GR Yaris Avoid DBA brakes if you plan to drive the GR Yaris in a sporty/spirited way.

JohnCassidy

JohnCassidy

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Hi,

this is my first post on this forum. I want to warn all of you :)

TLDR: Do not buy DBA brake discs if you plan to drive the GR Yaris in a sporty/spirited way.

2.jpg


I am regularly using the GR Yaris in various types of track day events. At the moment, I have taken
part in over 15 events with this car. I would rather describe myself as an average, cautious driver.

Recently, I worn out the second set of the OEM discs. I decided to buy something from another
brand. ATM DBA T3 5000 set was easily available. I put the discs on and carried out the brake pad
bedding procedure in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations (Ferodo DS Uno). I
went to a track day. In total, I drove about 200 km (~125 miles) on the track and 800 km (~500 miles) on the highway.

During the event, there was no "soft pedal" phenomenon, the pads did not show excessive signs of wear, no
brake fluid loss, no loss of braking force. In a word, everything was normal. I did not overheat the
brake system.

When I got home, I saw an image like in the picture attached. Rotors for quite a lot of
money only good for the bin. Of course, I filed a warranty. Unfortunately, the EU distributor
showed a lack of technical knowledge, and the manufacturer based his refusal on something like
"you bedded the pads wrongly and overheated the rotors, and by the way, you shouldn't use this
product for track driving". This contradicts the statement that the DBA T3 5000 are discs
recommended for track day events (https://dba.com.au/products/brake-rotors/5000-series/).
The manufacturer and distributor do not want to listen to any arguments. They do not
reply to any messages.

Don't make the same mistake as I did, and don't buy this product. It is
obviously far below the quality of the OEM brake discs.
 
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Damn that sucks. Some of these aftermarket companies really leave a sour taste. Shoddy quality, bad customer service and then asking sizable money for that too. Clearly just jumped on the bandwagon wanting to make a quick buck.
 
JohnCassidy said:
Hi,

this is my first post on this forum. I want to warn all of you :)

TLDR: Do not buy DBA brake discs if you plan to drive the GR Yaris in a sporty/spirited way.


Don't make the same mistake as I did, and don't buy this product. It is
obviously far below the quality of the OEM brake discs.
Click to expand...
thanks for sharing the experience. DBA was on my list of potential disc replacements but dropping it now.
 
JohnCassidy said:
Hi,

this is my first post on this forum. I want to warn all of you :)

TLDR: Do not buy DBA brake discs if you plan to drive the GR Yaris in a sporty/spirited way.

View attachment 31184

I am regularly using the GR Yaris in various types of track day events. At the moment, I have taken
part in over 15 events with this car. I would rather describe myself as an average, cautious driver.

Recently, I worn out the second set of the OEM discs. I decided to buy something from another
brand. ATM DBA T3 5000 set was easily available. I put the discs on and carried out the brake pad
bedding procedure in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations (Ferodo DS Uno). I
went to a track day. In total, I drove about 200 km (~125 miles) on the track and 800 km (~500 miles) on the highway.

During the event, there was no "soft pedal" phenomenon, the pads did not show excessive signs of wear, no
brake fluid loss, no loss of braking force. In a word, everything was normal. I did not overheat the
brake system.

When I got home, I saw an image like in the picture attached. Rotors for quite a lot of
money only good for the bin. Of course, I filed a warranty. Unfortunately, the EU distributor
showed a lack of technical knowledge, and the manufacturer based his refusal on something like
"you bedded the pads wrongly and overheated the rotors, and by the way, you shouldn't use this
product for track driving". This contradicts the statement that the DBA T3 5000 are discs
recommended for track day events (https://dba.com.au/products/brake-rotors/5000-series/).
The manufacturer and distributor do not want to listen to any arguments. They do not
reply to any messages.

Don't make the same mistake as I did, and don't buy this product. It is
obviously far below the quality of the OEM brake discs.
Click to expand...
So. The picture attached is not your brake disc but a pic you found somewhere?

Would you be so kind to upload an actual picture of your brake disc?

Would be very interested to see how they actually look, because i know a few people using the DBA Discs who never had any issues with them…

And do you have additional cooling or is that stock?
What kind of power do you have and at what track where you?
 
Phil1291 said:
So. The picture attached is not your brake disc but a pic you found somewhere?

Would you be so kind to upload an actual picture of your brake disc?

Would be very interested to see how they actually look, because i know a few people using the DBA Discs who never had any issues with them…

And do you have additional cooling or is that stock?
What kind of power do you have and at what track where you?
Click to expand...

