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Old 02-09-2008, 12:00 AM
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Default Cross Drilled VS Slotted Rotors

I did not write this but i came across this while looking for new rotors for my car. It was a really well written topic. If you want to read everyones posts and what not i also am providing the original link. I figure I share this with H-T members so you can narrow down your searches if you're looking to upgrading rotors and were curious to which ones were better or needed a better idea.

Here is the link: http://www.superhonda.com/foru...04172

i just posted good points.


============Cross Drilled VS. Slotted Rotors============

Cross Drilled VS Slotted Rotors
by mike_sho

Over the years ive heard many debates on the actual benefits of modified or aftermarket brake discs. Many times it seems most people are confused of the better. Where in most cases its not a straight cut answer when it comes to tuning and choosing the right application for the job. Two of the most common types of ventilation on brake rotors are Cross Drilling and Slotting (see below diagram).


Diagram:


Cross Drilled Rotor



Slotted Rotor


Which one is better? In the next section we will go over simple benefits and drawbacks of each system. To answer the question beforehand , there isnt one standard answer for all cars and environments. As well as driver. A track based car will be setup for its environment to best suit the situation at hand. One might benefit from a certain setup where as a street car with the same setup might see adverse effects.


Slotted Rotor Attributes:

- The slots on the rotor helps clean the brake pad, which improves bite.
- The slots on the rotor will slice the brake pad allowing the pad to bite harder into the disc causing an increase in disc temperatures. This will bring your brakes up to temperature faster , but might also take you too far decreasing the benefit. The slotted rotor coupled with a race pad which need to be heated would be optimum.
- Slotted rotors will also cause slightly more brake pad wear and tear giving you less miles on a pad before it needs to be replaced. Shorter maintenance schedule.
- Slotted rotors allow gas to ventilate during brake fade.
- Slotted rotors are less prone to cracking then the cross drilled rotor.
- Slotted rotors weigh more.
- Slotted rotors have more disc surface.
- Slotted rotors maintain around 96% of the friction surface

Drilled Rotor Attributes:

- Drilled Rotors offer an enhanced initial bite.
- Drilled Rotors perform better in wet weather over the slotted rotor. Due to volume of a hole vs a slot.
- Drilled Rotors are more prone to cracking than slotted.
- Drilled Rotors allow gas to ventilate during brake fade.
- Drilled Rotors offer a performance benefit since there lighter in weight.
- Drilled Rotors have more ventilation so they should cool off faster , but have less rotor material so they could get hotter than a slotted rotor. But its hard to say as the slotting also increases heat.
- Drilled rotors maintain around 85-93% of the friction surface


Drilled and Slotted Attributes:

- The slotting will increase rotor heat.
- The drilled holes will increase the cooling after braking.
- The drilled holes will increase the water braking.
- Drilled and slotted are the least reliable.
- Drilled and slotted are going to weigh less from the same manufacturer. Other designs might be lighter from company to company.
- Drilled and slotted will give the most performance benefit to acceleration due to the lighter weight.
- Drilled and slotted will also be the hardest on your brake pad (wear and tear)
- Drilled and slotted only maintain 80-91% of the friction surface.

Overview & Suggestions:

If you can stand the increased pad wear. Slotted is pretty much a great choice for stopping power and reliable both on the street and track. Good for auto-x / road course and mountain downhill racing.

Allthough if your looking for an acceleration increase as well. A drilled rotor might be the best choice. As well works well in water/rain. All good for the street or drag racing.

The Slotted and Drilled rotor could also be a good combo for someone whos into racing or ok with increased pad wear. But youll notice that it also provides the least amount of braking surface as well the least material on the rotor. Which some attribute more brake rotor material to being able to withstand heat better. Just imagine a block of metal being heated by a lighter vs a thin strip of aluminum from an intake. The thinner and or smaller amount will allow quicker and higher heating. Which will increase rotor temps which might take your brake pad out of heat range. So its a toss up on this one.

Another factor to remember is the frequency of slots or drilled holes on the rotor itself. How far they are spaced or how frequent they come. I believe a good slotted and drilled rotor combo would be that of one that has a few sets less on the holes , replaced by a small amount of slots. 3 or so. This will give more of a sharing effect rather than an overly done rotor.

