Suggestions for new rotors? I think I'll stay away from slotted and cross drilled ones.. These brakes were done by the dealer who sold the X to me. At 104K, they thought it was just fine to turn the %$@$$@##$H rotors. After a few thousand miles, the rears pulsate to the point the entire car is shaking. I'm doing the front as well. They did a great job there-they didn't torque the rotors to spec so they were moving and clunking.

Is it just me or do any of you find that just about everything is done 1/2A$$ anymore? Do people , in a vast majority, tell you they'll do something and then they don't? I'm not talking about the occasional hickup. This has been a repeating theme in almost everything I've run into lately. Emails-crap. I'm back to priority mail if I really need something and unfortunately that doesn't always work. It's like every since the pandemic, there has been a dramatic drop in customer service and responsibility.--not saying everyone is like that as there are some really good folks to do business with but they seem to be way fewer and really far between. Guess I digressed didn't I?

 

I've had really good luck with Napa rotors and Wagner pads. Never liked the idea of slotted or drilled rotors on a daily driver. If its so much better, the OEMs would be doing it on everything. And the Wagner pads are good cold and warmed up.

I agree on service/customer service. People have mostly given up. I think it goes along with the lack of accountability in the system. Seems you're only accountable if you offend a snowflake...but thats a different topic.

 

Hawk Pads and Stoptech Cryo Slotted rotors have worked for me. I even had them cut after 50k miles in use by a local machine shop.

Have the pins been lubed? Possible the dealer just pad slapped it and sent it down the road? What is your current mileage?

 

The OEM's are doing it on a lot of stuff. I've had a few cars with drilled rotors from the factory (my wife's current daily driver SUV being one of them). They are better, but there are two main reason they're not on "everything", 1- They take longer / more steps to manufacture and therefore cost more. 2- Depending one the OEM's goals for the car , the better brakes may just not be needed.

Think of it this way, its fairly accepted that disc brakes are better than drum brakes, yet PLENTY of cars are rolling off the assembly line with drums brakes on the rear end still. Why,,, because of the two reasons listed above.
.
.
.

 

I've had good luck (and been happy with the performance) on a few vehicles using Power Stop rotor and pad kits. I've always gone for the higher end drilled and slotted ones though, but they do make two kits with smooth rotors.
And , all available at Rock Auto for not an outrageous price.


.
.
.

 

I have had really good luck with slotted rotors, i had them save my *** one time actually. Slotted rotors cool better than un-slotted do, and one time when i was doing a long drive at very high speed during the night, 400 miles, with an average speed of 100-120 occasionally more in my GT, and out in the middle of the desert along the Mexico border.

In case your not familiar, doing high speed heats up the brakes, even if your not using them much, i had had previous issues with brake fade at speed, so i put on the slotted rotors i got from Roush, well, lets just say i went from ~100 to ZERO at point blank and came to a stop in the middle of the 2 lane highway about 4 FT from hitting a moron in a tractor trailer who made a sweeping wide turn over both lanes from the dirt, like not even an onramp, just came out of the dark with no warning, and didn't look, just drove right out blocking the entire westbound as he did his turn.

Thankfully no-one was behind me. You might think i was going fast, but that stretch is actually the speed most drive because it is so remote, you actually pass within pistol range of the Mexico border wall in a couple spots. And not somewhere you want to pick up hitchhikers. I suspect that tractor trailer might have been up to no good, never saw his lights until he was suddenly in front of me, i think he might have been blacked out until he hit the pavement, and this was before the Trump Wall was built in Arizona. He may have just came across somehow and was running dark to not be seen.

I know that with the brakes i had before the slotted, i would not have made it to a stop in time, and probably would have hit and gone under the trailer, and been left for dead by the truck, not like there going to report it when they seemed to have just come across the border illegally.

 

Hawk LTS with Cryo Rotors.

You want to pick the pad that suits your application. A racing pad can handle high heat but you will never get it up to operating temperatures and it will squeal like crazy.

I've never had any street pad fade at high speeds (you have far more cooling at speed). It might be a situation where your brake pads were too cold for adequate stoppage. Rotors don't change your braking force or braking length, different rotors just deal with the heat (byproduct of reducing kinetic energy) differently.

