Track Cars & Brake Issues

[Savanna7]

The dyno appointment got cancelled and I’ve been out of town the last two weeks. Hoping to reschedule when I get back.

 

[Orchardbike]

EDIT: Keeping this here for history's sake but turns out I'm just an idiot. Caliper paint is too weak though. That part I stand by.

Obviously late to the party but the rotors can be pretty sus. I haven't actually had any noticeable issues from mine but if you look this picture of one of my front rotors near the caliper youll see where theres some extra grinding that happened on it. I think someone dropped the rotor at some point and they had to grind that bit off to correct it. Also of note the paint for the calipers is really thin and fragile. View attachment 78848

Agree that the calliper paint is very poor.

 

[BruceN]

EDIT: Keeping this here for history's sake but turns out I'm just an idiot. Caliper paint is too weak though. That part I stand by.

Obviously late to the party but the rotors can be pretty sus. I haven't actually had any noticeable issues from mine but if you look this picture of one of my front rotors near the caliper youll see where theres some extra grinding that happened on it. I think someone dropped the rotor at some point and they had to grind that bit off to correct it. Also of note the paint for the calipers is really thin and fragile. View attachment 78848

- funny edit. I feel like that a lot...

 

[BruceN]

Girodisk will fit like stock but you won’t have the warble issues since these are fully floating. The oe are semi floating and can expand unevenly which causes the warble when hot. Girodisk or paragon if they have fronts. Can’t go wrong.

Paragon's are much less expensive - do you have any feedback on whether there is much difference between the Girodisk and Paragon?

 

[mr.suntorytime]

Paragon's are much less expensive - do you have any feedback on whether there is much difference between the Girodisk and Paragon?

I have no experience running them on the emira. but alot of evora and evo owners like them. ill probably swap to paragon when my girodisk wear out.

 

[Tracked Emira]

I have no experience running them on the emira. but alot of evora and evo owners like them. ill probably swap to paragon when my girodisk wear out.

If you use their recommended brake pads you wount have to for a very long time

 

[Russc]

Just had the Emira out at Brands Hatch for the day.

I had the same issue mentioned here, after 15 minutes there was a squeaking noise coming from the brakes, couldn`t tell if the front or rear but sounded like something was rubbing as it wasn`t a constant squeak and occurred when the brakes weren`t being applied.

The 15 minutes was after some hard driving and braking. There was no drop off in performance that i could feel and it went away following the car cooling down and came back on the next session around the same time.

It`s never occurred on the road.

There`s no obvious marks on the discs but i`m going to pull the wheels off at the weekend and have a good look around.

It did feel like a heat issue and based on it going away after cooling pointed more that way. I think i`ll be looking at new pads and discs after that just to make sure.

 

[Savanna7]

Coming back to this thread. Full circle, I think there was a combo of issues, but ultimately I have no direct culprit to blame. The rotors had definitive hot spots so at the time of making the original post, they may or may not have been gone at that point.

I have now installed Girodisks and Pagid RSL29s and braking feels SOOOOO much better. Looking forward to the next track day!

 

[F1 SML8R]

GiroDiscs are the way to go. I've run them on almost all of my cars (in which they offered the correct application) and the improved venting and heat dispersion and real floating format allow the car to really brake well consistently.

 

[Savanna7]

GiroDiscs are the way to go. I've run them on almost all of my cars (in which they offered the correct application) and the improved venting and heat dispersion and real floating format allow the car to really brake well consistently.

That's what I keep hearing. Are the factory rotors not "real floating" themselves? Either way, i hope to experience everything you mention here!

 

[lynchy73]

Coming back to this thread. Full circle, I think there was a combo of issues, but ultimately I have no direct culprit to blame. The rotors had definitive hot spots so at the time of making the original post, they may or may not have been gone at that point.

I have now installed Girodisks and Pagid RSL29s and braking feels SOOOOO much better. Looking forward to the next track day!

I think the OEM discs are a major part of the issues, once they have been cooked, they seem to have issues that can't be resolved. I had my factory front discs skimmed as they had what seemed like pad residue, ran them with Endless Pads. Was never able to get good braking, without some sort of vibration once the brakes got hot.

I'm now running aftermarket discs front and rear, with matching pads and do not have any vibration issues like i previously had, and it brakes better.

Unfortunately, i do still get a Traction Control Unavailable warning, as soon as my brakes get hot, that clears as soon as i cool down. Hopefully that get that sorted soon, it is a major annoyance.

 

[Savanna7]

I think the OEM discs are a major part of the issues, once they have been cooked, they seem to have issues that can't be resolved. I had my factory front discs skimmed as they had what seemed like pad residue, ran them with Endless Pads. Was never able to get good braking, without some sort of vibration once the brakes got hot.

I'm now running aftermarket discs front and rear, with matching pads and do not have any vibration issues like i previously had, and it brakes better.

Unfortunately, i do still get a Traction Control Unavailable warning, as soon as my brakes get hot, that clears as soon as i cool down. Hopefully that get that sorted soon, it is a major annoyance.

Have you researched the TTC at all?

