Baer Rotors Cracked!

[DEFYANT]

And it is normal. :mad2:

Thats what Baer told me - and it is not covered by warranty. The passenger side front rotor has a crack so big you'd think it was the San Andras fault line and California was about to fall of North America!

Both rotors have cracks on the outer most holes. Some worse than others. Nice since they are only on the car for a year :shake: .

Anyone have a connection at Baer I can call to get the resolved the RIGHT way?

[TAF]

Call and ask for Hal Baer...tell him you are a friend of Todd Fisher in Atlanta. Don't talk to anyone else. Be polite, professional but straight-forward. The rotors have a lifetime warranty. You'll be taken care of. Let me know how it goes.

[BK_GrandMarquis]

You have a picture of the damage? Are these rotors cross drilled or just slotted or both? How hard are you on your brakes?

I have rotors that are both drilled and slotted from another company and I'm just interested in what might happen to mine in the future.

[MarauderTJA]

Charlie, they should be covered....

[Zack]

Dont bother replacing them, the Baer rotors are junk.
Try this instead:

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=28568&highlight=upgrade+brakes

[RR|Suki]

Dont bother replacing them, the Baer rotors are junk.
Try this instead:

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=28568&highlight=upgrade+brakes

Have the same issue and was told the same thing by baer

will the baer calipers fit on these?... I need to contact them and see if they do slots only

[DEFYANT]

Dont bother replacing them, the Baer rotors are junk.
Try this instead:

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=28568&highlight=upgrade+brakes


That is an option, but I need to get this straight before Georgia and Florida. It seems there may be a long turn around time to get these delivered. Worth a call though.

Someone has the Baer rotors without the holes drilled. What are your opinions on that gentlemen?

[Zack]

I have a set of old Baer rotors I can lend you Charlie.
You would need to mount them to the hats then have them turned.
Let me know.

[Loco1234]

I have the KVR's and my Rotors also cracked after slightly less than a year...

..but after much talking back and forth the owner whom is a serviceman himself took care of replacing the cracks rotors...

Good luck gettting yours replacced ... it probably won't be easy and you will need to know someone... TAG seems to have given you a really good lead...

Keep us all posted... I intend to look into the "Cyro rotors and Wilwood 6 piston brakes in teh future for my vehicle"
I also use mine for streetcourse and track use not just drag...

[Todd TCE]

Guys I won't debate one rotor being better than another but ANY rotor full of holes is going to crack in due time. You might be surprised who's in bed with who and where your parts come from....lol

And I'll wager than none of them will be covered under any warranty. Baer and I use the same plating shop and often have piles of rotors run the same day. A hole's a hole's a hole. They all suffer the same expansion and contraction problems. If you can get replacements for free I'd be all over that promise and have it in writing. You cerainly will not get that from me.

I also do two piece replacements for many a Baer/PBR/Brmbo kit so you do have options. Can't match 'free' however.

Do replacements with gas slots and move on. Problem solved.

[RR|Suki]

Guys I won't debate one rotor being better than another but ANY rotor full of holes is going to crack in due time. You might be surprised who's in bed with who and where your parts come from....lol

And I'll wager than none of them will be covered under any warranty. Baer and I use the same plating shop and often have piles of rotors run the same day. A hole's a hole's a hole. They all suffer the same expansion and contraction problems. If you can get replacements for free I'd be all over that promise and have it in writing. You cerainly will not get that from me.

I also do two piece replacements for many a Baer/PBR/Brmbo kit so you do have options. Can't match 'free' however.

Do replacements with gas slots and move on. Problem solved.

here here, which is what we talked about... they won't tell me the thickness though... cuz I'd just get slots only if I know what the wight of the rotor was!!!!

[RF Overlord]

I have had Todd's "Big Brake" (Wilwood) kit on the Blackbird for a year and a half, and 16,000 miles, with no signs of any unusual stress. One of the reasons I picked his kit was that it is NOT cross-drilled. I have read many stories of poorly-made "holed" rotors cracking, although these were usually rotors with cast holes, as opposed to drilled ones. Understand that I am NOT calling Baer's kit poorly-made, just that as Todd said, "a hole's a hole" and eventually it WILL crack.

[MarauderTJA]

Certainly problems can occur with any aftermaket or oem part on a car. I have used Baer brake systems on the last four high performance cars I have owned. All have been used for daily driving and the drag strip. To date, I have not had one problem with Baer at all. If things ever change with my Marauder I would be first to let everyone know. Just my .02 worth.

