Slotted/drilled brake rotors any good?

[LokiRx7]

I bought them for the heck of it for auto-x'ing I had some ceramic pads that I bed in properly. I didnt have any cracking issues, but on the street overall panic stopping ability seemed to be affected negatively. After I bed in the pads, I seemed to need to brake sooner than with the oem replacement blanks. It wasnt bad enough to make me not use them. I just needed to pay attention. Some of the stopping issues I had was because the ceramics hadnt heated up properly.

They seemed to have a lot more initial bite. They were very touchy, I assumed it was because the slots were cleaning any glaze of the rotor. But in hindsight it might have just been because they were fresh brakes.

On the track, they weren't too different from OEM. A little more bite like I said, not difficult to drive with, and I dont know if it effected my times in a good or bad way.

That said they were cheap, cheaper than OEM brakes (at least compared to local sources), and they performed well. They had their drawbacks, but werent terrible overall.

Cant say I would reccomend them, to be honest, anyone at the meets who asks I tell to stay with blanks lol! The only way there might be an advantage is if you used a large enough rotor to offset the surface area loss from the holes or slots. But those arent in my budget, and they arent always an improvement. Ive found the biggest factor in braking ability is pad material. And I have heard different things from different people about the 'best' pads.

EDIT ::

If you want a good looking rotor, they are nickel plated or whatever they were. They look GREAT after a rainstorm, they look better than an iron rotor when used (they look like polished aluminum) The only reason they ever rust is if you use semi-metallic pads. However anyone who knows anything about them will laugh at them like they are an aluminum wing.

[YellowJacket]

Originally Posted by ToyotaTechGeek

ok, dude and your opinion is your own. i guess i've always followed the philosophy of FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION. i don't agree with the idea that all brake rotor blanks are created alike. no Made In China crap for me, thanks.

I didnt say form is more important that function. But for street use, you can have BOTH. Nor did I say all rotors were created alike nor did I say centric was China crap (unlike AMICO). You are putting words in my mouth that I did not say to support your point.

I will say it again, on a budget, if you research who you are buying from, you can get a great functionally impressive and good looking rotor cheap. There are TOO many people using these on the street to dispute it and say they are not good.

Centric is one of the largest brake mftr in the world and that tends to say something, and a good number of those ebay sold or third party companies like cquence, for example, are simply buying those blanks then they slot/drill & paint. Much of their stock comes from Canada I am told.

Centric makes blanks for R1concepts, iRotors, Stoptech, PowerSlots and etc. Tons of good press from people using these brands.

I AGREE that if your wallet can afford a $1500 racing quality brake setup then you should have that. I WANT THAT! But I don't. I spent $240 including shipping on my complete set of rotors and ceramic pads. My car stops like I threw a boat anchor out the window. When they warp or wear out, I will replace them. I have no concerns about their quality compared to the OEM solution and find them very quiet, very clean (no dust) and very good looking for the street.

Centric Rotors For The Track???? - i-Club

granPrix
Centric pads and rotors. good? - Brakes/Suspension/Chassis

GTO
LS1GTO.com Forums - Those using Cquence rotors step inside

BMW
Anyone Interested in Performance Rotors--Look Here! - BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum - E90Post.com

f150
http://www.f150online.com/forums/whe...mild-wild.html

corvette
Opinions wanted; Centric rotors and Posi-Quiet Pads. - Corvette Forum

[ToyotaTechGeek]

Originally Posted by YellowJacket

I didnt say form is more important that function. But for street use, you can have BOTH. Nor did I say all rotors were created alike nor did I say centric was China crap (unlike AMICO). You are putting words in my mouth that I did not say to support your point.

I will say it again, on a budget, if you research who you are buying from, you can get a great functionally impressive and good looking rotor cheap. There are TOO many people using these on the street to dispute it and say they are not good.

Centric is one of the largest brake mftr in the world and that tends to say something, and a good number of those ebay sold or third party companies like cquence, for example, are simply buying those blanks then they slot/drill & paint. Much of their stock comes from Canada I am told.

Centric makes blanks for R1concepts, iRotors, Stoptech, PowerSlots and etc. Tons of good press from people using these brands.

