drilled and slotted or solid? best rotor companies

[str12-340]

I'm actually looking for rotors for my 2016 Dart, but since this is a more generic question I'll post it here.

What are the advantages and possible disadvantages of drilled and slotted rotors as opposed to stock style solid rotors?

What are the best brands of rotors to use?

 

[dano]

From my homework on a street car, none. The slotted or drilled were for older (80's-back) pads that outgassed more in use and could create "green breaking" a gas layer preventing pad contact. I think slotted can get some credit for possibly keeping the pad glaze down on some compounds. Basically for a street car, plain old Centric blanks and a good street pad works best. Buy, install and bed the pad to the rotor.

For the track, the opinions might be different.

 

[Map63Vette]

Yeah, I would tend to stay away from drilled rotors as they don't really seem to offer any benefits other than looks and maybe some weight savings if you were really trying to get every last bit. Slotted would be my go-to for performance stuff. Solid is going to be fine for 99% of street driving, especially in a lighter car.

Brands are harder to say. I like StopTech because they really actually felt like an engineering company and had a lot of good white papers on their website talking about various brake design things. I think they were bought out or something like that, I don't entirely recall how convoluted things have gotten with who owns who. Centric was their "street" brand though, so I'd second that recommendation.

 

[LO23M8B]

I've just started using Powerstop per my son's recommendation and my Suburban has never stopped so well. I'm putting a set on my Caravan right now. What a pita. My wife asked me, you never seem to have any problems with all the other vehicles. Some engineers need to play with their Legos more.

 

[MMissile]

I order stuff from Detroit axle, for my daily drivers. Good quality and fast service. I recently put drilled and slotted rears on my Caravan. It was like 5-bucks more than the solid rotors.
It all works very well.
Front Page

 

[LO23M8B]

I order stuff from Detroit axle, for my daily drivers. Good quality and fast service. I recently put drilled and slotted rears on my Caravan. It was like 5-bucks more than the solid rotors.
It all works very well.
Front Page

O god I hope you have better luck than I had. Got an old Impala police car and ordered all their stuff rated for the police pkg. Best stuff not cheap. So the barn is tied up so I did it outside and it was still on the jack stands the next day. It rained that night. When I got outside the driveway was all rust stained and the rotors looked like they were under salt water for a 100 years. Sent it all back on my dime. $$$$$ Never got a cent from them.

 

[MMissile]

My rotors look to be zinc coated. I only see rust on the wear area, after it sits for days in the rain. I've had great deals with them for a few cars.
So yeah, no issues.

 

[LO23M8B]

I'm glad you've had good luck. Stuff I got from Autozone didn't rust as bad as the others but about ever 5,000 miles or so I had to cut them. We will see how these work for me. God, I miss the old Bendix stuff.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Drilled and slotted rotors are basically play purdys on old street cars like ours, UNLESS you drive like it's a race car on the street.

 

[DartDave73]

I've used drilled and slotted ones on my 2008 charger, and currently on the Chrysler 300 (2019). I've used both Raybestos and Power Stop rotors. Both work fine. But it's more than just the slotted/drilled rotor. You have to have really good brake pads. I use ones that are designated for Police/Utility vehicles (rockauto sells them). They're meant for repeated and hard braking. If I had just put on just basic pads, I probably wouldn't notice the difference. But this combination works very well. I got the 300 to stop as quickly as our Kia Soul. It's almost violent.. it'll put you through the windshield if you don't have your seatbelt on. The slotted/hole rotors will help shed heat quicker and provide a better grip.

 

[MMissile]

Drilled and slotted rotors are basically play purdys on old street cars like ours, UNLESS you drive like it's a race car on the street.

I drive like that everywhere..

 

[Dana67Dart]

I drive like that everywhere

If your not first you're last

 

[plymouth4onthefloor]

Slotted or drilled doesnt mean quality. Don't let fool you. Quality is in the steel/cast und brake pads material. Unfortunately are we limited in availability on classic cars. Learn from the pages of Girodisc, EBC, AP Racing and Endless. Take a look at Brembo brakes for your car!
We had a great success on my boss's 2019 sportcar with Girodisc and Endless pads, he put so many miles on it on the Nordschleife with way longer lifetime. But attention, racebrakes squitch like a freightrain in regular traffic.
Dont buy "poser" slot 'n drills, buy quality!

 

[Kendog 170]

I always thought slotted helped with heat but that could be a myth.

 

[plymouth4onthefloor]

directional vents inside the vented disc (left and rightside rotors), air ducts to the inner! part of rotorcenter. air is streaming from bearings to wheel.