[Todd TCE]

As long as they do not get run through heavy heat cycles such as a hard open track day they'll be fine. If they see this type of use the thermal stresses are far greater than daily and drag use. Daylight glowing rotors are not uncommon on 4000lb + cars on a track day. Thheennn you're going to have some issues...

The Baer/PBR/Brembo rotors of the common 1pc design are based on the Mustang part and measure 1.10" thick. The Vette parts and replacements can be 1.25" and come on a deeper offset hat.

http://www.tceperformanceproducts.com/cgi-bin/brakes/cginews.pl?record=20

BTW a two piece set would weigh in about 15lbs per.

[DEFYANT]

As long as they do not get run through heavy heat cycles such as a hard open track day they'll be fine. If they see this type of use the thermal stresses are far greater than daily and drag use. Daylight glowing rotors are not uncommon on 4000lb + cars on a track day. Thheennn you're going to have some issues...

The Baer/PBR/Brembo rotors of the common 1pc design are based on the Mustang part and measure 1.10" thick. The Vette parts and replacements can be 1.25" and come on a deeper offset hat.

http://www.tceperformanceproducts.com/cgi-bin/brakes/cginews.pl?record=20

BTW a two piece set would weigh in about 15lbs per.

Thanks for the response Todd.

I have never had my car on a road track. Only on the dragstrip a few times - as most of you already know. I am in contact with Baer now and will let you all know the results.

Pics to follow....

[RR|Suki]

Thanks for the response Todd.

I have never had my car on a road track. Only on the dragstrip a few times - as most of you already know. I am in contact with Baer now and will let you all know the results.

Pics to follow....

let me know, cuz they just blew me off, I think they should come out and say drilled rotors have the potential to do this, cuz then people who want actual performance can just get slotted only in the first place

[sweetair]

Thanks for the response Todd.

I have never had my car on a road track. Only on the dragstrip a few times - as most of you already know. I am in contact with Baer now and will let you all know the results.

Pics to follow....Sorry Charlie. This is a bummer. I put mine on a year or so as well. About 7K miles since then. I will check mine as well. I thought that there was a lifetime guarantee here as well. Perhaps my nieveness. Keep us posted.

[gpfarrell]

I was under the impression that competition cars have drilled rotors for increased cooling... which we'd all like.

Street cars typically don't come with drilled rotors because, as the man said, you drill enough holes in something and eventually it's gonna crack.

These cracks aren't an issue in competition vehicles because they change rotors more often than I change socks (Is it Sunday already?), but street cars usually accumulate many more miles before we even think of looking at the rotors.

My Mustang has slotted rotors because I want to beat on the car, not babysit the brakes.

[DEFYANT]

Ok, time for an update.

Even though I do not have replacements yet, I yanked the old rotors off the Marauder last Saturday. Doing so commited Defyant Marauder to be in dry dock for the short term forseable future.

Why would anyone do that you ask?

Hehehe.

CJ and The Defyant Marauder again. :D

Last Saturday I ask my Son (CJ) "What would you like to do today?" He replied, "Work under your car Daddy". He always says that. And usually I tell him "we don't have any work to do under there Son, lets do something else".

But this day was different. Those dam cracked rotors were annoying me and had no business being on my car! :mad:

So off they came! Here are some pics:

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/2/6/4/4/DCP_2041.JPG

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/2/6/4/4/DCP_2040.JPG

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/2/6/4/4/DCP_2039.JPG

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/2/6/4/4/DCP_2038.JPG

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/2/6/4/4/DCP_2037.JPG

And my little helper :D
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/2/6/4/4/DCP_2042.JPG

Bad news is, Baer will not replace these under warranty. If you want the long story on what they said I'll write it up and email it to you.

The good news is they offered me a new set at vendor price. I will be going with slotted rotors only this time. Baer states the "drilled" part is really just bling. The "slotted" part would meet my needs for how I drive.

Fact or fiction, the price was right to replace these boat-anchor-paper weight peices of ***** I have now. And I need to get this car operational *now*.

At least my Son and I had fun.

So what went wrong?
I was thumbing throught some old threads earlier and came across the ole "improper-torqued=warped-rotor" threads. Yup, thats what I suspect. I recently had new front tires installed. I know they used a tq wrench, but I suspect it was not set right. When I took the front tires off last Saturday, My impact air tools had to stuggle on the highest setting to get the lugs to turn. Usually it takes little effort to get the lugs off.

Was tight nuts the problem? I do not know. I do know this was not caused by my driving habits because the brakes were fine until after the new front tires were installed. :censor:

[mtnh]

That's just plain phugly. Good thing you saw these before they came apart in chunks.

