There are several different types of rotors available for vehicles today: blanks, drilled, slotted, or drilled and slotted.

1. Best Pads For Slotted Rotors
2. Best Cross Drilled And Slotted Rotors

Aug 24, 2020 The drilled only and slotted only rotors tend to have significant differences, which are combined in the drilled and slotted rotors to help boost their functionality significantly. The drilled the only rotor has been designed to allow air ventilate via a series of holes that allow water, steam, and debris escape; this makes them the best rotor. Slotted Brake Rotor Kit. Slotted brake rotors have always been a great alternative for improving braking without the drilled holes. Brake Performance created this kit to give improved stopping power over factory rotors while reducing heat, noise, pad fade and brake dust. Types of brake rotors. When selecting new brake rotors, you can pick from two primary types: drilled and slotted. Drilled brake rotors have holes drilled through the rotor disc to allow the heat generated from the friction to dissipate more quickly.Excessive heat around the brake rotors.

Best Brake Rotors For Towing. Power Stop K6268-36 Z36 Truck and Tow Front and Rear Brake Kit. Power Stop K2813-36 Z36 Truck & Tow Front and Rear Brake Kit. Power Stop K2009-36 Z36 Truck & Tow Front Brake Kit. Power Stop K5874-36 Z36 Truck & Tow Front and Rear Brake Kit. Drilled & Slotted Rotors These rotors have drilled holes and machined grooves cut in the braking surfaces where the pad makes contact. The through-holes are designed to evacuate the braking dust, offset gasses, and moisture that prevent good contact between pads and rotor during breaking.

Rotors, which are sometimes called discs, provide a point of contact for your brake pads when you engage the pedal to stop while driving. The pressure from the pedal activates the caliper housing for each set of pads, compressing them into the rotor to create friction. That set of processes reduces the forward momentum of the vehicle, which allows you to come to a complete stop whenever necessary.

The design of drilled and slotted rotors offer drivers the advantages of both designs with minimal side effects. The drilled holes give you better cooling for the heat generated by heavy braking, while the slots work to sweep away gas and dust which come through braking. That also means the disadvantages of both drilled and slotted rotors apply to this product.

If you’re thinking about a disc replacement today, then here are the pros and cons of drilled and slotted rotors to think about.

List of the Pros of Drilled and Slotted Rotors

1. They work better in wet climates when frequent precipitation occurs.
When the weather turns wet, does the braking profile of your vehicle change? If it does, then there’s a good chance that you’re using blanks or slotted rotors on your vehicle. Drilling holes in the rotor give the pads a better bite when you engage the braking system. More friction develops when the system engages because the holes offer moisture a place for escape. Even when water is present, the components of your system stay drier, which means your performance is enhanced.

2. They provide support for heavy-duty vehicles.
The slots on rotors provide extra support for all heavy-duty vehicles, including off-road, competition, and trucks. When choosing rotors with slots, the quality of the machining becomes the most crucial attribute for success. The inner and outer edges must be crafted with an excellent skill to prevent them from cracking sooner than they should. That means you can choose almost any drilled and slotted rotor design for any vehicle you own if you trust the manufacturing process of your preferred brand.

3. They can stop brake pads from glazing.
Brake pads can glaze when there is a continuous application of braking, like when you’re going down a mountain descent. The constant application of friction between the pad and rotor causes surface glazing. Light application of braking functions most of the time can cause some pads to polish themselves too. Reducing braking performance occurs during this situation, including the squealing associated with excessive pad wear.

The drilled and slotted rotor design helps some pads disengage from the glazing process. When constant friction is present within the driving environment, the pad fuses part of itself to the disc, causing the lack of performance, The slots on a rotor break up the contact points of the pad, providing vital momentary pauses in contact that stop the process from occurring.

4. They offer daily driving support.
When you’re behind the wheel every day to commute back-and-forth to work, you want two things from your braking system: a solid bite and consistent friction. That promotes robust stopping power when you need it during an uncertain situation. Drilled and slotted rotors offer drivers the consistent performance they want without changing the responsiveness of the brake pedal. This process gives you the confidence needed as a driver that you can handle whatever situation might come your way.

