what kind of rotors to buy?
 

I found some rotors on brakeperformance.com that w are drilled and slotted for just $266.00 front and back. Are they good quality ? would you put them on your car?

I wouldn't put them on my car. I would stick to plain faced rotors. Drilling and slotting rotors doesn't do anything to increase performance. If you want the "bling", then go for it, but don't do it if you think it will make your car stop better. If you don't do anything of racing just get a set of NAPA replacements.

Hmmm. . . . I seem to disagree with the above post, I have the Baer drilled and slotted rotors on my car and I love em! On my last run through the foot hills of the ozark mts. It made a big difference in keeping my brakes cooler . . . over the stock rotors I had. I have had these Baers for over 2 years now and with my heavy foot they have held up great. Thus far, theres not even a hint of rotor warp or pedal pulse. So im extreamly pleased with my drilled and slotted.

As far as the OP question. . .

I have never heard of those rotors myself, they may be great, but I would not trust them to stop my car untill I know they have been tried and tested. Thats just my 2 cents worth anyway.

Are you replacing brake pads along with it? Also id just prbly go with slotted rotors, drilled seem a bit too much. Plus from what i can see slotted are bought more than drilled, prbly because of the price difference, id save $100 dollars for something else.

Slots are pointless, drilled is BAD! Plain face baer or EBC or Brembo rotors are about the best you'll find. Modern pads DO NOT OUTGAS. So the slots and holes are for shit and only end up REDUCING the amount of friction your brakes can take and makes them more prone to warpage.

This is the BEST single piece of advice and it comes from someone who knows what the hell he's talking about. It just got backed up by someone else that knows what he's talking about though we differ on brand preference, napa parts are in fact very good.

Drilled rotors should be illegal. I've personally seen the best of them break in half more than once because the drilled holes spawned cracks which grew under intense brake use. BAD FUCKIN IDEA! Keep an eye out on the rotors for stress cracks starting at them, especially on the back side of the rotor.

Baer makes some of the best rotors on the planet but their drilled sets crack like a bitch. They work better than others because they're thicker and take more heat before they soak.

Slotted are less evil than drilled but they are strictly for bling. I have slotted on my street brakes for bling but when I want good brakes I switch to my baer thick cheek PLAIN FACE rotors. I use those plain face when I race... that ought to give you an idea of what's proper. Drilled SUCK!

Plain face = the best. Professional racers have begun to swing back over to plain faced rotors because they need the extra frictional surface. They found the slotted and drilled types to be too fragile.

Ha if your question isnt awnsered from red then your screwed :P

To give credit where credit is due specific to this case, 01fr500 answered it. I expanded on his answer with practical personal experience.

You've never been so scared as to have a rotor break on you while you use it... causes the pads to get ripped out of the caliper and in one instance fragged the caliper into a dozen little pieces. That instance was on a street car that was never driven all that hard.

So for drag racing plain face rotors is the best way to go? I was getting ready to buy some baer drilled and slotted rotors. Thanks Red.

for any kind of racing, driving, parking or ogling plain faced are the best option. If you find you don't have enough braking power for your trap speeds then change your pad compound and if that's not enough, get a bigger diameter brake set for the front and upgrade rear pads.

For almost any speed you could go with a mustang you'll be covered very well by a standard Cobra front kit with EBC Yellow or Green pads (or equivalent) and OEM rear brakes with OEM pads. Don't bother with really aggressive pads on the back.

Stock brakes should be enough for drag racing but not if you do any of it on the street.

If you want a set of links I'll need to know what year and model car you have and how fat you are.

It's all about surface area and mass with brakes. You want as much surface area (SA) as possible that comes into contact with the brake pad. Slotting rotors decreases the amount of area that contacts that pads, drilling decreases the SA. You have that much less of a brake rotor to stop the car. Mass, the more the rotor weighs the better of a heat sink it can be and capable of pulling the heat from the brake pad/caliper/fluid, and dissapate it to the air. You don't want your brakes to weigh more than you need them to becuase they are unsprung weight and can easily hurt performance (different lesson). Slotting and drilling decreases the amount of material in the rotor that can absorb and disapate the heat. Going with a larger diameter rotor such as the Cobra brakes of course increases the amount of torque that can be applied to the rotor to stop the car, but also increases the SA and the mass, so it's several fold. Some may think that a drilled or slotted rotor may stay cooler, but it would take some hard tech to prove it to me. Proper ducting and venting would be the good choice for overheated brakes.

As R3d stated, and I fully believe also, drilled/slotted rotors does nothing except increase the chance of a cracked rotor. Thanks for providing some experience and backing me up Red!

2005 GT... Do you literally mean how fat I am? If so 180

R3d please!. . . .

Before you start throwing your insults around how about you try reading what I actually fricken wrote jack ass! All I stated in my previous post was MY OPINION on MY BRAKE SET UP. I said NOTHING about which one is better or worse or anything of the sort. You may actually be right with everything else you wrote, but it does not call for all the aditude towards me in your post. You have been makeing smart ass comments towards me since my first post on this board and I aint takin your crap anymore brother.

This is an issue that comes-up all the time....it is really brilliant marketing by the brake companies. They put these things on high-end cars (ferraris and the like), people see them, and think they should should work on their own. Most people won't criticize a purchase decision that they have made and most people never have any proof. You can't feel the effects of a cold air intake with a butt o meter, and unless you are measuring brake distances over repeated stops, you really won't know if the brakes work better or not.

