does anyone have x-drilled rotors. I was going to get some but my friend told me they might crack any input would be alot of help.

 

it all depends on what you do with your car!

I drive with slotted rotors up front, and recently I took up driving school as one of new hobbies. basically, what driving school is, is that you get on a road course track (not autocross and not drag strip...but a race track like mid-ohio / button willow..etc) with a driving instructor and drive around the track...basically you go as fast as possible down the straights, then brake hard for curves / turns...(to give you an illustration...my car goes about 100mph down the straight and I brake for the first turn 50 - 60 mph...at www.putnampark.com) and you do this for about 10 turns and about 10 times round the track for each track session...sooner or later, street pads will fade by the 3rd lap.

let just say that I managed to go thru a new set of porterfield R4-S pads in 5 track sessions (~50 times round the track) or 1 weekend. and at the end of each track session the rotors turned reddish pink vs the factory silver plating that comes on powerslot rotors....I have since noticed tiny stressed fractures on my slotted rotors as well...!

next mod I'm going with is track / race pads.

anyways, my opinion of cross drilled rotors is...basically, if you plan on doing what I just mentioned above (track event) plus daily driving, try NOT to get them unless they are Cast (meaning when they mfg the rotor, the mold already has holes in them for the cross drilled)....otherwise shop drilled (be it hand drilled or machine drilled) they are going to crack.

but if you are just doing regular driving, and want to just "enhance" the look of your car...then by all means get the cross drilled....in fact, why not get cross drilled and slotted 2 in 1 rotors?! (I'm not flaming you here) but note that your brake pads (assuming you are upgrading them as well to complement enhance braking power) will wear out faster with either slotted or cross drilled rotors compared to solid rotors. (just imagine a cheese grater everytime you hit the brake pedal, sure its going to help you stop a lot faster, but your pads get "grated" thinner....!)

bottom line is...if you want better stopping power from stock, get a set of better brake pads (axis metal masters, porterfield R4-S, hawk HP+), and high temp brake fluid (motul, ATE super blue, AP racing), and if budget permits braided stainless steel lines.

but if you think you want the best bite, then get rotors (slotted or cross drilled...both would wear the pads out fast though!)

or just go and get those wilwood big brake kit (from www.fastbrakes.com) or the stillen ap racing brake kit (www.stillen.com)


hope it helps
rgds

 

I have the Stillen Cross-Drilled and the only way they'll crack is under race conditions. For everyday driving, you will not build up enough heat to cause cracking. I have had mine for about 4 months and had no problems at all.