So my 04 XJR need some front brakes and I decided to order some rotors from R1 Concepts. Thanks again the Steven (steven@r1concepts.com) for helping me with my order. If anybody else needs brakes, send him an Email and I'm sure he will take car of you.

Everything was shipped intact and on time. Here's the new rotor out of the box. Looks very pretty



And here's a close up of the machining.



and here's a close up on the vanes from the inside.



The coating seems to be very complete all the way through the rotor. And all the machining seem to be very well done. All then holes a re drilled though without hitting any of the vanes inside.



Here you can see the clearance between the rotor and the caliper. The rotor has even clearance on both sides.



And another shot showing the clearance.



I decided to go with the PosiQuiet semi-metallic pads. I like the fact that the backing shim is held in place by the caliper pins, so that the shim cannot slide off the pad.



Here's a shot of the new pin versus the old pin. I'm going to reuse the old pin because it has groove in the middle that helps to keep it and the spring plate centered in place.



And here is the finished product. They look really beefy. The rotors are almost the same size as the wheels on my Integra. Once I get the car back on the road I can give updates on how they perform and how they sound.

 

They are a great piece of kit, really look the mutts nutts!

Thanks for sharing

 

Looking forward to your review. I've been contemplating purchasing these as well, but want to know if they are louder in the car when braking.

 

+1 on the feedback.... especially the noise element

 

+ another on the feedback. Wonder if it's worth trying to hook them up as forum sponsor's\affiliates if there's a few of us interested in them?

So I assume that if you have an 04 XJR they are the Brembo's? - Look like it.

Thanks for the photo's - really useful to see them in situ!

 

I have been using this brake setup on my 2004 XJR for over two years. I can only report extremely positive results from these rotors with overall performance equal to and in some case exceeding the performance of the OEM rotors.
I had some runout problems with the OEM rotors where they would warp slightly and cause a slight pulsation through the brake pedal. These rotors cool much better due to the slotting and cross drilling as well as the split vane design. These premium rotors use a very high quality steel and they are a fraction of the OEM price!

 

Totally agree....also have been using them for over 2 years.

 

Thank you for sharing

 

Reyesl, did you paint your calipers or did they come like that? What paint did you use. I might do this in the future because on one of my calipers the paint is chipped and the sticker it gone.

 

I got the paint from AutoZone; "VHT" Caliper Paint, Real Red.
The "Stickers" were from a Gentlemen in England.

I might re-paint them silver next summer, the red is a little too much on a White car.

 

Thought I give a little update. I've been driving the car around a little lately cause I'm still working on a few things. The brake pedal is still a little soft after flushing the system. I'm suspecting that the master is started to go bad after pumping too much at full travel. But the car is still drivable at the moment.

So far the R1 brakes feel great. They feel strong, smooth, and quiet. I don't think I've heard anything from them after the initial break in. Even with the maybe 60% braking power I have, the car stops great, smooth and strait. Can't wait till I have a full hard pedal to really test them.

Anyone have any idea why I still have a soft pedal after flushing. I didn't open the system other than bleeding the calipers and the master never went dry while flushing, so I don't see how I got any air in the system. I've heard that the dealer can purge the ABS with their scanner. I've tried taking the calipers off and tilting them while bleeding both bleed screws on the calipers. So I'm leaning toward a bad master now.

 

Did you use a synthetic fluid?

If so flush it out for a standard one. Synthetic fluids are known to give spongy pedal as the silicone compresses

Cheers
34by151

 

Has anyone else used a synthetic brake fluid on their XJR. I used a DOT 4 synth, the same one I used when flushing a Toyota Supra and the Supra was fine with it, had a rock hard pedal.

 

are you thinking of DOT5? which is silicone based? and NOT for these cars...or at last that's what we have here in the states. I've just been doing some reading, and all brake fluids are synthetic. I used to buy valvoline synthetic dot 3/4 fluid thinking it was better, but it was just marketing hype.

oh, you're in AU (was just there this past fall, great country). Maybe it's all labeled differently there.

Anyway, DOT4 for our cars, or the newer DOT 5.1 works in the states.

Here are a few threads on brake fluid:

Valvoline DOT 3/4 "synthetic brake fluid? Possible | ATF, Differential, Trans, Brakes, P/S | Bob Is The Oil Guy
Synthetic Brake Fluid Question - ADVrider

hope that helps someone

 

DOT 5 has the unfortunate property of leaving air bubbles suspended and it is very difficult to bleed.

It terms of your soft pedal feel - if, somehow, you let air in your ABS system, it most likely is the reason for the sponginess. I let air in my ABS system in by Suburban, tried to bleed it with my AutoEnginuity scanner software unsuccessfully and decided to ignore it and live with the sponginess. The ABS unit failed about a year later. Could be coincidental but who knows...

S.

 

I had my wheels off the other day so I got some pics of my R1 Concepts slotted rotors.





The black "electro-coating" has burnt away on the outside circumference & on the vanes inside. You can also see on the rear rotor the coating on the hub has also been heat effected.

Mind you, I did hammer the hell out of the brakes at Wakefield park, so it's no surprise that the coating couldn't hold up.

 

curious about noise levels with drilled and slotted, just slotted vs OEM rotors. In another vehicle, the brakes were quite noisy with drilled and slotted rotors. I will be turning the OEM rotors, once again or purchasing new. Any thoughts on aftermarket non drilled, non slotted rotors?

RyeJag

 

I have drilled and slotted rotors on mine. They are not R1's but look like quality pieces. They do make some shhhhhhhh noise when you hit the brakes. The PO did not really care for them, but said his wife couldn't even hear the noise.
It reminds me of the drilled rotors on my motorcycles, doesn't really bother me, but these are not silent.
From other cars, I've found that the slotted ones are not as noisy as drilled & slotted. I don't know if this applies to xj8's or R1's.

 

well, I will probably stick with OEM style rotors. The Brembo's are great brakes for an old guy driver, so the noise factor would not be worth it. Maybe if my kids are driving the car they would feel differently!
RyeJag

 

Well, so far I have not noticed any extra noise from the R1 rotors.