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First of all, I'd like to give a huge shoutout and thanks to the folks at R1 Concepts!!
I was browsing for new rear brake pads and rotors, and recently remembered that R1 Concepts was one of our vendors.
Without much hesitation, I figured I'd give them a try. Especially with all the raved reviews about them.
I contacted them via PM, them moved the PM over to emails, where I spoke with Kevin Chavez (which by the way, gave me one of the best customer service experiences i've ever had).
First we talked about rotors and pads, I wanted him to match my old front Rotora rotors, which i THOUGHT still had a nice chunk of life on them (which was later on reviewed by my shop and told that it was good I had them replaced).
My old Rotora rotors were slotted and drilled (at a VERY high price range too! It was an old long story with dealing with HPFreaks, they took A LOT of money from me for the pads and rotors, which is a whole other story).
So they reccomended me get the Geomet Rotors they had available.
I got a quote for just the rears at first, and found out they gave me such a stellar deal compared to other companies, that I purchased the fronts also!
So all in all I got their Front Rotors, Front Pads, Rear Rotors, Rear pads. I also inquired their install kit and had that order placed also.
Package arrived after a week (in A LOT of packing so no damage would occur on the rotors).
Since I was so busy though with my holiday schedule (I worked all through the holidays, perks of working for family ), I had to get it dropped off and installed at my local shop (one my family uses for all of our car work).
The shop installed everything with zero problems.
Photos below:
(Full car)
(Front Rotors)
(Rear Rotors)
Also noted, I did a brake fluid flush, just because.
INITIAL DRIVE:
On my initial drive, I was reminding myself, to take it easy on the brakes for the first 500-1000 miles (as recommended by Kevin at R1), I felt the brakes were PRETTY responsive compared to my old setup (Rotora's with EBC Red stuff). There was absolutely no brake squeel (there wasn't in my previous setup either, just thought I'd note this).
I can't go out and test the brakes to its full potential yet, but the brake pedal takes a lot less effort to stop now, the brakes don't feel "slippery" like they used to.
I don't know if you guys can tell, but there was VERY VERY little rust on the brake rotors. This is due to me washing the car as its my usual routine monthly (weekly now that I got a foam cannon and a few gallons of car wash soap).
To compare... the R1 rotors were VERY VERY resistant to brake rotor rust after a wash. I was SUPER SUPER happy about that! My old rear OEM rotors and Rotora rotors (rears were OEM, fronts, once again, were Rotora's) rusted VERY badly! Enough to the point that, if I was driving to work or school, for the next 20-30 miles, I felt like my brakes were scraping against the concrete gravel whenever i stopped.
The R1 Concept rotors, even with that mild rust, I felt little to no scraping at all. It only lasted on the very tip of the surface too! As soon as I got out of the neighborhood, the very MINOR scraping noise went away instantly. This was important to me, as I found it a real annoyance and a real nuissance.
I can't comment on their pads yet with brake dust. HOWEVER, I washed the car, nice clean and fresh, just to see how long it would take for brake dust to cake itself back on my rims (as you can tell, those rims are a PITA to wash).
I will give another update on these rotors and pads as soon as I've set them in around my oil change (I'm due for an oil change in another 1000 miles).
Other than this..... I give them two HUGE THUMBS UP! Brakes really well, looks phenomenal, and is very resistant to rust.
Is that the eLine rotors? Be careful if it is, that rotor easy to warp. I got it 2x and each warp within 1-2 years.
I have the Geomat Rotors. I'll be sure to update if any problems occur with my current setup.
Originally Posted by ibidu1
Nice brakes, your car looks amazing! good job!
Thank you! I try to keep it as clean as possible (whenever I have time to do detailing on it).
Car's going back to paint shop in a few months, I'm just debating between full paint job (same color), or just refinish the front end. I'd like it to have a bit more clear as silver lexus' have really bad paint finish for some reason.
Originally Posted by wickedtaco
GoKo, wheels are lookin good. What was the cost for the entire setup (F&R rotors and pads?) Was shipping included?
cheers
They gave me a stellar deal, definitely PM Kevin! (our CL forum sponsor). I'll tell you....
Lexus wanted to charge me over $1000+ for my brake job (front, rear, pads, and brake accessories kit and $500+ for install)...
I purchased all of this and paid a shop to do the brake job for me at LESS than HALF the price of just parts alone from Lexus, including a brake flush.
Very minimal rust. They're infinitely better than the Rotora rotors I had previously... After a car wash, I can leave it next day, and there's such minimal rust, that I can back out of the driveway and the rotors were resurfaced. The Rotora brake disks were so bad I would have to drive a good 15 or so minutes to get the rust to go away.
Pads are phenomenal. They're A LOT more bitey than the EBC pads I had previously too (then again the pads I had previously were track pads)! They also don't dust as much as the old EBC pads, which is a HUGE plus!
The dust on these are very very LIGHT copper.... Like I said, they don't dust that much. Considering I haven't washed my car in 4+ months, you wouldn't be able to tell at all. I wish i saved photos of how bad the EBC pads were. After 2 weeks the wheels were DARK RED/BRONZE.
FWIW: I don't abuse my brakes. I tread lightly on them, unless there is an emergency (FL drivers are pretty bad).
I go in a lot of stop and go traffic at low speeds (i try to coast as much as I can however). So not a lot of highway hard braking.
I'm browsing around for a new set of rotors. Looks like it's been about a year for you now. How have they been working for you? How's the wear, dust, and such?
-VERY low dust. I brake a lot in traffic since moving into my new home (the new route to school has heavy traffic).
-Wear I'm not sure of... I don't remove my wheels often enough to see inside, but the rotors seem to hold up well.
-My most favorite part about the rotors, is that brake rust (after a wash, or sittign out in the rain), is almost non apparent. I cannot say it's not there, but it's VERY VERY minimal. About from the garage to the driveway and the noise is completely gone.
On my old Rotora rotors and OEM rotors, they were so bad, I'd have to drive from my house to the next few stop lights just for the rust noise to go away.
It also performs very well for me. I've run into a few occasions where I had to slam on the pedal, and these rotors+pads have come through just fine every time.
Hate to bump this up, but do you experience the helicopter or jet plane noise when braking? I’ve had mixed experiences with slotted or drilled and slotted rotors causing this noise and I rather not deal with it this time around
12-27-17, 09:20 AM
R1 Concepts Brakes Review
), I had to get it dropped off and installed at my local shop (one my family uses for all of our car work).
