Thread: disk brake upgrade for defenders

Originally Posted by geckos

Any ideas where I can get new rotors for a defender.... (04). I tried DBA on the net and they said they don't make any replacements...

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Cheers Geck

I have DBA slotted rotors on my '98, have had for years. They are Brembo cores finished by DBA.
IIRC the rotors are the same from '94 till now (rears appear different for the P38 style rear axle) ?

http://www.dba.com.au/dba_catalogue_.../Landrover.pdf

hay geckos, to get better breaking its a matter of surface area which means larger rotors which means bigger calipers as well, the drilled slotted rotors mentioned give better cooling so under hard breaking conditions they out perform solid rotors. what size tyres you thinking of going.

Originally Posted by lambrover

hay geckos, to get better breaking its a matter of surface area which means larger rotors which means bigger calipers as well, the drilled slotted rotors mentioned give better cooling so under hard breaking conditions they out perform solid rotors. what size tyres you thinking of going.

thats what i was thinking, so the cooling will still make for better breaking performance right? i will get some aftermarket pads too........??
Still the 16 rims, but 35x11.5 (I've been told these will need to be engineered approved for road use) or 33x12.5.

Whats your thought/s?

Anyone?

I don't like cross drilled discs, too much risk of cracking and the cracks propagating, but DBA seem to sell a lot of them so they may very well be on top of the manufacturing of them.
I've had race drilled discs almost explode on me at the track, not a nice experience, but they were AP Racing discs we cross drilled ourselves. (on a rotary table in a mill, and the holes were all chamfered/de-burred)

Both slotting and cross drilling's reason for existence is to de-glaze and de-gass the pad under extreme braking, they don't really make it run substantially cooler.

When pads are running extremely hot they tend to out gas the pad material, and this out gassing can build up between the rotor surface and pad, reducing pad bite and friction. By giving the gas somewhere to go with slots and holes, pad bite can increase to an optimum. The slots and holes also have the secondary effect of continually cleaning the pad surface, keeping it clean from debris (glazing)

The only way you will get cooler running is ducting air into the eye of the rotor (a vented rotor is a simple vane pump, it pumps air from the centre out through the vanes) and thicker rotors (as in wide spacing between the clamping surfaces, so you have a bigger air pump)

<edit> Go to DBA's site, it looks like they do 4000 Series discs for Defenders now, too (Fronts are 4086SL & R for slotted)
These should behave better when hot compared to the older 086SL & R rotors I have. Mine are based on Brembo castings with straight vane rotors and finishing/slotting by DBA, not sure what the 4000 Series ones are, but I suspect they use their 'Kangaroo Paw' type vanes.

i am running 33's x 12.5's, on 15 inch rims with a neg 25 offset. better after market pads will make a big differance though.

then i will go for the slotted.

what about pads any recommendations?? i was thinking bendix......

geck

I'm not up on the latest and greatest in pads, the last time I talked to anyone was seven years ago (one of DBA's engineers) and he reckoned at the time Ferodo had it over everyone else.

We run Bendix 4WD on the Patrol and they work well, bite is good but they seem to be more aggressive on the discs than the Ferodo 4WD I use on the Defender.
Bendix have a few more compounds out now, and Ferodo have their Formula Ferodo TS2000 (their old DS2000 race pad) compound which resists fade far better than the 4WD pad.
I just use the 4WD pad as it's very cheap, available and is pretty fade resistant.

I'm not sure if I'm imagining it, and something else could be contributing, but it doesn't feel as if this last set of Ferodo pads have the 'bite' of the previous sets.

Just to add you wont get 35's engineered in Qld. I think a 3" lift will be pushing it too.