Lets Talk Rotors: Cryo-treating
 

Who's got em, if anyone? Any first-hand experience? I'd like to go with some blank cryo-treated rotors for my next set...hopefully get some better life and durability out of them on the track...

And if anyone knows, are there any cryo-treating joints in the Baltimore area? Shipping these off for treating is EXPENSIVE, obviously...

Found these on Tirerack.com, but sadly the rear pair that are cryo-treated arent on there...

Centric High Carbon Plain 125 Series Cryo Treated Rotor

I had a Corvette that had cross drilled rotors. they all developed surface cracks near the hole after each track event. I switched to cryo treating Napa rotors after going through two set of rotors. no cracking since then

I'd never track cross-drilled rotors. That's why Im sticking with blanks. But, I gotcha :)

the class I ran in didn't allow me to convert to blank. it was either paying 40 to cryo treat them or crack the rotor every track day. it doesn't make he car stop any better. just make he rotor last longer

Ohhh, right. That's a PITA lol.

Right, I knew that, I was curious if anyone had done it on here and had good experiences with the life of the rotor improving. Looks like you answered my question! Thanks buddy!

Luckily the cost of rotors have come down quite a bit for the Z ($100), the extra $30-40 for cryo treating won't be to bad. It beats buying those two piece rotors.

the weight reduction on the 2-piece is pretty nice though :)

Blech, not worth the price for just HPDE-ing

Sent from my Galaxy S3

Exactly, my cryo-treated rotor had no problem stopping my car from 147mph lap after lap at VIR. The same rotor without the cryo cracked after just one event

It does work but we don't know exactly why. :P We had a good thread about the physics of it on the 3balls forums but they're lost now... even had a fella willing to treat a few sets for A-B testing.

If I remember right, it's something about aligning the molecules in a way that's similar to tempering the metal - just makes it that much stronger.

also I used to get rotors hot enough to turn blue. cryo treated ones seem to have less of that problem.

I will prolly go this route when i swap my rotors next time around. Mine seemed to hold up well last event (stock)... i think i cooked the pads a bit though.

:iagree: If anyone's looking for a place to have this done, a lot of commercial heat treat shops either have the capability or can atleast point you in the right direction.

Reviving an old thread. I was researching on rotors and I found some interesting read on cryo treatment

cryogenic rotors - Page 2 - Rennlist Discussion Forums

cryo-treated rotors = snake oil! - NASIOC

Cryogenic Rotors: Good or Snake Oil? - Pelican Parts Technical BBS

I was also reading on RB rotors, they heat treated their rotors but do not use cryo treatment.

Seems like results vary. Hope we have some chemists/engineer here that can chime in.

im on Centric Cryo blanks now and they're holding up great

Interesting reading. People with degrees calling it snake oil. I've had ring and pinions done years ago. Was to help stop breakage of the teeth. Still broke them tho.

The one that hit me the most was the first link, where the guy tested it side by side with normal rotors.

I don't have enough knowledge to dispute the science, just wanna shine some light into the bipolar results people are reporting.

For those that run cryo treated rotors, track/abuse them consistently, and yielding noticeably positive results, which vendor did you get them from?

First, saying they "heat treat" is too generic to mean anything. There's so many heat treating processes, without knowing which one specifically is used is worthless.

Secondly, when done right, cryo-treating absolutely can be useful. Cryo-treating is used in more places that brake rotors. Numerous companies that are doing heat-treating (typically carburizing) have deep-freezers for cryo-treating.

Unfortunately, while I might design heat treat furnaces, I'm no metallurgist so I can't tell you what the chemistry behind cryo-treating is.

^ thanks for the input. Below link is what that particular sentence refers to. Don't know if this answers your question at all but here it is.

RX7: RB Rotor Material - RacingBrake Forums

My post here is meant to induce posts/information by showing results contra to the general consensus. Educational purpose, not picking any side. :)

From reading that link it sounds like the "heat treating" that's being done is simply a process called normalizing. Only real purpose of the normalizing is to relieve stesses in the metal (helps with distortion).

Now that I'm curious about this, I'll have to talk to some of the process/metallurgist guys at work on Monday.

Rotor is a hunk of metal, just get a reputable brand and you will be fine. My old Corvette came with cross-drilled rotor. When I used to track them, little cracks would develop after EACH event. With a set of cheap NAPA rotors cryo treated, cracking didn't occur until a few events later. The NAPA rotors were standard off the shelf ones. When I replace the rotors on my Z, I am just going to go to Advanced Autoparts for some $75 rotors.

^thanks. Where did you get yours cryo treated (300below, frozenrotors, etc)?

I am aware of the cheap yet solid alternative of treating some parts more like disposable items: get decent ones at pedestrian price, use them but switch them out more frequently. This will surely be in my repertoire when I start to track it.

However, I just wanna learn more about the topic. Seems like cryo treatment must be done right (duh..) to achieve the right results, so one thing I wanted to establish is vendors that had provided cryo treated rotors with the expected positive results.

This was done when cryo treating became really popular. I remember it was a place that was 50 miles from my house. They did engine parts and medical items. They ordered the rotor from NAPA for me, got it done and had it shipped to the house. Honestly, they could have lied to me and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference when I first saw the rotors. Yet when I put it through the first track day, I was immediately sold as I did not see a single crack after my first track event

Nice to finally hear from someone who's done it personally...

Had a chance to talk to one of the metallurgist guys at work today. Apparently even in the metallurgist community is split over cryo treating. In practice it will reduce the internal stresses and therefore reduce/eliminate the formation of microcracks under heat cycling. However according to the guy I work with there is no scientific proof of the effects of cryo treating to the microstructure of the metal.

In other words, it works but no one can prove 100% why.

reviving this thread. When I was racing the 1/4 mile in my Truck....4400 lbs with me in it, I kept warping the stock rotors and thus ruining the pads as well. hitting the brakes at 110 mph was scary lol

I upgraded to powerslot cryo slotted rotors on the front...rear was drum. Never warped them again and made probably 35 1/4 mile stops on them. Braking definitely improved.

Looking to get them on the Z when that time comes

Since this was revived....a thread that i came across, don't mind the title, click link and skip to post #20, post by DBA Steve

DBA 4000 Rotor cracks/gerissen - Corvette Forum

Not cryo treating but good read for a beginner like myself. Shine some light into how to abuse the rotors correctly.

The Corvette has 10 to 20mph more than our car on the straights, make sense htey use the brake more....