homemade rotors?
No, and no.
Drilling or slotting after the hardening process will only make the rotors fail early. And it'* usually very ugly. Don't sacrifice your rims, tires, and rotors, or possibly a hub.
Crossdrilled rotors are the worst thing you can do to brakes on a street car. These were intended for one-race events in off-street circuit cars. NASCAR throws these rotors away after one race.
Slotted rotors do have their benefits. But it'* important that they are slotted before hardening. Most are, because it'* ridiculously expensive and difficult to slot after hardening.
The ONLY exception on cross-drilling rotors are rotors that have the holes CAST into the blank before turning and hardening. It'* safer to stay away from cross-drilled rotors altogether. This is a SHOW mod. Nothing else.
Go standard or slotted, and don't modify your brake parts yourself in any way.
Drilling or slotting after the hardening process will only make the rotors fail early. And it'* usually very ugly. Don't sacrifice your rims, tires, and rotors, or possibly a hub.
Crossdrilled rotors are the worst thing you can do to brakes on a street car. These were intended for one-race events in off-street circuit cars. NASCAR throws these rotors away after one race.
Slotted rotors do have their benefits. But it'* important that they are slotted before hardening. Most are, because it'* ridiculously expensive and difficult to slot after hardening.
The ONLY exception on cross-drilling rotors are rotors that have the holes CAST into the blank before turning and hardening. It'* safer to stay away from cross-drilled rotors altogether. This is a SHOW mod. Nothing else.
Go standard or slotted, and don't modify your brake parts yourself in any way.
Yeah, i'd rather have poor brakes, than none at all.
I remember seeing a guy at a car show selling rotors and cross drilling them right in front of people! And people were buying them, too!
-justin
I remember seeing a guy at a car show selling rotors and cross drilling them right in front of people! And people were buying them, too!
-justin
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True Car Nut
Joined: Sep 2004
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From: Farmington, Minnesota =MWBF '05 SURVIVOR= =CEBF '06 SURVIVOR= =August '06 COTM=

Originally Posted by opensourceguy
Yeah, i'd rather have poor brakes, than none at all.
I remember seeing a guy at a car show selling rotors and cross drilling them right in front of people! And people were buying them, too!
-justin
I remember seeing a guy at a car show selling rotors and cross drilling them right in front of people! And people were buying them, too!
-justin
Originally Posted by willwren
Drilling?
Those obviously WEREN'T hardened rotors. 

remember i deal with metal everyday
with a carbide drill you can drill through hardened material
also there are different degrees of hardness
and process to make material more harder than others
Originally Posted by GAMEOVER
Originally Posted by willwren
Drilling?
Those obviously WEREN'T hardened rotors. 

remember i deal with metal everyday
with a carbide drill you can drill through hardened material
also there are different degrees of hardness
and process to make material more harder than others
Then you know all about stress cracks in hardened materials. You weaken the rotor by drilling after hardening, and even somewhat STILL if you drill before hardening. The holes need to be CAST into the blanks to prevent stress cracks (before hardening) to be suitable fore everyday street use, and still provide no real benefit to you other than looks, and decreasing the surface area 'bite' that the pads can achieve. Crossdrilling will in effect REDUCE your ability to brake.
Slotting, however, has proven benefits, and doesn't cause the stresscracking problem. Slots allow the pad to outgas, preventing a gas layer from being trapped in between the pad and rotor (imagine an air hockey table.....same effect). Slotting also allows water to escape, further improving wet braking, and allows pad friction material to be effectively removed from the rotor.


