cryo treat trans gears/brakes for long life?

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I've been hearing about "cryogenic treatment" for awhile, which i'm told can radically increase the lifespan under heavy load of various parts. Usually what I read is it can take 10% more power but can last 3-5 times as long, which I find amazing. But since that's marketing copy, i'm curious if anyone has tried using it on their brake discs, brake pads, clutch discs, and similar to see whether it really does last that long.

I'm having a hard time finding real world reports from people who have used it outside hot rodders just trying to get another 10% power handling or hotshotters who break everything so it's hard to know whether they are really getting life extension accordingly.
 
I'm originally from Wichita,Ks and there is a place on us54 highway that builds high dollar hotrods that did cryo in autos. Not sure if they are still there but I remember reading about it.
 
My rotors last indefinitely when cryo'd. I have had OE and aftermarket rotors fail in 12k-30k far too often without it.

Best if you have a known brake issue, and don't want to use an OE or aftermarker big disk upgrade.

Have used it on tools, blades, bits, gears... and all last considerably longer.
 
Rotors can easily last indefinitely with a nice soft pad.

My rotors are heat treated for hardness... every time I drive the car.

I regularly attend track events all over the country and the last guy I saw with cryogenically treated rotors was examining the huge cracks at the drilled holes...
 
I don't care for weak pads. I'm surprised that some still drill fad holes in rotors. Cracks weren't caused by cryo.
 
I've "cryo treated" a few truck tires in my day when loading cryo liquid tanker trailers. They don't fare nearly as well as iron brake parts will. LOL.

I've also dealt with the aftermath of steel process pipelines shattering like glass when they (accidentally) got too cold.
 
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I really don't understand how cryotempering is beneficial to gears. Gear metallurgy consists of a quench and tempered microstructure which contains tempered martensite and retained austenite. Cryotempering converts retained austenite to martensite. I see two problems with that. One is that retained austenite can often be beneficial in controlled amounts, since it provides some flexibility in the material, and makes it more resistant to particle contaminant denting. The other is that the new martensite produced by cryotempering is untempered and brittle, making it a weak spot for cracks to initiate.

By the way, the rotors on my '01 Sable had virtually no wear at 60K. They were not cryotreated as far as I know.

I am extremely skeptical of the benefit claims for cryotreating anything but quench and tempered steel. Nobody has shown the mechanism of material response to cryotreating brake rotors, and I am far from dumb and quite versed on this subject.
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas
By the way, the rotors on my '01 Sable had virtually no wear at 60K. They were not cryotreated as far as I know.

I just want a good set of rotors when it's time. I don't care if they wave a magic wand above them before putting them in the box.
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas
I really don't understand how cryotempering is beneficial to gears. Gear metallurgy consists of a quench and tempered microstructure which contains tempered martensite and retained austenite. Cryotempering converts retained austenite to martensite. I see two problems with that. One is that retained austenite can often be beneficial in controlled amounts, since it provides some flexibility in the material, and makes it more resistant to particle contaminant denting. The other is that the new martensite produced by cryotempering is untempered and brittle, making it a weak spot for cracks to initiate.

By the way, the rotors on my '01 Sable had virtually no wear at 60K. They were not cryotreated as far as I know.

I am extremely skeptical of the benefit claims for cryotreating anything but quench and tempered steel. Nobody has shown the mechanism of material response to cryotreating brake rotors, and I am far from dumb and quite versed on this subject.


Thank you for the info. I am also skeptical, but have no scientific proof, only real world evidence.

I, too, have had rotors last a VERY long time with very little wear. As long as I have been racing cars at the track I have noticed that folks get confused between a ROTOR problem and a PAD problem.

Iron is iron, any properly manufactured rotor will perform well if it meets OEM standards or better....
 
Yeah, thanks Kestas, I've always been skeptical of cryotreating, but working at the 1000F end of the spectrum, I've (nor any of the gear for creep/fatigue) never been exposed to it.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Do you think they are worth it if they are available?


IME here they work very well. No noticeable wear even at high mileages on our extremely heavy trucks.

But I've never bought one yet, I'm not sure how they are priced...
 
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