Was doing some unrelated brake research and found this pic. If you use them, check for cracks. Too many cracks = explode!

 

Crappy products and/or crappy maintenance and inspection procedures can lead to terrible accidents.

 

Did his wheel crack too? Could be the wheel breaking shattering the rotor along with it.

 

...which is why you see very few of the guys in the auto-x/road racing forums using them.....On the auto-x forums I've heard about many wheels and brake setups ruined by shattered xd rotors..........hell, there's even a story about one here in the org auto-x forums.....I would never buy xd rotors.....blanks are best for performance. xd is just for looks.

 

That's true if you're using the small stock rotors. Those things need all the heat capacity they can get.

 

Ok, does the same go with slotted rotors? I know my stock rotors are warped again (car only has 17k on it). I was looking into iRotors or Powerslot. Are these prone to cracking and shattering?

 

IMO, the highest quality stock-sized replacements would be slotted Brembos.

 

That picture has a ton of holes in it. You usually dont see that many holes in cross drilled rotors. Maybe it was a prototype of somekind??

 

Brembo doesn't make blanks for the 5.5 Gen.

 

People...some sanity please.

First - ask the question: "What is the (theoretical) purpose of cross drilling or slotting?"

Answer: cross-drilling or slotting the rotors is intended to allow "various gases and pad material to escape from the rotor". Well, this is a bit of an urban legend. The only time these gases/materials could build up in under EXTREME conditions. I mean conditions you can't possibly duplicate in daily driving. Besides, modern pad material does not have the gaseus buildup problem that organic pads from 20 years ago had....

...and if you're doing road-course racing, you shouldn't be using OEM brakes anyhow.

Bottom line: cross-drilling and slotting are for appearance only. You can argue forever that it helps you stop quicker, or bites better,or reduces warping, blah blah blah. None of this is true.

Slotting and cross-drilling (and dimpling):
1. weakens your rotor
2. does not prevent "warping"
3. does not make you stop faster
4. is for looks.

period.

(by the way - don't get me wrong....I have no problem with people doing things for looks....but just admit you are doing it for looks. Don't be like the ricers who put on a big exhaust tip and then claim it makes them faster.)

 

I know I won't be going with slotted for performance. My main reason for going with them is that the OEM rotors suck and cost an arm and a leg. My rotors warped at 10k miles and NO hard driving AT ALL. I had them resurfaced and guess what, warped AGAIN. I am done with OEM rotors hence why I asked about slotted and cracking. I just want something that will last me more then 1 year (besides pads).

 

MacAlert...if you cannot get any good quality blanks, and must go with a "cut" rotor...I suggest the following order

from best to worst:
-blanks
-dimpled
-slotted
-x-drilled
-
-
-
-
- slotted AND cross-drilled

 

...pad choice can also have an effect on how long your rotors last, as well...

 

Looks like a Audi TT which uses VERY soft rotors from the factory. I am a firm beliver that cross drilled QUALITY Brembo brakes will not explode like that. If you buy a set of 4 rotors cross drilled n slotted off Ebay for 180 dollars you might see that happen to you ! I cracked my OEM rotors in many spots but they still held togheter just fine, this was after a hard road race session on a track with high ambient temps and high speed lapping.

 

Ok, now that you said dimpled, who makes those? I know blanks would be the best choice but NO ONE makes blanks as I said in one of my previous posts.

 

.
i've never seen drilled rotors w/ that many holes. the owner proably had them drilled at a machine shop or something. now if they were used, resurfaced, then custom drilled, you can imagine how weak they must have been.

isrish you said x-drilled & slotted is just for looks... i thought the idea is to reduce heat & allow it to disipate faster which would prevent warping. can anyone testify?? have your drilled or slotted rotors warped??

 

I had EBC simpled and slotted rotors from TireRack- I highly recomend you do NOT buy these POS rotors. Stopping power is way worse than OEM rotors. I ran the same pads (Hawks HPS) with OEM rotors for quite some time, and then with EBCs and I got rid of the rotors for my Blehmco TTZ caliper kit, which I might be removing soon as I hate IRotor 04 Maxima Rotors. I need to find some better rotors or something as they are driving me nuts.