List of the Cons of Drilled and Slotted Rotors

1. They sometimes experience premature wear.
There are several advantages to consider with drilled and slotted rotors, but it comes with the same disadvantages for each style too. That means your rotors will sometimes wear unevenly when using your brakes if the same area of the rotor receives contacts. High-performance vehicles see this issue most often, with cracks sometimes developing due to the heat and extreme environment they encounter. If you use a vehicle for frequent stops at highway speeds, you may encounter this issue too.

2. They tend to wear in grooved cycles.
Drilled and slotted rotors tend to wear down in concentric cycles, which means you can receive vibration in the steering wheel over time when the rotors age or the hole patterns are not staggered correctly. This issue may cause some vehicle owners to swap out their rotors more often because of the aesthetic concerns they cause. If you’re sensitive to this issue, then a rotor designed more for your specific environment will meet the demands of how you drive each day.

3. They have a shorter lifespan.
Slotted rotors already have a shorter lifespan compared to other options for your vehicles. They also cause some brake pads to experience higher levels of wear-and-tear too. If you drive regularly and go through a period of heavy braking, you may discover that the drilled and slotted rotors require replacement about the same time as your brake pads. Depending on the quality of the rotors used, that means you could be replacing these items as soon as every 25,000 miles – and even more often for frequent city drivers.

If you’re looking for extended life with your brake rotors, then your best option will always be the blank design. It offers more metal for contact, providing a consistent surface of impact to create friction for your stopping power.

4. They sometimes create extra noise when stopping.
All brakes create a squealing sound when the pads wear down because you have metal-on-metal contact. The issue with drilled and slotted rotors involves the rumbling that you hear because of the slot engagement with the pads as you stop. This issue doesn’t impact the safety of your braking system. Some drivers find the extra noise to be more than a little unpleasant. Heavy vehicles can create an excessive sound level which isn’t dampened when the windows are rolled up.

Best Pads For Slotted Rotors

5. They don’t offer a cooling effect for all vehicles.
Drilling does help a rotor cool down some for all vehicles because there is less metal involved with the contact points from the pads. That can be beneficial for some vehicles, but it does create a negligible effect in others. The opposite effect impacts the rotors too. Because there is less metal involved with the design, the disc heats up faster than a solid rotor would. That’s why you don’t use this design in high-performance settings. Too much heat causes warping or cracking, which requires you to complete an immediate repair.

6. They cannot be resurfaced.
If something happens to your drilled and slotted rotors for some reason, then a full replacement is necessary. You cannot resurface the rotor to restore its functionality as you can with some solid-type discs. Although the cost difference of resurfacing is somewhat minor compared to the cost of a full replacement, those who prefer a DIY approach to swapping out the brakes will discover that this disadvantage might cost them a couple hundred dollars, if not more, to complete the necessary work.

These drilled and slotted rotors pros and cons look at the details of using this design with your current driving habits. Most street vehicles benefit from this design, especially in wet environments, because of the consistency offered. There are exceptions to this based on how you use your car, however, so review each point carefully to ensure this investment makes sense for your current needs.

Drilled, slotted, or vented; which brake rotors are best?

Without question, brakes are the most powerful system on your vehicle. No matter how much horsepower you have, none of it’s of any use if you can’t scrub off enough speed to keep from rear-ending the car in front of you. Your factory brakes provide ample stopping power for your casual commute or the occasional unforeseen panic stop, but for the performance-minded enthusiast, an upgraded set of drilled or slotted rotors is the better choice. So what exactly are the differences between drilled vs. slotted brake rotors? Here, we discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each, so you can make your own informed decision.

Smooth Brake Rotors

A premium set of smooth rotors provides more than enough stopping power under normal driving conditions. That’s why 99.9% of new cars still come with them from the factory. They provide the most surface area vs. drilled or slotted rotors and therefore are very effective at acting as a heat-sink, which is exactly what a brake rotor was designed to do. They’re also not as prone to cracking under extreme use like drilled rotors can be. The absence of slots or drill holes allows smooth rotors to maintain maximum structural integrity, making them suitable for moderate track use when paired with performance brake pads and high-boiling point brake fluid. There are several varieties available, from direct replacement to high-quality zinc-coated rotors, to fight off surface rust and maintain their like-new appearance for miles and miles.

