dmichaels

I decided to work with Morris Engineering doing some consumer "torture testing" of their new fixed 2-piece 14" rotors. Arrived today and I'll get install pics as soon as I get them installed (presently in Ireland....). Anyways, look promising and are claimed 8 lbs each lighter for 16 lbs total weight reduction. I'm hoping the cooling will be better than OEM as well.

My plan is:
Test back to back with OEM rotor for temps during a track session (rotor and caliper)
Lap time and lap data comparison against OEM rotors - I'll need to use my PF01's I think once more to support this for good apples to apples comparison
Durability compared with OEM - rotor wear, resistance to warping, surface cracking , and track time before propegating cracking occurs

Pics, feedback, data, and videos to come! This thread will be my "official review thread". Thanks to Matt at Morris for working with me on this. I expect my reviews will come through all season as I test at different tracks with different braking demands. If these work well at Limerock and Palmer, I'll put them to the ultimate test when I run my slicks at Watkins Glen this summer... More to come!!

dmichaels

Anxiously awaiting arrival here.. UPS tracking says they are "on the truck, out for delivery" so any minute now... in preparation, I pulled the OEM rotors and have the car sitting on jack stands.

dmichaels

Rotors arrived!! Raining out so I'll have to install later... But here they are!!

shaneyusa

Would like to hear how this turns out. Keep us updated.

redonblackpony

So you're testing rotors for this company at the track. Did they comp you the rotors or did you have to pay full price for them?

Bert

Wow, you work fast! Lots of coffee this morning? ;-)

What is the advantage of those rotors? Lighter weight? Better heat capacity?

dmichaels

Correct, running testing for them.

We worked a very favorable deal for both parties

dmichaels

Theory is improved heat dissipation since the thin, light, aluminum hats dissipate heat better and typically the internal rotor vanes are better set up for cooling as well

Also each is 8 lbs lighter, which is huge for rotational mass. So better accel, braking, and handling since unsprung weight

dmichaels

Installed!! Let the testing commence!!







And the install time-lapse video:

dmichaels

Well I took the car out today in the rain. After 2 medium speed seasons, here what the bedded rotors look like. Braking reformable is great, but it's a cool wet day so easy on brakes. They are nice and cool though! More to come later

TA shocks

Have struggled with rotors for heavy track use.

I have a few questions if its ok?
What kind of testing and how will you be measuring performance?

I have a few ideas how I would document a difference in brake efficiency.
Using a data logger. To measure long - G's
And or use split time report . Or even use a pedal pressure switch. To plot time on the pedal over decell rate

dmichaels

Yes I log track sessions and will have g's for all aspects of the various sessions I drive. To be honest I'm not expecting and data that shows improved braking or accelerating as a result of the rotors. On a car that's 3800 lbs with me and a full tank, shedding 16 lbs of rotating mass isn't much. But - I do expect a noticeable improvement in brake temps and fade, which I've battled. To capture that more quantitatively I'm going to measure rotor and caliper temps during hot pits at a couple tracks. Planning to do this back to back with my OEM rotors as well

I'll also have lots of qualitative feedback for brake feel. I've got plenty of seat time with the car and OEM rotors to assess against the new rotors.

A little follow up feedback after driving 3 seasons today in the rain...

The day started with a soft brake pedal, but I had a weeping bleeder. Fixed that, and then got the pads fully bedded by end of 2nd session. Last session I had fantastic brake pedal feel and the brakes were strong. Max negative g's I saw were around -0.7 which was tire limited. ABS engaged immediately with even just medium brake pedal pressure. Interestingly the carbotechs pads I ran today wore very nicely. Usually they get uneven pad deposits on my rotors leading to pulsating but no dig of that with these rotors today. More testing to be done on this since today was so cold and rainy.

Lastly, heat dissipation is excellent. Front rotors cooled much for quickly than my rears based on touch. Again more to come during my next dry warm day with a temp tool, but initial impressions are great!!