[RR|Suki]

wow, those are def worse than mine by a long ways, now atleast I know what's comming... I'm gonna get slots only as well if I can. I need to find the right person there to talk to, because I keep getting the run around from them.

do they have the matching slotted only rears too??

[DEFYANT]

Run around is what you'll get for sure. If you have to time to invest - meaning if you do not need you car fixed up asap, then you can BS with them.

I am sure they have slotted rotors to match the rear. I'll probably put the oem rear rotors back on and be done with it.

[jdando]

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/2/6/4/4/DCP_2037.JPGHoly cow!! That is one scarry looking rotor.

Glad you got them off the car!

jeremy

[FordNut]

My KVR rotors didn't have any cracks, but they warped too quickly and had to be replaced. Several people have mentioned various problems with the Baer rotors, so I researched and found the DBA rotors. No problems so far.

[Seneca]

Nasty cracks!.. :(.. Like they said though atleast you caught em before they caused damage

[Bluerauder]

Nasty cracks!.. :(.. Like they said though atleast you caught em before they caused damage
Under the new MM.Net rules ... I didn't think any "nasty cracks" were permitted. :rofl: :jk:

Looks like the cracks started at the outside edge in. IMHO. That seems to support the heat-cool cycle problem vice the bolt torquing suspicion. :dunno:

Dang that helper of yours is a dead ringer for Defyant in his younger years. :D

[Loco1234]

Here is what my rotors looked like when they cracked....
I did however get them Replaced free (minus shipping on way)
However they never ended asking for me to ship old ones back... they just accepted the pictures... these pics....

[merc]

Holy Cow, now that's what I call a crack. When you do things, you do it first class. :up: Are you going to be ready for the CAM event at Hooters this weekend ? I really look forward to seeing you and the birthday girl.

[jgc61sr2002]

Charlie - Good thing you found the cracked rotors before you had a serious problem.

[FordNut]

So they crack at the holes... Is that a "crack ho" then?

[merc]

So they crack at the holes... Is that a "crack ho" then?

No that's a hole on crack. Let me explain. The hole is first drilled, in this case several times. When mounted the driver applies hydraulic pressure and squeezes both side producing friction and heat. After continuing this process repeatedly the hole becomes unstable and reaches her safety limits and her brain becomes warped, thus causing hear to do crack. Now do you understand?

"Cocaine is a hell of a drug"
http://i.esmas.com/image/0/000/003/661/RJ_N.jpg

[Todd TCE]

Someone's making wisecracks now.

[DEFYANT]

Holy Cow, now that's what I call a crack. When you do things, you do it first class. :up: Are you going to be ready for the CAM event at Hooters this weekend ? I really look forward to seeing you and the birthday girl.

This is mainly the reason I wanted to cut the BS with Baer and get the car fixed up. It just would not seem right for me to not attend ;) . And the big road trip is the following week. It would be cutting it too close.

Now, if this happen AFTER MV4, The Defyant Marauder could stay in dry dock all winter while I fight it out with Baer.

Instead, all of you potential customers get to read about what actually happen and consider it when deciding to make future brake system upgrades.

[Joe Walsh]

Charlie Murphy!!!

:laugh: .......:laugh:


No that's a hole on crack. Let me explain. The hole is first drilled, in this case several times. When mounted the driver applies hydraulic pressure and squeezes both side producing friction and heat. After continuing this process repeatedly the hole becomes unstable and reaches her safety limits and her brain becomes warped, thus causing hear to do crack. Now do you understand?

"Cocaine is a hell of a drug"
http://i.esmas.com/image/0/000/003/661/RJ_N.jpg

[MCAT]

If you still want the look of drilled rotors, take your new slotted rotors line the slots up with your old rotors & clamp theme togather, get A drill bit or A ballnose endmill (that will fit through the holes) set up drill press so your depth will go no deeper than the grooves, using your old rotors as a drill guide/bushing, spotdrill each hole


then they should match the look of your drilled rear rotors (I would think rear rotors don't get as hot) replace the rear rotors only if or when you have to.

[SID210SA]

This is mainly the reason I wanted to cut the BS with Baer and get the car fixed up. It just would not seem right for me to not attend ;) . And the big road trip is the following week. It would be cutting it too close.

Now, if this happen AFTER MV4, The Defyant Marauder could stay in dry dock all winter while I fight it out with Baer.

Instead, all of you potential customers get to read about what actually happen and consider it when deciding to make future brake system upgrades.

I was looking for the upgrade mainly for the looks for now, but I will not go with the drilled look now......just the slotted look.....I was told that Auto Zone has some pretty good Slotted rotors.....

