GIRODISC ULTRALITE Brake Rotor Review
Jun 13, 2009, 11:44 AM
#1
GIRODISC ULTRALITE Brake Rotor Review
Hello all. I have been running a set of Girodisc rotors on my EVOs for about 3 years now. They have worked flawlessly! I have 3 full years of autocross racing on them, as well as 1 track day, countless drag strip passes, and about 25,000 miles of street driving.
Since my car has pretty much become a dedicated autocross car for now, and I love to shave weight anywhere possible, I began to look for an even lighter braking option than the fantastic Girodisc rotors. I contacted Martin Meade of Girodisc two years ago to discuss creating an Ultralite set of brake rotors for my EVO. (apparently several others out there were looking for the same thing
) I wanted to stick with the stock rotor diameter and stock calipers to preserve the superb balance I've grown accustomed to. After talking off and on for a couple years, and looking at different options - the wait is finally over! I received my new GIRODISC ULTRALITE Rotors this week!
I will start off with the all important weight numbers - that's what we're looking for, after all!
Stock rotors ________ F - 21.3# ___ R - 14.6#
Normal Girodisc _____ F - 17.4# ____R - 11.1#
Ultralite Girodisc _____F - 12.9# ____R - 8.9#
That is a total weight savings of 13.4# compared to the normal Girodisc rotors, and a huge 28.2# savings vs the OEM Brembo rotors!!! Keep in mind - these are STOCK DIAMETER brake rotors - as well as being the stock width! How can you accomplish this kind of weight without miniaturizing or swiss cheesing your brakes?? Take a look:
Here are the front rotors - standard Girodisc vs. Ultralite Girodisc
And here are the rear rotors - standard Girodisc vs. Ultralite Girodisc
And a couple shots on my little fish scale. (probably not 100% accurate - but darn close!)
If you take a close look at the vane area and the inner and outer walls of the braking surface you can see where the magic happens. The walls on the Ultralite rotors are much thinner, and there is far more open air space in the vane area. This is accomplished by starting with a thicker and larger casting, then machining it down to EVO specs. Brilliant!! The center area consists of curved vanes that act as an air pump. They pull air in the back side of the rotor then out through the outer diameter.
Although they have great cooling properties due to the vanes and all the air space in the center section - these Ultralite rotors are not recommended for road racing or track days at this point. They just don't have the mass and therefore thermal capacity of the standard Girodisc 2 piece rotors. . . but autocross, drag, and street use should be just fine.
Here is a video review of the Girodisc Lightweight version of the EVO brake rotors. Pay no attention to the brake dust on my face
:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwEsZB6Ksfg
Here is the installation video. Replacing the brake rotors is a 1.5/5 on the difficulty scale. Takes less time than to wash and wax the car!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A16Gy8N8kkw
For more info on the new Ultralite Girodisc rotors please contact Martin Meade @ Girodisc. sales@girodisc.com (360) 450-5537
Since my car has pretty much become a dedicated autocross car for now, and I love to shave weight anywhere possible, I began to look for an even lighter braking option than the fantastic Girodisc rotors. I contacted Martin Meade of Girodisc two years ago to discuss creating an Ultralite set of brake rotors for my EVO. (apparently several others out there were looking for the same thing
) I wanted to stick with the stock rotor diameter and stock calipers to preserve the superb balance I've grown accustomed to. After talking off and on for a couple years, and looking at different options - the wait is finally over! I received my new GIRODISC ULTRALITE Rotors this week!I will start off with the all important weight numbers - that's what we're looking for, after all!
Stock rotors ________ F - 21.3# ___ R - 14.6#
Normal Girodisc _____ F - 17.4# ____R - 11.1#
Ultralite Girodisc _____F - 12.9# ____R - 8.9#
That is a total weight savings of 13.4# compared to the normal Girodisc rotors, and a huge 28.2# savings vs the OEM Brembo rotors!!! Keep in mind - these are STOCK DIAMETER brake rotors - as well as being the stock width! How can you accomplish this kind of weight without miniaturizing or swiss cheesing your brakes?? Take a look:
Here are the front rotors - standard Girodisc vs. Ultralite Girodisc
And here are the rear rotors - standard Girodisc vs. Ultralite Girodisc
And a couple shots on my little fish scale. (probably not 100% accurate - but darn close!)
If you take a close look at the vane area and the inner and outer walls of the braking surface you can see where the magic happens. The walls on the Ultralite rotors are much thinner, and there is far more open air space in the vane area. This is accomplished by starting with a thicker and larger casting, then machining it down to EVO specs. Brilliant!! The center area consists of curved vanes that act as an air pump. They pull air in the back side of the rotor then out through the outer diameter.
Although they have great cooling properties due to the vanes and all the air space in the center section - these Ultralite rotors are not recommended for road racing or track days at this point. They just don't have the mass and therefore thermal capacity of the standard Girodisc 2 piece rotors. . . but autocross, drag, and street use should be just fine.
Here is a video review of the Girodisc Lightweight version of the EVO brake rotors. Pay no attention to the brake dust on my face
:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwEsZB6Ksfg
Here is the installation video. Replacing the brake rotors is a 1.5/5 on the difficulty scale. Takes less time than to wash and wax the car!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A16Gy8N8kkw
For more info on the new Ultralite Girodisc rotors please contact Martin Meade @ Girodisc. sales@girodisc.com (360) 450-5537
Last edited by EVOlutionary; Jun 13, 2009 at 05:07 PM.
