Another DE first timer brake question.

[rogue55]

A little background: Planning my first DE in December at Road Atlanta; I've heard its not bad on brakes. I have a 1994 honda civic. I just replaced my front 2 year old Hawk HPS pads with new ones and replaced my 4 year old rotors with cheap Autozone 1 year replacement rotors. I've read somewhere on here that you should consider rotors a throw away part and to not spend much money on them because one will be going through them during the course of tracking their car over time. The cheap autozone rotors were either not true from the factory or lended themselves to 'warping' easily. (I know that rotors don't really warp, they just build up uneven layers of transfer film.) After breaking in the hawk pads per recommendations and letting the brakes cool over night, the next day I had wicked vibrations when applying the brakes that indicated 'warped' rotors. A couple days later, I put one of the old rotors back on, went through the break in proceedure again, and now the vibration is mostly gone. I can feel a little bit from the other side still. I still want fresh rotors on the front of the car though.

 

Should I get another set of cheap rotors and have them turned before putting them on the car?

 

or get a little bit more expensive rotors, 2 year or limited lifetime?

 

or get a set of even higher dollar brembo replacement rotors and hope i don't f them up in 1 or 2 weekends?

 

or any other suggestions? Unless I have to and I need to just get over it, I don't want to blow through expensive sets of rotors every track weekend. It just might put going to the track into the pipe dream category.

[silverfoxs2k]

I don't know about the Civic but I tracked a 2001 S2000 for about 7 years, mostly at Road Atlanta. I have used a variety of track pads including Hawk and I am still on my stock rotors. I would not go with super expensive rotors but probably get a good set of Honda stock parts.

[Aardwolf]

Unless the rotors are under minimum thickness, the first set should be used till they crack or wear down. Then the second set should be put into service. If you have an uneven transfer layer of pad material you should be able to see it. There will be thick/dark blueish uneven looking patches of color. I've found this to happen at rain events. Using the brakes normally at a dry track event, I've found to normalize the layer. You can sand it off with garnet paper or have the rotors turned but that will reduce the minimum thickness.

[rogue55]

Ok so I changed out my rotors to the old ones, both sides, after cleaning them up a bit. I measured them and they had some life left in them. Specs were: new thickness .83in, min. thickness .75in, left rotor actual .797in, right rotor actual .803in. After bedding in the pads and letting it cool down, I have no more vibrations in the brakes. Been driving on it for a week and its seems good. I can't remember where I got these rotors from 4 years ago, maybe pep boys or carquest. I will not be buying duralast rotors ever again.