5.M0NSTER

Glad to hear that so far so good!

SGwick

Dmicheals I just watched your rain dance video, wow! What's is like driving on the track in the rain? I thought I saw your front or rear slide a little on some turns? Ctsv awd? Trackday driving seems a little unnerving to me, hope road America weather is clear this weekend (projected cloudy)

dmichaels

The car gets very loose in the wet. It becomes a constant balancing act of inputs (throttle, steering, brakes) to minimize oversteer primarily with this car. I wasn't on dedicated rain tires either so I was a little tail happy! Great lessons in car control though!

The cts-v was rwd. He was modified and made around 550 whp (650 chp). He had a student riding along in that session as well.

It's fun to learn in the rain. But I still prefer dry track days!

dmichaels

So I am scheduled to do 2 days at Limerock next Friday and Saturday (May 13 & 14). I'm currently not sure how I'll be getting all my "stuff" to the track though, since I only have the Mustang right now. Worst case, I might only be able to run the Toyo R888's there and no BFG R1's or Nitto's (unless rain) but I'll definitely be able to get rotor temps and lap times to compare directly against my first outing which was on a beautiful sunny day.

I'll update as the event gets closer.

dmichaels

I just completed 2 days of track driving at Palmer Motorsports Park in Ware, MA. For this event, I had a new set of Morris 2-piece rotors, these ones being a “heavy casting” setup. The castings were thicker than the first set, and while a bit heavier, they were intended to be a bit more robust. Still are fixed 2-piece design.

The rotors did very well. On day 1, I ran the 2-piece rotor on the drivers side and an OEM rotor on the passenger side. Captured temps after a couple sessions. The OEM rotor consistently ran about 30-40F cooler temps than the OEM ones on the first day when I ran the Morris rotor on the driver’s side and the OEM on the passenger side. Caliper temps were lower as well by around 25F. I did not collect “hot pit” data, so I don’t have anything good for the high end of heat witnessed, but with about 1 minute of cooling from partial cool down lap to parking in the paddock and jumping out to grab the IR thermometer,the max rotor temps were like 575F (hottest on the outer surface) – inner area by the rotor hats were almost 100F cooler. Very clear gradient working from the inner surface outwards. And I was happy to see the hats staying in the 200F’s for the most part. The OEM “hats” were closer to the rotor temps, so Morris have a clear heat dissipation advantage

On day 2 I ran Morris rotors on both corners. The braking was consistent, fade free, and uneventful. Zero indications of shudder and no noise from the pads either. This is an important detail because every time I’ve run the Raybestos St47 front pads in the past, they would start to howl after about 100 track miles. In fact, on Day 1 PMP event, the passenger side front did start to howl at the end of the day. The developing noise on the OEM rotor from day 1 was not present though on the Morris rotor once the rotor/pad were bedded, and there were no surface cracks on the passenger rotor which saw about 110 miles of track driving yesterday. The drivers rotor, which saw about 225 total track miles, did have some mild surface cracking.

Take aways – the version 2.0 rotors (thicker casting) held up exceptionally well at Palmer during about 225 total track miles. Temps were consistently cooler than the OEM rotor, and the caliper and outside pad surfaces were lower as well. From a fade perspective, I had zero, which is really a first for me for a 2 day event. I bled the brakes last night and had zero air bubbles from the front or rear, which I don’t think has ever happened before. Temps yesterday climbed to about 80F, so it was a warm enough day to have significant heat build up. And I drive fairly aggressively… so I’m confident I put these through the ringer! Lastly, I had my brother with me, who is probably 275 lbs or so, for all 4 sessions yesterday, so we were hauling significantly more mass around all day!

The thicker rotor, thus far, has cured the issues I developed with the “thin” casting that I tested at Limerock. More testing to come, but I’m very happy at present. No issues to speak of at all during the 2 days of recent tracking

PJRManagement

Thanks for the update. These are on my 'consideration' list...when my OEM rotors are done, I'll have a choice.