Brake upgrade

[Dougie]

I need to replace my brakes and wanted some opinions. I have a 2000 V70XC, is it worth the money to upgrade to a Zimmerman cross-drilled or slotted rotor as opposed to a stock rotor? Additionally upgrade to braided steel lines? Is it ok to keep the rear brakes a stock rotor and upgrade the front rotors only? I drive the car as a commuter and it is mostly a highway vehicle.

[zhenya]

Hi,

This topic is discussed almost every week, so you'll find lots of info if you search.

My opinion is that there is no point spending the money on drilled or slotted rotors. The best braking performance will come from stock rotors; drilling the rotors is for looks only - it reduces the integrity of the rotor and they are prone to cracking. If you want more power, buy more aggressive pads; if you want better resistance to fade, consider upgrading the rotor size (although this will probably require larger wheels).

[charlyW]

Hi,

This topic is discussed almost every week, so you'll find lots of info if you search.

My opinion is that there is no point spending the money on drilled or slotted rotors. The best braking performance will come from stock rotors; drilling the rotors is for looks only - it reduces the integrity of the rotor and they are prone to cracking. If you want more power, buy more aggressive pads; if you want better resistance to fade, consider upgrading the rotor size (although this will probably require larger wheels).

Sorry to disagree with you on the Stock Rotors and pads for the following reasons: The stock rotors and pads are a compromise of long life and heat disipation, however, a good set of drilled and slotted discs [rotors] will improve your braking no end especially if you use your car on fast roads for a good distance as you will loose most of the annoying brake fade when towing or braking hard from high speeds. Modern high quality drilled and slotted discs do not suffer with cracking like they would have done 5-10 years ago as long as you dont go for the bargain basement ones but spend as much as you can on them you will notice a difference in braking also go for the best pads you can go. I use Ceramic with slotted and drilled discs and won't go back to the stock ever.

[zhenya]

I said nothing about stock pads, in fact I recommended more aggressive pads if one is looking for better performance. Drilled rotors will NOT improve performance or reduce brake fade. The single most important issue in braking is getting rid of the accumulated heat and there are two major ways to do this; increase ventilation (hence the vanes in most modern front rotors that scoop the air into the center of the rotor) - the holes from drilling do not appreciably assist this goal in any way, and in fact, they work against you in the second major way of getting rid of the heat, which is by increasing the size of your heat sink. This can be done either by increasing rotor diameter or thickness. Drilling reduces the mass of your heat sink.

My standard response to this question is that if drilling made an actual improvement in braking performance, every race car would use them, and the huge, vast majority of them don't. Spend some time on the race track and you will quickly learn that drilled rotors are not regarded highly; on the track they are considered a liability.

[charlyW]

I said nothing about stock pads, in fact I recommended more aggressive pads if one is looking for better performance. Drilled rotors will NOT improve performance or reduce brake fade. The single most important issue in braking is getting rid of the accumulated heat and there are two major ways to do this; increase ventilation (hence the vanes in most modern front rotors that scoop the air into the center of the rotor) - the holes from drilling do not appreciably assist this goal in any way, and in fact, they work against you in the second major way of getting rid of the heat, which is by increasing the size of your heat sink. This can be done either by increasing rotor diameter or thickness. Drilling reduces the mass of your heat sink.

My standard response to this question is that if drilling made an actual improvement in braking performance, every race car would use them, and the huge, vast majority of them don't. Spend some time on the race track and you will quickly learn that drilled rotors are not regarded highly; on the track they are considered a liability.

Interesting you should say it wont help in the brake performance I find they do help, I drive on hand controls so generate more brake heat than on the foot [been checked by thermal cameras] I find that drilled/slotted discs help rid the brake fade I used to suffer I do agree they aren't a lot of good for popping down the shops but when you're doing 200 miles @ an average of 50mph then they definately do help in my case though they might not help in all cases.