Then there are the "big brake" kits. Which cost an arm and a leg, use oversized rotors and larger calipers with sometimes more pistons in use. These are indeed great braking systems. But we find this is complete and total overkill. Not only does it decimate your wallet and car budget, which isnt even the point. Maintenance is also exspensive (if the time does come), brakes are wear and tear item and sooner or later they will need replacement. As well there going to give you a big hit on performance in acceleration and unsprung weight. This is why we say stay away from these kits. With some smart choices you can have all the braking power youll ever need with the stock oem braking setup. Some aftermarket rotors and brake pads will give almost any car the ability to lock your tires. Which in the end result is what your aiming for. The ability to stop the tires from rotating from whatever speed you achieve, to a complete stop. Without much fade. As stated above its just too much of an overkill to fit a car with a large brake kit. Unless your car is running 8's and your almost hitting the wall at the end of the 1/4 mile. Then for safety reasons you might want to go this route. Otherwise your tires are what connect you to the road and those are your main bottleneck. If you want to stop faster. Tires are where that kinda money should be spent.

Now onto when shopping for a rotor , look at a few companies. Check out all your options and the different versions from each company , ask about how many holes or slots there are and dont just believe what image your being shown online is really whats in your box. Have them look at it. Also when they offer the slotted and drilled , take a look at the design. Did they decrease some drilled holes to make room for the slots or did they simply slap in some slots in between the drilled holes. This makes a difference and if you use the above guide you can also figure out the performance change and the benefit you might have as the end result driver and user. What risks your willing to take on reliability and maintinenace and where you want to see performance increases.

Another thing to remember is to find out who does the drilling and slotting for the rotors your purchasing. A lot of these places online and ebay will do in house drilling and slotting. Dont feel bad to probe these people and see how they are doing it. Some use outside manufacturers who will most likely have a better system at doing it. Some in house people might modify your holes by hand...which might end up a disaster. Be sure to get chamfered holes , this makes them smoother , more durable and less harsh on the brake pad. Beware of the ebay stores and brembo rotors. Brembo sells oem blanks to almost anyone and they are the ones doing the modifying. Usually these are not the best choice , especially drilled because they were meant to be pretty much stock replacements. There is the brembo sport rotors which brembo does themselves and is much more durable. So find out how they did it or what there seling before investing your money in your braking system and essentially your life.

The best bet is to get a good street performance pad. Some good brake fluid for starters. If this isnt enough or you still get fade , get some rotors. Then if you want better pedal effort get ss lines.

If your going to go with low cost rotors that are slotted or brembo slotted. It would probably be best to stick with slotted. Otherwise look for performance models.

Here is a list of reccomended Performance Rotors:

Brembo Sport Rotors (key word sport / gold color)
PowerSlot Cryo Rotors (these will last longer)
PowerSlot Slotted and Slotted and Dimpled
Rotora Rotors
EBC Rotors

=============

Weve had a few posts in here about solid rotors. This is a performance article. Therefore we declined to speak about solid rotors , which everyone has.

Otherwise like stated if you like solid rotors , thats all you , but this article is about slotted vs drilled. And drilling oem rotors is where you get cracks , but pre-made drilled rotors like from brembo probably will not and or would be under warranty so either way your covered. As well were not nascar , were not worrying about finishing a race and were not pushing earthly metals to the limits of heat and durability. Were worried about bumping up our street drive or track drive. Auto-x is also not so hard on a cars brakes...it takes a good bit of very tight driving on an auto-x course to really get them up to heat. Either way even at the auto-x youll benenfit from a vented pad due to the initial bite.

If anything downhill mountain racing would be the most vicious on a street car. This is where the slot/venting will help ensure your brakes dont become overly hot and end up failing you.

Otherwise linking to other articles on something totally different doesnt really help us. f1 and nascar are certain track based events with totally different power and there taking again what metals we have to use to limits far beyond a street car. Therefore they probably cant run slotted etc etc, because there already at the limit of a rotor. Slotting again does two things , cleans the pad and allows more bite into the pad. Imagine your hand on the disc of a solid as its spinning , then a slotted. Youll grab the slotted disc easier. The other benefit is if the brake pads start venting and they will in hard street use. Then the slotted rotor will allow the gas to safely expell without effecting the space of the pad to the rotor.

