[AutoExe]

My brakes are GONE at 40000km and I need new pads and rotors. Has anyone tried KVR rotors?

[ZX3TUNR]

Darkpuppet has the full KVR big brake kit on his focus.

Bloody $$$$ thow.

[AutoExe]

I'm not looking for a full BBK...just rotors since my stockers are warped and grooved and need replacing. The KVR rotors run about $220 a pair so it's not too bad. For pads I'm planning on EBC Green Stuff.

The only problem is that I haven't heard of KVR prior to researching brakes and I couldn't find many reviews on them, so I'm just looking to see if they're any good. After all - brakes are an important safety aspect of the car and I wouldn't want to compromise on them!

Also - would slotted rotors wear the brake pads quicker, and if so, by how much?

Thanks!

[ANTHONYD]

PM darkpuppet. He just got his rotors in. He'll be able to give a feel of what they are like.

[Fingers]

KVR retail outlet is in my hometown, they do all the drilling/slotting there.

They do NOT know what they're doing, and only recently did they start drilling rotors with a CNC plan. Before, they were using a drill press, a template, and student minimum wage labour.

I highly recommend you never deal with this lying scum of a company. There are tons of options. KVR should NEVER be one of them.

[Focused]

Fingers,Jun 18 2005, 01:58 PM Wrote:KVR retail outlet is in my hometown, they do all the drilling/slotting there.

They do NOT know what they're doing, and only recently did they start drilling rotors with a CNC plan.  Before, they were using a drill press, a template, and student minimum wage labour. 

I highly recommend you never deal with this lying scum of a company.  There are tons of options.  KVR should NEVER be one of them.
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wow....that's pretty harsh.... <_<


we've been dealing with KVR for a number of years now....not ONCE have we had an issue with the quality or durability of their product...I've used them myself, and have nothing but good things to say about them. Their rotors are up to par..and the pads are ultra low on dust too...what more could you want?

[AutoExe]

Fingers,Jun 18 2005, 01:58 PM Wrote:KVR retail outlet is in my hometown, they do all the drilling/slotting there.

They do NOT know what they're doing, and only recently did they start drilling rotors with a CNC plan.  Before, they were using a drill press, a template, and student minimum wage labour. 

I highly recommend you never deal with this lying scum of a company.  There are tons of options.  KVR should NEVER be one of them.
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KVR isn't my first choice but afaik my only choices at the moment are KVR and the stock FoMoCo rotors.

I'd love to get Brembo OE replacements (they're suprsingly cheap too, considering they're Brembo!) but they don't have an application for my Mazda yet.

[Fingers]

Focused,Jun 18 2005, 07:25 PM Wrote:wow....that's pretty harsh.... <_<


we've been dealing with KVR for a number of years now....not ONCE have we had an issue with the quality or durability of their product...I've used them myself, and have nothing but good things to say about them.  Their rotors are up to par..and the pads are ultra low on dust too...what more could you want?
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For one thing, honest businessmen. Tyler is SCUM. So is everyone that works there. They try to rip honest people off, in any way possible.

Anyway, the reason why their rotors are up to par is because for the higher end ones, they just relabel reputable brands. The stuff they make in house has gotten MUCH better over the years, but a buddy of mine worked there in 2003, working the drill press for their "cross drilled" rotors. The goddamn things were vented (you know, venting ribs in the middle), and were never designed to be crossdrilled -- sure enough, KVR would throw those shitty OEM replacement rotors on the drillpress, have a student worker drill a few holes, reduce the mass of the rotor, interfere with the originally engineered venting, and sell it for double the price. Sure enough, a few weeks pass, and your KVR JDM ExtraTite cross drilled rotors turned to cross cracked rotors.

That said, they HAVE changed their manufacturing process and have gotten a lot better over the years, but their reputation remains, and in this city -- there are very few that still trust them.

But again, this is only my opinion -- your mileage may vary. I would sooner replace my pads with sticks of butter than buy KVR.


EDIT: I should also make it clear that I'm speaking strictly of the KVR retail outlet in Ottawa. Not the KVR headquarters in california or whatever. I'm sure their business ethics are much better than Tyler's.

