I've had good experience with the Napa Ultra Premium products, and I'm currently happy running their coated rotors/calipers.

 

My take is no slots, no holes. I want maximal surface area and max material to absorb the wear and diffuse heat. Thus cheap white box rotors.

I've never seen anything to convince me cooling is affected to any substantial degree () by slots or holes. Tiny benefit to slots/holes vs a bit more than tiny benefit from extra material.

I don't even recommend cryo rotors anymore.

I do recommend SSBC V8 calipers tho, the extra clamp is worth the extra TLC.

 

after 30+ years of racing on circuits, this is my considered take on this. quite simply the more mass you have the better your fade resistance is going to be. in the 60/70/80's pad compound was kind of crappy so in order to stop the issues with pad material degassing from causing issues the racers starting modding the rotors to break the gas layer that would form from the crappy compounds. first it was cross drilling to help dispacitate heat, then it was slotting to break the gas barrier... both were stop gap measures that the newer compounds have alleviated the need for.


todays quality/high performance compounds do not outgas like the older stuff did, so there is no need. you have simply from a physics/metallurgy standpoint created stress risers that promote cracking and warping as SSJ's photos showed.

go with a good set of quality rotors that are not cross drilled or slotted and use a modern pad compound that meets your needs.. long life with crappy braking: ceramic... good braking with moderate wear then stock. great breaking with high temp resistance (but faster wear) then the many offering from hawk, ebc, endless or any of the many vendors that have done research into the chemical composition in regards to initial bite, fade resistance and overall heat tolerance.

in a nutshell... went up to a good compound, not enough, then went to a larger rotor 12" to 13 inch better, same rotor with better pads.. mo better finally i graduated to Moo better those were 15" rotors with high performance compounds... that's jump a hill at speed, see a cow, **** your pants and slow enough to miss the cow.... IE: MOO better. wish i had Go pro back then.

that was in a 2200 lbs dedicated time attack car, (think SCCA production class or IT7 class. ) but with a lot more mods...

so yes not trucks.. but the physics of how the brakes work is the same. more rotor mass equals more heat soak ability, drilling or slotting equals heat stress risers... modern brake compounds = no outgassing and solid braking performance even at elevated temperatures. that coupled with the proper brake fluid and regular brake fluid changes means for dependable breaking. if you are towing so heavy that what i suggest does not work, its time to retrofit larger rotors, calipers and master cylinders. not drill holes like something form the 70's.

 

My approach to avoid uneven cooling on the rotors is to simply "never stop" except for 1-2 seconds at a stop sign or whenever I park the truck. At every stop light and all stop signs, I slowly creep, never letting the pads clamp hard on the rotors in a single position to hold the heat in. This strategy forces me to keep longer distances between me and the vehicles in front of me and to also start stopping sooner than most people -- this approach requires less pressure (read as "heat") on the rotors and I end up with no hardened spots on the rotors over time and I get more mileage out of my my pads to boot.

Not everyone wants to drive that way, though, but it does work well for me. Driving that way also eliminates the need for more expensive cryo'd or drilled or slotted rotors = lower operating cost..

 

Muha ha ha ha.. let me drive it with you in the passenger seat one time and you will quickly change your ways

 

yep for normal driving, that is the way to make your brakes work for you and last a long time. proper stopping distance allowing for less brake action.

but it is boring... Lately i have been chasing all of the bmw's/audi's in Kanagawa with the dually... they are fun to creep up on.

 

This is you, isn’t it?

 

Seems odd that the latest and greatest of supercars, and high end sports cars that are using carbon fiber rotors, also have them dilled and slotted, but you claim they are not necessary. The penny pinchers always outvote the engineers in car production, just look at the many places that's evident on our lowly 7.3s. Seems like it's still a needed item, not just a moot selling point

 

Wes444 Normally your posts are generally of a reasonable level of quality, but this retort is sad... we are talking cast steel or sintered rotors, not exotic carbon fiber brakes that are cast with these features.... they existed to begin with and are not modifications via a drill or a mill and its not steel... so the thermal fatigue and stress risers are totally , totally different.

please use the gray matter twixt your ears and think about what you just posted a bit....

 

almost as good as and the chainsaw forums...