Tires, pads, brake fluid, brake lines in that order changes braking characteristics and feel the most.

I don't have experience doing midnight runs in the desert next to Mexico but I am a former IMSA racer.

 

And i was for many years a street racer out in the back roads and out yonder, did the drag strip too tho plenty of times.
I have been to 155 MPH, and back, not many can make that claim. I did that speed over about 2-2.5 minutes(5-6 miles), most people that hit that mark and back off as soon as they hit it.
I never cheap out on tires, brakes, wheels, or drive components, i get the strongest i can find, because in case i have to do something crazy, i want to know that my gear will take a licking, and keep on ticking.

That sentiment in bold can be seen best and clearly in my Excursion build which is linked in my Signature as Dauntless.

Here are my other builds
The Gray one i put together from a junk yard, bought it after it had T-boned a truck, and put it back together, hence un-matched paint, sanded front fender, and other details do not match up, there are parts off like 7 cars on that one vehicle.
The older White 96 GT i bought after the Gray one got hit by a E350 in a parking lot right on its weak spot and its frame was bent, i sold the gray one to someone who wanted the motor and suspension.
The Red and White is my little monster, hours of dyno tuning, intake, exhaust, aluminum driveshaft, and other bits, and its a TR3650 manual, it does 0-50 in 4.5s, and was my second vehicle to breach 150 MPH.

 

Really, you don't think the holes/ slots help remove gasses from between the pads and rotor? I've done a fair bit of closed course roadracing (just not in the past ten years or so). To be fair I always ran drilled rotors on the road course, but so did everyone else that I can recall.
I've also dabbled in drag racing a little bit and I can tell you for certain that the solid (non-vented) light weight drag rotors suck a lot. I wouldn't hot lap my car on test and tune night because the brakes wouldn't work after the second time (my car wasn't fast enough to require a parachute).
.
.
.

 

Comparing light weight drag racing rotors to purpose built true racing rotors is comparing kumquats to grapefruits.

I don't disagree that slotted rotors MAY shed heat better than non slotted rotors (gasses, heat, etc). I would prefer a 2 piece rotor over a one piece rotor in ability to shed heat, for replacement cost and to reduce unsprung rotational mass.
The consensus seems to be that slotted rotors are better than drilled rotors. Is it better metallurgy or is it better casting to prevent cracking, or is it better heat dissipation? It's a moot point on this forum unless you are planning on autocrossing your truck. If you are relying on your brakes as you tow heavy and up and downgrades, I would recommend a brake controller vs the semantics on slotted vs drilled front rotors. I've regularly seen hairline cracks on drilled rotors (Brembo, Stoptech, etc) on our factory backed race cars (P CupCar, ACR-X) and private entry race cars (time attack).

I would also recommend that all those who claim to have had brake fade go and immediately change your brake fluid. Your brake fluid has boiled if you have driven your pads to the point of brake fade.

PS : about 8 yrs ago most racers made the switch to JHook over slotted or x-drilled. Here is a good article. J-Hook Rotors | AP Racing Radi-CAL Vented Discs by STILLEN

 

True, although seeing a lifted, 4x4, diesel, Excursion on the autocross course would probably draw a crowd (but they'd only be there to see the carnage)
.
.
.

 

I’ve been using the Raybestos R300 rotors from Rock Auto and happy with them. Fluid change is huge also and overlooked by most.

 

I’m at 106K and the dealer in SD supposedly did them at 102K. It reminds me of what we used to call “rolling” in drum brakes

 

Meh, it's the lifetime free replacement rotors from Autozone for me. Buy once, replace as necessary. It's not the most efficient way of doing it, but they pay for themselves with one change. Take them off, drop on the counter, walk out with a new set. No questions asked.

They aren't fancy, but they last under normal driving conditions and some towing, and there's an Autozone on about every street corner in the US.

 

They stop ok. I’ve never felt such a vibration since the 70’s when things were in their infancy. I had slots on my 04 6.0 with Hawk pads on them. (I call them the Swoosh(Nike) rotors)I only put 25K on them but they never vibrated or pulsed.