 

X-drilled and slotting are not just for looks. The holes lighten and cool the rotor, and the slots bite harder and clean the pad

Also the directional vanes designed into performance rotors draw in air and direct it outwards for cooling

you get what you pay for, I haven't cracked these in two track sessions and the rotors turned blue which according to AP means they are warmed up for use

 

......None of which is relevant as it applies to typical daily driving. On a track, utilizing a true BBK....sure. But x-drilled and slotting on OEM-sized rotors with OEM calipers is just for looks.

From what I can tell, the people asking the questions here are using their brakes for public road applications and running stock-sized calipers/rotors. For typical daily driving, you are not going to overheat your rotors or have excessive pad material transfer between stops. I use Hawk HPS with stock (6th gen) rotors/calipers....NEVER had a problem with that setup, either on the auto-x track or on my daily commute, which is as BRUTAL on brakes as any commute I can think of....

Let's not get into the whole BBK vs. OEM argument again (there's already a thread on that with about 600 posts in it, as I recall).

 

I would like to add that once a rotor is warped it is always warped. Machining it down does NOT straighten a rotor it simply makes it smooth again.

 

of course, that brings up the discussion of warped vs. material transfer...two things that are often confused by people.

...but we won't go into that here, since it's not really the topic.

 

irish44j:

i'm not definitely not here to argue. I can't always assume that all applications on a performance oriented forum will always be for street use. Hence my reference was to only what I have and not what others "should have"

i should also add that how is my post not revelant to the thread? The original poster simply stated that too many x-drilled holes = boom. Which in any case is common sense to a certain degree and he made no mention whether this is according to track or street use

 

irish is on the Money(again). I have a personal friend who worked in the research team for Tire Rack. They used to have a very liberal policy on rotors where they would usually warrenty them for 12 Monthes. After noting the problems of every rotor that was returned his results matched of those reported by the owner of Stop Tech that claimed that 95% of "warped rotors" were really only pad material transfer, not warpage. The pad material obviously has a different coeficient of friction than the rotor, put pad material on the rotor at several spots and when the pad comes to that place on the rotor the different friction causes a "Judder" similar to the Warped rotor feel. This is mostly about "physics", after all...Moral of the story is that people on theorg who say that they have warpage afternormal driving after 17K miles do not have warped rotors but never broke in there brakes properly and have sediments left on the rotor causing a judder.

 

didn't say it wasn't relevant to the thread....I said:

:wink:

comeon, you know I'll take any excuse to argue

 

exactly.

for anyone who has had "warped rotors"...do this test:

get new rotors. Put your old "warped" ones in a low-humidity area for a few weeks. Let em sit there.

after a few weeks, go pick them up, and you will notice a SH*TLOAD of pad material flaking off of them. hit them a couple times with a rubber mallet. alot more of that material will flake off (and no, I'm NOT talking about rust)....

put your old rotors back on, with some new pads. bed pads correctly. Miraculously, your "warped" rotors will no longer feel warped.

I've done this little test both on my maxima (before I upgraded to 6th gen brakes) and a buddy's all-stock maxima. Proved true both times.

 

as leave it at that so the thread can still stay on topic.

it still applies that x-drilled and slotting are not worthless and still serve a purpose

 

sorry for the newb question, not too familiar with brake setups, but what does warpe rotors actually mean???

 

Thing is, when you live in a big city, there is no place to bed brakes in. Then theres some of us who don't have the necessary tools to do it ourselves. So, how can one bed brakes in properly when they can't?

 

I got this from race shopper.com. lots of good info here http://www.raceshopper.com/tech.shtml#slotted_rotors

 

Brembo DOES make blanks for the 5th gen...

5th gen Brembo Blanks

 

why dont you look at the expensive peorformance cars out there, most of them have cross drilled rotors

 

Good point jeepik.. They don't have them just for looks..

