AP 308 disk service life

General General Lotus Talk
1

AP Disk service life. Car is getting some TLC and potentially some treats before it’s put to bed for the worst of the winter. The front AP discs (slotted not drilled) look like the have plenty of meat on them but when measured are down to 25.1mm just on the limit as far as the service notes are concerned. Think they start life at 26mm so 1mm before the are scrap seems pretty useless. Changing the disks as often as the pads. Drilled disks would have hairline cracks but these seem sound.

Any thoughts on whether there’s more life in them or whether I should just suck it up and get some new ones.

If changing tempted to go nuts and go for Pro 5000+ callipers and 315 disks and put these on the back. That’ll hurt the wallet but at least it will feel as if I’m getting something for it. Thoughts on that? Are there 315 or 308 disks with longer service life.

Cheers
Will

2

Will
The Lotus service notes say 25mm for the AP discs, but that will be for the drilled ones. I assume the grooved will be the same.
I have to say those limits seem very small at 1mm of wear then replace!!!
All the Alcon discs I sell have the wear limit engraved onto the disc and they are all 2mm
The AP discs don’t show a wear limit on them
Hope this helps
Dave

3

I feel your pain Will, Matt’s just done all four corners on mine and pads…ouchy.

I’d be interested in other options but AP-rotors and PF pads do seem to work well and you just can’t argue with brakes that work even if they end up being $$$. Having shit brakes ruins the car for me.

4

So Andrew at maidstone does a 330mm front kit that fits under 16" wheel using the larger 5000+ caliper - it’s not bad money either!

move the 4 pots you have out back, and boom :smiley:

5

Cheers all. Anyone tried the Alcons and the AP. I know the Porsche crowd have been fans of the Alcon for a while.
Double the service life seems attractive, but only if the brake are every bit as good as they are now. Agree with Ben that the AP and PF pads have been fantastic.

Dave I’m assuming would need to got to the 315s in the Alcon to use the existing bells?

6

depends on your PCD will, but these might do: AP Racing

T

7

I put Alcons on the rear, made such a difference I’d planned to put them on the front eventually…

8

Any ideas on where to get bells to run disks with 203.2 PCD?
Hadn’t appreciated that the Lotus 190.5 PCD limited the options.

9

yeah that’s a limiting factor, maidstone do them though

10

Yes will 315 will go onto the AP bells (190.5 pcd)
Or you can use the 308mm and smaller bells (177.8 pcd)

11

Not advisable to use these as the pad depth is 59mm (to big for our calipers/pads)

12

Will I could be at Blyton with LOT on Saturday 15th.
Happy to let you try the car with 315 Alcons on the front 308’s on the rear and PF pads

13

Thanks for the offer Dave, that would have been brilliant, but unfortunately can’t justify the round trip unless I was going to be running a car as well.

14

Will the OE 2 pot take a 315mm disc?

T

15

I didn’t think so. Thought that 308 was as big as you could go with those. Happy to be told otherwise.

16

Not nicely. 308 is marginal, but done it a few times. Even 295 leave a slightly weird groove, about 2mm in from the outer edge where the leading and trailing outer corner of the pad rub.

17

Not much to add other than yes, short service life but then they do work great. All I will say is keep an eye on them and change them in time. What you don’t want to see the evening before a major road trip is this:

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18

Have you considered PF discs? I have been using them for a couple of years now and find them absolutely excellent with the PF pads. Wear rate is very good too

19

Did take a quick look but their website was terrible to navigate. Kept coming to a dead end.
Saw Eliseparts did 308mm floating with bells, but nearly twice what another set of AP rotors would cost.
Still deciding.

20

Nasty, but then again those disks make mine look like new, and mine are already at the end of their service life. How much had they worn before you got to that point?

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