal (though a good point by, I think, S Works, about how any loss adjuster could tell - chemical analysis of the pads? made a lot of sense).
Whilst having them fitted along with the new 2bular pipe, the lads at Lipscomb said that the inside faces of the rear discs were badly corroded. I wasn't especially surprised, since I remember the bills when I used to own 993 porkers, which also required a new set of discs all round *every year* due to corrosion of the inside faces. I don't have a garage and like to drive all year round. Sticking brakes and rapid salt-induced corrosion is a way of life for brakes on my cars, sadly
So the brake discs will need replacing at some point. The OEM discs on the Exige are drilled, and I have an irrational psychological fear about drilled discs that compromises my track speed (won't brake as late as I ought to), due to an incident involving a drilled disc and a conman of a 'expert tuner':
I've also been told by a few Lotus track gods that the drilled Lotus discs aren't great, since with the full-on pads needed to get the best performance, the holes fill with brake dust and you have to drill them out to clean them every track day. Ideally, it sounds like grooved discs would be absolutely ideal for me - no psychological worry at the back of my mind regarding a disc snapping in two at the end of Lavant Straight at Goodwood and a near 100+ mph into the wall death experience - and yet a self-cleaning and pad gas-off protection built in.
I don't have any particular manufacturer 'favourite' but I've seen that EBC sell brake discs that are not only grooved (not drilled) but also painted everywhere with high-temp paint. The first application of the brakes clears the paint off the swept surfaces, but the rest of the disc (which corrodes to buggery in winter conditions, as my brakes attest to) should be protected by the paint. Obviously there'll be surface corrosion on the bare iron, but this should be cleared off by the pads with regular Italian Tune-Ups, no?
I'm considering getting a full set on my Exige. EBC are also reasonably priced, which makes this 'modification' an easy one to justify - whereas full-on alloy-belled big-caliper Brembo or AP 4-pot upgrades would cost too much for comfort, since there are a bunch of other expensive things I need to do to the car (most expensive being chairs with harness holes!).
Has anyone here used the EBC discs - and if so, has anyone got an entire year's experience including a winter outside? Does the 'improved corrosion resistance' actually exist, or is it just marketing bluff and in reality the inside face of the disc will still corrode to the point of knackering my brakes? Has anyone noticed any down-sides to the grooves versus the drilled holes? I'm assuming that the discs will work perfectly with pads from the same manufacturer so no problems there. Also, theoretically, having some of the disc surface area painted black would aid heat dissipation, due to increased radiative losses from black surfaces... though whether the effect is material or not depends on the equations, which I haven't worked through
I'd like to hear if anyone's tried them. I may go with them anyway - I need to get the car booked in before the end of the year for a service and getting the exhaust or rear anti-roll bar sorted out (creaking at low speed), and getting the brakes fitted at the same time would only cost a hundred or so in labour. Anyone got a reason I should steer a wide berth from these discs?
Whilst having them fitted along with the new 2bular pipe, the lads at Lipscomb said that the inside faces of the rear discs were badly corroded. I wasn't especially surprised, since I remember the bills when I used to own 993 porkers, which also required a new set of discs all round *every year* due to corrosion of the inside faces. I don't have a garage and like to drive all year round. Sticking brakes and rapid salt-induced corrosion is a way of life for brakes on my cars, sadly
So the brake discs will need replacing at some point. The OEM discs on the Exige are drilled, and I have an irrational psychological fear about drilled discs that compromises my track speed (won't brake as late as I ought to), due to an incident involving a drilled disc and a conman of a 'expert tuner':
I've also been told by a few Lotus track gods that the drilled Lotus discs aren't great, since with the full-on pads needed to get the best performance, the holes fill with brake dust and you have to drill them out to clean them every track day. Ideally, it sounds like grooved discs would be absolutely ideal for me - no psychological worry at the back of my mind regarding a disc snapping in two at the end of Lavant Straight at Goodwood and a near 100+ mph into the wall death experience - and yet a self-cleaning and pad gas-off protection built in.
