Steeltrouble

Anyone know what the best options for slotted rotors are, (price, performance)? I need to replace my brakes and want to get better rotors at the same time. I dont want to brake the bank and I'm not running at the track or anything, just want some decent ones. Any input is appreciated!

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EarlR

If I were going to put slotted rotors on my car, it would be these. That said, you will gain very little (if anything) with slotted rotors (other than they look better) over a quality plain rotor, like the Brembo or Centric. I just put a pair of those Centric rotors on the front of my '07, and the appear to be very high quality pieces.

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Earl R.
'07 Altima 3.5 SE, '03 Frontier 4X4 crew, '02 Camaro toy, '90 240SX ITA car

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gameguru1360

so you're saying that slotted/drilled rotors over the oem rotors isn't going to be beneficial unless you do hard braking at the track and for a daily driver, it'd be a waste of money?? I was looking at getting drilled rotors for both the front and rear of my 09 2.5 as I switched to ceramic pads. Since it's my daily driver, I'm not looking to go on the track and I thought that drilled rotors also help to cut down on braking distance and longer wear on the pads because the holes help to dissipate heat.

Tempted to go with the ones I've seen off ebay, but....

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EarlR

Drilled/slotted rotors actually have less surface area in contact with the pad than plain rotors. While the difference is typically pretty minimal (I think the Power Slot description mentions 3.7% less on a slotted rotor v. 7.7% on a drilled rotor v. 9.4% on a d/s rotor), and can probably be made up with a little extra pedal pressure, what are the advantages? If you brake really hard a lot - as you would on the track - then the slots help vent the gases away from the pads, and the holes help dissipate heat. But on a street-driven car? For one, or even a few, hard stops you're not going to build up enough heat and/or gas to make any difference.

The one area where slotted rotors may help in daily driving is in the wet, where the slots might help disperse the water from a wet rotor a little faster; but I'm not sure if that difference is really noticeable. Even plain rotors clear themselves of water pretty quickly - that's one of the major advantages of disc brakes over drum brakes - that there is almost no loss in braking.

I actually cracked a pair of drilled/slotted rotors on my '02 Camaro; they were the Summit Racing rotors, and I was using them on a track day. But still, that was enough to make me want to avoid drilled rotors on a street car from now on. Slotted...I don't think they're bad, but just don't see the need. JMHO of course.

EDIT: also, I forgot to mention; I race a '90 240SX in SCCA's ITA class (among other), and we are required to use oem-type (plain) rotors on our cars. With a race pad, braided brake lines, and racing brake fuild (I use Motul RBF600, but there are others just as good) I've never had an issue with brake fade in 5 years of racing (knocking wood).

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Earl R.
'07 Altima 3.5 SE, '03 Frontier 4X4 crew, '02 Camaro toy, '90 240SX ITA car

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blazerk5drew

I agree. I didnt see much of an improvement in performance with my d/s rotors. Although they look really cool with red calipers, they have offered me nothing better and the fronts can chatter a little when they get hot. For a daily driven car I would just stick with a high quality rotor and ceramic pads. I think the hydraulic system is aggressive enough in these cars for 99% of your stopping needs. Hence why I will not fork out 2k$ for a big brake kit.

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gameguru1360

so how long do ceramic pads typically last for a daily driver assuming you don't always slam the brakes at the stop light or stop sign??

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blazerk5drew

Id say somwhere between 50-60k for the front....40-50k for the rear. Depending on what kind of driving you do with your car. My pathfinder was mostly highway and I ran almost 100k miles on em before they needed to be replaced. I like napa AD pads which are low dust, no squeak ceramic pads. Im overall happy with the ceramic pads on my car but not so thrilled with the d/s rotors. I do drive like a jackass tho.

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MrHiggles

I just bought some slotted EBC rotors with red stuff pads. I'll let ya know how that goes. I may just have a EBC blank in the rear

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gameguru1360

not sure if it's true, but pep boys said that the yellow/red stuff brake pads are much better than typical ceramic pads. They claim that the yellow/red stuff lasts much longer, much less brake dust and virtually no squeals. Of course they're much more expensive!


has anyone tried the duralast gold rotors at all?? they seem to have a much better coated area than with oem ones. Wasn't sure if I should've upgraded to duralast rotors since I bought duralast ceramic pads front/rear

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MrHiggles

I had durlalast gold rotors along with their pads and my brakes kept locking up. This was on my old Camaro and yes it had ABS

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gameguru1360

good to know! I guess I'll just stick with the oem rotors for now!

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sc302

you don't have to run same brand rotors and pads. I would suggest not getting duralast or wearever rotors.

I have wagner ceramics on my front now. Typically, you replace 2x fronts to every 1x rear. The rear can easily last 80-100k miles provided your calipers don't lock up.

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