When eight ain't enough: Rotora 12-piston caliper
The folks at Rotora, purveyors of all manner of high-quality stopping components, have just released their newest brake setup that employs twelve pistons, clamping either 15- or 16-inch rotors. The use of that many pistons ensures that pedal modulation, clamping force and an even distribution of pressure is achieved. The caliper itself is manufactured from billet aluminum, while the two-piece rotor comes in either slotted or drilled and slotted.
Since the system makes use of the stock master cylinder and is compatible with all ABS systems, Rotora's setup should become a popular swap for high-performance applications in both cars and trucks. We're just trying to figure out what kind of offset and wheel combo we'll need to fit them onto John's Alero.
Full press release after the jump.
[Source: Rotora]
PRESS RELEASE
ROTORA 12-PISTON CALIPER BRAKE SYSTEM
PROFILE:
Made of billet aluminum alloy and CNC machined to ensure the highest quality; Rotora's NEW 12-piston caliper brake system enables maximum brake modulation while improving overall pedal feel to ensure equal distribution of weight transfer when braking for larger, heavier, and higher horsepower vehicles. As the largest brake system offered for SUV/Truck applications to date, sequentially sized pistons in the calipers are fine tuned by increasing the clamp load to the optimal level while utilizing the stock master cylinder to retain overall front-to-rear brake bias.
Each Rotora 12-piston caliper contains 6 ceramic formulated pads with two sequentially sized pistons pushing each pad to deliver excellent initial bite and uniform pad-to-disc contact, thereby eliminating tapered pad wear. Offered in 15" (380X34mm) or 16" (405mm X 36mm) oversize 2-piece floating discs with t-billet aluminum hat to produce the ultimate brake torque, these oversize discs provides exceptional heat dissipation to eliminate brake fade.
All systems are ABS compatible, direct bolt on, including DOT compliant steel braided brake lines, and carbon steel (SC45) mounting brackets and hardware with minimal modifications required.
COMPONENTS/FEATURES:
-Rotora billet aluminum alloy racing calipers with sequentially sized piston bore sizes engineered to each specific vehicle.
-Rotora billet aluminum hat with "floating" disc assembly to reduce heat related stress and unsprung weight.
-Rotora two piece heat treated directional vane disc system to improve airflow/cooling under severe braking. Slotted or drilled & slotted oversize 15" or 16" discs to ensure equal heat dissipation and increase thermal capacity while relieving the disc and brake pad surface free of excess debris.
-Rotora ceramic formulated pads designed for extreme street and off-road application with high co-efficient of friction and high temperature fade resistance.
-Rotora DOT compliant stainless steel braided brake lines to improve stiffer pedal feel and prevent brake hose expansion.
-Rotora S45C carbon steel mounting brackets and hardware.
Applications for:
-Audi, -BMW, -Cadillac, -Chevrolet, -GMC, -Hummer, -Jaguar, -Lexus, -Land Rover, -Mercedes, -Porsche, -Volkswagen
OPTIONAL:
Standard Caliper Color: red or metallic blue.
Custom Caliper Color: dark blue, chrome, gunmetal, gold, silver, black, or yellow (lead time of 60 days depending on application).
Ceramic Pads: (Rotora offers a wide range of ceramic compound pad grades). Refer to brake pads section to assist in selection.
Disc Type: plain, slotted, or drilled & slotted oversize discs. (For more severe applications, slotted is preferred. For street and light track use, plain OEM or drilled & slotted is acceptable).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mike Beversluis 10:24AM (4/20/2007)
The Gillette Fusion of brake calipers.
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Bob 9:55AM (4/20/2007)
I'm sure these work great and are surely far beyond the point of diminishing return...
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White Goodman 10:00AM (4/20/2007)
Pure marketing bling. I bet these will be seen on many a BMW 3-series behind $8000 20" HRE wheels with 4" chrome lips and 25 series tire. The new RICE.
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PBCrunch 10:15AM (4/20/2007)
What part of your car has the greatest effect on stopping distance? It isn't the brake pads, calipers, or lines.
Tires have the biggest effect on stopping distance.
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Mike Beversluis 10:25AM (4/20/2007)
Also, PBCrunch is totally right.
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Maxzillian 11:08AM (4/20/2007)
Well, it's certainly interesting. So uh... how much of a performance gain is this of 4 or 6 pot calipers and what's the cost to performance ratio? ;)
And yes, PBC is dead right.
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MikeW 11:15AM (4/20/2007)
What is next, enough pistons to cover the periphery of the brake rotor? It would have to be assembled around the brake rotor.
Then you couldn't see the red/orange glow of a very hot piece of iron.
4 pistons is plenty, you get differential bores to reduce taper wear, and each piston isn't the size of dime or nickel.
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mxrz 11:13AM (4/20/2007)
#3, that's great, but that's not what Big Brake Kits are for anyway. It's about consistent fade free performance lap after lap... High performance tires are a given, for the target consumer of this product. Except for rich kids that purchase these just for the looks.
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Jake 11:22AM (4/20/2007)
I love that a STi has that many pistons total. If I did my math right....
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lalaland 11:48AM (4/20/2007)
Nigel Tufnel has just been outdone by one.
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--- 3:56PM (4/20/2007)
BMW's 3 series still uses single-piston calipers and gets amazing braking distances and pedal feel. So WTF does everyone else need so many pistons? (Someone smart please explain!)
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PBCrunch 5:09PM (4/20/2007)
#7, consistent fade-free performance does not come from caliper piston count. It comes from rotors with lots of mass and brake fluid that is tolerant of high temperatures. These systems are extra retarded because the drilled and/or slotted rotors decrease the brake system's cooling ability by decreasing the mass of the rotors.
These are bling, plain and simple. From the photos it looks like they use three pairs of little tiny brake pads for each caliper so the contact area of the pad probably isn't any larger than that of an eight or even four piston caliper.
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Jonny Rock 5:41PM (4/20/2007)
Hahaha, that Gillette comment was spot on.
And it should be known that simply putting bigger brakes on your car will not neccessarily improve stopping distances. In fact it can make them worse. Engineers carefully determine the size and strength of stock brakes so that weight is evenly distributed during braking.
Simply slapping on larger brakes could cause the front or rear wheels to perform a much larger braking load then they should, leading to increased, and uneven wear, to both tires and brakes.
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Barney 10:25AM (4/21/2007)
The separate brake pads and pistons with these calipers, allow the heat and wear to be shared. One or two pads only, heat faster and consequently have more fade. There was a time that disk brakes only used one pad on each side.
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