After my last track day, by ABS and TTC unavailable warning came on. I have since cleaned all 4 Wheel speed sensors in hopes of resolving this, but to no avail. I have disconnected the battery as well, but that didn't work either. I haven't researched it much as of yet, but I would like to get this fixed before the next track day if possible. I have no idea how the car will respond on track with that warning in place.

 

[F1 SML8R]

That's what I keep hearing. Are the factory rotors not "real floating" themselves? Either way, i hope to experience everything you mention here!

They are not. if you look at the design the way they connect to the hat is via a solid cast molding. However, given it's done across multiple connecting points, it's supposed to allow for expansion and contraction during heat cycles. However, warping and variability in the expansion/contraction exists which causes the odd feel at times and in extreme cases uneven ware from uneven contraction.

 

[lynchy73]

Have you researched the TTC at all?

After my last track day, by ABS and TTC unavailable warning came on. I have since cleaned all 4 Wheel speed sensors in hopes of resolving this, but to no avail. I have disconnected the battery as well, but that didn't work either. I haven't researched it much as of yet, but I would like to get this fixed before the next track day if possible. I have no idea how the car will respond on track with that warning in place.

My warning is only Traction Control, I don’t get an ABS error. I vaguely remember seeing an ABS warning when I killed the stock brakes the first few times I brought it on track (and didn’t cool down properly…), but these days o only get the TC warning. Brakes have been upgraded and I don’t keep pushing when hot.

I had the wheel speed sensors cleaned. Will be pushing Lotus to properly diagnose it this time, getting a bit tired of it now. It doesn’t seem to really hurt me on track, but all the same I want it fixed.

I suspect my issue is a magnetic ring on the rear hub, rather than a speed sensor. I figure a speed sensor would throw an ABS error too. Hopefully Lotus can find an error. I had a Lotus tech in the passenger seat recently, while I got it to fault, with diagnostics connected. It takes some aggressive acceleration with full braking, repeatedly…. Unfortunately he looked like he was gonna get sick and didn’t seem to be able to tell me anything….

With yours having a permanent fault, it should be easy to find and fix it. You’ll need to get to Lotus to diagnose it though, those systems are pretty much only accessible with Lotus diagnostics as far as I know.

 

[Savanna7]

Being that it's over 2 hours away, I'm going to attempt to pray it away and hope for the best . It's a Lotus after all. It could be gone the next time I crank it haha.

 

[lynchy73]

Being that it's over 2 hours away, I'm going to attempt to pray it away and hope for the best . It's a Lotus after all. It could be gone the next time I crank it haha.

I wish you good luck with that

 

[Savanna7]

I wish you good luck with that

If you end up finding a fix for your issue, I’d love to hear what it turned out to be.

 

[virtualmacho]

If you end up finding a fix for your issue, I’d love to hear what it turned out to be.

"Pray harder"

 

[lynchy73]

If you end up finding a fix for your issue, I’d love to hear what it turned out to be.

So, it seems we found the problem and it’s not actually a problem/fault after all….

So….. apparently there are temperature sensors in each brake or some part of them. If the temperature exceeds 600degsC in Sport mode, the traction control temporarily unavailable is displayed. It seems like it’s an automatic thing and it is not a fault. If you set to Track mode, the warning immediately disappears, switch it back to Sport, and the warning is active again. I had Lotus Tech in the car whilst I did multiple full acceleration, full braking cycles and they were monitoring various parameters.

I tend to use Sport mode, rather than track mode on track, but with all the avoidance stuff turned off. In future, I know to use Track and if I use Sport, I know that warning isn’t a big issue.

I’m a little surprised this function isn’t more widely known and it’s rather badly worded IMO, as it gives the impression of a fault.

The I4 uses the rear brakes to control wheel spin (E-LSD I think they call it) as it doesn’t have an LSD, whereas the V6 has a proper LSD. I expect the V6 may not have this warning under the same circumstances.

 

[Savanna7]

So, it seems we found the problem and it’s not actually a problem/fault after all….

So….. apparently there are temperature sensors in each brake or some part of them. If the temperature exceeds 600degsC in Sport mode, the traction control temporarily unavailable is displayed. It seems like it’s an automatic thing and it is not a fault. If you set to Track mode, the warning immediately disappears, switch it back to Sport, and the warning is active again. I had Lotus Tech in the car whilst I did multiple full acceleration, full braking cycles and they were monitoring various parameters.

I tend to use Sport mode, rather than track mode on track, but with all the avoidance stuff turned off. In future, I know to use Track and if I use Sport, I know that warning isn’t a big issue.

I’m a little surprised this function isn’t more widely known and it’s rather badly worded IMO, as it gives the impression of a fault.

The I4 uses the rear brakes to control wheel spin (E-LSD I think they call it) as it doesn’t have an LSD, whereas the V6 has a proper LSD. I expect the V6 may not have this warning under the same circumstances.

Thank you for sharing!

So to ultimately turn it off, did they have to flash the ECU or something, or did it go back off on it's own again once temps cooled?

I called our "local" shop and they said check all of the things I already checked, primarily sensors.... but then they said check my brake fluid and ensure my axles are tight........ buddy, I feel like I could tell if I had loose axles lol. I lost a bit of faith with that response.