Rotor upgrades

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Donald

Donald

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Can anyone tell me the benefits of, and if they are theory or real world:

1) drilled
2) dimple drilled
3) slotted
4) curved slotted

(Besides costing more, that is a real world benefit for the company).
 
Theoretically, drilling or slotting allows for outgassing and perhaps faster drying of a wet rotor. But unless you use ancient organic pads on a track driven car you probably will not notice.
 
When it comes to street use, I honestly doubt it makes any difference. More for looks than performance. I bought some cheap drilled and slotted.. but purely for looks.
 
I bought slotted rotors for my truck since the stock ones warped far too easily.

I did not buy for the slots, I bought to try a different brand.

I have not noticed any difference in braking performance (or pad life).
 
Originally Posted By: tig1
None for the average car and driver.


+1

If your racing slotted and drilled rotors help with heat disappation and dust removal. Doubt youll notice a difference on the street unless you mash the pedal at 80-10mph a few times in a row.
 
Drilled and slotted rotors are known for higher failure rates as they are stressed in these areas and the microstructrue of the metal rotor are quite likely compromised. The slots and holes will outgas for racing applications better but at the expense of pad wear life.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
So can one conclude that there is no need to spend much beyond $50 for a rotor since when you spend more you tend to get the drilled/slotted rotors?


Depending on application yes. On my Volvo the factory rotors are somewhere around the $125ea range, they are not drilled or slotted, just big. The factory rotors are the ones to go with.
 
My current setup includes Wagner TQ ceramic with EBC slotted rotors at all four corners and this is why I switched and my experience.

Wet weather performance and fade.
The OEM setup had a noticeable initial delay before biting in the rain and was not something I could tolerate.
This problem manifested at every initial wet weather braking event.
In dry and hot the pad performance with heavy use had a tendency to fade. All that adds up to lower brake performance and increased stopping distance. Not acceptable for me where brakes are concerned. Now YMMV but this really bothered me and I wanted better than OEM and knew it had to be possible. "One size fits all" doesn't really work for me and I'm not good at just accepting and tolerating these types of things.

So after reading, asking and trolling I saw what could be a solution to significantly reduce or eliminate the issues I was having and went for it. From my experience with these new slotted rotors and ceramic pads my braking performance over OEM has increased greatly. The initial brake bite delay in wet weather is no longer an issue and I have yet to experience any fade with continual heavy use. No auto cross here but the 401 can come pretty close in certain areas at certain times.
Overall braking performance has substantially increased. So for me it was a worthy venture, although not cheap.
As I said in the beginning, this is my experience and yours may be different. I had a specific problem and this was the solution. Slotted rotors and ceramic pads corrected an issue I was having and increased my safety.
Some things that you'd think should just belong on a racetrack can yield positive results on the road to.
Definitely a real world experience for me.

Cheers.
 
Originally Posted By: Roob
My current setup includes Wagner TQ ceramic with EBC slotted rotors at all four corners and this is why I switched and my experience.

Wet weather performance and fade.
The OEM setup had a noticeable initial delay before biting in the rain and was not something I could tolerate.
This problem manifested at every initial wet weather braking event.
In dry and hot the pad performance with heavy use had a tendency to fade. All that adds up to lower brake performance and increased stopping distance. Not acceptable for me where brakes are concerned. Now YMMV but this really bothered me and I wanted better than OEM and knew it had to be possible. "One size fits all" doesn't really work for me and I'm not good at just accepting and tolerating these types of things.

So after reading, asking and trolling I saw what could be a solution to significantly reduce or eliminate the issues I was having and went for it. From my experience with these new slotted rotors and ceramic pads my braking performance over OEM has increased greatly. The initial brake bite delay in wet weather is no longer an issue and I have yet to experience any fade with continual heavy use. No auto cross here but the 401 can come pretty close in certain areas at certain times.
Overall braking performance has substantially increased. So for me it was a worthy venture, although not cheap.
As I said in the beginning, this is my experience and yours may be different. I had a specific problem and this was the solution. Slotted rotors and ceramic pads corrected an issue I was having and increased my safety.
Some things that you'd think should just belong on a racetrack can yield positive results on the road to.
Definitely a real world experience for me.

Cheers.


What rotors?
 
