We all know the OEM CCB rotors are extremely expensive and it’s one reason I haven’t tracked my car five times a year at COTA, every year since I owned the RS5. The CCB’s tend not to last on-track and if you overheat them enough, they’re done. Throw them in the garbage and find close to $10K for a new set.
I have a solution. Continuous fiber reinforced ceramic. The largest difference is the way they’re made. It’s not a cast process but rather it uses continuous carbon fiber and is an additive/machined process.
There is FINALLY, a ceramic rotor can be refurbished, much like an iron rotor. These rotors have a TRACK LIFE of 5,000 to 10,000 miles (that’s hard track use folks, not daily driving) before needing to be refurbished. The refurbishing procedure is about $600 and takes 10 days as it’s done on a very specialized machine.
The rotors themselves have all the benefits of CCB rotors, same weight benefits, but can withstand much higher temperatures, are more thermally efficient and as I said, can be refurbished if the need ever arises. There’s a street pad and a track pad, both by Pagid.
This is not new technology. It’s been used by Koenigsegg since 2004 on every vehicle they’ve produced and the Porsche track junkie community has been enjoying them for years as a replacement for their carbon ceramic rotors.
They’re about half the cost of new CCB’s, street price (like from ECS Tuning). MSRP is generally around the $6300 range for TWO of the CFRC rotors. Not cheap but these will literally last the life of the vehicle and you can actually use them on-track without worry.
The first size is a 380x38 disc for the RS5 and a few other vehicles which use the same disc (R8, Hurican, Gallardo). I know the number of RS5 owners would be small and luckily the rotor is the same across multiple vehicles so we benefit.
There’s also the strong possibility a 380x34mm rotor could be brought to market. For the non-CCB equipped cars with the 8-piston calipers, these discs are compatible with both iron rotor and CCB calipers. So the non-CCB cars could have a new option to now have carbon ceramic rotors and leave the OEM calipers in place, albeit with spacers for the new rotor diameter.
I know many of you would probably be interested in a rear setup to “match” the fronts. The rear rotors on the RS5 are only 22mm in width and currently, it would require a completely new rotor design. It can be done with enough committed interest but I don’t think it’d be worth it given the cost would be about the same as a set of fronts.
Lastly, there’s a 395x38mm disc that will work with the CCB caliper cars with spacers up front. That also, is a possibility.
The other rotor we’re looking at is the R8’s rear CCB rotor which again, is shared by multiple vehicles spanning almost two decades so the numbers and the need are there. These would not retrofit to the RS5 even with a custom caliper kit.
It would probably require about 10 committed parties to bring to market for any new size.
Currently, the full four wheel setup for the R8/Hurican/Gallardo is a go, with the initial shipment 6-8 weeks out. Naturally we can use the front rotors on the RS5 if your car was originally equipped with CCB’s.
If the base brake package cars want a fitment with a 380x34mm rotor, it’s doable but there has to be actual interest. Otherwise one could source the Brembo 19Z calipers, brackets and brake lines and have a far less costly upgrade path to carbon ceramic brakes. The 19Z calipers would not have to be CCB-specific. They came on several Porsche’s equipped with iron rotors. Because the CFRC rotors are 3X more thermally conductive, they’ll work with “normal” calipers and don’t need the carbon ceramic pistons.
