Done two so far, & my brakes have been lousy on both. I’ve got new single piece discs, now new Pagid rs14 pads, & I get heavy vibration & wobble when hot under heavy braking. I’ve bedded them correctly & if I’m honest, I’m not even driving that hard yet as I’m still learning the car.
I’m disappointed with my two months of ownership, which has seen me spend a lot on two sets of new pads, & a new set of discs, all to no avail.
Hmm … new car …
Leads me to think maybe a bent hub , if a car gets curbed whatever , even if you fit new discs the judder will return as the new discs get worn to the profile of the out of true hub …
That’s my guess .
Brakes in my experience are the things that Lotus got right first time …
Hth …
… edit … you can check this yourself quite easily , …
Remove each wheel and fix a dial gauge to the wishbone , have the probe contact the disc and spin it … any movement is bad …
In extreme cases you don’t even need a gauge , you can just hold a screwdriver against the disc and you’ll feel it …
Check through the pages here about RS14 pads … many of us have had exact same issues. Take a look at your discs and see if you see deposits on them from the pads …
Then get some 80 grit emery cloth ( or similar) and give the discs a good going over to try and get deposits off and then fit some PF 97 ( 2 pot calipers) or PF01 ( 4 Pots ). - Talk to John at JSR.
Then bed them in all over again - so high speed to walking pace a few times and then see what happens …
Expect the pads to squeel a lot when cold and on the road… but if you want performance on the track this is the best way to go right now
Agreed with what has been said, there is no reason your brakes should be bad.
The 58 plate car I bought a few weeks ago had the blackest dirtiest brake fluid I had seen in a while, yours may be the same, so it will be worth changing that for some good quality fresh stuff (I and many on here use Castrol SRF)
Check for the dreaded RS14 deposits on your disks. Pagid RS42’s are a nice pad for road and track, Performance Friction pads are the dogs danglies but aren’t the nicest option for a car that is used on the road a lot.
For trackdays PF all the way, they are “dusty” when new so don’t bed them in in the wet as the clag is sticks to the wheels so well you might need a hammer and chisel to remove it, other than that they are brilliant, agree with Sean as well, change the fluid for SRF or Motul RBF600
as said, the brakes on your car should be very GOOD…my car is 2008 240pp now 3 years old and the brakes have always been very good…Brake fluid is changed at least once if not twice per year…easy DIY job if you are that way inclined. Running RS14 as fitted by Lotus from new…only use car on track apart for to and from circuits.
A 2008pp should have come with 4 pot ap racing claipers on front with ali bell 308mm discs
I have had the same issues on my 2008 PP (308mm AP 4 pots with bells on front, RS14 pads).
Sorted that out by fitting extra cooling to the discs, via ducts that take air from behind the oil coolers, run through the mudguard, and attached at the centre of the discs, so blowing air through the discs. Never had judder again, not even on Zolder, wich is murderous for brakes…
Once fitted RS15 pads. Awesome stopping power, but just too much initial bite for the relatively light Exige, triggering ABS…
Before you buy owt, do a simple disc runout check with a dial guage/screwdriver/whatever…You can even see out of true hubs by eye!.. Just remove the wheel and spin the disc looking closely.
It’s the first/most important/cheapest [size:14pt] [color:#3333FF] free even! [/color][/size] thing to do,especially with a new car that may have been kerbed.
If you have a bent hub you can change discs till you run out of money and the vibration will return.
Your brakes should be wicked , even standard.
Dont know where you are,but if you can get to someone who knows his stuff they’ll spot it in no time.
