Any experience with DBA T3 5000 rotor rings?

[dparm]

My shop has said I probably have one or two more track days left in my OEM rotors so I'm starting to shop for any good off-season deals. Amazon currently has 20% off genuine AC Delco brake parts, so I could grab all four replacement rotors for a huge discount: $1425 shipped to my door.

I've never had any complaints about the stock rotors, and they lasted me a good 9 or 10 track days (a year) -- many of which were with PSC2 tires and DTC-60 pads. No overheating, early cracking, or other problems.





However, DBA does make replacement rings for roughly the same price in their T3 5000 series. The weight difference is only about a pound but I can't really find any concrete info to show that they'll last longer, cool better, or whatever else. You reuse the stock hats and they claim to be Corvette-optimized.

Any thoughts if these will be any better than OEM? I tend to stick with OEM until it proves incapable of handling things.





Here is a comparison of the actual part to the OEM rotor that I dug up on the Camaro 1LE discussions (same brakes as me):

[pbonsalb]

I recently bought 4 bmw rotors for $875 shipped. You have to shop carefully and maybe wait for a sale. You can buy them anytime for about $1000. $1425 is crazy. If you are burning through them fast, maybe aftermarket 2 piece make sense. Some say they may be better on the track.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

I recently bought 4 bmw rotors for $875 shipped. You have to shop carefully and maybe wait for a sale. You can buy them anytime for about $1000. $1425 is crazy. If you are burning through them fast, maybe aftermarket 2 piece make sense. Some say they may be better on the track.

These are for my Corvette, but I figured I would ask here since a lot of guys seem to be using aftermarket rotors like PFC or whatever.

$1425 for all four rotors on my car is hundreds of dollars cheaper than even the online dealer parts counters.

[roastbeef]

does your grand sport have the zo7 package or whatever? i want to look at options, but there seems to be a difference between the two in brakes.

also, the pics of the rotors you posted are different rotors. it look like dba's slot design, but one has traditional vanes and one has their "kangaroo paw" vanes. i'm not a fan of the kangaroo paw vanes... looks like a mess and i'm not convinced it is the best for cooling.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

does your grand sport have the zo7 package or whatever? i want to look at options, but there seems to be a difference between the two in brakes.

also, the pics of the rotors you posted are different rotors. it look like dba's slot design, but one has traditional vanes and one has their "kangaroo paw" vanes. i'm not a fan of the kangaroo paw vanes... looks like a mess and i'm not convinced it is the best for cooling.

No, it doesn't have the Z07 package. It has the bigger iron brakes borrowed from the Z06. If you want to make things easy, just look at the Z06 brakes.

The Corvette-specific DBA rotor does NOT use the Kangaroo design. It has the standard vanes. In the photo, the bottom rotor is OEM, the top is DBA.

[roastbeef]

what do the oem brakes run? if the dba's are just a few hundred more, might be worth a shot.
i'm not seeing many options... brakes must be pretty good.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by dparm

These are for my Corvette, but I figured I would ask here since a lot of guys seem to be using aftermarket rotors like PFC or whatever.

$1425 for all four rotors on my car is hundreds of dollars cheaper than even the online dealer parts counters.

The PFC rotors for stock calipers are much better than stock.

I provided feedback in the E46 forum years ago when I moved to front PFC DD rotors. Until then, the brakes were hot enough to singe the hair right off after a session if I got close to the rotor, and the fronts were way hotter than the rears.
After the front PFC rotors the fronts were cooler than the rears. Eventually I upgraded the rears as well.

Someone took me up on the challenge and used a temp meter to compare before/after PFC rotor install. There was a significant difference, which is to be expected.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

what do the oem brakes run? if the dba's are just a few hundred more, might be worth a shot.
i'm not seeing many options... brakes must be pretty good.

Like I said, I can get all four OEM rotors for $1425 shipped to my door right now. They are excellent brakes and have never let me down at the track even with DTC-60s and PSC2s.

But the DBAs are effectively the same price: $1500.


The OEM braking system is 370 & 365 two-piece discs, Brembo 6-pot front / 4-pot rear calipers with cooling ducts. I use SRF fluid.

[roastbeef]

shit, i missed that part on price. i'd try them... they look like they have a few vanes more than the oem brakes, and you might like the feel of the slots. i don't see a downside in trying these out.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

shit, i missed that part on price. i'd try them... they look like they have a few vanes more than the oem brakes, and you might like the feel of the slots. i don't see a downside in trying these out.

Let's see if Santa brings them to me. :-)