*** Drilled / Slotted ? ***
What is your goal? Ultimate braking or looks?
I put neither because drilled and slotted look so sweet with an open rim and painted calipers. But for performance I would get blank rotors. Blank because they don't slice the brake pad under severe braking, slotted ones do. Drilled ones give the pad less surface to grab, imo.
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How much outgassing do you think you are going to have? I say only for the initial bed-in, which isn't very long and you're not supposed to drive hard on your brakes during that period anyways.
Which is better for less fade, a thicker pad or a thinner one? A thicker pad with more of its material will indeed have much better ability to absorb heat better and remain cooler so the rotor won't have to absorb more of the heat from braking, so why have rotor face patterns that are known to scrape pad material away quicker than needed.
AFA friction surfaces are concerned, which will indeed have better contact between pads and the rotors? Flat surfaces will, because unless the pads are so flexible to absolutely shape right into the hole at that moment, there is less friction to be produced with the rotor surface "voids" present.
For increased friction, where would one go to, pads or rotors? The pads since that's really the compound material that changed in order to induce a higher coefficient of friction. Yes, the rotor material is important, however merely reducing the rotor surface does not add the needed friction but rather the opposite.
For any pad material, which produces more fiction against the pad surface, air or cast iron? The answer should be a giveaway.
FWIW, remember that what aestetics and fancy wording can produce is seperate than what actual science evidence will produce.
If you want to spend more money for looks, then all of the fancy rotor face patterns will probably satisfy you. If it's reliability and performance you're after, then get a blank rotor upgrade, preferably from brembo, or if that's a bit costly, then autozone duralast blanks should suffice. The OE rotors are just not that great, but to spend more money for looks isn't something I would do, especially since brakes are really one of the critical safety features of all cars.
I actually took one of my cars to Blackhawk and ran on stock brakes. The first 4 laps of racing they were fine, 5th lap I lost my brakes. So there is the limit of stock brakes. 9 turns times 4 laps, 36 really hard stops in a matter of a few minutes. Very minimal cool-off time. I don't think anyone is going to be doing that on the street. If you make a hard stop from 100+, I don't think you're going to be making another right after.
What do brake pads cost? $20 for oem chepos from parts store and $65 for hawks. It's really not a big deal to me to even change them annually. They can probably last a few years of normal driving on blank rotors. It's funny when someone mentions pads wearing out fast and in their sig they have crazy expensive mods.
Maybe the same people should corner slower since that wears out the tires and tires are a critical part of our car's safety.
I have cracked more cross-drilled/slotted/dimpled, etc. rotors more times than I care to admit, and on the street, even with proper bed-in. They are by far a waste of money.
BTW, I have had a stock brake system on my street car for over three years (look at my join date).
What else have we summed up form all of the discussion about cross drilled and/or slotted rotors ?? Its that the only real difference in your application is that you are taking the increased chance of a rotor failing due to a "vanity" issue. If you can live with that.... go for it.
But just for the record, I have seen many rotors that were being used on daily drivers that were driven by people that only knew to 'check the gas and fill the oil'...... they never saw a speed over 80-85mph...... and their blingy cross drilled rotors failed. Just like the guys who drive them like they stole them.
And I just gotta say..... Dom, I love the Chi-town humor.
Audi R8 (carbon rotors)
Lotus Sport Exige
NASCAR


Formula 1 (also carbon rotors)

And a neat video of F1 brake capablility F1 Brake Vid
Last edited by DanO; May 15, 2006 at 06:58 PM.
Sam suggested a rotor for me and he said it's all he runs, Brembo blanks. Order them from him. He also suggest Hawk and Axxis pads for street/strip aplications.
Get them from Sam..... www.stranoparts.com
Check with him for pricing.
















