kngfmsta

what is the difference between drilled, slotted, and both. Does one stop faster than the other, or does one work at higher speeds. I want to upgrade my brakes to brakes that will stop faster, for everday use. Help would be very much appreciated, thanks a lot

StealthTL

iTrader: (1)

It is actually very difficult to beat the stock rotors - pads, calipers etc. are easier upgrades, but the original rotors are awesome!

....that said, I have the drilled Centric rotors, strictly in line with my philosophy of "Bring on de damn Bling!"

"Drilled" gives me the look I'm after without shredding the pads like a cheesegrater "slotted" would. Total mileage is around 25K now, with the new rotors on for the last 10k miles, pad wear seems quite normal.

S

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

it's all show, not whoa

iridearocket

Ya, find me a car with any aftermarket brake package that stops as fast as the RX-8. The brakes are unreal on this car out of the box and I wouldn't screw with them. Only if you do track days (or want to look cool) should you spend any money on brake cooling methods like slotted or drilled rotors.

For those of you who don't know:
Slotted rotors: the slots in the rotors allow gases to escape. pads emit hot gasses during high friction and the slots sweep those gases away
Drilled rotors: vent the rotors to try and reduce the heat of the metal

DreRX8

Drilled rotors are for bling--they could possibly crack as well--but look good as hell. I have the slotted centric rotors on the front--they look good and they vent gasses.

DPE

iTrader: (1)

What Dre said on the drilled rotors. ONLY get drilled if you're not going to drive your car very hard on a regular basis. They will develop cracks between the holes eventually, and if you beat on them that will happen sooner rather than later. Slotted offers a marginal performance increase, and in fact does not shred pads like a cheese grater. I'm not sure where that information comes from, but it doesn't come from anyone who has had slotted rotors for any length of time.

For day-to-day driving, you can't get much better than OEM. Any real upgrade would be from pads and/or fluid more than rotors. Carbotech Bobcats, for example, are a street pad with a very high friction coefficient and greater fade resistance than OEM. That means for a given pedal pressure they 'bite' harder, and of course they are more heat resistant during brake-intensive drives.

Additionally, part of the reason the RX-8 stops so well is the much-maligned RE040 OEM tires. The stickier the tires, the better the car is going to stop. And those RE040s aren't all that bad.

tuj

Remember, if you can engage the ABS consistently, you don't need better brakes, you need better tires.

Also, the idea that all drilled rotors will crack is BS. Porsche drills their rotors from the factory. The cheaper drilled rotors will crack tho.

DPE

iTrader: (1)

In our experience even the 'good' drilled rotors will develop surface cracks between the holes WELL before the rotor is fully worn. Additionally, even factory drilled rotors are susceptible to this under heavy use.

There just isn't any reason, other than show/bling/appearance, to get drilled rotors in our opinion. The only viable performance reason is weight savings, and even on an RX-8 you're really not getting a tangible benefit in that regard.

Just our opinion, but we've been through a lot of rotors, too .

Gerael

don't drilled rotors vent gas too??? just not as complete as slotted... man they look good though

crossbow

1) Venting gas is only an issue if your using brake pads from the 60's.
2) Which absorbs and disappates heat faster...air or metal?

Drilling rotors reduces mass, which in turn reduces the rotors ability to absorb the heat from the pads.

Aka in almost every instance, the will provide less performance then a solid or slotted rotor, while reducing pad longevity. They are only aesthetic modifications.

The aftermarket community has finally noticed that people have started educating themselves in brake technology, and have begun offering dimpled rotors instead of drilled. These provide the look of drilled rotors, without any of the negatives. (Cracking, reduced efficency). The only applications where cross-drilled rotors still have some sort of performance gain are...

1) Racing in wet conditions
2) Racing where unsprung weight is absolutely critical. (Sports bike racing for exmaple)

If you feel like reading a 30+ legendary thread on this debate, here ya go.
http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/sho...7&page=1&pp=15

Here's a short article if you just want the basic ideas.
http://www.mazda6tech.com/index.php?...d=19&Itemid=50

Another recently good article (bit more technical)
http://www.ffcobra.com/FAQ/brakes3.html

As proven by those tracking the 8...the stock rotors are utterly fantastic and well sized for the car. Throw on some track pads, and some decent fluid (motul600, ATE Super Blue, Vavoline Synpower), and your good to go at any speed.

Ironically, most comparison tests which "utilize the same rubber and wheels" show stock systems generally comparable to aftermarket, and usually far better in the average stopping distances of 60-0 and 40-0. Where the bling bling giant rotors and multi-pot calipers usually show their stuff is in the 120-0 and 120-40 tests. Even then though, the stock systems usually aren't by a huge amount (if the stop braking system is good).

The time when you see these tests skewing in the favor of the aftermarket components are when...

1) They have to move to larger wheels to fit over the new rotors. This usually means "better" wheels (wider usually), with superior tire compound vs the stockers.
2) They test vs worn stock components (rotors and pads are wear items!!!).

All those tests do is show you the effect that better tire compounds have on stopping distance.

If you really want to stop faster on the track...here's what you do.

Pick the smallest diameter, widest wheel you can fit on the car. (Probably 17x8.5 or 17x9 on this application, fikse would rock for this). Put some damn sticky rubber on it. (R comps, or at least something like a RT-615 or shaved hankook Z212). Replace your brake fluid with higher quality fluid. Pick out some nice track pads (carbotech XP9 or 10's). Build some brake ducts if your car doesn't have any.

You'll outbrake people who spend 5,000 USD+ on expensive braking systems, giant wheels, and fancy multipot calipers to try and stop faster.

Remember the only thing that stops the car, is the interaction between the tire and road. The rest of the system just supports that interaction.