Hi guys,
I have these front rotors on my daily driven 04' USDM WRX STi for a few months now, I put about 7000 miles on them already. Now is a good time for a review.
I LOVE these rotor, they fulfill every one of my requirements:
Looks : The 2-pieces design with the anodize aluminum hat looks perfect, combine with the stock Brembos caliper, it really looks like highend exotic racing brakes!! Please see pictures below.
Performance: I don't know if you guys know, I am a weight saving freak, I love weight saving mods. That is the biggest reason why I love these rotor so much. Because of the aluminum hat replacing the cast iron stock rotor hub section, they are 6 lbs lighter per rotor (yes I weighed them personally, I didn't believe iON's claim at first because it is such a big claim) That is A LOT!!! Taking weight off the brake rotor is good for handling of the car because it is unsprung weight, it is good for both acceleration and braking of the car because it is rotational weight. It works exactly like having lighter weight wheels, but the highest quality, lightest forged aluminum wheels out there are only 2-3 lbs lighter then the stock wheel at the most, these are 6 lbs lighter each!! Remember, the more weight you take off any rotating assembly of the car, the less power the drivetrain losses, meaning the car put down more power to the ground, so the car is quicker without adding stress to the motor. Just like how light weight pulley and light weight flywheel works, but without any driveability issue. A 5 lbs lighter weight aluminum pulley set is dyno proven to free up 5~7 whp, imagine how much power you gain from taking 12 lbs off the 2 front wheels!! (I haven't re-dyno my car yet). Another benefit of the 2-pieces design is separating the intense heat of the rotor from the center hub, so the wheel bearing last longer, the rotor also dissipate heat faster due to the 2-pieces design.
Price: They are cheaper then the OEM rotor from Subaru, need I say more? OEM rotor from Subaru is $400 each. What even better is, iON can replace just the rotor for you when it is worn out. The replacement rotor are $250 each, which includes labor on disassembly/re-assembly and dynamically rebalancing them . Other aftermarket 2-pieces brake rotor company offer similar service, but they are all in Japan and Australia, so turn around time is a lot longer then iON being in Canada.
Customer services: They have been great, they answer every one of my questions (I had a lot) with professional knowledges. They ship out the rotor to me right away. They answer emails and phone call promptly.
Driving impression: The front end of the car feels lighter on its feet, initial turn in is better. Initial acceleration feels more explosive. Acceleration in general is a little better thru the whole power band.
Here are some pics:
Stock:
iON 2-pieces:
Comparison:
I am not affiliated with iON performance in any way, I am just one of their very satisfied customer.
I do have something I want to accomplish with this review/post. I need more people to be interested in the 2-pieces rear brake rotor for the STi from iON. They need 10 commited buyers in order to make the product cost effective. I am commited, so they need 9 more buyers. Come on guys, you know you want it, trust me, it worth every penny. The rear rotor is 10 lbs lighter (info from iON) each because the rear parking brake hub is huge!!! So the total weight saving from the 4 rotors are 32 lbs Here is their thread on the rear rotors:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...hreadid=510965
Here is their thread on prices and infos on the front rotors:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...5&pagenumber=1
Here is their website with their contact infos:
http://www.ionperformance.com/
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