maddog2

For those of you that have tracked your cars a lot do you think cross drilled and slotted rotors help? Do they give you more bite or keep the pad/fluid temps down?

Brandon302

Do brake ducts to keep the temps down, maybe slotted, I doubt there would be any need for slotted and drilled.

JPC

Yes to brake ducts!!!
I have them and you can feel the pedal come back

Terry Fair in his monster 2011 Mustang GT (with many track records) running non-slotted non-drilled rotors with std Ford Brembo brakes and Carbotech pads AND brake ducts.......

maddog2

I am working on getting brake duct parts right now. So the slots don't seem to really help?

ConeBoss

Slots are meant to keep the pads fresher and help vent gas, etc....you can find a lot of good literature from Brembo about these design features. My opinion...if you really want better performance buy a light weight two piece rotor....not cheap but, like most things in life you get what you pay for.

Fastoldman

Run Girodisc slotted two piece rotors and they definitely have increased my stopping power, along with reducing unsprung weight. If you are really serious I would look into a set or something similar, but stay away from drilled rotors. You seldom will see experienced trackrats with drilled rotors as they tend to crack from high heat. I destroyed a set I was testing for a manufacturer and told him that aggressive Boss 302 drivers should never be sold a set. Girodisc makes their rotors in the US and just slotted , they are stout and have been standing tall with severe usage.

That said , for those who only track occasionally and consider themselves 9/10ths on a road course , the stock rotors and a good set of pads ( like Carbotechs for instance ) work quite well. The suggestion for brake ducts as a first line of defense is probably the best advice given, but do make sure next to use a high quality DOT4 brake fluid also.

if you are mainly just doing Autocross , again stock rotors will work well -- pads can make an adjustment easily.

ConeBoss said it all in alot fewer words, so time to stop running at the mouth,ha,ha - need to put my own brakes on!!

JScheier

... and lightening your wallet

Agreed. Drilled (whether drilled or 'cast') are the prime breading grounds for stress cracks caused by heat. Standard rotors (non-drilled, non-slotted) will generate stress cracks from heat. Drilling holes is just not a great idea.

I've been running OEM rotors and have replaced with OEM rotors. The OEM rotors have a lot of mass and surface area and really hold-up well on the track. Pair them with a good set of pads and learn proper braking techniques and you'll get a full season (or more) out of them. I went 1.5 seasons before I was guilted into replacing the original rotors. I still keep them as spares since they are still well within spec and only have minor heat checking. I prefer to spend fancy rotor money on tires and brake pads. But I'm slow... so what do I know

If you want OEM rotors, check out rockauto and use a discount code.

DGRacing

I run the baer eradispeed 2 slotted and drilled rotors on the track. They work awesome and last a while.

maddog2

Thanks for all the info. I think my best upgrade for this season would be Dot4 fluid,brake ducts, and cobratech pads. Next season I will invest in some good two piece rotors. So what pads would be best for front and rear.

Brandon302

You just had to open another can of worms didn't you. I may be wrong but I would suggest Hawk HP+ pads to learn on, not sure what else is similar to them from other brands, they do seems to eat rotors more then other pads. That being said now that I have gone the HP+ route I will probably switch to Carbotech XP12 fronts and 10 rears since those I believe are more aggressive.

Fastoldman

John Scheier is not slow, but we all have differing driving styles and I use alot of brake, so I prefer a two piece , lightweight rotor. The Girodisc are made in the US and less money than some of the other well made two piece systems, though they are still somewhat expensive. Though I have a full set , many just use them on the front, since our cars use very little rear brake , so that does cut down on some of the expenditure. Would suggest starting with the Carbotech over the Hawk as it has a more progressive bite , and actually easier on the rotors than Hawks, in my experience. If you get really serious and do alot of track time , you may want to move up to the 24s in front -- similar to what the guys are running in the Continental Series.

As John also mentioned, and he has seen alot of track time as a certified NASA Instructor , besides Instructing for other car groups, and he and I completely agree - stay away from drilled rotors!!

DGRacing

I'll just add some facts about drilled rotors, but don't really want to start a religious war.
I go through 2 sets of rotors A SEASON. I run NASA and Chin and my track times are very good.

The thing I noticed about the drilled is you may see more heat stress fractures than you expect, but its normal and not a threat to the integrity of the rotor. Moreover, the holes actually keep the fractures from growing into bigger cracks.

I saw Roush Racing at VIR when I was there with Chin and they run drilled rotors in the rear. Many race teams use drilled rotors. It's less dependent on the holes and more dependent on material, pads, etc.

So while there's a powerful meme out there that "drilled are bad", its simply not true. It just favors a different circumstance and as always, YMMV.