Upgrade my rotors/pads and interior light

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DrDusty86

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I was looking at a Centric drilled disk brake/hawk pad kit for my zx2. My roomate told me that the drilled rotors crack. Is this true? It is a DD that I just want more stopping power.
Also, I would like a brighter interior light. I found a 12 led replacement on autoanything for $7.99 shipped new. They claim the 12 led mini light draws stock power but is significantly brighter. Good bad??
Dusty
 
yup! I echo what your roommate said RE: cheep drilled rotors crack.

Besides: the drilling hole doesn't do squat RE: additional stopping power.

If you want more stopping power and can tolerate more squeak/squeal, go with Hawks HPS pads.

Q.
 
Who cares if they crack.

Brakes_zpsf3139236.jpg
 
You can only go so far with pads and rotors. With Toyota at least, the front hub is common from the Corolla all the way up to the Avalon, and upgraded calipers and rotors are easy to bolt on and pretty inexpensive as remans. Perhaps your car can be upgraded the same way. I put Avalon front brakes on an I4 Camry, quite a difference. Doing a cross reference using a parts site like Rockauto provides a lot of info on what parts are common to different models.
Some folks wait 'till what's on the car is worn out to do such an upgrade, in the case of brakes, why not upgrade now and enjoy them fro a good long time. Note, I am not suggesting
a thousand dollar red colored caliper upgrade, but finding OEM parts from a model with bigger brakes which will fit. I did the Camry upgrade for less than 200 bucks, calipers, rotors, and pads. One caveat, the Avalon rotors and calipers required 15 inch wheels at minimum, for clearance, but I had already upgraded the wheels.
 
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Crack? If they are cheap. I have euro-made ones on my 91 BMW and they havent cracked.

But they really are for looks more than anything else. An escort isnt a hard-stopping car. It isnt going to abuse brake components with its weight and power.

The main purpose of a rotor is to be a HEAT SINK, not to shed heat. That's right, it is designed to be a storage of thermal energy that was converted.

So the more mass, the more thermal storage before the rotor gets too hot.

Drilling is counter-productive. Slotting is slightly better, as it supports the release of gassing without the mass loss, but for a car like that, no benefit.

Just get good rotors and some Bendix CT-3 pads and youre good.
 
Drilled rotors are really only for looks on a street car. You very likely won't notice any benefit on a street car.

Buy decent rotors and premium brand or OEM pads and you'll be good to go.

I like my Bendix CT-3. They have a GG friction rating, which is quite high for a street pad. These pads are made in Canada and the US.

A lot of people also like Akebono ProACT, but I haven't used them. They're made in the USA.
 
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Save the drilled rotors for a Lamborghini, Z06, 911 Turbo, M5, Ferrari,.....etc.

Just buy some nice pads with quality 'blank' rotors.
 
I second just getting good rotors and high quality pads. Wagner TQ or Akebono with Akebono being first choice.

Semi-metallic will have more stopping power than ceramic and more dust.
 
I agree that drilled rotors don't add anything to dry stopping. But i do seem to notice better braking in wet weather with drilled/slotted rotors. Anyone else notice this?
 
I ordered some raybestos r-300 (their S slotted rotors, non drilled) front rotors and advance technology pads for my truck. I mainly want better breaking while towing/hauling. The stock breaks are pretty good and I only had them fade once, but I'm all for maxium breaking in all conditions.

If I like them I will probably do the same for the rears.
 
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How many bulbs are in the interior light on my zx2? I can't find how many it will take. I don't want to pull the plastic cover off more times.
I assume its 2 bulbs that I need.
Dusty
 
Originally Posted By: Texan4Life
I ordered some raybestos r-300 (their S slotted rotors, non drilled) front rotors and advance technology pads for my truck. I mainly want better breaking while towing/hauling. The stock breaks are pretty good and I only had them fade once, but I'm all for maxium breaking in all conditions.

If I like them I will probably do the same for the rears.


Those Raybestos Advanced Technology brakes are wonderful! I put them on all 4 wheels of my CTS and my pickup and could not be happier with the performance, no noise and virtually No dust. These are my favorite brake pads for now. I also used the their AT rotors on the CTS.
 
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Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Originally Posted By: Texan4Life
I ordered some raybestos r-300 (their S slotted rotors, non drilled) front rotors and advance technology pads for my truck. I mainly want better breaking while towing/hauling. The stock breaks are pretty good and I only had them fade once, but I'm all for maxium breaking in all conditions.

If I like them I will probably do the same for the rears.


Those Raybestos Advanced Technology brakes are wonderful! I put them on all 4 wheels of my CTS and my pickup and could not be happier with the performance, no noise and virtually No dust. These are my favorite brake pads for now. I also used the their AT rotors on the CTS.


good to know! I hope I'm not building my expectations up to much tho. I will try and remember to post some pics when I get them.
 
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I am looking at Centric posi quiet ceramic pads and Powerslot slotted alloy rotors. Is this a good combo for my zx2?
 
Avoid slotted, drilled, siped, etc., discs.
Get plain ones [of course the venting INSIDE is good].

Get the best pad you can afford. Is maximum stopping what you want? Hawk street pads are filthy, but work well. You may get noise here and there.
Anybody's best pads at auto parts stores will work great on the car.
 
The Leds should draw less power. More light and less heat is a big plus.

BTW, the license plate lights are 164, but 194 is less watts and brightness. 194 plugs right in, and makes the lenses and receptacles last longer
Why in the world did they want aircraft landing lights back there?
 
Slotted are generally used to deal with pad issues. They are factory spec on my car simply because of an extremely aggressive pad choice.

Drilled can crack, but rarely on anything street driven. Typically cracks would occur on a road course. For the street it makes no sense to remove mass if you already have marginal brakes.

And I, too, have seen wet weather braking improve with drilled rotors, but only with a poor ceramic pad.
 
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