Brake Rotor Advice Solicited......

Hey all, I am doing the brakes soon and I was thinking about buying some generic (AutoZone or somesuch) rotors and then cross-drilling them myself. I have access to a cad system to lay out the pattern and my own drill press. The only thing that might be tricky would be a fixture to make sure the holes go in the right place (for balancing mainly --I.E. symmetry) Am I crazy? Those custom cross-drilled rotors seem PRICY, but I AM cheap !!! What would you guys do? .... TIA !!!

Lay out a symmetric pattern and plot it full scale with centerlines. Tape it to the rotor and drill at crosshairs.

It still may not be perfectly balanced though.

How much can you be off before causing an imbalance that is worse than, say a Swamper with mud caked in the rim?

What would I do? Stock up on chopsticks so I could poke the baked in mud out of those holes after every mud pit. Slotted might be better.

DG

Not recommended. The rotors are ventilated rotors -- two outer shells connected by a series of webs. How are you going to ensure that your drilling doesn't weaken some of those ribs?

Unless you routinely drive on a race track or do a LOT of mountain driving, it's unlikely that you need extra brake cooling. If you're only doing this for the looks ... buy a set of those "drilled-like" dust shields and slap them on. Brakes are too important to mess around with.

I bought a set of the drilled disks from Summit. Only $100 plus shipping. Don't work any better than stock. Was kinda hoping for improved braking but no......Willwood next!!

I bought a set of the Pure Performance cross drilled rotors. They were $95 each and the carbon fiber pads were $65 for the set. They stop very well--better than the old rotors/pads, but recently they've started squealing. Is this because of the carbon fiber or something else. Anyone have any idea why they're doing this. TIA

Eagle said:

Not recommended. The rotors are ventilated rotors -- two outer shells connected by a series of webs. How are you going to ensure that your drilling doesn't weaken some of those ribs?

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I'd be especially concerned about hitting the edge of a rib and deflecting the drill bit. You could end up with very messy holes, not to mention broken bits, unless you are very careful to hit right between the ribs.

If you live in the rust belt, I'd definitely advise against it, because every new edge gives rust another chance to grow and weaken the disk. As it is, it isn't unheard of to have rotors collapse when the ribs rust out.