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Drilled/Slotted rotors

TerryD

TerryD

Mildly demented...
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The Suburban needs brakes. I found some cross drilled and slotted rotors online for $130 a pair. Do you guys think they would help prevent warping? I'll be pulling trailers with it eventually and it is Julie's DD, so a little extra brake cooling couldn't hurt, right? :rolleyes:
 
I wouldn't do it unless u knew they where made of quality. Even then the benefit is small I think. They look cool though.
 
Slotted is fine, drilled is not. Avoid drilled rotors on big trucks at all costs. They'll develop cracks before they have a chance to warp. Slotted rotors paired with ceramic pads are amazing, the harder you push them, the better they'll stop.
 
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I had issues with rotors warping on my blazer, bought the power stop drilled rotors when they were on sale trough summit. Haven't had a problem since, and I've had the same rotors for years now. But I would agree, with the weight of the burb and towing, go with slotted rotors.
 
zombiyjay76 said:
I had issues with rotors warping on my blazer, bought the power stop drilled rotors when they were on sale trough summit. Haven't had a problem since, and I've had the same rotors for years now. But I would agree, with the weight of the burb and towing, go with slotted rotors.
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I have the Power Stop slotted and drilled rotors on my 350Z and they work great, but it's a much lighter vehicle.
I just have OEM type rotors on my K5 but have thought about trying the slotted.
 
The drilling and slotting used to be very beneficial back when brake pads produced a lot of outgassing. Those air pockets would alllow the gas to escape and reduce brake fade,a long with a little more cooling. However, with modern brake pads that really isn't an issue anymore. The main benefit now is looks, and a little weight reduction. The quality of the steel the rotor is made of is a lot more important than whether or not it is drilled or slotted with todays pads and a good vented rotor. And drilled (or through slots) can also induce cracking before a non drilled rotor would. They do look pretty trick though.

And ceramic pads are great for less dust and longer life, but they also reduce rotor life with increased rotor wear, so there is a trade off.

I just buy good quality rotors, and stay away from the chinese parts store stuff. They warp if you look at them funny.
 
Never used the drilled slotted rotors, but have gone cheap on brake pads once,,, only once, I used the cheap organic pads from the local parts store. While using my truck then as a delivery vehicle, (similar to UPS) I exited the freeway from 70mph and by the time I got near the stoplight at the intersection, the brake pedal was soft & spongy, they heated up that bad, not a fun feeling when you can't stop... been through that a few times in the big rig as well, that was even worse :doah:

I took those off that weekend and put back on the ones I always used, and still do which would be the carbon metallic pads. They do make alittle more dust, but when they work great even while cold and when warmed up they work even better and have not yet torn up any of my rotors on the several different vehicles I have installed them on.

Not sure on how the ceramics are now days, but a few years ago, they were only recommended for high performance type applications, as they didn't tend to work as great until they were hot. Once hot & maintained hot, they worked great. Maybe they changed u p the composition some now to work on regular passenger street vehicles, I dunno..
 
4xcrazy said:
but have gone cheap on brake pads once,,, only once,
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I always try to use the best parts I can get my hands on reasonably, at least as far as brake pads go. The main reason I stopped buying the cheap brakes was brake dust, then I realized how much better my old Jeep stopped with the ceramic pads and good quality rear brake shoes on it.

folkenheath said:
I just buy good quality rotors, and stay away from the chinese parts store stuff. They warp if you look at them funny.
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Any particular brand you'd recommend? I usually use the Advance Auto Wearever stuff. I've used it quite a bit and other than driver error, it's never caused any issue. Julie is driving this things though, and God love her, I'm afraid she'll murder them. But you didn't hear that from me..... :whistle:
 
I've seen too many cracked drilled rotors. Not really much a point for them nowadays anyways, your just reducing the surface area
 
TerryD said:
I always try to use the best parts I can get my hands on reasonably, at least as far as brake pads go. The main reason I stopped buying the cheap brakes was brake dust, then I realized how much better my old Jeep stopped with the ceramic pads and good quality rear brake shoes on it.



Any particular brand you'd recommend? I usually use the Advance Auto Wearever stuff. I've used it quite a bit and other than driver error, it's never caused any issue. Julie is driving this things though, and God love her, I'm afraid she'll murder them. But you didn't hear that from me..... :whistle:
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You found ceramics stopped better? Everytime I have used them the braking is worse but they don't dust up like other brakes.