Slotted Brake Rotors

Slotted rotors, as the name implies, have grooves cut along the face of the rotor where the pad makes contact. This is because under repeated heavy braking, as the temperature of your brake system increases, a layer of gas and dust forms between the pad and rotor from the material transfer caused by friction. The slots in the rotor allow an escape route for the built-up gases. This allows more of the brake pad’s surface area to contact the rotor, resulting in better pad bite and more consistent stops. Also, this increased surface contact results in a higher coefficient of friction, so you’re actually using less energy to slow your vehicle the same amount. The venting provided by slotted rotors is one of the main ways to combat brake fade and maintain consistent stopping power, lap after lap. Be aware, however, that some dedicated slotted “racing” rotors actually employ a sharp edge on the slots to cut into the brake pad a small amount for better bite, but this can greatly accelerate brake wear.

Cross Drilled Brake Rotors

Cross-drilled brake rotors look undeniably cool peeking out from behind a set of flashy wheels, and they keep your brakes the same way – cool. In the early days of racing, drilled rotors were an effective way of venting the layer of gas and dust that inevitably builds up between asbestos brake pads and the rotor under repeated, hard braking. However, as technology and brake pad materials have progressed, outgassing has become less and less of an issue. These days, while they still look great and perform well, the drill holes are more for aesthetic reasons than anything else. For performance driving, slotted rotors have become the preferred choice because cross drilled rotors are more prone to stress cracking under extreme use. Just take a look through the spokes on the wheel of any modern race car – there won’t be a drilled rotor in sight. On the street, however, the temperatures your brakes encounter never even come close to the levels they do on the track. So, the venting properties of drilled rotors offer the added benefits of keeping temperatures down under normal driving for prolonged pad life, as well as improved wet-weather performance by allowing water to escape the rotor’s surface, increasing initial pad bite.

Drilled & Slotted Brake Rotors

Drilled and slotted rotors provide the looks and functionality of both cross-drilled rotors and slotted rotors combined. While still not ideal for the abuse they would suffer on a racetrack (i.e. the drill holes being prone to stress-cracking), one of the places drilled & slotted rotors shine is on heavy vehicles towing heavy loads. The heavier the vehicle, the more energy is needed to slow it to a safe and reliable stop. Brakes convert kinetic energy (motion) into heat energy, and heavier vehicles invariably generate more heat in their braking systems. So a rotor that runs cooler (cross-drilled) combined with one that maintains a clean contact surface between itself and the brake pad (slotted), when not pushed beyond its thermal threshold, can provide an extra bit of security and durability. Remember, the name of the game is maintaining consistent stopping power every time you hit the brakes. If you’ve ever towed a fully loaded trailer down a mountain pass, you know the terrifying feeling of brake fade. A set of cross-drilled and slotted rotors can give you additional peace of mind by keeping temperatures down and the rotor face clean. Always remember to pair your drilled & slotted rotors with a high-quality set of brake pads designed for your vehicle as well as fresh DOT-3 or DOT-4 brake fluid for best results.

Choosing the Right Brake Rotor

Best Cross Drilled And Slotted Rotors

There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing cross drilled or slotted brake rotors. For street-driven vehicles, both perform equally well and don’t suffer any detrimental side effects. It just comes down to personal preference of which style you prefer. Slotted or cross drilled rotors will not, however, decrease your vehicle’s original stopping distance. Their purpose is to dissipate heat and gases to combat brake fade and provide consistent stops after prolonged abuse. In order to take a sizeable chunk out of your stopping distances, a set of sticky tires and dedicated high performance brake pads are the recommended upgrades. For track driving, slotted rotors are the preferred choice due to their ability to vent gases without weakening their structure. For eye-catching, high-end style, drilled or drilled & slotted rotors are sure to turn heads. For daily driving, any of the above provide more than enough stopping power.