I AGREE that if your wallet can afford a $1500 racing quality brake setup then you should have that. I WANT THAT! But I don't. I spent $240 including shipping on my complete set of rotors and ceramic pads. My car stops like I threw a boat anchor out the window. When they warp or wear out, I will replace them. I have no concerns about their quality compared to the OEM solution and find them very quiet, very clean (no dust) and very good looking for the street.

Centric Rotors For The Track???? - i-Club

granPrix
Centric pads and rotors. good? - Brakes/Suspension/Chassis

GTO
LS1GTO.com Forums - Those using Cquence rotors step inside

BMW
Anyone Interested in Performance Rotors--Look Here! - BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum - E90Post.com

f150
A full guide to StopTech/Centric rotors, from mild to wild - F150online Forums

corvette
Opinions wanted; Centric rotors and Posi-Quiet Pads. - Corvette Forum

and you are putting words in my mouth assuming that i ONLY support a racing brake set-up. WRONG. in fact, i don't have a race-branded braking system per se. is it capable and upgraded? absolutely! no, i don't use OEM brake pads either. post all of the articles you like. i am one to do my own R&D because most info out there is too subjective for my taste. further i don't really care much to try to compare corvettes to my MkI SC nor any other vehicle for that matter. i strive to maintain OBJECTIVITY first! and then incorporate subjectivity if/when i am asked. driving styles vary. this is why objectivity is paramount for me as i define a problem area then look to make my improvements accordingly.

[YellowJacket]

Glad you are warm and cozy in your objectivity. This whole discussion was not for your benefit anyway.

Pilot: I have made my point.

[kbrew8991]

you won't find drilled or slotted rotors on any of my MR2s, ever, so

[LokiRx7]

Originally Posted by LokiRx7

I bought them for the heck of it for auto-x'ing I had some ceramic pads that I bed in properly. I didnt have any cracking issues, but on the street overall panic stopping ability seemed to be affected negatively. After I bed in the pads, I seemed to need to brake sooner than with the oem replacement blanks. It wasnt bad enough to make me not use them. I just needed to pay attention. Some of the stopping issues I had was because the ceramics hadnt heated up properly.

They seemed to have a lot more initial bite. They were very touchy, I assumed it was because the slots were cleaning any glaze of the rotor. But in hindsight it might have just been because they were fresh brakes.

On the track, they weren't too different from OEM. A little more bite like I said, not difficult to drive with, and I dont know if it effected my times in a good or bad way.

That said they were cheap, cheaper than OEM brakes (at least compared to local sources), and they performed well. They had their drawbacks, but werent terrible overall.

Cant say I would reccomend them, to be honest, anyone at the meets who asks I tell to stay with blanks lol! The only way there might be an advantage is if you used a large enough rotor to offset the surface area loss from the holes or slots. But those arent in my budget, and they arent always an improvement. Ive found the biggest factor in braking ability is pad material. And I have heard different things from different people about the 'best' pads.

EDIT ::

If you want a good looking rotor, they are nickel plated or whatever they were. They look GREAT after a rainstorm, they look better than an iron rotor when used (they look like polished aluminum) The only reason they ever rust is if you use semi-metallic pads. However anyone who knows anything about them will laugh at them like they are an aluminum wing.

lol! I meant to say, I thought the slots were cleaning the glaze off the pads! Hence better initial bite.

[ToyotaTechGeek]

Originally Posted by Pilot

You see these slotted/drilled brake rotor kits on Ebay, such as the ones found here. Anybody have any experience with these type of rotors? Snake-oil gimmick or...?

Originally Posted by YellowJacket

Glad you are warm and cozy in your objectivity. This whole discussion was not for your benefit anyway.

Pilot: I have made my point.

isn't that the point of the OP in the first place? an objective?
no, this wasn't for my benefit, but giving my $.02USD was a contribution to the OP in a quest for knowledge/guidance.

[kbrew8991]

Originally Posted by LokiRx7

lol! I meant to say, I thought the slots were cleaning the glaze off the pads! Hence better initial bite.

proper pads for your setup and usage don't glaze

[Pilot]

AC Delco makes rotors and ceramic pads for the MR2 and four rotors and pad sets cost about 185 (delivered) through RockAuto.com Are they worth paying a few extra bucks for or...?