 

[CFD244]

Slotted or drilled doesnt mean quality. Don't let fool you. Quality is in the steel/cast und brake pads material. Unfortunately are we limited in availability on classic cars. Learn from the pages of Girodisc, EBC, AP Racing and Endless. Take a look at Brembo brakes for your car!
We had a great success on my boss's 2019 sportcar with Girodisc and Endless pads, he put so many miles on it on the Nordschleife with way longer lifetime. But attention, racebrakes squitch like a freightrain in regular traffic.
Dont buy "poser" slot 'n drills, buy quality!

x2 On the Brembo. A local parts store started carrying them and I bought a set for my 2007 Ram. So far, my favourites.

Funny thing though......The bedding in directions that came with the Brembo were totally opposite to the consensus. Originally, I was under the impression to use the aggressive slowing method and to let them cool down before stopping completely.

Brembo instructions said to use them gently for the first 200km or so.....Which worked great for my truck.

 

[plymouth4onthefloor]

x2 On the Brembo. A local parts store started carrying them and I bought a set for my 2007 Ram. So far, my favourites.

Funny thing though......The bedding in directions that came with the Brembo were totally opposite to the consensus. Originally, I was under the impression to use the aggressive slowing method and to let them cool down before stopping completely.

Brembo instructions said to use them gently for the first 200km or so.....Which worked great for my truck.

on a heavy truck is a lot brake stress during normal breaking, compare same brake on a lightweight compact. bedding is importend bevor you really hit the brake. Come to a full stop kills everything on a really hot brake. I've seen melted wheelcenter caps, melted brake piston dustrings, brake cooling hoses etc.

 

[Map63Vette]

x2 On the Brembo. A local parts store started carrying them and I bought a set for my 2007 Ram. So far, my favourites.

Funny thing though......The bedding in directions that came with the Brembo were totally opposite to the consensus. Originally, I was under the impression to use the aggressive slowing method and to let them cool down before stopping completely.

Brembo instructions said to use them gently for the first 200km or so.....Which worked great for my truck.

Could depend on the pad. I think EBC has a bedding material on the top surface that is designed to transfer first for example. Really too, street vs race pads would also make a difference. StopTech did a really nice paper on the subject if I remember right.

The longer version is that there are two main forms of "friction" when it comes to brakes. You have "sticky" friction that acts more like adhesive and "mechanical" friction that is more like sandpaper. Sticky friction is what you get when you bed brakes well and get a transfer layer of material from the pad to the rotor. It's nice on rotors because that layer is what is doing the stopping. You could kind of think of it like an oil film when it comes to bearings in that parts really ride on the oil and not metal to metal. The thing is, that layer can be scraped off over time or as you change pads. The reality is that stopping with cold brakes is going to wear that layer over time anyway, so any bedding process you do initially probably isn't going to matter a ton down the road unless you do it again to get the transfer layer built back up.

The other purpose for bedding was also just to outgas the pads and get the "green" wear out of them. That might still be somewhat relevant, but I'm guessing today's modern compounds suffer from that a lot less. There are also so many different varieties of compounds that I wouldn't be surprised that one method doesn't suit them all. Ceramic, carbon, organic, etc.

 

[LO23M8B]

I've used drilled and slotted ones on my 2008 charger, and currently on the Chrysler 300 (2019). I've used both Raybestos and Power Stop rotors. Both work fine. But it's more than just the slotted/drilled rotor. You have to have really good brake pads. I use ones that are designated for Police/Utility vehicles (rockauto sells them). They're meant for repeated and hard braking. If I had just put on just basic pads, I probably wouldn't notice the difference. But this combination works very well. I got the 300 to stop as quickly as our Kia Soul. It's almost violent.. it'll put you through the windshield if you don't have your seatbelt on. The slotted/hole rotors will help shed heat quicker and provide a better grip.

Yor are right. I'm using the Powerstop extreme towing pads. My son calls them Nascar brakes. lol

 

[dano]

Don't overlook tires too. Good brakes can overpower shitty cheap tires.

 

[Map63Vette]

Don't overlook tires too. Good brakes can overpower shitty cheap tires.

This is always the big one. If you can lock your wheels today with the brakes you have, big/better brakes won't make you stop any faster. The main advantage to them is more that they allow you to stop at maximum ability for longer before fading.

 

[MMissile]

I think the guy was just looking to put decent brakes on a daily driver.

 

[DartDave73]

Better brake system, better tires... next will be a more responsive suspension to prevent body roll on hard braking and turning.

I know there are emergency situations, but the best system is not driving like a nit-wit. Just sayin'.

 

[Dana67Dart]

I recollect from years ago that drilled and slotted were only recommended for solid rotors. Vented rotors were prone to cracking when drilled and slotted.

Also every hole or slot is that much less surface area for braking. It's minimal so maybe the benefit out weighs the down side. Or maybe it's a break even.

It looks like NASCAR does not use drilled or slotted rotors due to potential cracking from extreme heat.