I switched to porterfield R4's. They work excellent for stopping and the brake dust is actually fairly minimal. But they are on the spendy side.
http://www.porterfield-brakes.com/product_info.php?productID=3792

When I bought my truck it came with slotted and cross drilled rotors. I tow a 4k lbs boat and I have no complaints.
 
Actually yeah, at least with the brand I bought. We put them on my Camaro, Jeep, Julie's Escort ZX2, Dad's S-10 Blazer, and I sold many sets when I worked at Advance Auto Parts. I've never noticed a reduction in braking ability with them and never had a single complaint about talking a customer into buying them. I actually got alot of "Well, I'll never buy that cheap crap again!" from the customers I sold them to. One guy actually made a special trip back in to thank me after I sold him a set for his business truck and swore he'd never have to wash black/brown brake dust off his wheels again. :waytogo:


At the time, the brand they were selling was Friction Master.
http://www.frictionmasterbrakes.com/ceramic.html
 
nsxxtreme said:
You found ceramics stopped better? Everytime I have used them the braking is worse but they don't dust up like other brakes.
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this again, from what I was told awhile back is that the ceramics work better when hot, like extreme use through city stop and go traffic constantly, they are supposedly not as good when they are cold/cooler.
 
4xcrazy said:
this again, from what I was told awhile back is that the ceramics work better when hot, like extreme use through city stop and go traffic constantly, they are supposedly not as good when they are cold/cooler.
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I had them on my Tacoma and saw the opposite. Once they heated up they had a certain stopping potential, and no matter how hard you pressed the pedal they wouldn't brake any harder. Kinda like brake fade but not, if that makes any sense. I use to always get ceramics because they wouldn't dust up the wheels like other brakes. But I always ended up with less stopping power then the brakes I took off.

The next time I did my brakes I was determined to try something new. I heard lots of good things about porterfield so I bought a set. I can say I have put those breaks through their paces and I am very happy with them and still get very low brake dust.
 
TerryD said:
Any particular brand you'd recommend? I usually use the Advance Auto Wearever stuff. I've used it quite a bit and other than driver error, it's never caused any issue. Julie is driving this things though, and God love her, I'm afraid she'll murder them. But you didn't hear that from me..... :whistle:
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Well sometimes I buy genuine GM rotors, if not I have also had good results with the Raybestes or Wagner "premium" lines, not the standard stuff. But they aren't always available for every vehicle either. For pads I have had really great wear with the Bendix brand.
 
Well, since the majority of the Brotherhood said that the ceramics didn't do as well and the drilled/slotted rotors are a hype, I bought the Wagner Premium brake pads and the standard rotors. Thanks for the advise and help guys.
 
I have PowerSlot rotors and Hawk "High Performance Street" (HPS) compound pads on my 79 c20 pickup. There is a fair amount of dust but they stop very well and the rotors hold up well. The pads are advertised to have greatly improved stopping power and higher friction over OEM, when hot or cold. The rear is a 14b FF with the same discs and pads.

My truck weighs 6500 pounds with my boxes, ladders, and tools. I drive it daily for work. I also occasionally tow a toy hauler that is just at 9000 pounds loaded with a tong weight of 1180 pounds. It does have electric brakes on all four wheels, and they work quite well. The current set of pads on my truck is 3 years old with 45-75k miles on them. The front pads will be ready to be replaced in a few months or so. The rear are still at about 40% or so of original thickness. I have my uncle turn my rotors every time I change pads (he does a very nice job and adds a cross hatch pattern with a die grinder). I also use a synthetic 2400 degree F lube on the back of the pads and another lube on the pins called syill glide. My brakes don't make any noise.

I could only be happier if my cadilac calipers would self adjust.
 
I have ceramic pads on the car - whatever the best Duralast pad is. They work very well. When hot, they are a little better than the old style. When cold they almost grab too quick. Brake pads are very easy to change so IMO the best pad is something with a lifetime warranty.

Drilled rotors are a waste of money. They reduce the surface area and thermal mass. You have to get them plated (more $$) or the holes rust and tear up the pads. As they wear, the holes lose their taper so you need to countersink them again. Now the holes are unplated....

Slotted can work well, but have some of the same corrosion issues as drilled. It's more important to get a quality blank than to get one with slots.
 
I was always unhappy with the brakes on my 98 tahoe until I put on a set of the power slot slotted rotors (not drilled) and Hawk heavy duty brake pads. Now I finally have good brakes.
 
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