YODAONE

OEM replacement rotors.purchased from Toyota/Lexus are made in Japan and are good-excellent quality.

Parts store aftermarket brands, although less expensive, are of unknown, and, typically, lesser, quality.

One way to "modify" your stock brakes is to have brake rotors and pads cryo-treated.

How does cryogenic processing improve hardness?

Hardness is improved in metals subjected to a cryogenic treatment process (-300 Fahrenheit) when retained austenite is eliminated from the molecular structure and compared to a conventionally heat treated metal workpiece.

How does cryogenic processing improve toughness?

Low temperature conditioning of martensite is responsible for increasing the toughness of metal parts when compared to a conventionally heat treated metal workpiece. A deep cryogenically treated component shows far higher toughness than conventionally heat treated material, or the raw metal material.

Typical.issues with brake rotors;

1.) Wear
2.).Cracking under high mileage conditions
3.) Brake rotor warpage.
4.).Blue discoloration, cracks, or grooves.
5.) Brake parts melting due to the heat generated.
6.) Excessive brake noise.
7.) Corrosion

Benefits of cryogenically treated brake rotors;

1.) 200 - 300% increase in rotor life.
2.) Less costs for maintenance and labor;
50% savings on labor costs.
50% savings on rotor costs.
50% savings associated with costs for frequently changing brake rotors.
3.) Rotors warp less.
4.) Rotors dissipate heat better.
5.) More resistance to cracking.
6.) Improved performance and safety.
7.) Improved wear rate.
8.) Improvements in the bulk and matrix hardness.
9.) Decrease in wear rate and surface roughness.
10.).Rotors are more predictable.
11.) Rotors run cooler.
12.) Less brake fade.
13.) Cracking and warping prevention.
14.).Shorter stopping distances.
15.) Green/environmentally friendly – reduces brake dust and emissions by up to 50%.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Some supplemental discussion from a thread in '07:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...tml?styleid=14

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

well, I agree with mike on this, really a waste of money and time..
read up: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...tml?styleid=14

oldskewel

iTrader: (1)

+1, but there is a second order effect mentioned there ...
"Based on what my heat treat guy just relayed, I don't think there will be any obvious braking improvement. (Your wallet is lighter hence less weight, you car will stop faster hopefully. )"

mikaelse

Minimal effect expected if any on normal brake rotors of cast iron. (I am a mechanical engineer.)
Cryotreating can be important in some rare case. If you have a hardened part with
supertight tollerances in the micron range cryotreating before finishing may be smart.
This is not.....

400fanboy

A Porsche GT3 RS may use this to eek out an extra 1% in braking performance. Okay, that I understand.

We have a luxo-barge. It's not meant for the canyons or racetrack. And honestly, especially for it's era and size and weight, the braking performance on our LS's is actually quite good considering how much body dive there is once you step on the brakes. It takes a second but then they bite hard.

YODAONE

Cryo treating is not new, but pricing has come down a bit and there is history of where greatest cost benefits lie.

As I canvassed the internet, there were abundant examples of fleet managers employing cryogenics to double the life expectancy of brake friction components.....where oftentimes they would not spend the money.

Heat treating does wonders, but cryo-treatment puts the ribbon on the package and offers advantages heat treating cannot.

The take away (mine) is that wear of mating friction surfaces is considerably reduced through cryogenics.

Have a look and see if any online data dispels with these findings.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

YMMV obviously here. I wouldn't spend the money for the treatment. Mine has 210K on the original front and rear rotors, at my projected use the replacement of the front rotors may come in the 250-280K mile range. The Toyota ceramic front pads were installed at 124K back in '08 and there is an easy 30K more on the pads. I don't recall off hand what the rotor thickness is on the rear other than I was joking I will not have to consider replacing them till beyond 320K. The boots on the rear calipers will have me in there soon for a rebuild. The So. Cal highway conditions I encounter don't get up to high speeds so getting the car stopped isn't particularly hard on mine.

I'm aware others go through pads from 30-60K and rotors every 70K-100K. My thought is the shop that turns them is heavy handed and or the driver is making hard stops with regularity. To many rotor pad combinations to be definitive. The shop that inspected ours stated I'd need rear pads within 5K miles. I'm not hard on brakes so they went 10K and it wasn't necessary to change them when I did. I felt I'd get another 10K out of them. Because I had the wheels off and pads out to measure across the surface I did the replacement drill anyhow.