Should I get rotors with slots only or get rotors with slots AND drilled holes? I hear that drilled rotors are weaker obviously due to the holes. Is this true? Will they warp? I see these ebay auctions for slotted and drilled rotors, are these good? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...152579383&rd=1 I just want to get some silver zinc plated ones.

blanks > slotted > slotted/drilled

lol

I personally would not trust Ebay with stopping my car...but quite a few have purchased rotors from Ebay. I would also suggest checking out the G/D section for either Brembo rotors, or RTP zinc plated rotors.

As for drilled... they are purely for show. I'm sure that many will disagree with me, but go ask around in the auto-x or braking threads and listen what the pros have to say.

either way, good luck and happy modding!
dan

someone just bought those on here with a 6th gen and liked them...as for me i'm brembo blanks, but i may go slotted in the future.

When it's time.....Drilled for me. Maybe drilled and slotted. They look sweet andthe car will stop fine for my purposes (I don't do auto-cross.) What is the zinc plating for?

!PrjctMax!, i have a quick question
if drilled rotors are just for show, why do most of the supercars and F1s have drilled rotors.

sry, if it sounds like i want to start a war, but i am not
i cant word it differently...

zinc plating stops that rusting effect on rotors

I autoX and I wouldnt do anything but slotted. The slots clean off the pad material and provide you with better bite, but at the cost of pad life.

I did track on blanks once........... never again.

Kamski

i dnt get why ppl want slotted brakes, are you all auto x'ing in your cars. Slots are to basically slice the glaze off the brakes created from fast, EXTREME braking and heat involved, not everyday use. It kills the life of brakes. Drilled does have a purpose, it disipates heat better, look at a machine gun, the metal peice around the barrel that has holes in it, is just for that purpose, to get rid of heat faster. High end sport cars have drilled rotors not slotted.

I've had my "cheap eBay" rotors for over 2 years with zero problems. Hell i've had the car 4.5 years and im on stock pads. I personally liked the drilled only look.

BTW, old pic w/ old wheels. Same rotors.

The nitrogen cooled rotors (polar) are well worth the extra price. I have put some seriously hard stops on them and they did not warp. They are slotted and have endured a heating and cooling protocol with nitrogen which aligns the molecular structure. Nascar uses this technology.

because those cars have some differences from ours:
1. they are not street-driven
2. their rotors are much larger and thicker and they are still ultra-strong with material removed. Our rotors are not as thick, so removing material (drilling, slotting) just weakens the rotor and increases the risk of cracking.
3. it is done to save weight
4. F1 cars burn up pads so quickly they actually NEED to be able to vent brake pad material and gases. Your street-driven car does not burn up pads quickly and therefore has no need.

until it wears off...then the rotors are just like any other rotor. Zinc plating doesn't last forever.

While they "might" provide some extra bite, I've never seen any kind of test indicating that braking distances are affected. Perhaps the extra noise makes you think they're biting harder. I've used both slotted, drilled, and blank and the actual braking was the same (I tested it as 'scientifically' as I could).

Bite can be more easily be influenced by pad choice.

As to cleaning pad material, as I said above.....that's not really an issue with a street-driven car. Poor-quality (OEM, pep boys, etc) pads will glaze any rotor...slotted, drilled, blank.

While I do recognize your knowledge on these issues Kam, I'm gonna have to disagree here. And autocross....is really not very hard on your brakes at all - at least not compared to actual track work. Look at most of the guys on here running on *real* tracks.....almost all of them use blanks because they are less prone to cracking under high heat conditions.

You are right on the first part, wrong on the second.....because any "heat that is vented" is countered/offset by the reduced heat absorption of the rotor due to reduced mass when drilled. Basically it's a wash...

The "Ionic Breeze" really cleans the air too...

I've been putting seriously hard stops on rotors for years and I have yet to warp ANY rotor on the maxima. That includes 2 stock sets, 1 set of Brembos, 1 set of 6th gen brembos, 1 set of Coleman 2-pc, and 1 set of OEM 6th gen.

the "warping" issues on the maxima have been proven over and over and over to be the result in about 90% of the cases to be a result of uneven pad material transfer due to the low heat capability of OEM and some aftermarket pads. Those with "good" pads that don't transfer as much material (Hawk HPS, others) and people using them have MUCH less "warping." In most cases though, it's not the actual rotor metal warping.....it just FEELS like it because of the uneven pad material transfer.

I actually proved this in an old thread by taking "warped" rotors (which were causing SERIOUS vibrations), setting them in a dehumidifier for a couple weeks off the car and then tapping them with a mallet. All the pad material fell off in flakes. Put the rotors back on the car and they were smooth as butter....

The reason slotted and drilled rotors were created was to vent brake gases which would create fade - this was a big issue with cars back in the day that used ORGANIC brake pads. Most cars these days use semi-metallic or ceramic pads - neither of which have the gassing problems that organics had.

cliffs:
- blanks will last longest and are least prone to cracking
- drilled/slotted look nice but provide no actual performance improvement over blanks on a street-driven car

/thread.

Saved for future linking reference re: when the question comes up again.

yeah, I keep on forgetting to do that and have to keep on re-writing all that stuff.

