Cross-drilling for the street

[Route666]

What does everyone think about the value of cross-drilling rotors?

Trade-offs like cracking VS looks and the cooling capacity of the rotor: increased or decreased?

Is cracking an issue with a street car, driven moderately?

How about if the car is occasionally open-tracked?

Who says that properly seasoning your rotors and warming them up before severe use will eliminate stress cracks?

What looks better in your opinion: cross-drilled, drilled and slotted, slotted, or nothing? (I'm trying to put a poll up for this one, my first one yay)

I for one think that on properly seasoned rotors with good warmup will almost eliminate potential for cracking. I'm not real expert on it, but surely seasoning must relieve stress in the metal to a degree.

 

[Great68]

Cross drilled rotors look awesome.

Can't really comment on any of the other questions, as I have no experience with cross drilled rotors.

 

[kidtaurus]

Wilwood has an faq and I if memory serves me correct they said slotted are the best. But IMHO I like the look of cross drilled and slotted.

 

[Edbert]

Your poll asks "what looks best" not what makes the most sense. I think the responses reflect that, I know mine did.

 

[Route666]

Oh yeh the poll covers what looks best, but feel free to talk about the other questions I asked too.

 

[BAD67FUN]

Personally... I'm torn. Cross looks better. Slotted is better than plain.. not to mention more funcional. I'm torn between buying... ah crap. I'm just going to start another poll....

Go vote when I get it up... I've never done one though....

 

[1320stang]

I know in a street driven car, they're useless, well, maybe not useless, they probably decrease the life of your pads. And I thought that I heard you couldn't turn them either. I will admit they look cool, but I believe unless its a full on race car, they're useless.

 

[dodgestang]

Well I voted for the slotted and I'll tell you why.

Cross drilled and slotted, while looking great and awesome and sure to impress..uhh.....people with imports and the like.....for street use you will get better performance from simple slotted rotors.

Now if you are planning on opentracking the car, then we can talk about form following function.

 

[Edbert]

Oh yeh the poll covers what looks best, but feel free to talk about the other questions I asked too.

I don't think you'll see ANY performance difference in normal street driving whatsoever.

 

[LanceMach]

You DID ask about LOOKS - I think a set of cross-drilled rotors look great...

Having said that, I will also add, I won't cross drill or slot mine, despite the fact that my car is really used only for Open Track. The reason for cross drilling and slotting (as an outlet for outgassing from the pads) has been eliminated with new technology (i.e., pads that don't outgas). There ARE reasons why you wouldn't want to do either (including chewing through pads and the inability to turn rotors).

The biggest problem you usually encounter with brakes under severe driving conditions is heat. IMHO, I say leave the rotor alone (removing material decreases the brakes ability to absorb the heat and can weaken the rotor) and get yourself some ducting! However, for the street, even that can actually decrease braking efficiency: high performance pads usually need to be warm to work most effectively and you just don't (or at least you shouldn't!) be generating enough heat to need to cool down your brakes.

Now, having said ALL of that, I still think cross-drilling LOOKS good!

 

[K:^P]

You DID ask about LOOKS - I think a set of cross-drilled rotors look great...

Having said that, I will also add, I won't cross drill or slot mine, despite the fact that my car is really used only for Open Track. The reason for cross drilling and slotting (as an outlet for outgassing from the pads) has been eliminated with new technology (i.e., pads that don't outgas). There ARE reasons why you wouldn't want to do either (including chewing through pads and the inability to turn rotors).

The biggest problem you usually encounter with brakes under severe driving conditions is heat. IMHO, I say leave the rotor alone (removing material decreases the brakes ability to absorb the heat and can weaken the rotor) and get yourself some ducting! However, for the street, even that can actually decrease braking efficiency: high performance pads usually need to be warm to work most effectively and you just don't (or at least you shouldn't!) be generating enough heat to need to cool down your brakes.

Now, having said ALL of that, I still think cross-drilling LOOKS good!

Well said...

 

[gp001]

LanceMach covered it pretty well. If you want some down and dirty discussion on this topic go here

http://corner-carvers.com/altimathread.php.html

 

[se7en-zero]

Think Cheese Grater....

 

[Route666]

I don't think you'll see ANY performance difference in normal street driving whatsoever.

What about moderately hard driving and some open track?

 

[Route666]

LanceMach covered it pretty well. If you want some down and dirty discussion on this topic go here

http://corner-carvers.com/altimathread.php.html

Lol that's a good (but frustrating) read, because the guy who started the thread is an idiot.

 

[Route666]

Ok from what I've read, plain rotors win out in performance, from understandable reasons. (More firepath area, more mass to dissipate heat, resulting in lower temperature, more SA for cooling, less pad wear, cheaper, and from something I read a while ago, better cooling air flow by no turbulence created by little holes)

The only thing they don't have is looks, unless you base good looks on the performance value, then I guess you just have to be impressed. Especially if they're still 13.5" diametre rotors lol.

 

[mdjay]

On a show car I prefer the slotted and drilled look the best. The drilling is a way to reduce weight on race cars, only. However it will reduce the life of the rotor by as much as 50%. For a race car, no big deal. Go to your sponsor and get another set.

The slotted brakes reduce gas build up between the pad and rotor and can significantly reduce brake fade. Functional and they look pretty good too...

 

[Route666]

But is outgassing really a problem with today's pad compounds?

 

[Red Barchetta]

But is outgassing really a problem with today's pad compounds?

No, that's done with. (See LanceMach's post) Also, try and find a race car with drilled rotors. You will see slotted rotors, but not very many that are cross drilled.

 

[Route666]

As I thought, on a kind-of side note, I saw a fairlane 500 yesterday, my family used to own a Marquis, like a fairlane 500, but with a 351C, power windows, power steer, air con, power seats, wood-grain dash and glove box, beautiful car. Anyways, this fairlane 500 had some cragar SS wheels on it (where the torque-thrust wheels got their style IMO) and some big disk rotors, plain ones. I thought they looked tough, being just these big, smooth disks. On that car, a fairly heavy looking and feeling car, those brakes seemed to match it more than slotted or drilled would. Seeing that car is the reason I started this thread actually.