[Fingers]

AutoExe,Jun 19 2005, 02:08 AM Wrote:KVR isn't my first choice but afaik my only choices at the moment are KVR and the stock FoMoCo rotors.

I'd love to get Brembo OE replacements (they're suprsingly cheap too, considering they're Brembo!) but they don't have an application for my Mazda yet.
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Just replace them with OE equivalents from a local jobber, and ride it out until Brembos are available.

From my understanding, mazda 3's have some issues with the brake rotors warping, no?

Anyway do as you wish, but if you're getting lower-end KVR, understand that it's the same shitty jobber OEM rotor, with some holes drilled in it.

[AutoExe]

I wasn't too keen on KVRs myself so I decided to ask here - I never heard of them until I started searching for brakes.

I think the Mazda3 has major problems with the brakes. Sure, they stop well, but they don't last very long at all.

Before this I had problems with squeaking and and MAROR dusting on the rear (look around you, and you'll see most Mazda3s have this problem), but at 40000km, my rears are totally gone - not suprising considering they dusted themselves away.

The fronts are warped AND grooved.

Maybe I'll go bug another dealership and see if they'll cover it under warranty. If I'm getting OEM I don't want to pay for it.

[Focused]

Fingers,Jun 19 2005, 01:50 AM Wrote:

Focused,Jun 18 2005, 07:25 PM Wrote:wow....that's pretty harsh.... <_<


we've been dealing with KVR for a number of years now....not ONCE have we had an issue with the quality or durability of their product...I've used them myself, and have nothing but good things to say about them.  Their rotors are up to par..and the pads are ultra low on dust too...what more could you want?
[right][snapback]115271[/snapback][/right]

For one thing, honest businessmen. Tyler is SCUM. So is everyone that works there. They try to rip honest people off, in any way possible.

Anyway, the reason why their rotors are up to par is because for the higher end ones, they just relabel reputable brands. The stuff they make in house has gotten MUCH better over the years, but a buddy of mine worked there in 2003, working the drill press for their "cross drilled" rotors. The goddamn things were vented (you know, venting ribs in the middle), and were never designed to be crossdrilled -- sure enough, KVR would throw those shitty OEM replacement rotors on the drillpress, have a student worker drill a few holes, reduce the mass of the rotor, interfere with the originally engineered venting, and sell it for double the price. Sure enough, a few weeks pass, and your KVR JDM ExtraTite cross drilled rotors turned to cross cracked rotors.

That said, they HAVE changed their manufacturing process and have gotten a lot better over the years, but their reputation remains, and in this city -- there are very few that still trust them.

But again, this is only my opinion -- your mileage may vary. I would sooner replace my pads with sticks of butter than buy KVR.


EDIT: I should also make it clear that I'm speaking strictly of the KVR retail outlet in Ottawa. Not the KVR headquarters in california or whatever. I'm sure their business ethics are much better than Tyler's.
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well, volume speaks..

we do over $100,000 in annual sales of their product, and have had little to no problems with either their product quality or work ethics.

don't get me wrong, they aren't baer or wilwood, ]nor are they trying to be] but as an affordable aftermarkey replacement product...they are just the ticket

cheers

[Fingers]

Hey pal, power to ya! Doesn't phase me one bit what you sell to whom. I just wanted to give you guys a perspective from my end of things, knowing these individuals in real life.

Unless you buy the really low end stuff, you won't be getting it shipped from the Ottawa location anyway. So enjoy, and I can only hope your experiences remain as pleasant as they have been :)

[Flofocus]

I have Brembo blanks and KVR pads.

They work just like any other brake pad. :o :lol:

[darkpuppet]

hmmm.. I had the KVR crossdrilled, two piece rotors as part of the python kit that was installed on my car. The brakes were pretty good... after a few autocrosses, and the occasional abuse by myself, held up fine, but crossdrilled were harder on the pads, and made more noise with very little added performance over stock.

However, a shitty install led to slight rotor warpage, so I recently had them replaced with just slotted rotors up front.

