Slotted rotors - Who has them? I'm looking to upgrade my stock brakes

[mra32]

A few things that may help:

 

Replace brake fluid. Actually should be done pretty often, especially if you are autocrossing. Brake fluid does boil, and does brake down quickly with excessive braking.

 

New hoses. Whether you just get OEM replacements, or braided (braided being the better choice of the two), you will have a MUCH better pedal feel.

 

Ever consider replacing your brake booster and master cylinder. While they may not be bad, 16 years on them while doing hard braking certainly does not help.

 

 

Otherwise, if you do have the smaller brakes, you are short changing yourself by not upgrading to the larger brakes.

 

Good pads and rotors make all the difference.

 

If you want to go slotted or drilled, go slotted. For the everyday type of driver, blank rotors are fine. In fact, most higher end or luxury manufacturer's only put drilled or slotted rotors on them from the factory because the owners expect them on there (all about looks). The only added benefit is getting the heat out in excessive braking applications (such as doing some sort of racing).

 

Good advice. I have been contemplating a booster and MC replacement. Is it true the booster from the 1.5 gens is an upgrade for 1st gens?

[xtremerevolution]

Adam, the wolf is loose! make your decision quick before a pissing match ensues!

 

Sorry, I was tired. Didn't notice the GM part.

 

That certainly explains it though. I have yet to see a decent GM rotor.

[AWeb80]

LOL Mike. Ya, ill probably upgrade to stainless braided while I'm at it.

[White93z34]

I have the stainless hoses too along with full 96 fronts and 94 rears. the car stops damn good, IMO but my basis for comparison is pre 94 brakes so I might be blinded by the fact that car actually stops now. I have autozone duralast gold pads on all 4 corners, not overly impressed with them. But once they wear out I have a set of Hawk HPS to replace them, I have the HPS on my camaro and they are a great pad even if they dust like no ones business. Running the same raybestos rotors mike is.

 

I've wanted to get slotted/drilled or any combination of, and once these rotors wear out I just may but deep down I know I'd be doing it for looks overall because in my mind any real advantages are questionable.

[Crazy K]

IIRC 94-6 is the larger front rotor.

NEGATIVE.

 

mid 95 was the changeover. You must measure your rotors to verify size if needed.

[xtremerevolution]

I have the stainless hoses too along with full 96 fronts and 94 rears. the car stops damn good, IMO but my basis for comparison is pre 94 brakes so I might be blinded by the fact that car actually stops now. I have autozone duralast gold pads on all 4 corners, not overly impressed with them. But once they wear out I have a set of Hawk HPS to replace them, I have the HPS on my camaro and they are a great pad even if they dust like no ones business. Running the same raybestos rotors mike is.

 

I've wanted to get slotted/drilled or any combination of, and once these rotors wear out I just may but deep down I know I'd be doing it for looks overall because in my mind any real advantages are questionable.

 

I tried Duralast Gold pads once. I ended up MELTING them with a few hard stops in the Regal. Took them back and demanded a refund. They were also extremely soft and spongy feeling. That's when I made the switch to Akebono and never looked back. No dusting, and still excellent braking power.

[Schurkey]

I've wanted to get slotted/drilled or any combination of, and once these rotors wear out I just may but deep down I know I'd be doing it for looks overall because in my mind any real advantages are questionable.

DING! DING! DING! We HAVE a WINNER! The more you drill and slot the rotor...the less surface area you have for the pads to grab. Some slotting MIGHT be useful for water to escape; and perhaps to vent the pad gas at high temperature...but MOSTLY the drilled 'n' slotted rotors are just a way to enlarge the price tag and enhance the profit margin. The tendency is for more slots, more holes...more profit...

 

"The" big problem with the brakes on the earlier vacuum-assist W-bodies seems to be the brake booster itself. They partially fail, and the amount of assist can be greatly reduced. There may be no other symptom other than piss-poor brakes (takes excess force on the pedal to stop the car.) So, yeah, guys throw on a booster from a newer W-body, and rave about the improvement--when they could have simply installed a stock replacement THAT WORKS AS IT'S SUPPOSED TO, and gotten a similar huge improvement. (I did that--twice--and there's NO need for a bigger booster, 'cause a properly-working stock booster is PLENTY effective!)