Obviously there are valid counter-arguments to my points and this argument can never really be definitively settled...but I'm just throwing in my 2 cents based on my experience and what I've read from experts in the field.

thanks irish44j

Sorry, wrong term, AutoX, no. I run my car at Mosport DDT.


I have a biased opinion on blanks, I ran my car on that track with OEM blanks and then a few months later I ran the same track, but in a harder config with my upgraded brakes/slotted rotors.

At the end of the day, here are the brakes for a NASCAR vehicle. I think the first one is actually for a truck. The latter off of NASCAR.



Thease people run brakes in the most demanding environments on earth. Slotted is what dominates the sport. Now all im saying is that if your going to race your car.... maybe slotted is the way to go. Then again thease NASCAR folks run STEEL rims?

But if your just gonna put around town to get groceries, blanks are 100% the top choice. Less noise, less pad wear, less.....bite?

Kamski

lol i was trying not to insult your autocross abilities if you were on the brakes that much in autocross

notice, though, that those NASCAR rotors have VERY shallow slots, and only 3-4 of them. Enough to clear off the excessive pad material used in a track application at those super-high speeds, but not enough to weaken the rotor.

Now compare to a maxima slotted rotor. A bit ridiculous amount of slots, don't you think:

I like you.

Joshua

Drilled and slotted is the ONLY way to go. Got these dirty cheap on ebay like KCMaxx and been lovin' it ever since. I think the set of 4 was literally around 160$ to the door. I had the guy throw in a set of 4 ceramic brake pads for another 80$ shipped. TIGHT!

Well you guys have pretty much convinced me NOT to get drilled and slotted rotors. So whats a good website to get regular blank rotors, maybe even gold color zinc plated rotors? What are good pads for our cars? I normally just use the OEM ones...

Gold zinc plated? Cripes I can't deal with you guys going ghetto with the max.

Mack, are you using hubcentric rings with your wheels? I am getting a slight shake at high speeds with my wheels and wondering if maybe I should get some hubrings...

slotted/drilled are fine if you
a) admit you only got them for the looks
b) don't pretend that there is ANY performance benefit
c) make sure you check them every so often for hairline cracks - especally if they're drilled.
d) don't mind your pads wearing down twice as fast

go to the group deals section here and check out importrp's deals on Brembo blanks. Then get some Hawk HPS pads and call it a day.

aren't those 350z wheels in the pic? if so, there shouldn't be a need for hubcentric rings - the hub bore should be the same as your stock wheels.

I don't even know what a hub ring is. But no I'm not using them. Irish, you are correct, I would be the first person to admit I expected NO additional braking performance nor did I get these expecting to see any. They perform just as good as stock and look TWICE as good! Also, I don't drive like an idiot so my brake pads last me a LOOOOONG time. Typically 30 to 40,000mi+ so it's not an issue for me. But to be honest, I had these on my Pontiac GTP also and didn't notice them wearing out any quicker than with normal rotors.

Are RTP rotors good? Im looking at these ones... http://www.racetechperformance.com/P...e=RTP%2DMaxR05

No offence taken, that particular track is very hard on brakes and tires

Thats actually very correct and amusing at the same time

Kamski

I have thease on the rear of my max, they are very nice indeed, no rust and zinc plated. But irish is right, that is a ridiculous amount of slots to have on that rotor. I wonder why my rears only have 5 slots and not 9 like thease fronts.

Anywhoo, you can buy them from our group buy section.

Kamski

I have had drilled/slotted rotors and Hawk pads on my car for over two years with no problems. Chernmax, me and some other members just installed these e-bay rotors. I also replaced the Hawk pads. I have put over 4,000 miles on them since installed and they are doing the job. I do alot of driving up and down the east coast. The only reason I changed was I brought new rims and wanted the black ones and had the calipers painted black.

^^^ you and Chris are all about the bling looks, so I wouldn't have expected anything less than drilled/slotted

Maybe because most of the braking goes to the front and that would need "more" ventilation...?

man, I still cant decide if i should get the drilled/slotted rotors or blanks. I think I am leaning more towards just getting blanks.

It's not that hard of a decision.

Get drilled/slotted bro. Trust me...

LOL, in two weeks, bring your car out and run with me and tell me again if you think I'm all about looks...

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

what is ghetto about rust proofing?

Gold. Who does gold?

I think it was the gold part. Which I agree looks pretty...horrid.

Joshua

I just had a crossdrilled/slotter rotor crack on me. First time in three cars. I did buy them used though. Called the company up and they were cool and hooked me up on a replacemnet set at an excellent price even though they were used. They were on the rear to top it off.

I have had cross-drilled/slotted rotors on my 05 for just about a year now and have no regrets about getting them. The difference you notice isn't going to give you a woody but I did notice some decrease in the amount of braking time it takes to bring me to a stop. I think I drive harder than most people on the road ~ Buying my 5th set of tires in 2 1/2 years. You only really notice a difference with hard braking, not light stuff. The pads haven't worn down quickly at all either. I have about 3/4 of my pads (Bendix pads) left since I replaced them last year at the same time as the rotors. They are wearing just about the same as stock. But the part I like the most about them is the sound I bought my rotors from a dealer for "Centric High Performance" www.centricparts.com I paid about $100 a pop for them but I know you could find another brand for cheaper someplace else, just not sure if I would trust ebay...