Jun 13, 2009, 12:21 PM
#5
Those look good. But they do look kinda thin compared to the standard Girodisk. Although I would like to hear what you have to say about them. Always looking to shave weight, especially unsprung...
Jun 13, 2009, 02:23 PM
#6
Thin walled yes. Thin overall width, no. They are a hair narrower than my standard Girodiscs, but still thicker than Mitsubishi's minimum specs as per the service manual (that makes them legal for ST and SP class in autocross, as well as SM, XP, FP).
EVOlutionary
EVOlutionary
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Jun 14, 2009, 05:29 PM
#13
Sorry, I'm not an expert on pads, but Martin is. He will give you a great recommendation. I have only been using one pad type forever, so I don't have a lot of experience in this area. For rotor longevity, I would think you would want a pad that is not very abrasive - one that will wear before it wears the rotor.
Not really longevity for weight. They are the same width as stock rotors, and like the OEM ones will need replaced once worn below MFR specs. A good thing about the 2-piece design - you can buy replacement discs, and reuse the aluminum hats. These should not wear any more quickly than any other rotor.
EVOlutionary
Last edited by EVOlutionary; Jun 15, 2009 at 10:12 AM.
Jun 14, 2009, 05:56 PM
#14
Well, we ran the car today with the new Girodisc Lightweight rotors, but I'm afraid I can't give a real solid piece of feedback yet. Unfortunately the course was VASTLY different than your typical autocross course. . . read on.
The track was paved a year or two after Hearland Park (for all you that have been to Nats in the past couple years). It has about the same amount of grip HPT did 2 years ago, and like HPT it is getting better each time we run there. We were in the meat of 3rd gear, even with a 4.11 final drive gear - so roughly mid 80's I'm guessing. This put ALOT more heat into the rotors than I think your average AX course would. I could smell the pads after each run and tell they were hot. Now, before we assume anything, I could have had the exact same thing happen with the original rotors - we'll never know. . . but I can say that I did punish them pretty good dropping from mid-80mph down to 30mph for a really tight Chicago box.
One thing I DID notice is - I am going to have to relearn my braking inputs a little I think. It COULD have been the slick surface, but it seems like the reduced inertia of the wheels led to easier wheel lock-up when suddenly slamming on the brakes. If I eased into the brakes and got the weight trasferred forward - there was tremendous stopping power and no lockup - but if I stabbed the brakes I could get lockup easier than in the past.
I was re-using the same pads I've been running for 2 years, with the new rotors, so this tendancy may go away as the virgin rotor surface gets worn in a bit.
So far I am very impressed!! FWIW - there were 3-4 past national AX champions at this race and we (me and my codriver) paxed 1-2, about 1.5 seconds faster than 3rd place on the index!! On a 40-45 second course that's HUGE!
We will be running on sticky concrete on a normal type course in a couple weeks, so stay tuned for more feedback. . .
EVOlutionary
The track was paved a year or two after Hearland Park (for all you that have been to Nats in the past couple years). It has about the same amount of grip HPT did 2 years ago, and like HPT it is getting better each time we run there. We were in the meat of 3rd gear, even with a 4.11 final drive gear - so roughly mid 80's I'm guessing. This put ALOT more heat into the rotors than I think your average AX course would. I could smell the pads after each run and tell they were hot. Now, before we assume anything, I could have had the exact same thing happen with the original rotors - we'll never know. . . but I can say that I did punish them pretty good dropping from mid-80mph down to 30mph for a really tight Chicago box.
One thing I DID notice is - I am going to have to relearn my braking inputs a little I think. It COULD have been the slick surface, but it seems like the reduced inertia of the wheels led to easier wheel lock-up when suddenly slamming on the brakes. If I eased into the brakes and got the weight trasferred forward - there was tremendous stopping power and no lockup - but if I stabbed the brakes I could get lockup easier than in the past.
I was re-using the same pads I've been running for 2 years, with the new rotors, so this tendancy may go away as the virgin rotor surface gets worn in a bit.
So far I am very impressed!! FWIW - there were 3-4 past national AX champions at this race and we (me and my codriver) paxed 1-2, about 1.5 seconds faster than 3rd place on the index!! On a 40-45 second course that's HUGE!
We will be running on sticky concrete on a normal type course in a couple weeks, so stay tuned for more feedback. . .
EVOlutionary
Jun 14, 2009, 06:40 PM
#15
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I believe Martin @ Girodisc said retail would be around $1650, give or take $50. That's for all 4.
Sorry, I'm not an expert on pads, but Martin is. He will give you a great recommendation. I have only been using one pad type forever, so I don't have a lot of experience in this area. For rotor longevity, I would think you would want a pad that is not very abrasive - one that will wear before it wears the rotor.
EVOlutionary
Sorry, I'm not an expert on pads, but Martin is. He will give you a great recommendation. I have only been using one pad type forever, so I don't have a lot of experience in this area. For rotor longevity, I would think you would want a pad that is not very abrasive - one that will wear before it wears the rotor.
EVOlutionary