 

You can play games with rotors, pads, brake hoses, expensive fluid, etc...but if the booster is shot, you'll have shitty brakes. I know this from experience. AFTER you've verified that the booster works properly, THEN you might want to add the braided-steel-over-Teflon brake hoses, and fancy pads, and such.

 

P. S. Typical parts-store "ceramic" pads are NOT the hot tip for brake performance. Their main attraction is low brake dust; but actual stopping distance performance is not the best. If there's some kind of "performance" ceramic pads, I don't know about 'em. (I'm talking about the so-called "Premium" ceramic pads from NAPA or similar parts stores.)

 

P. S. S. First guess: expensive drilled 'n' slotted rotors are nothing more than generic Chinese cheap-junk rotors that someone first throws onto a milling machine and then into a custom-labeled box, and then moves the decimal point on the price tag from $8 to $80.

[xtremerevolution]

Akebono pads are IMO the best "performance" ceramic pads that are available at their price point. I'd say they grip much better than other options, and I could never, ever go back to semi metallic due to the asinine dust.

 

Sent from my HTC Magic using Tapatalk

[AWeb80]

How do I "test" my booster? I think it works fine, it's just under heavy braking (my abs works as it's supposed to) the brakes don't feel like they grab as well as they should. I feel the pads "float", if that even makes sense, when I stand on the pedal. It gets spongy when the pads get hot.

[White93z34]

Honestly with your 94+ booster I don't see it being much of an issue like the earlier ones were, Maybe I'm off base here, but I'm not sure you can have a high performance low dusting brake pad. It seems (at least in my underinformed) mind that you cant' have your cake and eat it too.

[Schurkey]

How do I "test" my booster? I think it works fine, it's just under heavy braking (my abs works as it's supposed to) the brakes don't feel like they grab as well as they should.

I played the better rotor/premium pad game for awhile...but what you describe here was pretty much my impression of my two Luminas. I thought ordinary braking took a little more pedal effort than it should, but hard braking REALLY SUCKED. I was wrong about the ordinary braking...it sucked too.

 

http://www.w-body.com/showthread.php/32510-Hard-brake-pedal-no-stopping-power

 

I feel the pads "float", if that even makes sense, when I stand on the pedal. It gets spongy when the pads get hot.

OK, that was NOT what I was dealing with. Perhaps your vehicle really does have different problems than mine did.

 

If the brakes feel different when they get hot...the FIRST thing I'd do is flush the brake fluid. Water (contaminant) in the fluid boils; produces the same symptoms as air in the hydraulic system--low, squishy pedal. Goes away when the brakes cool off because the water re-condenses, becoming liquid again. If the fluid flush doesn't fix it, the SECOND thing I'd do is replace the brake pads.

 

Does your steering wheel shake? If so, does it shake when the brakes are applied; or when they're not applied?

[KingVee]

God, I wish I saw this thread earlier, I will be looking forward to change my brakes (both rotors and pads) on all four around the summer time as they are FUBAR (typical GM eating inner rotor surfaces).

[Go4DaMo]

What kind of rotors? Did they get warped because they were slotted, or because they were crappy rotors?

 

Reason I ask this is that I overheated the R1 rotors on the Bonneville to the point of complete brake fade (I could not even slow down) with ceramic pads, and those rotors didn't warp. The pads were trashed, but that's a different story.

 

I've had R1 Concepts front rotors, cross-drilled and slotted, on the front of my white 93 Z for 4 years now, with Duralast Gold semi-metallic pads...they stop great and brake dust isn't excessive (though has been noticeable). I once pulled a full-on 115-0 stop on a downhill exit ramp...had brake fade and both feet stomping on the thing with NO warpage to the rotors. The pads are still fine, too, but as I sat at the red light, smoke BILLOWED out of my front fenderwells. If R1s can endure that, I'd recommend them to anybody, man. Good luck with your purchase!

 

Oh and p.s. - Duralast Gold semi's on my S10 have had almost zero brake dust in the past 25,000 miles.

[LuminaPower92]

Which rotors do you have Eline or Premium? Any noise?

[xtremerevolution]

Which rotors do you have Eline or Premium? Any noise?

 

eLine on the Bonneville. There is some noise when braking due to being drilled and slotted, but its not loud, annoying, or unusual, and is only heard on hard braking.