 

I was just going off your earlier post, carbon fiber rotors don't have mass, quite the opposite actually.
And the line stating newer compounds (like CF is) don't need to be drilled and slotted

Did I read your intent of wording wrong?

 

We simply cannot compare race car brakes and TRUCK brakes.

Thermal mass is a BONUS for braking systems that are not intended to be heated up from repeated, heavy usage.

I grew up in Sebring and went to many, many 12hr and other races there. One of my favorite things was watching these cars go into the ‘hairpin’ at night. The rotors were often glowing red and it was common to see sparks coming off the brakes. If you are using your F-series brakes this way, you need some driving lessons.

On that, when descending a grade - specifically when LOADED - you must be able to STOP your junk in the distance you can see in front of you. PERIOD. This means just because you usually don’t wreck driving WAY faster than that (MOST campers I see are going fast enough down steep grades that they could never STOP on the grade - in any distance - much less if there was a yard-sale crash covering the road around the next curve.) doesn’t mean it’s smart.

I rarely use my brakes and very seldom brake hard when I do. I learned a lesson in yo-yo traffic many years ago that cost me a perfectly good set of underwear. Towing heavy and in a hurry following traffic going from 50 to 5 to 50, etc, I came up on my 3rd or 4rth ‘brake check’ while rounding a curve and learned all about brake fade... I didn’t wreck, but was concerned there was going to be a fire near the brakes.

Ive been running super aggressive EBC Yellowstuff pads on my F350 and previously on my Excursion for years. I have BEAT on these pads towing heavy without trailer brakes and making fast stops in traffic. I promise you, these pads will stop one of these trucks faster than any other pad you can buy and they keep stopping good at way higher temperatures if you push your luck like that. They do this without warping rotors too. Not sure if it’s the Pete (F250) driving style that always includes time to cool brakes down before parking, or the pad compound that doesn’t leave stuff on the rotors, but I haven’t warped a rotor since I started using Yellowstuff pads.

The truth is, there are no good tests that have proven a drilled/slotted/molested rotor works better on our trucks. If you wanna stop better, get better pads.

 

Brakes are a touchy topic for some. I've tried (2 times) those (my opinion here) CRAPPY Power-Stop kits. The first set had two LR calipers (spent a week getting a replacement). The next set (replacement set) calipers ALL locked up over time. I ended up swapping them all out for Autozone calipers. Next came the slotted/drilled rotors...you saw pictures of cracks from others. When it happens to you, you shed them ALL and get regular ones (again from Autozone; Black). Now, I only use BOSCH rotors (Quiet Cast) and O'Reilly calipers. The rotors are long-lasting and I haven't had a single warp issue. O'Reilly calipers are lifetime warranty...and they last as long as you keep the pins lubed and make sure the puck seals are in good shape. I've used Autozone, O'Reilly, Power-CRAP, Hawk (Red), and EBC (Yellow) before and now I'm trying out the BOSCH Quiet Cast Ceramic. So far, so good. It's always about maintenance, too. You might want to flush your brake fluid every couple of years...or when it get too dark. That's rust from water. Brake fluid LOVES water. Anyway, I hope that I've given some other options. Good Luck!

 

I am just curious if there are "good" options for new upgraded calipers. I know we probably won't have anywhere near the stopping power of a new 6.7 but, I wonder if we could edge closer with ebc Yellowstuff pads and higher power calipers I've heard of. I've never actually seen any of these higher power calipers but I am curious if they are worth it and if so, who has had succes? I currently have autozone calipers and haven't had any issues but I've never towed more the 13000, 14000 lbs and we don't have many hills down here. Thoughts on higher power calipers?

 

I'm going to ad my experience with Raybestos calipers.....they are new castings with a clear zinc finish on them. I sourced all four corners from Rock Auto.

In the course of two years I have replaced every one, and one twice. While Rock honors the Lifetime warranty, you still have to pay the shipping, and it seems for me that I notice a hot wheel about a day before I have to go on a trip with the horse trailer. So at times I've paid the expedited freight.

Today coming home during a fuel stop....yep, hot brake drivers rear. Oh, Rock can get me one by Friday....I need to leave Friday morning.....So that coupled with the bad luck...I decided to AutoZone one.