I know very little about brakes but after seeing the maroon 95 TA in the GM High Tech mag, I like the look of the slotted rotors. Tell me to shut up if i'm stupid, is it possible/reasonable to slot your stock rotors?

 

shut up ur stupid

JK

You COULD in theory slot ur own rotors, but it is probably not the best idea. Most ppl generally have no clue how to do it and often weakens the integrity of the rotor itself. I have seen people who have drilled their own rotors have them crack under high heat. Leave it to the pros and just buy a set. www.racenet.net has pretty reasonable prices on slotted rotors

 

We have a machine shop as one of the departments where I work. I asked them about it one days and they said it wasnt the best idea unless you get it done by someone who really knows what they are doing, and knows what the purpose of the slots are.

Just as a sidenote to the post above mine, racenet has great prices, but are VERY flaky. If you do a search, you will find a lot of people who have had problems with them.

 

Thanks for the replies fellas. I figured that was the answer I was looking at. Off to racenet's site and thanks for the heads up also kinyu.

 

you will throw off the balance, lose the braking surface and probobly crack under high speeds. either that or cut right into a vent

 

just curious, are any of you actually machinists?

 

no,
but i have a bit of interaction, i guess you could say, with rotors at work I also have common sense

 

ok trey, care to elaborate then?
the point of sloting or crossdrilling is simply to give the gases a place to escape, you don't need a very deep cut to do this, simple measurements will ensure you don't go too deep, generally i would guess a 1/4-1/3 of the thickness from the outside surface to the inside vent.

as long as it's properly calculated so that each slot is equidistant from each and the same depth and lenth then there should be no worries about it being unbalanced. this easiest way to accomplish this is with a superspacer or rotating table.

like i said you don't have to go deep at all, as long as you don't get carried away you shouldn't have any problems cracking it. i image rotors made for slotting may be slightly thicker but with some common sense i don't see why it can't be done. drilling rotors is a different story. more science involved, depth of champer, location and angles of holes ect.

 

seeing how your pads dont produce gasses... I really dont see the need. also- he wants them for appearance and to make them noticeable they need to be rather large

 

and also-
making the rotor 25-33% thinner in some areas is just ASKING for a cracked rotor

 

well i haven't checked it out too much yet cuz i'm not ready to buy some to slot, but do slotted rotors come with a thicker material? if not then are you saying that buying any slotted rotor is asking for cracking?

as for the gases, yes, under braking conditions, your pads do produce gases as the friction material breaks down. allowing these gasses to escape through holes or slots allows better engagement of the pad to the rotor. which is why they work so much better. also allowing them to escape promotes better cooling.

as for the looks thing. they would look better if you bought some already done, you can get them coated and stuff. DIY is more for the performance minded.

ps: trey i'm singling you out, just curious if there's any real info behind your words, cuz my buddy is pushing me to slot mine at work sometime. i have the machining knowledge, just worried about eating pads more than anything. i was hoping someone could add some input about the angle of the slot or depth. also i'm curious if the slotted ones use thicker material.

 

your pads (assuming its a relatively stock car) DO NOT PRODUCE GASSES-
back in the day they did-
not any more
slotted/cross drilled are purly cosmetic

i am VERY confident slotted are thicker-

My boss was telling me about his rotor tickness vs cracking tendancy study...
I'd shy away from this idea