Racing Brake R32 rotor review

[bostonaudi]

Not much to say other than they work, and work well. Just came off two track events, one at Road Atlanta two weeks ago, and Roebling last week. Car has tremendous stopping power, and no signs of fade. Can take it way deep into Roebling at turn 1, stomp it and still make it around without rolling 10 times or hitting dirt embankment and launching into woods - this is a good thing. Coming down hill at RA from 130 into 10a another place where good hard stop wants to happen, no issues, and no squiggling or odd behavior. With hard braking there is more vibration with these slotted rotors. No signs of warping yet. At the cost these rotors had better last a couple of track seasons with no warping!

With the weight reduction, R32 brakes work great on the GTI, I have fronts and rears. Note that 17" wheels are a tight fit, I had to clear a minor amount of material off the lower part of the caliper to clear the wheel weights. Nothing serious, just a very mild trim with the dremel.

I weighed them on scale, as advertised they do knock >7 lb off stock R32 rotor. Car feels more like it did with the original GTI rotors, but with FAR better braking. With my lighter weight Enkei's the car feels great. A GTI with stock R32 rotors and 18" Huffs feels quite heavy indeed, not a good combo.

Its actually a snug fit with the stock Huffs:

a Real rotor:

From a real sports car. He loves my GTI, I keep asking if he wants to trade, hasn't happened yet!

 

[telaio]

Hey cool, I have those same rotors waiting for install. So you really feel that 7lbs in handling/acceleration?

 

[bostonaudi]

Hey cool, I have those same rotors waiting for install. So you really feel that 7lbs in handling/acceleration?

yes

 

[dsm1983]

i am thinking of combining the GTI-sized rotors with the Porsche 4 piston calipers. i think that would be economical, but also very performance oriented, yes?

 

[GodSquadMandrake]

Thanks for the test BostonAudi. I'm glad to hear they are working as advertised. But the real test is in durability so I am very interested in seeing how long you can make these last.

 

[bostonaudi]

Thanks for the test BostonAudi. I'm glad to hear they are working as advertised. But the real test is in durability so I am very interested in seeing how long you can make these last.

I should hope at least 2 years, given replacement ring cost. The real test would be Carolina Motorsport Park, with its 5 hard brake zones per lap.

 

[bostonaudi]

i am thinking of combining the GTI-sized rotors with the Porsche 4 piston calipers. i think that would be economical, but also very performance oriented, yes?

Should work nicely.

 

[Meat]

I'm glad to hear that one of the main drawbacks of the R32 brakes might be negated, at least partially, by these rotors.

oh, and where have I seen that number/font combo before.....hmmmmm....

 

[Gotsol]

I should hope at least 2 years, given replacement ring cost. The real test would be Carolina Motorsport Park, with its 5 hard brake zones per lap.

As you know I plan to hit that track myself perhaps in September. I'll let you know.

I just mounted up Enkie PF01's. Is that the same setup you have?

good to hear about the performance. Are you getting a set of rear rotors?i think I'm not going to get them.

what pads do you run?I've got Carbotec xp12's up front and xp10's in the rear

 

[uscrew96]

Not much to say other than they work, and work well. Just came off two track events, one at Road Atlanta two weeks ago, and Roebling last week. Car has tremendous stopping power, and no signs of fade. Can take it way deep into Roebling at turn 1, stomp it and still make it around without rolling 10 times or hitting dirt embankment and launching into woods - this is a good thing. Coming down hill at RA from 130 into 10a another place where good hard stop wants to happen, no issues, and no squiggling or odd behavior. With hard braking there is more vibration with these slotted rotors. No signs of warping yet. At the cost these rotors had better last a couple of track seasons with no warping!

With the weight reduction, R32 brakes work great on the GTI, I have fronts and rears. Note that 17" wheels are a tight fit, I had to clear a minor amount of material off the lower part of the caliper to clear the wheel weights. Nothing serious, just a very mild trim with the dremel.

I weighed them on scale, as advertised they do knock >7 lb off stock R32 rotor. Car feels more like it did with the original GTI rotors, but with FAR better braking. With my lighter weight Enkei's the car feels great. A GTI with stock R32 rotors and 18" Huffs feels quite heavy indeed, not a good combo.

Its actually a snug fit with the stock Huffs:

a Real rotor:

From a real sports car. He loves my GTI, I keep asking if he wants to trade, hasn't happened yet!

Now bring them rotors to Road America, and or Blackhawk farms. let see how they look then. In my road racing experience Road Atlanta was not that hard on brakes. We would used a set a weekend at Road America and Blackhawk. At Road Atlanta we run two 45min session and a 20 lap race. Then we ran 1hr session and a three hour race on the same brake pads. Those same pads start our season here. We run Hawk Blue's on a CRX.

 

[bostonaudi]

Now bring them rotors to Road America, and or Blackhawk farms. let see how they look then. In my road racing experience Road Atlanta was not that hard on brakes. We would used a set a weekend at Road America and Blackhawk. At Road Atlanta we run two 45min session and a 20 lap race. Then we ran 1hr session and a three hour race on the same brake pads. Those same pads start our season here. We run Hawk Blue's on a CRX.

Road Atlanta isn't that hard on brakes, just a couple stabs, mostly on the hill down to 10a. CMP will be a good test.

I'm running Hawk HP+ pads front, OEM (Pagid) R32 pads rear. Could go more aggressive but these pads are already more than enough on R32 brakes on a GTI.

It is nice having these big brakes with the weight penalty mostly gone. The car seems to have more stability under hard braking too, with the stock GTI brakes I'd get some "wiggling" under high speed hard braking. Doesn't seem to happen with the R32 setup.

I'm not going to go with RB rotors on the rear, doesn't seem worth it.

 

[Autobahn]

Glad you seem to be happy with them, didn't think many people really cared on this site.

I ran mine last weekend @Buttonwillow for Fastivus and I noticed some vibration too, I seem to have that every time I use a new set of front rotors/race pads. I have a hard time trying to get them up to race temps on the street to fully bed them. This time I ran HP+ up front instead of the EBC Yellows and I put new OEM rotors in the rear with HPS.

I noticed that the car takes less brake input now, I had to adjust my driving after the first couple laps to accommodate. I think it's due to the less rotational mass.

Gonna give them one more HPDE before I give a full review.

 

[telaio]

I noticed that the car takes less brake input now, I had to adjust my driving after the first couple laps to accommodate. I think it's due to the less rotational mass.

Hmm, the rotational kinetic energy in the disk is still very small compared with the kinetic energy of the car itself. Maybe it's the pads? BTW how did you like the yellowstuffs?

 

[GodSquadMandrake]

Hmm, the rotational kinetic energy in the disk is still very small compared with the kinetic energy of the car itself. Maybe it's the pads? BTW how did you like the yellowstuffs?

Rotating mass is 10x more important than sprung weight (body). 10 lbs rotating mass is equal to 100 lbs sprung weight. It's not just the pads. There is a performance difference with lighter rotors. It is very easy to feel during driving conditions.

 

[bostonaudi]

I'm glad to hear that one of the main drawbacks of the R32 brakes might be negated, at least partially, by these rotors.

oh, and where have I seen that number/font combo before.....hmmmmm....

No worries, I went with blue outline color to be different!