If anything for those that love solid discs. You should try a slotted. For those that dont want a cracked rotor , then yes stay away from a drilled rotor. Thats why Ive noted all the points for each and let one decide the other. To say one is better than the other is pointless.

But if you want to never have a cracked rotor. Then yes , slotted is the way to go. Otherwise the pluses and minuses have been listed for those to pick and decide whats best for them. Iam just noting the differences.

Like drilled will be lighter (sorry but they will).

And all slotted rotors clean the pad so its got better bite and less fade during venting.

That simple. Comparing the cheaper blanks/solids. Does nothing , yeah they cost less and if you do your own labor its cheaper. Great , but they do get outperformed by a slotted and even the drilled rotor. Your going to risk cracks etc with the drilled. Thats the only drawback.

=========
TeeJay4life:

when purChasing a slotted rotor make sure tHe manufacturer has cut the slot into the rotor without Going all the way to the edge of The rotor. It's hard t explain so look at the photo below of a poor manUfacturing process.

this is bad


the slots should Never exceed to the edgE ofthe rotor. the Reason for this is in a circle the outer edge plays a significant roll in the ingerity of the entire unit. it's Just when you cUt into that circumfraNce edge you drasiCally take away the sTrength of the rotor. thIs can lead into a very bad crack Or shatter. thiNk of a piece of glass, the way you cut it is to score it with a cutter. however, the sCore is only usefull in breaking the glass if you run the scOre all the way edge to edge. below is a well Manufactured slotted rotor.

this is good

notice how the slots doesn't extend into the edge of the rotor.




Modified by risktypeS at 1:22 AM 2/9/2008
Old 02-09-2008, 12:12 AM
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Default Re: Cross Drilled VS Slotted Rotors (risktypeS)

This is a very good write up. Also very informative, thanks for sharing.
Old 02-12-2008, 09:45 AM
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Default Re: Cross Drilled VS Slotted Rotors (risktypeS)

thanks dude VERY helpful....i was on the fence on buying drilled or slotted rotor...
Old 02-12-2008, 10:41 AM
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Default Re: Cross Drilled VS Slotted Rotors (dc5_racr)

Cliff Notes FTW! Long *** Write-Up FTL!
Old 02-12-2008, 11:14 AM
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cliffnotes:
slotted better for stopping power.
drilled better for cooling.
slotted and drilled suck.
Old 02-12-2008, 12:41 PM
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<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NTCustoms &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">cliffnotes:
slotted better for stopping power.
drilled better for cooling.
slotted and drilled suck.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Old 02-12-2008, 01:35 PM
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Default Re: Cross Drilled VS Slotted Rotors (Tyte-S)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyte-S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Cliff Notes FTW! Long *** Write-Up FTL! </TD></TR></TABLE>
I just posted this up for the people who want to know the difference between the two
Old 02-12-2008, 03:15 PM
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Default Re: Cross Drilled VS Slotted Rotors (risktypeS)

Yeah I know, I was just kidding. Good post
Old 02-12-2008, 03:17 PM
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Default Re: Cross Drilled VS Slotted Rotors (Tyte-S)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyte-S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Cliff Notes FTW! Long *** Write-Up FTL! </TD></TR></TABLE>

