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by **heeman10** on Sun Mar 16, 2003 1:46 pm

I just wondered if grooved discs gave a noticeable improvement over the standard components? If so, do they purely perform better in brake-fade situations, or are they more effective under normal braking? If they're worth it, I'll upgrade next time my discs need changing

by **voorhas** on Sun Mar 16, 2003 2:00 pm

I've had grooved discs (ATE Power Discs) on my last car (mk3 D) and I didn't like them very much. They made a bit of noise under braking and ate pads @ an scary rate. The braking was ok, but no better than it was when I had the "original" and very warped discs.

If you want a piece of advice from my personal experience, the best "mods" you can make to the Ds braking system is getting vented discs (and the assorted calipers, of course) and have a brake fluid change. Most Ds around here are poorly looked after and the fluid is usually as old as the car.

Gonçalo D.

by **heeman10** on Sun Mar 16, 2003 2:02 pm

Right, thanks for the advice. I was wanting to go down the vented route, but it was looking to be a pretty expensive conversion, disks and calipers cost quite a bit, was gonna be around the £100+ mark I think anyway. I thought the grooved discs must munch away a bit...would only put costs up :rolleyes:

by **16VSi** on Tue Mar 18, 2003 9:20 am

I had 3G 20GR Discs (20 grooves) with EBC Greenstuff pads and the braking was so much better. I then changed to EBC TGD grooved and spot drilled discs, and these were crap, braking was awful and they warped after less than a month. Gone back to 3G again, would recommend these to anybody. They are actually Brembo discs machined by 3G, they even machine all the discs for Saab.

by **fiesta_fras** on Tue Mar 18, 2003 11:09 am

stick to plain discs, i have had drilled setups, grooved setups and plain, and plain is best! with fast road pads

look at the focus RS, cosworth etc, millions spent on R+D if drilled or grooved was a good idea they would use them, they arent shy about the braking as they use superb calipars so if the discs could be uprated they would.

only discs worth having drilled grooved etc is ceramic ones, these cost around £650 a set, and are fitted to high class mercs and the like.

a fast road car even if used on the track a few times a year will not need 'racing' discs, best upgrade ur brake lines and flulid. much cheaper

by **16VSi** on Tue Mar 18, 2003 11:21 am

fras: Me and you have been having discussions about discs and pads since November.

Sometimes I think it is down to personal experience and there is no right or wrong answer.

I take your point about the Focus RS, but my car did seem to perform better brake wise with grooved discs and EBC greenstuff pads, than it did with standard discs and pads.

Also I have found braking with the EBC TGD discs awful, but others recommend them highly.

I am glad you have found a braking set up that you are happy with and that is right for you. A near standard set up is probably cheaper and offers less problems in the long run.

What fast road pads are you using at the moment then?

Thanks

by **fiesta_fras** on Tue Mar 18, 2003 12:33 pm

ebc greenstuff mate

drilling is poor, makes discs crack and was only invented by racing teams reducing rolling weight on the drivetrain,

grooving is slightly better but has no real purpose unless the grooves vent all the way to the edge of the disc, still you would never need to vent the gasses on a fast road fiesta. EBC greenstuff wear indicator which is in the disc would vent the gasses far better than any grooved disc.

grooving and drilling great for looks but in reaility all they do is take away valuable braking surface

read up a lot on this now.

by **16VSi** on Thu Mar 20, 2003 11:31 am

I think the only reason some of us have drilled and/or grooved discs is for aesthetic reasons, because they do look good behind a set of gleaming alloys.

by **MtY** on Fri Mar 21, 2003 11:35 pm

i think 16vsi is right.
i guess you will only notice substantial differences if you do everything. and you run your car ragged,
its down to personal taste which to go for, everyone brakes differently. so thats why different setups work better, for different drivers.
but looking at the design of grovved discs, every time the pad goespast one groove, its gonn take a little bit more off, so its just like grinding away at the pad, although this does make a cleaner braking service, maybe it is a bit ott :-?

by **snake** on Sun Mar 23, 2003 8:40 pm

drilled is waste of time, and prone to cracking, only decent ones are ones with holes made while they are bein cast, also reduce amount of pad to disc contact. Grooves yes, stops brake fade, stops the pad from glazing over, use max 8 groove for road cars, anymore is overkill and u just reduce the amount of contact between pad and disc.

by **Fezzy Turbo** on Mon Mar 24, 2003 10:01 pm

I wont use EBC stuff anymore! The grooved disks fill up with brake dust and become useless. The kevlar pads work hot and warp std disks very easily.
I am returning to either Mintex or Ferrodo pad with std disks.

by **davy** on Wed Mar 26, 2003 11:19 pm

have used tarox grooved with ebc greens in the past and noticed a huge improvement. pad wear is good and would say lasted nearly long as a standard set.the fact that the disks had grooves probably didnt increase performance that much, its the material that the disks and pads are made off which makes the difference.

by **fesyturbo** on Thu Mar 27, 2003 8:35 pm

I have EBC TGD discs on my FRST and they are s**t, when i brake the steering shakes like crazy warped discs i think, gonna try standard items again to see if the problem is elimated! :-?