And the stuff ain't cheap, that's for sure.. I actually like the brake feel much better now with the slotted rotors and CF pads that I bedded in myself.... this is what aftermarket brakes should feel like!

that's my thoughts on the KVR stuff... let's be honest, for anything but track useage, the stock brakes are just dandy. People complain about lifetime, etc, but they are equal wear parts, and the gain you get in performance is the loss you get in life expectancy.

Getting pads that dust, less, wear longer, etc, will alter the performance dynamics of the stock brakes.. not necessarily a bad thing, but not always a good thing.

So what do you do? go aftermarket and pay twice as much for something that will last twice as long, or go half priced and get something that will last half as long.. in the long run, I honestly think the performance/price ratios end up being about the same.

on a side note, even Baer doesn't recommend their cross-drilled rotors for track use, merely for the stress risers that come from them. of course they drill behind the vanes to reduce crack propogation (according to baer's site), but honestly, anyone who does cross drilled is looking for looks, not performance.

so the fact that they had someone cross-drilling the rotors manually doesn't surprise me... .all cross drilled rotors start off as regular blanks. There's no way the drilling was done just willy-nilly either, since how could you expect a kid to miss the vanes when drilling holes? There had to be a template.

So on that front, what's the point of slotted and/or cross drilled? not much when you consider that new material pads don't gas up like older/cheaper pads that the brakes were designed for.. so if you spend money on decent pads, you don't need to bother with slotted OR cross drilled. i went slotted because they're prettier than stock, but not as rice as cross-drilled.

just my .02 of course.

[ANTHONYD]

darkpuppet,Jun 21 2005, 01:42 PM Wrote:hmmm.. I had the KVR crossdrilled, two piece rotors as part of the python kit that was installed on my car.  The brakes were pretty good... after a few autocrosses, and the occasional abuse by myself, held up fine, but crossdrilled were harder on the pads, and made more noise with very little added performance over stock. 

However, a shitty install led to slight rotor warpage, so I recently had them replaced with just slotted rotors up front.

And the stuff ain't cheap, that's for sure.. I actually like the brake feel much better now with the slotted rotors and CF pads that I bedded in myself.... this is what aftermarket brakes should feel like!

that's my thoughts on the KVR stuff... let's be honest, for anything but track useage, the stock brakes are just dandy.  People complain about lifetime, etc, but they are equal wear parts, and the gain you get in performance is the loss you get in life expectancy.

Getting pads that dust, less, wear longer, etc, will alter the performance dynamics of the stock brakes.. not necessarily a bad thing, but not always a good thing.

So what do you do?  go aftermarket and pay twice as much for something that will last twice as long, or go half priced and get something that will last half as long.. in the long run, I honestly think the performance/price ratios end up being about the same.

on a side note, even Baer doesn't recommend their cross-drilled rotors for track use, merely for the stress risers that come from them.  of course they drill behind the vanes to reduce crack propogation (according to baer's site), but honestly, anyone who does cross drilled is looking for looks, not performance.

so the fact that they had someone cross-drilling the rotors manually doesn't surprise me... .all cross drilled rotors start off as regular blanks.  There's no way the drilling was done just willy-nilly either, since how could you expect a kid to miss the vanes when drilling holes?  There had to be a template.

So on that front, what's the point of slotted and/or cross drilled?  not much when you consider that new material pads don't gas up like older/cheaper pads that the brakes were designed for.. so if you spend money on decent pads, you don't need to bother with slotted OR cross drilled.  i went slotted because they're prettier than stock, but not as rice as cross-drilled.

just my .02 of course.
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I think the stock brakes on the Focus do just fine. It was one of things I liked about the car while test driving.

[Kool_ZX3]

Most new cars the stock brakes are incredible but don't last long, thier all made to give great performance these days not last long. My brothers malibu, his brakes last about 50000km's but they haul that car down with authority, no fade at all. He put on monroe brakes not long ago, thier loud as hell but they work damn good. Better then the gm brakes.

The focus has great brakes in all my expierences along with my friend's zx2, work great.