Originally Posted By: Roob
My current setup includes Wagner TQ ceramic with EBC slotted rotors at all four corners and this is why I switched and my experience.

Wet weather performance and fade.
The OEM setup had a noticeable initial delay before biting in the rain and was not something I could tolerate.
This problem manifested at every initial wet weather braking event.
In dry and hot the pad performance with heavy use had a tendency to fade. All that adds up to lower brake performance and increased stopping distance. Not acceptable for me where brakes are concerned. Now YMMV but this really bothered me and I wanted better than OEM and knew it had to be possible. "One size fits all" doesn't really work for me and I'm not good at just accepting and tolerating these types of things.

So after reading, asking and trolling I saw what could be a solution to significantly reduce or eliminate the issues I was having and went for it. From my experience with these new slotted rotors and ceramic pads my braking performance over OEM has increased greatly. The initial brake bite delay in wet weather is no longer an issue and I have yet to experience any fade with continual heavy use. No auto cross here but the 401 can come pretty close in certain areas at certain times.
Overall braking performance has substantially increased. So for me it was a worthy venture, although not cheap.
As I said in the beginning, this is my experience and yours may be different. I had a specific problem and this was the solution. Slotted rotors and ceramic pads corrected an issue I was having and increased my safety.
Some things that you'd think should just belong on a racetrack can yield positive results on the road to.
Definitely a real world experience for me.

Cheers.

My mechanics told me these OE rotor on Accord are junk. A friends told me slotted rotors is rust and have high pad wear, maybe he got a bad brand.
 
I had aftermarket drilled & slotted rotors on the front brakes of my truck for around 4-5 years. I switched back to standard rotors due to cost.

Braking performance was better with drilled & slotted rotors, and when I used to drive like a maniac the extra cost was worth the added benefit. Now that I drive like a normal person, the standard rotors are more than sufficient.

Edit: Pad life with the drilled & slotted rotors depended on the pads. I only used ceramics, but they ate up one brand while another brand exhibited very good pad life.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Roob
My current setup includes Wagner TQ ceramic with EBC slotted rotors at all four corners and this is why I switched and my experience.

...

...From my experience with these new slotted rotors and ceramic pads my braking performance over OEM has increased greatly. The initial brake bite delay in wet weather is no longer an issue and I have yet to experience any fade with continual heavy use. No auto cross here but the 401 can come pretty close in certain areas at certain times.
Overall braking performance has substantially increased....


I wonder if your experience has more to do with pad friction material being changed than the slotted/drilled rotors. I have a feeling that the same TQ pads along with plain rotors would yield similar results to what you currently have.

The previous factory brakes on my Mazda6 weren't good; bite wasn't there in wet weather or dry. I switched to Raybestos Advanced Technology plain non-drilled/sloted rotors and Bendix CT-3 ceramic pads. Now I have great bite in all sorts of conditions. The friction rating on the CT-3 pads for my application were GG rated, whereas the factory pads were FF rated. I don't many advantages to going with slotted or drilled rotors on consumer grade pads as many are pre-burnished and do not out-gas like race compounds can, if anything slotted is the most I'd do, I just can't get past the concept that I want as much heat-sink and meat on my rotors as possible and that if I'm not getting the bite in want, then I need to change pad compounds.
 
Two very good articles on drilled or slotted discs:
http://raceshopper.com/tech.shtml#slotted_rotors
http://stoptech.com/technical-support/technical-white-papers/brake-system-and-upgrade-selection (scroll to drilled vs. slotted)

As said above, there is probably no good reason to get slotted rotors for everyday driving, and I'd avoid drilled rotors except for the bling factor. I put SP Performance slotted rotors and Performance Friction pads on my Tundra when I was towing a heavy trailer, and both are working out great. Wear is low on both rotors and pads and they stop great.

More great stuff on brakes including the myth of warped discs:
http://stoptech.com/technical-support/technical-white-papers
 
My car sports factory slotteds, but it was merely a band aid fix for over aggressive pads.

Drilled work great if you have excess braking capacity, otherwise avoid them as you are removing mass from a heat sink! Noises and vibe are another reason to be cautious. The number one issue I encounter is people mistake a pad problem for a rotor problem.

That Stoptech site is the bomb! My good friend Dave Zeckhausen is a dealer for them and they (Carroll Smith) have forgotten more than most will ever know about high performance braking.
 
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