Ok here's my point of view. We can sit here and have a 3 page long thread about how scientifically proven this is and that is, or what so and so said. As far as cross drilled or slotted rotors just being for show is not true. Who on the org that has bought a set and used them, has decided to go back to stock rotors? Who on the org would say that the factory rotors out performed the slotted or cross drilled rotors? Personally I have slotted and dimpled brembos on the front of my car and there's no way anyone can tell me that they don't out perform my factory rotors. My car stops a whole lot faster since I installed my brembo's. I am a daily drive and yes I can notice the difference from the stock rotors. Personally I prefer real life experience, especially my own.

As far as this guys rotors. It's obvious he had too many holes in his rotors. I've never seen a rotor with that many holes in it.

 

yup. Ive got them on my 5.5

 

I ran across that pic (the 'asploded rotor) doing research on DTV and material transfer.

I usually end up with a pulsing pedal, on all my cars over the past 12+ years after about 7k or so. I've tried everything. I figured out a few years ago this was DTV and material transfer.

I do about 85/15% Hiighway/city driving.

This issue is recurring on my '03 max SE. Still on stock rotors, they need their 2nd cleanup.

I had a first last week. I had a medical emergency last week with my Wife. I had to get her to a hopsital in Philly 2 days in a row. I had no choice but to do 1 hour worth of stop and go city driving the whole way. Basically it was a 6 mile drive (down Broad street, those in the area will know the route) that took 1 hour, so you can imagine that it was a lot of low speed, stop and go. This is a 6 spd Max BTW.

I noticed on Monday on the way to work that I no longer had judder. I was like WTF!!!???

So I started looking into material transfer and highway driving. I'm also looking into the best pad material to eliminate material transfer. I have 2 cars. My other car has a BBK, I tried brembo, powerslots, OEM, and cutting on that car for years to no avail. Recently, I tried cheapo crap rotors but switched to ceramic / copper pads. So far so good but I only have about 6k on the setup right now.

Funny the thread turned into a material transfer issue, that's what I was originally looking into.

As for the 'asploded rotors in the pic, you guys are right, I didn't notice all the freakin holes. Whoever that was drilled the holy crap out of them, no wonder they failed.

 

Wow, thats news to me. Never knew they made blanks for the 5.5 Gen. If anyone else is looking for 5.5 Gen blanks, part # is 25642 for fronts and 25542 for rear.

 

"why dont you look at the expensive peorformance cars out there, most of them have cross drilled rotors" ---Dumb comment.... The "expensive cars" you are talkin about like the AMG benz's and Carrerra's and so forth ALL have 13" or bigger size rotors, not our pathetic size. ALSO, look at the caliper size it has and the fact that their all running dot 5.1 fluid. What this all means is that the rotor is a lot bigger and when cross drilled there is still a lot of "rotor" left to take the heat. When u cross drill stock maxima size rotor which is small to begin with and u cross drill it you might run into danger. Please also keep in mind that if u buy brembo cross drilled that your actually buying brembo blanks hat have been cross drilled by the company your buying from. Also keep in mind that all of the benz's and porsche's have drilled for SHOW and for looks. Nobody I kno takes their SL65 AMG x-crossing although maybe they should....

 

it's called MARKETING.

 

Just wanted to add my 2 cents. I had a 2k2 maxima on STOCK brakes ran about 25K no hard braking and WARPAGE.

THen i got a 2k3 Maxima put on about 30K no hard braking, and WARPAGE. I decided to get the Stillen X=drilled and STillen pads front and rear, and i dont know whether the drilling helped or if its just the bads, but i started really using the brakes HARD. No fade, grabs hard, and still after 40,000kms lots of meat on the pads, and no warpage. I would definitely buy the STillen X-drilled and pads again.. Met and exceed all my expectations.

As for the stock OEM maxima junk brakes, after TWO bad experiences in BOTH my 2k2 and 2k3 with NO hard braking, they belong in the junk.

 

lets see some proof...

i gotta tell you my car slowed down a heck of a lot faster from 145mph this past weekend with slotted and drilled rotors then it did with stock rotors and pads

 

I agree wtih you , maybe it might be just the type of pads, i dont know, but my Stillen combo is sure the hell a lot better than OEM piece of $hit..

I actually have MUCH more confidence in my breaks now than i did before. Took a while to get them seated and lined properly but once that was done, I was amazed. I experience no fade. In fact when heated up, they perform even better.