Brakes

[ferret100@juno.com (Brian Barrows)]

> It's not that cross drilling isn't effective.  I believe that
> properly cross drilled rotors are better than slotted rotors.

"Why, Brian? Why/how are they "better"? -better at what?"

I have just heard that cross drilled rotors do work better under extreme conditions from fairly reliable sources.  Not having any imperical data to rely on, this is all I really have to go on, and I'm passing along what I've heard.  Perhaps I should have used "heard" rather than "believe", although I was using them interchangibly anyway.  :p

Anywho, I hear that they do have some advantages when it comes to that "gas off" effect, which may or may not be relavent with modern brake pads anyway...

> Their effectivness comes into question because most street cars
> (under normal driving conditions) aren't likely to run their
> brakes hot enough to exceed the stock vented rotors, and
> therefore the cross drilled rotors become moot.

"We can mostly take the truth in this statement for granted. The pertinent question is really whether continuous braking performance is improved by drilling or not. Does the test data reveal an improvement? -not that I've ever seen. Reducing rotor surface area and then asking the remaining part of the rotor to do more stopping work doesn't seem to live up to the hype."

I'd imagine that there is some truth to the theory that cross drilled brakes do have some benefit.  Otherwise, why would they be on race cars?  Most racers aren't interested in negatively effecting performance for the sake of styling.  (no, I'm not trying to sound riceboyish or like I'm advocating mimicing racing technology, nor am I saying that it is always transerrable to the street.)

"Stock-sized drilled rotors are for looks. That's pretty much their sole
purpose and value."

I'll agree completely with that.  I guess I didn't really make it clear that I view things like cross drilling to be a last resort.  I do think that you are better served by going to better pads, fluid, larger brakes and some sort of ductwork, etc., before jumping to cross drilled brakes.

All in all, my comments were directed simply to the theory behind cross drilled rotors in general, and not to their application on any particular type of car.  

B.


'85 VW Jetta
'87 Porsche 944


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