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Lightened brake discs - who does them?
hobbsy - 25/1/10 at 02:26 AM

Finally getting around to fitting my Wilwood Powerlites I bought ages ago and while I'm reducing unsprung weight I thought I might as well have a go at the discs.

I know AB racing does them but he seems a little price at near enough £100 a pair for the front (from memory). Plain discs are very cheap.

Anyway there was a guy on WSCC (David Booth username: Dasamdy) doing them for a lot less and I was just about to buy a set last year but then he stopped replying to emails (maybe changed address).

Anyway as I'm not a paid up member on WSCC I can't PM him or get his (new?) email address.

So anyone know of any other sources?

Its a fairly common request so there must be a few places doing them?

I would offer to organise a group buy but my last attempt didn't go to well (Quaife ATB's) ok its a lot less money to commit this time so maybe I'll give it a go if enough please are interested.

I'd be after front and rear while I'm on.

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Old post from WSCC making reference to David Booth doing them:

http://boardroom.wscc.co.uk/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=3;t=41445;st=0

[Edited on 25/1/10 by hobbsy]

02GF74 - 25/1/10 at 10:39 AM

Have you tried Rally Design?

pretty sure if memory serves well, they sell thinner 9mm vs 13 mm Westifeld (Cortina?) discs.

don't remember them being £ 100 though!!

v8kid - 25/1/10 at 11:42 AM

hispec do to order but delivery is slow if you are in a hurry.

ashg - 25/1/10 at 12:07 PM

cant you just get a normal set and skim them down on the lathe?

snapper - 25/1/10 at 12:22 PM

You should only skim disks within manufacturers tolerance.
There will be a minimum thickness after skimming quoted, this is usually to get rid of ridges and to square up the disc.
To be honest it makes my blood go cold modifying critical components by guess work with no idea of what you are doing to the integrity of the item.
Brakes are critical, get it wrong and you die or kill someone or both.
Plenty of brake manufacturers do lighter discs and calipers.
You can get lighter uprights and shocks, lighter wheels.
Loose the twin air horns and replace with a single electric.
There are so many things you can do to lighten the car before shaving the discs.
Be Careful

blakep82 - 25/1/10 at 02:04 PM

^ i agree
as far as i'm concerned there are certain parts which should not be messed with. brakes being one of them.

it does worry me that people take this whole lightening thing way too far.

hobbsy - 25/1/10 at 02:51 PM

quote:
Originally posted by ashg
cant you just get a normal set and skim them down on the lathe?


I could do it if I had a lathe

But its not only the thickness you can reduce - I'm searching for a photo but I can't find one at the moment. Basically you can also take material out of the centre part and this reduces the heat going into the wheel bearings.

@snapper I take your point but you can take a lot of weight out without massively reducing the strength. A lot of the mass in the disc in its original application is to act as a heatsink, you're not reducing the brake surface area (unless you got for lots of grooves).

Also from a safety aspect I'd be happier with lighter discs than some of the aluminium uprights that have been known to fail, I'd rather have 3 brakes (unlikely) than a front wheel flapping around!

Does anyone know of a professionally lightened brake disc failing in use?

They are used quite a bit by the RGB boys who'll probably give them a fair hammering

Its an easy and cheap way to save rotating unsprung mass thats pretty well proven so I don't see the problem. Its not like I'm taking an angle grinder to an upright.

So does anyone know any other sources for these or someone who could be approached to do it for decent money?

JekRankin - 25/1/10 at 03:38 PM

I got my 9mm thick discs from Rally Design (as part of the Powerlite mk2 Escort braking kit).

I'm not sure what the standalone price is, but usually I think RDs prices are pretty reasonable and the service is excellent too in my experience.