Rotor upgrades

[cklinh]

anwagbo3000,

Did the color on your rotors match?

I got the premium front and rears, and they look like this:



Was yours the same?

[cklinh]

The response from R1 Concepts:

"The difference in the color are only the protection coating. The darker one you see is the phospate coating. The lighter one has a oil base coating. These coating are there for anti corrosion during transport. Once you intall the rotors and go through the normal break in process the pads with rub off the dark phospate coating and you will have the silver finish just like the other pair. If you have any additional questions pleas"

Works for me... gonna try to install these this weekend.

[Sebas007]

If you don't change your brake lines it should be a walk in the park. Remove 2 main bolts attaching the calipers to the car. After that for rears I was able to change pads without dissembling the rest...for front I unscrew the 2 other bolts to have access to the pads. Besure you put them on the good side...

The dirty part is when you change your brake lines...at least, it was dirty for me !

[Gadgetjq]

CK,

After you've used the disks awhile the protective coating will wear off. Result, they'll both look exactly the same, especially after you wash the car. If you don't drive around the block a couple of times before the water dries on the disks they'll rust up just like your OEM's. It isn't a problem, the rust will be brushed off the first time you use the brakes.

Cheers

[anwagbo3000]

Yeah, I got the premiums, but they didn't have the black coating around the ring, like urs

But yeah, thanks to the directions from this thread it was a breeze, after the first rotor, it was pretty much muscle memory

Sebas, you think you got dirty, after I was done my hands were black as hell, next time I will use gloves, brake dust everywhere, my hands, my close, my face

My uncle, who is also my mechanic just stood there and shook his head, laugh out loud, he was like, in the 30 minutes it took me to do one wheel he would have finished all four wheels

What can you, I'm still a noob, haha

[cklinh]

Thanks for all the input guys. Looking forward to this little project over the weekend. I'm gonna take the chance to touch up my calipers as well.

I decided not to go with the SS line for the time being; maybe when I get new rims with more see through space

[anwagbo3000]

Ok, no prob man, oh and from my experience, brake with a little more caution in the beginning, let the brake pads and rotors set in a little bit

But, yes, you will definetely love them

[cklinh]

So yeah, dumb question, but which way are the slots supposed to point?

Just to make it easy (since they're pointed the same way), in my picture, do both of those go on the driver's side or the passenger's side?



I seem to be reading conflicting information about this...

[anwagbo3000]

i am pretty sure that they are suppossed to go on in the direction of the pattern

[Sebas007]

I would say it is passenger side. To let the hot going to the toward outside instead toward inside the hub. It is the way I see it, I think I'm right but I can be wrong. Good question...what is your first thought ?

[Gadgetjq]

So yeah, dumb question, but which way are the slots supposed to point?...

Hey CK,

Do you have any idea the proverbial 'can o worms' you've just opened? Do you know how many Solara owners have stepped from a nice warm house into a chilly garage, flashlight in hand to see which direction they installed their aftermarket rotors?

More to the point, do you know how many of us are going to experience a "DOH!" moment because, frankly, we never even considered what direction the rotors should turn when we did the installation?

So, which direction are they supposed to turn? Darn if I know but I do know my fronts are facing one way, rears the other... DOH! Looks like I'll be rotating one end or the other this weekend.

BTW the 'gallery' pictures on the R1 website don't show a concensus, the slots flow one way in some pictures but the opposite direction in others.

Edit to add: After checking several websites and forums (that have had the same question) the answer is, it depends on the vents. The vent vanes face the direction of travel to 'scoop' air into the center of the disk. Depending on the manufacturer the slots and holes may sweep forward or back. Some aftermarket rotors don't have angled vanes, only a sort of spacer and some are just a solid disk, no cooling in the middle at all. In the two latter cases there doesn't seem to be any 'correct' direction of rotation.
Cheers

[anwagbo3000]

I personally think that it doesn't matter what direction the rotors point because the rotors where made the way they were to transfer more of the heat from the rotors and brakes out, so I think regardless of the direction of the pattern is on the rotor, it still transfers the heat

And gadgetjq, rotors are just like yours, they are going in opposite directions, dohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, well, I guess we gotta research don't we

[cklinh]

Thanks gadget, found similar answers to what you found...

Stoptech has some diagrams IF YOU HAVE DIRECTIONAL VANES...

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/faqs.shtml#16

I believe the R1's are not directional (don't have them on hand to check) so it really shouldn't matter. I like the idea of having the slots enter the brake pad/caliper from the inside first, thereby channeling brake dust outwards. Passenger side it is (unless they're directional, that is...)

[Sebas007]

Thanks for the link CK

[Gadgetjq]

When in doubt, call on the experts. I phoned R1 Concepts this morning to get the real skinny on the 'directional' topic.

The short answer is, there is no right and no wrong direction since the R1 vents are 'not' directional.

That said, the tech says he 'has' found orienting the disks so the 'bottom' hole (closest to the hub) contacts the pad first makes the pads last a bit longer. There is no measurable difference in braking power.

Cheers