brake disk upgrade?
02-08-2012, 12:14 PM
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brake disk upgrade?
what up guys, so I was bashing my hpi rs4 with swapped evo+ drivetrain (T3.0, tranny, diffs)yesterday, doing high speed runs...
I was going somewhat fast and then full braked to a stop, after it came to a stop, the car wouldn't move. I revved the motor a bit and still nothing, went and picked it up and the drivetrain was completely locked. the diffs were still fine (the front and rear wheels would spin opposite, but not all 4 in the same direction. It was a bit dark out by this time so I took her in thinking a rock or somthing got caught in the transmission housing. took it apart and still nothing. It wasn't until i looked at the brake disk and realized it was stuck to the metal caliper! Under that normal but full braking, the disk melted and then cooled onto the metal, and it was on there good, took a pair of pliers to pry them apart.
I was so surprised when I found this was the problem, cleaned up the disk and put it on the other way (the wear was only to one side).
It got me wondering though, HPI makes a fiber brake disk and I'm wondering if it is worth the purchase. I have never used a fiber disk before so I'm curious how much different they are. if they brake better, cooler under breaking, won't melt, etc.
Does anyone run the fiber disk or use a fiber disk on another car? I'm curious
Danny
I was going somewhat fast and then full braked to a stop, after it came to a stop, the car wouldn't move. I revved the motor a bit and still nothing, went and picked it up and the drivetrain was completely locked. the diffs were still fine (the front and rear wheels would spin opposite, but not all 4 in the same direction. It was a bit dark out by this time so I took her in thinking a rock or somthing got caught in the transmission housing. took it apart and still nothing. It wasn't until i looked at the brake disk and realized it was stuck to the metal caliper! Under that normal but full braking, the disk melted and then cooled onto the metal, and it was on there good, took a pair of pliers to pry them apart.
I was so surprised when I found this was the problem, cleaned up the disk and put it on the other way (the wear was only to one side).
It got me wondering though, HPI makes a fiber brake disk and I'm wondering if it is worth the purchase. I have never used a fiber disk before so I'm curious how much different they are. if they brake better, cooler under breaking, won't melt, etc.
Does anyone run the fiber disk or use a fiber disk on another car? I'm curious
Danny
02-09-2012, 07:29 PM
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RE: brake disk upgrade?
As far as I've ever seen, if you run a fiber disc you run steel flats for the calipers. If you're running a steel disc, you run pads on the calipers... How fast were you going when you melted the pads to the disc? I've never seen that happen before! I've never done any testing between the two, but have used both styles on vehicles. I would think that the fiber disc would be a stronger (pads can delaminate off of their steel flats when running the steel disc, pad on caliper setup) and less prone to melting option. Just make sure the fiber disc is vented, if it isn't, drill a few tiny holes in it for degassing and cooling.
02-12-2012, 09:27 AM
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RE: brake disk upgrade?
oh I think you misunderstood me, I have the stock plastic disk, and flat metal calipers. under full braking, the plastic wears down and bonds to the metal calipers, and it happened again last time i drove it. I think it builds on itself, because when it wears it, the plastic fills the holes in the disk.... I don't understand how it got so much worse only recently but it did. I bought the fiber disk so that should be here around thursday. fiber isn't suppose to melt... soo I should be good to go now 
02-12-2012, 03:36 PM
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RE: brake disk upgrade?
It was PLASTIC!!!??? OMG, I would only expect Traxxas to do some stupid and cheap @$$ crap like that... LOL So, yeah, changing to the fiber disc will help greatly!