[scottohno]

pilot, i think you should get them. they look pretty nice, reasonably priced, and come with a one year warranty all for 162 bucks. not too shabby. i did autozone oem replacement and wanna say it cost me like 120 all together with ceramic front pads and regular rear pads. these look better for a little more money, so go for it. im thinking about it myself once i get more cash and a replaced rear caliper.

[q-authority]

Regarding all aftermarket rotors being of equal quality to oem rotors, I would say no. Are they necessarily much worse, hard to say. But every aftermarket set of rotors I have ever tried have weighed significantly more than Toyota oem rotors, so there is obviously a considerable difference in their compositions.

I have usually found that the average aftermarket rotor wieghs about 1.5-2 lbs. more than an oem rotor. That is a significant difference, and adds to the unsprung weight of the car, which if one was being really picky, they would not want. But that is probably of little importance to many people.

I've used aftermarket cross drilled rototrs with Porterfield R4S pads, in the past, and they worked beautifully. No warm-up needed, they stopped the car on a dime, and were almost impervious to water when ocassionally driving through deep water filled ruts, etc. But they also wore out rather quickly. I only got about 35-40k out of them before they started having that warped feeling, which is not necessarily the rotors actually warping, but material build-up on them. I also noticed that very small spider cracks were starting to form around many of the cross drilled holes.

Normal rotors you could take to just about any machine shop and have them surfaced, and then get another good 15-20k out out of them. But good luck finding a shop that can surface cross drilled or slotted rotors. I've only ever know of one personally.

But hey, if their cheap enough, and you just want to try somehting new, go ahead. But regarding the 1 year warranty. It is very unlikely that you will ever encounter a problem with any rotor in that short a period, so it really doesn't amount to much.

[willy swafford]

axxis metal masters all d way! or porterfield.very nice

[Zeffrin]

Street use, get bog standard rotors... look at CJMR2T's response. (edit: Should have said OEM rather than bog standard, I'm used to talking about muscle cars... toyota engineers know their stuff and choose the best materials and set the minimum thickness based on thermodynamic calculations, OEM rotors are best for street use.)

Removing mass is removing places for heat generated to equalise into increasing the chances of deformation/cracking in the remaining material.

The point of drilled/slotted rotors is to provide an exit point for gases which is potentially trapped between the pad and the disc when the brakes a clamped down however for a street user, if you get some nice flat discs.. preferably new but machined greater than or equal to minimum thickness is fine the pads themselves should wear flat.

While slotted/drilled may improve stopping time MARGINALLY the pads/rotors will last a lot shorter time due to the aformentioned shaving of pads and increased warping of rotors.

As for pads well... ceramic has good wear and heat conductivity... but to be honest for street use meh... when I buy pads I've generally been offered a choice between hard (which I assume to be ceramic) which will last a lot longer due to the harder material and superior heat dissipation or soft which wear faster but stop better. I've tried and been happy with both but to be honest with you, on the street I've only ever needed to be soft of the brakes and come to a nice smooth slow stop and so soft pads seem to last potentially years anyway and that one time you do need to stop right now... they do the job nicely. I'm pretty sure soft pads are your standard asbestos based jobs...

the only downside to them is the dust that can accumulate on your rims but whatever, no point going if you can't stop.

[Project91]

okay i drive a mk2 mr2. But for reference I paid 280 for all four slotted and drilled. They arrived and were is good condition. They look way more aggressive than stock rotors. They also came with ceramic pads all around. I contacted Toyota a few auto parts stores and they couldn't touch the deal I got on these. I'll let you know how the stopping power and feel of the new set up is soon. I'm installing them tonight.

The rotors look the exact same as the stock ones I currently have on, just with fully functional slots that "clean" your pad, and drilled counter-sunk holes that dont do much, but look really cool. I guess because of the drilled surface the rotors can act like a cheese grater and eat up your pads faster, which means pad replacements more often. I figure if your aware of this I'm willing to sacrifice pads in exchange for better braking power. But like I said we'll see how the stopping power really turns out.

