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Slotted Rotors

RedHeep said:
Seriously.

It's not a track car or a performance street machine.

Spend your money on a worthwhile investment for your Jeep.
Click to expand...

Not true!! :doh: The two most important aspects of a vehicle Steering & Brakes!! Safety first........all the money spent on lifts, tires and engine mods to make it perform better and you want to skimp on brakes......:wow:
 
RedHeep said:
Seriously.

It's not a track car or a performance street machine.

Spend your money on a worthwhile investment for your Jeep.
Click to expand...


You don't feel the ability to stop is worthwhile? My XJ would outstop my ex girlfriends civic - and believe me, I have used every bit of that braking on and off the trail.
 
ColoradoRaptor said:
Not true!! :doh: The two most important aspects of a vehicle Steering & Brakes!! Safety first........all the money spent on lifts, tires and engine mods to make it perform better and you want to skimp on brakes......:wow:
Click to expand...
You're not skimping on anything by buying a new set of rotors and a nice set of pads, which is what I recommended.

You're wasting your money on performance parts that are designed to perform under extreme heat and braking conditions. When was the last time you drove your XJ like a track car? You'd have to do multiple panic stops just to get them heated up enough to see any type of temperature difference.

You guys are trying to polish up a single piston caliper system with rotors that were too small from the factory to begin with. You won't see better performance from all that bling, you'll just be able to say you spent your cash so you could look at the pretty holes in the metal.

I have a $500 brake system on my wife's MINI, slotted rotors and metallic street pads from porterfield. I understand how important brakes are. You just need to apply it to the correct application.
 
RedHeep said:
You're not skimping on anything by buying a new set of rotors and a nice set of pads. You're wasting your money on performance parts that are designed to perform under extreme heat and braking conditions. When was the last time you drove your XJ like a track car? You'd have to do multiple panic stops just to get them heated up enough to see any type of temperature difference.
Click to expand...

Hrm. Monday. I drove it up 45 minutes of mountain roads at speed, pushed hard in the snow for several hours, and hauled ass back down the mountain.

RedHeep said:
You guys are trying to polish up a single piston caliper system with rotors that were too small from the factory to begin with. You won't see better performance from all that bling, you'll just be able to say you spent your cash so you could look at the pretty holes in the metal.
Click to expand...

You're assuming we are doing this with stock brakes? I have dual piston calipers with 12" rotors on my xj. How about you?

RedHeep said:
I have a $500 brake system on my wife's MINI, slotted rotors and metallic street pads from porterfield. I understand how important brakes are. You just need to apply it to the correct application.
Click to expand...

Pot? Kettle? Black? You feel slotted rotors are a gain for a 2500 pound car on 24 inch tires, but not a 4500+ pound brick on 35 inch tires? Just adding those tires alone is equiv to pushing your little mini hard.
 
Last edited:
The_ImPaLeR said:
I'm considering getting slotted rotors for the front. Has any anybody had any problems with them such as rock, mud getting stuck in them?
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Yes.

I assumed that this guy was talking about a stock system. He is, afterall, the guy who asked the question.
 
RedHeep said:
Yes.

I assumed that this guy was talking about a stock system. He is, afterall, the guy who asked the question.
Click to expand...

He was not however the one you were quoting when saying "You're wasting your money on performance parts that are designed to perform under extreme heat and braking conditions."
 
cal said:
Pot? Kettle? Black? You feel slotted rotors are a gain for a 2500 pound car on 24 inch tires, but not a 4500+ pound brick on 35 inch tires? Just adding those tires alone is equiv to pushing your little mini hard.
Click to expand...

For a given application? Absolutely.

I replaced her brakes with an upgrade because 1. The car needed new brakes and 2. I felt the high speed braking application in that car when pushed hard warranted it.

I still think you're throwing money away by putting slotted or drilled rotors on your XJ, unless you're in some type of high performance situation that would require high performance braking at speeds and pad pressures that were sufficient to cause extreme rotor temperatures and brake fade.

But that's not what the guy asked and not what I thought we were discussing. Congrats on your 2 piston calipers.
 
