Rossini Drilled and grooved Brake Discs

[RoyD]

Exactly 5 years ago, I changed the slightly warped and pitted (and very squeely) discs on my Peugeot 406 Coupe for Rossini drilled and grooved items, obtained from Carparts-Direct at Derby.

These were described as vastly superior in quality, with an "upgrade in performance, safety and stopping power".

In service, they did initially prove to be superior to the Peugeot originals (not too difficult, I gather!) but, after 40,000 miles, they have just been condemned by an MOT tester, due not to wear, but excessive chipping and flaking, mostly on the inner faces, due to excessive corrosion. This is now seriously compromising their effectiveness.

A conversation with Carparts-Direct produced the explanation that it was because I don't use the car every day - if the car is left standing around it's bad for them, and that it's the down side of choosing grooved and drilled discs - they do work much better but go rusty if not in CONSTANT use!

They also commented that some of their Rossini customers re-order after as little as a year and a half (mileage not stated) and most at between two and three years! So they wear out quickly, too, then?

Funny this isn't mentioned in any of their website blurb on Rossini discs, nor at the time of purchase!

Given I had discs on my Micra for over 11 years (and some 85,000 miles) before renewal, have healthy discs on a Mercedes SLK after 6 years and 50,000 miles, and still the original Girlings on a Gordon-Keeble after 46 years and 130,000 miles, I don't think my driving style or frequency of use is much of a factor.

So, are Rossini discs inferior products in terms of life expectancy?

I'm inclined to think so.

In which case, this fact should be made known to buyers so that they can weigh up alternatives fairly, rather than be allowed to assume that they will last as long as other types of disc.

[tozerman]

Personally I would never go back to Car Parts Direct again, have had a bad experience there, their only forte seems to be "cheap" parts, no focus on customer service or retention, just stepping foot in the place gives you an impression of "slackness", bite the bullett and get some better quality discs from some where else.

Cheers.....Tony..

[tr7v8]

Not sure what the issue is? Discs go rusty in use, especially if not used frequently. I've run Rossini on my 156 Alfa. They weren't significantly better than the originals but much cheaper & looked nicer. Pretty sure they lasted the same miles before replacement. Time of replacement is irrelavent, as to a certain extent is miles. 50K on a motorway s completely different to 50K as a minicab running around town 24 hours a day.
My 944 discs which are OEM get an advisory every MOT about inner face corrosion because it only does 600 miles a year. I've used Car Parts Direct in the past they are OK, not great but no worse than a lot of the mail order places that aren't enthusiasts or one make repair places.

[Justin S]

I got 20k miles and 4 yrs out of a set of front and rear discs on a Honda Accord, due to lack of use and them rotting away, so very possible.

[Old Merc]

I`ve been using Torox grooved discs and pads supplied by Red Dot Racing on every car I`ve had for the last 20 years.My current set are on a Merc`SL320 have done 27K and are five years old,still working perfectly with plenty of life left.