drilling own holes in rotors

[Beachbum3478]

has anyone ever drilled their own holes in a brake rotor, like the performance ones have. i have a pair of crappy rotors to play around with, so i thought maybe it be worth giving a shot and see what happens?

[speeduphoria]

some people say it is just for looks and you lessen your brake performance do to less surface area.

[Travis_k]

No, there is no reason to do it. The ones that come that way are thicker, the holes are countersunk, and they still sometimes crack. Good plain rotors are fine.

[turbo minivan]

what would scare me is the weight being throwen off a bit, may be a big problem when cruzen down the road. thats why they ballance wheels right?

[allmotor]

back in my gullable days, I thought too the drilled rotors were the hot ticket, so I bought a new replacement set, programed my CNC mill to do the work and put them on my race car. guess what it accomplished? if you guessed absolutely nothing, you are right other than the energy I wasted running the mill.

[Polygon]

If you want cross-drilled rotors then you will need to get bigger rotors to compensate for the lost braking surface. If you don't you will see an increase in brake fade. There is less surface contact between the pad and the rotor and there is less material the dissipate heat. Cross-drilling is supposed to stop outgassing which can be easily explained as the brake pads hydroplaning on the rotors because of a buildup of gases. Most new brake pads compensate for this. If you look on any real race car you will NOT find cross-drilled rotors. The only reason that Porsche, Ferrari, and other manufactures use them is because they sell cars.

Also, when they do them they are normally cast that way. Only cheap companies actually drill the rotors and even then they are done with a CNC machine and there is a bit of engineering involved. If you were to get a drill and cross-drill your stock rotors yourself then you're asking for trouble. That is just as stupid as heating and cutting your springs to lower your car. After repeated use the rotors would quickly crack and then shatter. Not something you want to happen at any speed.

If you buy into the marketing and want to waste your money on cross-drilled rotors buy them from a reputable company.

[Phreakish]

old (ancient) brake pads would create gasses when heated (during braking) and because of this, slots and holes were machined into the rotors to help compensate. Today's brakes are much better, and has been explained, they just look 'neat' (I wont say 'good' or 'cool' cuz I hate 'em )

Anyway, when it comes to any peice that sees heat and stress as much as a rotor (like an engine block, axles, flywheel, etc) I can't see dropping it under the 'press and hoping for the best...

Best case would be that you wind up with a set of holy rotors that will likely not be noticed and would be a point of failure waiting to happen...

Worse case, you wind up with a peice of swiss cheese that has holes all over in no discerible pattern that'll just get 'ya laughed at if anyone eye's them

[afsautoworx]

If u got a set of brake pads that had a slice in the pads for the gas to escape u wouldnt need crossdrilled rotors. It lets the dirt, dust out too. Check out this image for an example. Most aftermarket pads have these, some dont.

http://www.creativekarting.com/Produ...ar_pad_grn.jpg

[Chief8one]

what are people opinion on the drilled/slotted ones on fwdperformance.com??

[oldgregg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beachbum3478 has anyone ever drilled their own holes in a brake rotor, like the performance ones have. i have a pair of crappy rotors to play around with, so i thought maybe it be worth giving a shot and see what happens?

Don't.

[Travis_k]

Quote:

what are people opinion on the drilled/slotted ones on fwdperformance.com?? Today 02:49 AM

I wouldnt worry about them cracking, becasue im sure they are decent quality, but still its more just for looks. Thats alot of extra money that could be spent on something else. Plain rotors are really just fine.

[Phreakish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by afsautoworx If u got a set of brake pads that had a slice in the pads for the gas to escape u wouldnt need crossdrilled rotors. It lets the dirt, dust out too. Check out this image for an example. Most aftermarket pads have these, some dont. http://www.creativekarting.com/Produ...ar_pad_grn.jpg

they help, but its only recently that it could be done well enough to survive... thats why old rotors got drilled/slotted, and now its just a 'cool' factor because you can see it, you cant see slotted pads LOL. But you're right, those types of pads will work far better...