Tyte-S, I was just about to say this. Cliff notes for the lazy.
Old 02-12-2008, 05:03 PM
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freal?
Old 02-12-2008, 08:31 PM
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Default Re: (NTCustoms)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NTCustoms &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">cliffnotes:
slotted better for stopping power.
drilled better for cooling.
slotted and drilled suck.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Add in the lazy mans cliffnotes:
Don't forget Big brake kits are also overkill and is a wallet killer.
Old 02-12-2008, 08:40 PM
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not entirely. it is hard to find a big brake kit that is not overkill, but if you take a look at wilwood, they offer a bbk that only uses a slotted rotor, instead of the cross-drilled/slotted kind you find everywhere else. it is also cheaper at $560 bucks. only BBK i would ever buy.
Old 02-13-2008, 08:58 PM
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Crossdrilled
Old 11-28-2008, 10:46 PM
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Thank you, I guess it's cross drilled for me, or stock in the meantime, though slotted looks so much nicer
Old 11-28-2008, 11:33 PM
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interesting article but me and my clients use blanks, there so awsome no one has to write up **** on them, the stock sustems respond best to them and were not designed to run these types of rotors, all the race vehicles we put out use brembo blanks.
Old 11-29-2008, 09:13 AM
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I was thinking slotted for better sopping, but my car's pretty light and it stops okay already, so I thought drilled, but if they crack that easily, maybe not.
Old 11-29-2008, 01:11 PM
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Originally Posted by acmoc
I was thinking slotted for better sopping, but my car's pretty light and it stops okay already, so I thought drilled, but if they crack that easily, maybe not.
You're way off on this. Unless you have a dedicated and well-tuned/tested track car and know exactly what you want to do in the braking system, you're better off just getting OEM or OEM-style rotors and calling it a day. Then, buy pads for your application and what it is you want the car to do.

Blanks stop best for a street/autox car, period. They are also cheaper.

I'm not going to get into the how's and why's, but for 95% of the applications normal blanks are best.
Old 11-29-2008, 01:12 PM
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exactly
Old 11-29-2008, 03:26 PM
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A set of Brembo blanks and a good pad will stop better then any of the hype... its all cosmetic! You will not stopper... look at most of the guys in the Honda cup all are using blanks for a reason its because they are cheap and brake better then slotted or drilled!

I have had all of the above and I went back to basics for the best braking!
Brembo Blanks
Hawks HPS pads
Motul DOT5 brake fluid
SS Lines

and that was on my time attack EG Type-R
Old 11-29-2008, 04:11 PM
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Originally Posted by DaveSi677
A set of Brembo blanks and a good pad will stop better then any of the hype... its all cosmetic! You will not stopper... look at most of the guys in the Honda cup all are using blanks for a reason its because they are cheap and brake better then slotted or drilled!

I have had all of the above and I went back to basics for the best braking!
Brembo Blanks
Hawks HPS pads
Motul DOT5 brake fluid
SS Lines

and that was on my time attack EG Type-R
true, but all high performave stock cars, like corvette, porsche, and lamborghini, use slotted drilled or both. Though I agree for our cars, blanks will be good enough. You mean those pads that king motorsports sales?
Old 11-29-2008, 04:20 PM
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i heard blanks are best, now im assuming it is correct.
Old 11-29-2008, 04:30 PM
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Originally Posted by acmoc
true, but all high performave stock cars, like corvette, porsche, and lamborghini, use slotted drilled or both. Though I agree for our cars, blanks will be good enough. You mean those pads that king motorsports sales?
Brembo has said it multiple times that cross drilled is all cosmetic... no performance gains!!! Its just to make it look nice!!!

You can get the Hawks HPS anywhere... I am sure some of the sponsor on Honda-Tech have them.
Old 11-29-2008, 04:54 PM
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Originally Posted by DaveSi677
Brembo has said it multiple times that cross drilled is all cosmetic... no performance gains!!! Its just to make it look nice!!!

You can get the Hawks HPS anywhere... I am sure some of the sponsor on Honda-Tech have them.
oh wow, this is a cool thread. I'm looking at lemans pics, and they look like blanks
I have ss lines already. And fresh brake fluid, guess better pads is all I need. but I have some AEM pads, they work good I think, But they were discontinued
Old 11-29-2008, 05:06 PM
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blanks are best
more surface area
Old 11-29-2008, 06:35 PM
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Originally Posted by acmoc
true, but all high performave stock cars, like corvette, porsche, and lamborghini, use slotted drilled or both. Though I agree for our cars, blanks will be good enough. You mean those pads that king motorsports sales?

Mainly cosmetic. Plus, have you seen the size of the caliper/rotor setup on some of the supercars? There is plenty of area still left on the rotor where the void of cross drilled/slotted doesn't matter.

Plus, there is weight to be saved.

But, on a Honda application, weight isn't really a concern. Rotor surface is, however, and it needs to be maximized.


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