R1 Concepts Brakes

[AllBoostNoEco]

Not sure if anyone else is familiar with them, but my new front brakes arrived today from R1. Got their black E-Line slotted rotors and Optimum OEP pads, as they were the highest friction pads they sell for the Expedition.
Obviously, I’ll be following up once I get them installed, but initial impressions are solid. The coating is uniform and over the entire rotor. No missed spots or areas where the coating appears to be off from the rest of it. Pads are pads, these do come with rubber-coated shims to eliminate noise, but otherwise they are fairly standard.
I have high hopes, they had a pretty good reputation on the F-150 board, and they’re the same brakes.

 

[Munkiebunz3]

They look nice. I'm guessing the coating wears away to reveal the metal underneath? Please give us a review after the installation & a few miles!

 

[AllBoostNoEco]

Took forever, but I got them installed finally and put some miles on them, about 1K so far.
Bottom-line is that they are an improvement over the stock brakes in every way except one: initial cold bite. The first stop after they’ve been sitting cold lacks grab, but once they warm up, they are fantastic. Grab is linear and easy to modulate, braking from high speeds is much stronger and doesn’t require as much pedal force as it did before. Granted, my stock pads were shot, as evidenced by the pictures, but still a noteworthy improvement.
Fade is also decreased versus the old stuff. Driving the downhill 12 miles home from work would easily cook the stock brakes, and these don’t seem to suffer any fade at all.
The improved looks are just a side benefit, and they do look way better under the wheels.
For $200 shipped to my door for the fronts, I’d say they were a good choice. I’ll keep this updated as the miles continue to increase.

 

[Uncle Boethius]

It looks like that rotor is installed on the wrong side.
The slots will tend to drive debris and water toward the center. Not good.

 

[Black]

I had a Sienna before the Expedition and folks that did not do big brake kits like R1s a lot.
I did not have the Sienna long enough to swap brakes out so no personal experience.

I presume the pads are ceramic since you say they don’t have much cold bite? What about when it is wet out?

I had been eyeing the StopTechs. Glad to hear you like these. Where did you get them?

 

[AllBoostNoEco]

I actually discussed this with R1, and while they recommend the other direction typically, they also said it comes down to user preference. In my case, even with angled vents (which this rotor does not have) I would run my rotors this direction.
I’ve never seen hard evidence of any detrimental effects due to them being run this direction, but I don’t know everything, and if there’s something I’m missing please let me know where I can find the information so I’m aware for the future

 

[AllBoostNoEco]

I had a Sienna before the Expedition and folks that did not do big brake kits like R1s a lot.
I did not have the Sienna long enough to swap brakes out so no personal experience.

I presume the pads are ceramic since you say they don’t have much cold bite? What about when it is wet out?

I had been eyeing the StopTechs. Glad to hear you like these. Where did you get them?

The pads are actually original OEM compound, just “enhanced”. Based on their charts, they rate ceramics and semi-metallic as a 7 on the friction level, their Super Heavy-Duty as a 6.5, and their Performance as 9.5; but, sadly, they don’t offer the Performance for our trucks. As I could easily achieve ABS activation on dry pavement with OEM pads, I chose these, as friction level with OEM pads was never an issue.
I failed to update this, but cold bite is no longer an issue, and they now act just like stock even with sub-freezing temps, so presumably they just needed to wear a bit even with proper bedding.

I got them directly from R1, as they frequently run a sale. I think they are offering 20% off for Black Friday right this moment actually.
I looked at the StopTechs as well, but I liked being able to get the black coating on the R1s. I REALLY wanted EBC and YellowStuff pads, but they are 2.5 times the price.

 

[Uncle Boethius]

I suppose if the internal cooling vanes are radial and not directional (angled), then the configuration of the surface slots is not super important, especially if they do not continue through to the rotor edge.
Why do you run them against recommended direction? Are they more quiet that way?

 

[Trainmaster]

Let us know how these work out. I've had nothing but problems with aftermarket Chinese brakes. If they work well they wear quickly. If they last, they don't work well. But they're cheap.

 

[AllBoostNoEco]

I suppose if the internal cooling vanes are radial and not directional (angled), then the configuration of the surface slots is not super important, especially if they do not continue through to the rotor edge.
Why do you run them against recommended direction? Are they more quiet that way?

They aren’t more quiet, it stems from my track days, when running angled/curved vanes this direction as opposed to normal, it forces more air into the center of the rotor. A 3,700-pound car riding on 11-inch twin-piston brakes needed all the help I could give it in the cooling department.

Let us know how these work out. I've had nothing but problems with aftermarket Chinese brakes. If they work well they wear quickly. If they last, they don't work well. But they're cheap.

R1 uses Centric rotor blanks, which is the same company used by StopTech in their brakes, granted I got their standard rotors as opposed to premium, whereas StopTech only uses the premium rotors. From the information I could find, there’s no differences in materials, the premium simply have curved vanes rather than straight. It gives me some faith that these will survive for a while. I will certainly keep updating as time goes by. I’ll have 5K miles on them at my next oil change, so should have an idea of how fast they are wearing at that point.