TECH ARTICLE: brake rotor engineering

[trinydex]

if you want REAL information on brake rotor engineering

i think it's a shame that there isn't one place where everyone can come see the insides of rotors. so i'm making this place.

the basic idea of intelligent rotor design is to maximize air flow THROUGH the rotor by pumping the air through. this is accomplished by establishing a low pressure zone on the outter ring of the rotor and a high pressure zone on the inside of the rotor. this can also be helped along by increasing air speed through the rotor by use of aerofoils.

there are several caveats. hot air expands, so does a manufacturer make expanding channels that may BUILD pressure but make room for expansion or do they make more narrow channels that accelerate air?

also the rotor is active, it moves which NECESSITATES air flow but you must EXPEDITE this process!

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering01.jpg
http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering02.jpg

this is a picture of a typical pillar vane design rotor, not much to see, if we had a cutaway it would just be a buncha dots. some manufacturers get fancy with diamond pillars, these are just as bad as circular pillars even if said manufacturers will try to sell you otherwise.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering03.jpg
this is a drawing of a potential straight vane design.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering04.jpg
here's a picture of straight vane design.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering05.jpg
http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering06.jpg
http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering07.jpg
project mu's straight pillar vane design

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering08.jpg
http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering09.jpg
this is kangroo paw design by disc brakes australia, it's like a pillar vane but there are half as many channels on the ouside as there are on the inside, this is actually backwards. but could help with the expansion of hot air as to not back up further in the channels.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering10.jpg
this is a typical curved vane rotor

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering11.jpg

http://www.socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/normal_TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineerin g12.5.jpg

this is the most common curved vane design. same amount of channels all the way around. this example is from performance friction.

http://www.socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/normal_TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineerin g12.jpg

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering13.jpg
here is a sample of brembo's curved vane, straight vane and shaped pillar vane (similar to dba's roo paw design).

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering14.jpg
http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering15.jpg
http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering16.jpg
racing brake offers a very simple design. similar to movit's design in overall geometry it is simpler than movit in that they use full vane walls. there are twice as many channels on the outside as there are on the inside.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering17.jpg
movit approaches the engineering of expanding the air differently, they use a fin on each rotor face to break up the flow, this design of course creates twice as many channels on the outside as there are on the inside. however movit adds just a TAD more surface area by using a FIN as opposed to a whole VANE wall.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering18.jpg
this is stoptech's aerorotor. i will refer to this type of vaning as uniform, 1 internal vane stretches all the way to the outside. with stoptech's clever placement scheme they have narrow inner vanes expanded to wider outter vanes. notice the aerofoils on the inside ring.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering19.jpg

this is ap's offering and it is fine indeed. notice that they use a "uniform vane" design but they create the low pressure zone on the outside ring by actually breaking up the vanes and causing cascadeed flow. notice also the aerofoils. notice that there are also movit type fins intbetween the channels, notice that the fins even have aerofoils. now you no longer wonder why they're so expensive.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering20.jpg
here's brake man's hurricane rotor. made of stainless steel and it has all kinds of finning inside. unconventional and totally questionable as a company, not too many people have had experiences with brake man and some that have had bad ones.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering21.jpg
as an ending note we'll put endless's "24 slot" rotor on blast here. the rotor loves minimizing surface area which is crucial for pad contact and pad friction. it's also great at shaving pads down quickly so you can buy more endless pads.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering22.jpg
here's brembo's offering that shares the same sentiment. these are both obviously show rotors. just like cross drilled rotors are often now associated as being "show"
HAT DESIGNS

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/normal_TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineerin g22.5.jpg
baer's eradispeed NON floating rotors.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering23.jpg
notice endless's LACK of hat venting.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering24.jpg
http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering25.jpg
project mu's very normal hat venting

http://www.socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/normal_TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineerin g25.5.jpg
pf's very unique full floating attatchement design.

http://www.socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/normal_TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineerin g25.6.jpg
and their approach to getting air from both sides of the hat, similar to dba and many other types of single side hat mount brakes.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering26.jpg
disc brakes australia's approach to getting flow from both sides of the mounting hat.

http://www.socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/normal_TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineerin g27.jpg
http://www.socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/normal_TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineerin g28.jpg
http://www.socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/normal_TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineerin g29.jpg

girodisc's same approach

http://www.socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering30.jpg
http://www.socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering31.jpg

notice girodisc's fasteners and possible pad clearence issues.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering32.jpg
stoptech's single side mounted hats, with aerofoil stand offs.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering33.jpg
brembo's very conventional single side mounted hats, notice the antirattle hardware, spring clips.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering34.jpg
this is a diagram of how racing brake's antirattle hardware works.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering35.jpg
http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering36.jpg
this is racing brake's hat mounting method, the center mounted hat. notice they use hex bolts instead of allen screws for their antirattle hardware.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering37.jpg
racing brake's very innovative rear two piece rotor design that includes a cast iron ebrake drum.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering38.jpg
brake man's normal hat venting design.

everyone brings up jgtc to try and defend project mu and endless

http://www.dome.co.jp/e/race/car/03nsx.html

the takata dome nsx uses alcon ap bbk

i'm not saying that endless is bad. but it's not the best.

http://socalevo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10991/TECH%20ARTICLE%20brake%20rotor%20engineering39.jpg

this is the winningest skyline using ap again.

this is one of those be all end all threads that leaves out as little as possible cuz i'm not sellin' anything.

[Absinthe]

thank you Davey thats what i a talking about real fucking enginering not this short cut crap from the JDM bigdogs, look at endless and Project Mu- straight vein no hat vent, non-floating. That shit makes me so angry when people pass it off as the way to go.

Noobs who dont know better, look at Davey's thread on Evom first and stay away from JayDeeMM "goodness"

[gofaster87]

thank you Davey thats what i a talking about real fucking enginering not this short cut crap from the JDM bigdogs, look at endless and Project Mu- straight vein no hat vent, non-floating. That shit makes me so angry when people pass it off as the way to go.

Noobs who dont know better, look at Davey's thread on Evom first and stay away from JayDeeMM "goodness"


Okay dave, not everone is racing the 24 hrs of Daytona.

[trinydex]

and even less know what really goes into brakes.

[Absinthe]

thank you Davey thats what i a talking about real fucking enginering not this short cut crap from the JDM bigdogs, look at endless and Project Mu- straight vein no hat vent, non-floating. That shit makes me so angry when people pass it off as the way to go.

Noobs who dont know better, look at Davey's thread on Evom first and stay away from JayDeeMM "goodness"


Okay dave, not everone is racing the 24 hrs of Daytona.


Sam why pay more for endless or Pmu when you can get better for less $$ thats just comon sense