I don't have any particular manufacturer 'favourite' but I've seen that EBC sell brake discs that are not only grooved (not drilled) but also painted everywhere with high-temp paint. The first application of the brakes clears the paint off the swept surfaces, but the rest of the disc (which corrodes to buggery in winter conditions, as my brakes attest to) should be protected by the paint. Obviously there'll be surface corrosion on the bare iron, but this should be cleared off by the pads with regular Italian Tune-Ups, no?
I'm considering getting a full set on my Exige. EBC are also reasonably priced, which makes this 'modification' an easy one to justify - whereas full-on alloy-belled big-caliper Brembo or AP 4-pot upgrades would cost too much for comfort, since there are a bunch of other expensive things I need to do to the car (most expensive being chairs with harness holes!).
Has anyone here used the EBC discs - and if so, has anyone got an entire year's experience including a winter outside? Does the 'improved corrosion resistance' actually exist, or is it just marketing bluff and in reality the inside face of the disc will still corrode to the point of knackering my brakes? Has anyone noticed any down-sides to the grooves versus the drilled holes? I'm assuming that the discs will work perfectly with pads from the same manufacturer so no problems there. Also, theoretically, having some of the disc surface area painted black would aid heat dissipation, due to increased radiative losses from black surfaces... though whether the effect is material or not depends on the equations, which I haven't worked through
I'd like to hear if anyone's tried them. I may go with them anyway - I need to get the car booked in before the end of the year for a service and getting the exhaust or rear anti-roll bar sorted out (creaking at low speed), and getting the brakes fitted at the same time would only cost a hundred or so in labour. Anyone got a reason I should steer a wide berth from these discs?
I've had no problems at all with yellows + EBC grooved discs.
Whilst my car doesn't live outside, the paint has stayed intact everywhere on the disc except the swept areas and as a consequence, still look like new.
Go for it.
It's so easy to change them though....any reason you wouldn't save the £100 and DIY?
Whilst my car doesn't live outside, the paint has stayed intact everywhere on the disc except the swept areas and as a consequence, still look like new.
Go for it.
It's so easy to change them though....any reason you wouldn't save the £100 and DIY?
No experience of your suggested set up but I am running the aluminium bellied discs with pagids and braded hoses. Seems to sort out a lot of the poor brake feel in early 111R's.
Have a look at the alu bellied - much lighter and when you need to replace the discs, you just replace discs not the whole assy.
Have a look at the alu bellied - much lighter and when you need to replace the discs, you just replace discs not the whole assy.
noodleman said:
I've had no problems at all with yellows + EBC grooved discs.
Whilst my car doesn't live outside, the paint has stayed intact everywhere on the disc except the swept areas and as a consequence, still look like new.
Go for it.
It's so easy to change them though....any reason you wouldn't save the £100 and DIY?
Ta - I think I'll go for them. The ally bell two-piece discs are more expensive, and I don't know how long the actual bell and fixings for the disc would last in winter weather - aluminium corrodes as well (as early Elise owners are finding out to their cost!) and regardless of the reality, I'd probably worry that the disc could snap off the bell. Irrational, but that snapped disc has led to irrational fear. And I want to go faster on track, and braking is the area that needs improvement. I'm quick through and out of corners but I brake too early.Whilst my car doesn't live outside, the paint has stayed intact everywhere on the disc except the swept areas and as a consequence, still look like new.
Go for it.
It's so easy to change them though....any reason you wouldn't save the £100 and DIY?
As to DIY - I don't have a garage, and neither my street nor the car park where it lives are flat enough to jack the car up and work safely on it. It's also a bit chicken and egg - since I don't have anywhere to work on the car, the tools I own are focused on work I can do with the car on its wheels largely intact i.e. small stuff. I therefore don't have axle stands or a BIG socket set or a torque wrench hefty enough to deal with taking hub nuts / caliper bolts off. And there's the brake fear thing again... I'd rather get trained experts to replace brakes on my cars. I swapped the steering wheel myself for a snap-off job though, which is similarly safety-critical, but wouldn't even think about the possibility that I'd botched the job and the steering wheel would come off in my hands mid-corner
Odd thing, psychology. And even odder when it's the psychology of a weirdo Gassing Station | Elise/Exige/Europa/340R | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff