I have been down this road too. You may find my thread helpful...

https://my350z.com/forum/autocross-r...ot-rotors.html

Short version = I went with Centric "blanks" from rock auto and have been very happy with them.

 

For $100 you get a one-piece rotor.

For $200 you get a 2-piece rotor with a fancy colored hat. Is there a performance difference? Not that you could sell me on.

 

I successfully used Centric brand OEM style rotors from rockauto.com for HPDE and Time Trials...very good quality, very good value.

BTW: I luv Carbotech pads...XP10 are great!

 

I'm running Power Slot rotors (fronts) DBA Slotted rears. Pads are PFC race. Non-Brembo Enthusiast model.

Happy with the setup so far. I have 4 track days left before end of October.

 

weight?......2pc. rotors are a lot lighter than the 1pc.
reduced unsprung weight + low rotating mass = huge difference....???
someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

the weight difference isn't that bad, and unless you are driving at the true edge of the vehicle it won't make a difference.

 

+1

When I still had my 350z I put in 6 HPDE's (group 3) and 3 autocrosses. They held up quite nicely with a variety of pads - EBC Yellow, Hawk HP+, Project Mu B-force, and finally Carbotech XP8's. Rockauto has awesome prices and fast shipping.

 

There will probably be lots of finger pointing for this, but on my last trip to VIR I ran a set of NAPA premium rotors (blanks) and Carbotech XP10 pads. I did 6 20min sessions over the weekend and both the rotors and pads made it through just fine. I've always run NAPA/Brembo blanks in the past on previous cars.

Every bit of the rotor was blue/purple after each session and they were still straight and crack free post weekend. I also have plenty of life in the pads. For $100 total (Front) I was expecting them to be throw aways after the weekend. I just couldn't stomach $150ea rotors that guys were only getting a handful of events out of. Not to mention I don't HPDE enough to make a serious investment worthwile.

This was on the stock (non-brembo) brakes.

 

^ My XP-10's killed my stock rotors doing 20min sessions on a short track. They didn't wear down/wear out but hard spots formed on them so now they feel like they're warped but it is just the hard spots going through the caliper... from my research rotors don't warp.

I'm subscribing to this thread to see what I should replace them with

 

Warping seems to be less common in the more expensive rotors, but I've warped "cheaper" rotors in my SE-R getting them pretty hot and then on/off braking. Mojority of the time, stress cracks are what ends a rotors life cycle. I just found it worthy of noting that these "cheap" rotors didn't warp or crack despite driving to/from the track in addition to my HPDE.

 

A little trick I learned from a Z06 Vette racer was to push the car a couple feet every 5-10 mins AFTER pulling into the paddock after a track session. Just knock the car out of gear, and push it just a foot or 2, then repeat until the brakes cool or you go back on track.

Why: the idea behind this is to allow for more consistent cooling of the rotors AND to prevent the Pad from to "sticking" to the rotor and creating a "high spot/excessive pad buildup" on the rotor.

Note: "high spot/excessive pad buildup" is what most people mis-diagnose as a warped rotor...the rotor is fine, but you have a uneven build up of pad material.
However, you CAN have a warped or cracked rotor...so check you brakes 2 or 3 times during a track weekend...it will save your *** at some point.

Good brakes/pad info here: http://www.ctbrakes.com/faqs.html#troubleshooting3

 

Your opinion, please: Will aftermarket ones cut it, or should I go with OEMs? Thank you.

 

Good aftermarket ones (such as Centric) will work fine.

 

Centric FTW

 

I have a brand new set of stoptech f/r 1pc for sale and Hawk Ceramics. PM an offer if you're interested. I jumped to BBK before I could get these on.

 

I have centric(they own stoptech)1 piece rotors i use as my DD and i have a set of 2 piece aerorotors i was using for track, holding each rotor in my hands at the same time did not feel noticeably lighter/heavier- i ran 5 track events at Sebring with them and they are almost worn out, i was lazy and would run my stock pads and 1 piece rotors on auto-x events(about 15)and they did fine-no cracking-would only get fade if we had short rest between laps.

if i can ever afford to go racing/HPDE events/auto-x etc.. again i am going to buy 1 piece rotors front and rear-i have brembos and retail price for stock rotors is ridiculous and the aero rotors were like $650 for the front pair when i bought them(on sale)now they are about $750-800. I think i paid about 225 shipped for the centric slotted 1 piece rotors in front.