Google the subject....you will find all kinds of info out there about slotted and drilled brakes, juts be careful and see who did the studies.

OEM Ford rotors and pads are likely good enough for 99% of us. I had the stock brakes on my car until it had 75k miles on it and eventually went with EBC Green Stuff pads and slotted rotors up front. I got them mostly for the look, but there is some evidence that suggests that slotted rotors help keep the contact point cleaner, but you do loose surface area.

I just put pads on my wife's Saab. The Saab forum guys were all trying to talk me into $100 pads. I called Tire Rack, and the guy told me to go to Napa. I spent $35 on a set of their better pads and they seem to be working great.

^^ thats true. it just depends on who you talk to. the surface area part kinda makes since when u think about it though.

You got the infraction already but I'll address this here too so you're an example to the rest:

Don't go calling me out like some kid. I insulted NOONE. I said drilled rotors are a bad fuckin idea and should be illegal. What's insulting about that? You're all butt hurt because I identified that you have the shittiest example of the best rotors on the planet. Your buyers remorse if your fuckin problem not mine. Don't go getting all shitty with me because you got told you spent 400 bucks on shitty rotors that don't work as advertised but are purely for bling value.

Go ahead, open your mouth again. Wanna test the ban hammer? If I get insulting with you you're going to goddamned well know it. YOU CLEAR NOW?

:nunu::cop::order::compnowork::owned::Bigsmack::ch airshot::backhand::ohsnap::diaf2::beatup::violent-smiley-045:

I recently bought new rotors cause mine were bad and my friend asked me why I didn't upgrade to drilled and slotted. I asked him why I would want a rotor that would warp sooner and stop me slower

in general when it comes to brakes you can upgrade the 3 C's caliper, compound and circumference

Brake lines can be nice too though

next time i replace rotors i'm going to paint the center part with high temp paint (the part that doesnt make contact with the pads). i hate how they get all rusted so fast.

Brakes are pretty basic. It all comes down to the amount of friction created with the material and the amount of surface area. There is also a trade-off between stopping distance, fade, and longevity. You can't have all three.

Some "performance brakes" actualy have longer stopping distances, but hold-up to fade a lot better. When racing, that is a big deal.

This is one reason why I like the colored brakes from EBC. Green, Yellow, or Red, you simply match-up the pad with the type of driving you do.

On big mistake people make is going with bigger (and heavier) rims but don't upgrade the brakes. The amount of angular momentum needed to stop a bigger and heavier rim makes a big difference.

Also, let's not forget about better brake fluid and brake lines. Both help with fade too.

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OK. . . . whatever. . . . .

SUPPOSEDLY...and this is from my experience...

Slotted rotors do cut down on SA, but they are supposed to clear brake dust from the rotor/pad contact point to increase braking performance. I noticed a bit of a difference from when I flipped from 13" Plain to 13" Slotted rotors, but I also changed my brake calipers to 03 Cobra Calipers, so I had a larger piston to play with.

I full on agree that Cross-Drilled rotors are a joke, however, if they are made a specific way they are FAR less prone to cracking (i.e. if they are cast in a drilled way rather than having the holes drilled into them afterward). Some of the cheap rotors drill into the rotor afterwards, which does make them FAR more prone to cracking (at least thats my understanding). I know that Powerslot makes Cryo treated cross-drilled and slotted rotors, but for the extra cost its not worth it.

It really all comes down to brake compound and surface area, as well as rotor size. If you are looking to upgrade, look at stepping up to larger rotors and calipers, that will make more of a difference than switching to just a slotted / cross-drilled rotor. Remember that brakes work like a wrench, so the further out you are from the center of a wheel, the more stopping power you get, but you also have to increase the amount of force on the rotor in order to gain an actual advantage on the size increase (I.E. 4-pot or 6-pot Calipers).

If you want a cheap and easy upgrade, get Stainless Steel brake lines and better pads. It will be money well spent.

banning the spammer now.

I agree that drilled is pointless and slotted is basically for looks and pad cleaning. Me when I upgraded I just had the stock GT rotors turned, added better pads, added stainless lines up front, and changed the fluid to better fluid. Car brakes better and fads way less. Mostly do to the better pads. But I won't argue that slotted rotors look really good.

In spirit of the argument, I wonder if slotted are the best for the street (over plain) since it seems like it would help w/ wet braking. How many times I've almost had an oh shit moment when I hit the brakes and they did nothing because the rotors were covered w/ water.

I read an article about how porsche drilled and slotteds decreased stopping time in the rain and wet because the discs would get hot enough that water would evaporate and escape almost instantly

Now this is an interesting side of the argument that I haven't seen discussed yet.

I also believe that porsche rotors are cast that way and not actually "drilled" the holes that they use are much smaller than any aftermarket drilled rotor about half the size giving it a more solid rotor dry grip with the water shedding ability of a drilled rotor without being as prone to cracking

If the holes are cast into the rotor,which is the proper way to do it, it won't see the problems that a drilled rotor would. Also the placement of the holes are key. If you look at the ZR1 carbon ceramic brakes, those holes don't seem to have any rhyme or reason behind them, but they do. They are in strategic places.

Weren't the Z06's having rotors explode and break because of the drilled holes in them.