[scottohno]

^

the slots in the rotor do not clean the pad. they increase the surface area and airflow of the rotor. the holes are also vents designed to allow air to cool the rotor better.

as for the cheese grater comment, a cheese grater has high spots around the holes to dig into the cheese. rotors should be completely flat. they should not act like a cheese grater. you may actually get longer life out of the pads because ceramic pads are supposed to last longer, and if theyre cooler your stopping will be more efficient.

another note: the slots and holes dont only allow fresh air in, but they allow gases (produced by the friction material during braking) out.

[Project91]

i didn't mean literally like a cheese grater...but my bad ...genius^

but the fact that there is holes on the surface, despite being counter sunk, means there are areas that can, in a very minimal way, shave slightly more pad off than a stock rotor under serious braking, of course all rotors are flat.

I've also heard that stock rotors act as a better heat sync because there is more surface area touching the pad, but slotted and drilled slow you down faster.

[mr.asian.m2]

i been using it on my mkII for about 7yrs now. seem to work pretty good for me so far. in time, i will be using it on my mkI too.

[CJMR2T]

Originally Posted by scottohno

^

the slots in the rotor do not clean the pad. they increase the surface area and airflow of the rotor. the holes are also vents designed to allow air to cool the rotor better.

as for the cheese grater comment, a cheese grater has high spots around the holes to dig into the cheese. rotors should be completely flat. they should not act like a cheese grater. you may actually get longer life out of the pads because ceramic pads are supposed to last longer, and if theyre cooler your stopping will be more efficient.

another note: the slots and holes dont only allow fresh air in, but they allow gases (produced by the friction material during braking) out.

Actually the slots do in fact "clean" the pad..... the dust that forms on your wheels also imbeds into the pad. The slots scrape the dust off as they pass across the pad. Yes, they also provide a path for the gas to escape if the pads out-gas but its rare for pads to out-gas anymore nowadays.

It's been tested and proven many times over that drilling and slotting does not provide any significant cooling. Drilling is also bad unless the rotor was purposely designed to be drilled. The reason is cause a rotor is designed to absorb heat during braking then dissipate that heat afterwards. When your drill a crap load of holes in the rotor, you remove a decent amount of its mass thus it can not absorb as much heat before it becomes overheated. Remember, an objects mass in part determines the amount of heat it can absorb before becoming heatsoaked (overheated). Overheating will cause distortion and cracking.

Drilling and spotting alike do also in fact accelerate pad wear. The wear happens during the initial contact the worse. Regardless of it being flat, there is still an edge there that can grab the pad. If the holes have a large radius, the effect is greatly reduced. Look at any factory drilled Porsche or MB rotor and you'll notice that the holes are small compared to most aftermarket rotors and also have very large radius's.

Lastly, the whole temperature and wear thing can be wrong depending on the pad. Some compounds actually wear worse (faster) if the are ran too cold. Ceramics though arent really effected by temp (hot or cold). They for the most part wear at the same rate regardless of temperature. This is also partly why many European manufactures (like Porsche, MB, BMW, Etc....) are slow changing over to ceramic rotor. They have great wear characteristics and aren't very adversely effected by heat like iron rotors.

[scottohno]

Originally Posted by mr.asian.m2

i been using it on my mkII for about 7yrs now. seem to work pretty good for me so far. in time, i will be using it on my mkI too.

do you notice the pads wearing faster? ive kinda wondered that too, but im pretty sure if the driving stays about the same, you will have the same brake life. am i right?

[dragraceman21]

hey CJ see your still spewing your over-opinionated bs on here. I got my rotors off ebay and they are drilled and sloted, im not going to debate the pro's and con's of those, however nobody seem to mention about cryo treating the rotors before using them, thats what i did and i have NO cracks and absolutely no warping and the cost was only about 100 bucks to have it done. as far as pads i run EBC yellows all the way around(not sure what kbrews problem is with EBC, must have had a bad experince) and my car stops incredibly well wether the brakes are hot or cold, but even better hot. I do track my car, had it at Autobahn, Putnam and Gateway and have yet to replace anything as far as the brakes go, oh and i also DD my deuce almost 100 miles a day.