Hi Phil,

First of all, I would like to tell you I very much like your YouTube channel. I think I watched every single GR Yaris video :)

I can understand why you have your doubts, but believe me, I genuinely want to warn other users, and this is an actual picture of my car.
Cracks are very unusual. Definitely not a typical wear of brake disks. I am attaching more photos.
I have additional cooling. The one from hrnshn-racing, found thanks to your video :)
I am running stock map with some bolt on mods in order to reduce heat (IC, oil cooler, vented bonnet, and so on).
I am taking part in events on “big” Polish tracks, Tor Poznań and Salesia Ring. They are quite fast and can be demanding on brakes. OEM discs handled those objects just fine. BTW, you should visit those objects some time, we have a few fast GRYs here :)


10.jpg
6.jpg
1.jpg
 
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Actually, rotor cracking is very common and typical in the racing environment. Here is an example of AP Racing J-hook rotors from the Porsche forum:

img_5464_2e5072d88bae4e3a60d5891c184f3e6dba537edb.jpg


However, cracking them in a single track day is not normal.
Have you ran DS Uno with stock rotors as well?
 
tonic said:
Actually, rotor cracking is very common and typical in the racing environment. Here is an example of AP Racing J-hook rotors from the Porsche forum:

img_5464_2e5072d88bae4e3a60d5891c184f3e6dba537edb.jpg


However, cracking them in a single track day is not normal.
Have you ran DS Uno with stock rotors as well?
Click to expand...
I am aware that rotor cracking is very common when tracking cars. As you said, I would suspect rotors to withstand much more than a single track event. When you look closely at the photos, you can see that cracks are very unusual. There are exactly 4 of them on each rotor, separated by about 90 degrees. What is even more interesting is that cracks are starting near the hubs, not as usual, on the outside or middle of the rotor. Compare the photo from the Porsche forum to the one below.

5_edited.webp


About DS Uno, yes, I used those pads with stock OEM discs, no problems noted.
 
OEM disks are proper thick, more mass and thus can take higher heat stress in a single break event...
 
Onehp said:
OEM disks are proper thick, more mass and thus can take higher heat stress in a single break event...
Click to expand...

I agree, disk thickness and mass of course are important for heat capacity, but this is not the whole equation. Design of cooling, quality of materials, or even assembly torque in the factory can make or break brakes 😁

I understand that some users may have been lucky and received full-fledged products from DBA. But from my experience and quite a few voices I heard (sadly after I bought my set of disks) customer service and, I don’t really know what? Quality control, maybe? Seams to be rather low.
 
JohnCassidy said:
I agree, disk thickness and mass of course are important for heat capacity, but this is not the whole equation. Design of cooling, quality of materials, or even assembly torque in the factory can make or break brakes 😁

I understand that some users may have been lucky and received full-fledged products from DBA. But from my experience and quite a few voices I heard (sadly after I bought my set of disks) customer service and, I don’t really know what? Quality control, maybe? Seams to be rather low.
Click to expand...
The appear to be one of the cheaper offerings, no directional cooling with the reduced support of the braking surface probably doesn't help. You get what you pay for?
 
That caliper looks like it has a hard life too though, judging by the discolouration of the GR logo.

I don't think I've seen one which has gone that colour.
 
Onehp said:
The appear to be one of the cheaper offerings, no directional cooling with the reduced support of the braking surface probably doesn't help. You get what you pay for?
Click to expand...
DBA is about the same price as EBC where I live. EBC was my first choice, unfortunately it was unavailable. And well... DBA is by far not the cheapest option, more like middle of the road.

Have you heard of the EBC having, similarly to the DBA, an “aliexpress” level of RMA and customer support?
 
EBC has very good support. Can you say more about the setup of the car? I have plenty of customers running DBA. DBA Rotos are VERY heavy so they can absorb lots of heat. Never heard of issues like that, where is the car tracked, what pads used on the rear?
 
HRNSHN-Racing said:
EBC has very good support. Can you say more about the setup of the car? I have plenty of customers running DBA. DBA Rotos are VERY heavy so they can absorb lots of heat. Never heard of issues like that, where is the car tracked, what pads used on the rear?
Click to expand...

Sure thing :-)

The car is running stock engine map. At the moment of the event dyno tested at about 280hp.
Most important mods:
Airtec IC (stage 1),
Airtec Auxilliary Radiator,
Hel Oil Cooler,
Forge air inlet duct,
Thunderlane one-way coilovers,
Hel brake lines,
Hel carbon brake shims,
HRNSHN-Racing ;) brake cooling ducts,
DS Uno front,
Stock brake pads rear,
Dunlop Direzza 03g 225/45/18 with stock BBS wheels,
Vented GRMN style bonnet,
TOMs wing.
There are more, but those are most the impactful mods.
Car before the event was tracked at Tor Poznań.

After talking to some people, I found others with similar problems with DBA brakes. The most important issue is not the product itself, but DBA customer support and warranty processes. Those are, to put it simply, disrespectful at best.
 
well running stock pads on the rear and using high friction pads on fronts not not optimum. but it should not look like this after one trackday, but the blue hotspots look like also not beeing bed in very well. hard to tell. but ive never seen destroyed DBAs after one trackday like that.
 
Apologies for bringing up an old thread, but I have also been a victim of DBA 5000 T3 rotors cracking. Figured I would make an account to give my example:

1750734505810.webp

1750734704733.webp


1750734571302.webp
1750734585149.webp


Both driver and passenger rotors started forming cracks in a similar pattern as the OP after only 3,600kms on OEM brake pads. Luckily caught it early on.

Last thing you want is for something like this to happen:



I would urge others that have purchased DBA rotors on their GR to check them very carefully!

1750734536330.webp
 
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