That given application being consistantly stopping large tires at highway speeds? I wouldn't have spent the cash for upgraded rotors if I felt stock ones worked sufficiantly, .. given the application.
 
cal said:
He was not however the one you were quoting when saying "You're wasting your money on performance parts that are designed to perform under extreme heat and braking conditions."
Click to expand...

I don't see where I quoted anyone when I said that. I even double checked to make sure I wasn't having an alzheimer moment.

Are there instances where you'd want to have something like that? Sure.

Is a WJ conversion worth it? Sure.

Are you wasting your money on a stock XJ when you spend $200 on pads and rotors for the front? Yep, I think you are.

To each his own.
 
You can never have too much brake. And the point here is that when you are putting on substantially heavier wheels and tires, and just alot more weight all around, you need to upgrade the brakes to compensate for it. The stock brakes are barely efficient enough to stop the XJ from the factory, not to mention a vehicle that you are making heavier everytime you add a part. If my XJ was a street queen with almost no modifications, it'd have upgraded brakes.

My rear axle is being put back together, so currently I just have stock brakes on my rig, the rearend of which is completely new. My brake system is 100% functional and almost all new, and I couldn't lock up the 33s if I tried. Jeep designed those brakes for a stock Cherokee, which mine is far beyond. As you upgrade parts, you have to upgrade the parts around it. Think of the Jeep as a system, everything is meant to work together. If you just upgrade some stuff, it's not going to work like it's supposed to. This isn't a knock on anyone here. But you'll notice that all of the guys who upgraded everything at the same time, aren't the ones on here asking questions about parts. They are the ones giving the advice.

And for anyone that doesn't feel like reading that. Bigger tires, better brakes, it's that simple.
 
cal said:
That given application being consistantly stopping large tires at highway speeds? I wouldn't have spent the cash for upgraded rotors if I felt stock ones worked sufficiantly, .. given the application.
Click to expand...

Your application is off the map. You upgraded the whole braking system to suit how and where you drive.

But I'd put money down that if you had solid rotors your XJ would brake the same.
 
My reasons for wanting to do this aren't just for stopligts.There fine for offroading with my setup as is. But for DEER. (and whatever else runs infront of me) Its a stock brake system. 2" lift with 30 x 9.5s. The brakes are all good, and I just adjusted the rear drums last night, they were way too far apart. It still doesnt stop fast enough for me to feel completly safe. Especially since I plan on adding the full skidplate package over winter, and that has to be atleast a couple hundered pounds.
 
$200 to spend on brakes really isn't a lot... I just replaced my rear drums and shoes, totalled $142.

After looking on quadratec (could be a little marked up) new rotors were $54 a piece, and some CHEAP pads might be another 20. So theres $120 on new front brakes... Why not throw down another 50?
 
DanMan2k06 said:
$200 to spend on brakes really isn't a lot... I just replaced my rear drums and shoes, totalled $142.

After looking on quadratec (could be a little marked up) new rotors were $54 a piece, and some CHEAP pads might be another 20. So theres $120 on new front brakes... Why not throw down another 50?
Click to expand...

I'd rather buy cheap rotors and GOOD pads.
 
is it safe to assume that the rotors are the weak spot compared to pads? my rotors have less than 2 years and 20K on them and they are already warped.

and arent the rotors known for warping prematurely because they are so thin stock? (by the way i did buy the CHEAP rotors) so from experience i would say that i should buy a little better rotors and stay with the mid grade pads. <----cause noone likes squeaky brakes.

i think after reading peoples experiences on this thread i should buy slotted rotors and not drilled only because i am still unsure if little pebbles or rocks will get stuck in the holes. i think slotted are alot safer. but thats just me though.

and i did see front rotor packages w/ pads on ebay between 100 and 200 so its not that expensive of an upgrade to make yourself feel safer when driving at higher speeds and need to make a sudden stop. especially since i live where there are alot of deer that just dart out in the middle of the road for no good reason in the middle of the night! and then they just stand there and give you that look like "what are you looking at?"
 
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