Grooved disks or standard?

[glynlucas]

Can someone please advise me on the advantages of replacing my disks with the grooved variety.

Considering they are double the price, will I see any real improvement?

[Incorrigible]

glynlucas said:

Can someone please advise me on the advantages of replacing my disks with the grooved variety. Considering they are double the price, will I see any real improvement?

Unless you drive extremely hard on the road I would say not. They do delay the onset of fade on track though. I haven't treid then back to back on the Tiv but I'm sure someone here who campaingns will be able to give you a good answer

[k4trv]

glynlucas said:

Can someone please advise me on the advantages of replacing my disks with the grooved variety. Considering they are double the price, will I see any real improvement?

Not so long ago, Jan 04, the link attached discussed upgrades - Concensus was Griff 500 discs - Joospeed "swore" by them.

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=74811&f=8&h=0&hw=ford+discs

Trev McM

[TomPob]

I used to have a Griff 4 lite with the original discs...woudn't of stopped a snail at full tilt let alone the car... So the Chim I know have has bigger vented discs on the front, braided hoses and some decent pads (AP Racing) it stops much better than before.

[djd]

The grooves help remove gases built up under hard braking. Water and other debris is also removed from the disk face giving improved braking in most conditions. The grooves will also constantly clean up your pads which will help prevent them from glazing and possibly prolonging the life of the disks.

[Incorrigible]

TomPob said:

I used to have a Griff 4 lite with the original discs...woudn't of stopped a snail at full tilt let alone the car... So the Chim I know have has bigger vented discs on the front, braided hoses and some decent pads (AP Racing) it stops much better than before.

May be I'm just lucky mine are standard and pretty good

>> DJD, can you really notice the difference on the road ??

>> Edited by Incorrigible on Friday 6th February 13:31

[CraigAlsop]

Double the price!!??? Not sure what brakes you have as standard, but I had EBC turbogrooves + greenstuff pads fitted to my Chimaera for £200 inc VAT
My existing brakes were pretty good (although the pads tended to crack ), but I found the replacements to be a bit better (n.b. not everyone seems to like the EBC disks - Steve Heath for one IIRC)

[greenv8s]

The original brakes are fine as long as they are in good condition and bedded in properly. How many people bother to bed the brakes in though, or even know what it means? And if the fluid is hydrated or has been overheated then all bets are off.

The only reason I can see for going to grooved discs is to postpone overheating on the track. If you don't have an overheating problem, you are better off with the standard discs. (Grooved discs give slightly less contact area, and wear the pads quicker, and cost more.)

[CraigAlsop]

greenv8s said:

(Grooved discs give slightly less contact area, and wear the pads quicker, and cost more.)

I liked the fact that the grooved EBC disks were cheaper than the standard parts.

[greenv8s]

Um ... the standard 240mm vented discs are £15 a corner, I haven't seen any grooved discs for anything near that price. Not saying that's the price you'll see on your bill, but that's what they cost from motorfactors.

[glynlucas]

Thanks for all the advice. The prices I have from NeedforSpeed website are as follows:

EBC disks
Standard:
Front (vented) £30.21
Rear (plain) £25.28

Grooved:
Front £79.20
Rear £79.20

These are a couple of £'s cheaper than on the TVR Gear site.

...thoughts?

[CraigAlsop]

greenv8s said:

Um ... the standard 240mm vented discs are £15 a corner

**** me that's cheap! At that price they're disposable....
That's a lot cheaper than all the quoted prices I've seen.

[chimhunter]

I got the T-V-R Services brake upgrade. They are fantastic. Had them on a trackday at Bedford and they simply refused to fade. The brake balance has moevd towards the front which is generally safer, i.e. locking the fronts means you carry on in a straight line. Locking the rears mean you carry on while pirrouetting (sp?) like a spinning top.

[sparkythecat]

I tried grooved discs on a BMW I used to own. I found that they were much noisier than standard ones. There was nearly always some slight background scraping noises as though detritus was getting trapped in the groves and rubbing on the pads. Damned irritating!

[Steve_T]

chimhunter said:

I got the T-V-R Services brake upgrade. They are fantastic. Had them on a trackday at Bedford and they simply refused to fade. The brake balance has moevd towards the front which is generally safer, i.e. locking the fronts means you carry on in a straight line. Locking the rears mean you carry on while pirrouetting (sp?) like a spinning top.

I'll have to have a look some time - these are 285mm discs and wilwood four pots right?

Steve.

[deeen]

i think chimeras have had different sized discs over the years, so it depends what you're on to start with.

as a layman i would say the larger standard discs are fine for road use.

[GreenV8S]

Steve_T said:

chimhunter said: I got the T-V-R Services brake upgrade. They are fantastic. Had them on a trackday at Bedford and they simply refused to fade. The brake balance has moevd towards the front which is generally safer, i.e. locking the fronts means you carry on in a straight line. Locking the rears mean you carry on while pirrouetting (sp?) like a spinning top. I'll have to have a look some time - these are 285mm discs and wilwood four pots right? Steve.

I would stick with the original calipers and 285mm discs if I were you. Much smaller change so less things have to be got right for it to work. This gives enough cooling to cope with a 4 liter driven hard on track (or bigger cars driven sensibly), and corrects the tail-happy brake bias of the original setup.

[chimhunter]

I had the 285mm disks with the original calipers spaced to accomodate them. 4-pots were tempting but over-kill for what I need.

Rob

[shpub]

I've been running the 4 pot Wilwoods and bigger discs for about 2 years now. Excellent set up.

[markh]

Yep wilwood 4 pts 300mm discs spot on, big improvement over stock brakes.