[Master]

Just to support some previous comments: On the race car, I got a set of heat treated rotors - slotted only as per manufacturer's recommendation - and a set of carbon-kevlar pads rated at -0.76 coefficient of friction (higher than anything I've seen to date over the counter). These were all specially made for me. After MANY laps at the road circuit, the only complaint I have is that I'm generating too much heat. Glowing like iron from a forge, they boiled the paint off my wheels, in fact. The rotors, however, look as good today as they did when purchased. And that is after two sets of pads ($170 a pop!). With the kind of heat generated on a track, the holes would no doubt form cracks throughout the entire rotor with such extreme temperature changes. I now swear by "Slots only" as recommended by my supplier. There. My 2c worth as well. Have at 'er.

[sailsmen]

Just like the Buick Roadmaster and doughnuts holes sell!

Long live holes!

[DEFYANT]

Just got word from Baer. I got the tracking number only t find the new rotors will not be here until Monday!

[Breadfan]

You could try calling the shipping company, tell them you need the Saturday and see if you can pay to have it upgraded to Saturday delivery or if it's too late. I doubt you can get Baer to do this, but if you don't mind paying the difference it's worth a shot if you really need them that quick. (i.e. before sunday)

[HotrodMerc]

Just got word from Baer. I got the tracking number only t find the new rotors will not be here until Monday!

Good to know that Baer came thru with a new pair of rotors, as they should.
Evidently you had already spoken with first line personnel that answers the phone before you first posted, and before TAF suggested you call Hal Baer??
I am just curious to know if you feeling is that if you had not called and said that Todd referred you to Hal Baer, that you would not have had the replacements. Does your papers from Baer include a written warranty?

.02 - As i posted elsewhere recently, a fellow i know who is very active in racing his fully prepared '90 5.0, not just open track, but that along with sanctioned racing, recommended to me to never get holes or slots in rotors.
But as in all things, some specimens are better than others, as evidenced by the slotted rotors mentioned above lasting very well.
Thanks.

[Vortech347]

I will never run cross drilled rotors for this specific reason. Even with the best it happens. I'm a big fan of slotted rotors.

[DEFYANT]

Good to know that Baer came thru with a new pair of rotors, as they should.
Evidently you had already spoken with first line personnel that answers the phone before you first posted, and before TAF suggested you call Hal Baer??
I am just curious to know if you feeling is that if you had not called and said that Todd referred you to Hal Baer, that you would not have had the replacements. Does your papers from Baer include a written warranty?

.02 - As i posted elsewhere recently, a fellow i know who is very active in racing his fully prepared '90 5.0, not just open track, but that along with sanctioned racing, recommended to me to never get holes or slots in rotors.
But as in all things, some specimens are better than others, as evidenced by the slotted rotors mentioned above lasting very well.
Thanks.

I called Baer and tried to speak with Mr. Baer. They would not put him on the phone. I called a couple of times, left my number but could not get through. Frustrated, with time ticking and a road trip at very soon, I delt with a sales rep.

Bottom line was Baer sold me the slotted only rotors for the vendor cost. I probably could have done better if I haggled more and spent more time with the issue. But I needed to get this car on the road - now, no yesterday.

Thanks to TAF for his help. The PMs and email were helpful.

Today the new rotors arrived. The pads are here. Tonight I'll get the hats on. Tomorrow when my Son gets home from school, the car will go back together.

Pics to follow...

[jgc61sr2002]

Today the new rotors arrived. The pads are here. Tonight I'll get the hats on. Tomorrow when my Son gets home from school, the car will go back together.

Pics to follow...[/QUOTE]


Charlie you let your son work on your Marauder?:D

[Bluerauder]

Charlie you let your son work on your Marauder?:D
Ever since Charlie told CJ that mechanics bill out at $75.00 an hour, he can't get the boy out from under the car. ;) Sure beats totin' garbage bags and washing dishes for a $5.00 allowance. :rofl:

[DEFYANT]

Charlie you let your son work on your Marauder?:D

Every chance I get! :)

The Marauder is back on the road again. I logged over 100 miles today as part of the break in proceedure. I need to get up to 500 to 700 miles and up to 10 to 16 heat cycles before the bedding and seasoning.

Quick pic:

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/2/6/4/4/DCP_2054.JPG

[merc]

You should be Ready for Freddy. I am off to Commerce GA tonight. See at the show.

[DEFYANT]

You should be Ready for Freddy. I am off to Commerce GA tonight. See at the show.

Safe trip Mark!

:beer:

See you there.