Front vs. Rear Brake Rotors

[SaabKen]

Just got the rear rotors replaced with standard aftermarkets by indie. I expect the front rotors to be replaced in the next 12-18 months. I started wondering whether the fronts will have to match the rears. Ex: can I install cross-drilled in the front ? Does that require different pads, and thus have different than the rear pads ? Or would that also require changing over the rear pads to match the new front pads ?

Thx

[KevinC]

Drilled rotors are the same as solid ones, just slightly less surface area, more noise, and potentially better disc cooling.

People do a lot of things with brakes, but if you are really concerned about safety or plan to use your car full on w/ track use, best advice is to use the same pads f/r to give your abs system the most balanced OEM sort of starting point. Seen several tragic outcomes on track linked to hugely upgraded front brakes w/ OEM rears.

If you want drilled rotors up front make certain to spend real $$ and get quality kit, otherwise you will not be happy, they might rust/warp/break/vibrate or all of these. If it is just performance you want the OEM style Brembo rotors work great w/ a suitable hi-perf pad, EBC is cheaper but I'd give the nod to Ferodo DS 2500 for fast street, they seem to keep working right up until the smoke becomes flames....

[MoreBoost]

Originally Posted by SaabKen

Just got the rear rotors replaced with standard aftermarkets by indie. I expect the front rotors to be replaced in the next 12-18 months. I started wondering whether the fronts will have to match the rears. Ex: can I install cross-drilled in the front ? Does that require different pads, and thus have different than the rear pads ? Or would that also require changing over the rear pads to match the new front pads ?

Thx

I havent heard good things about aftermarket cross drilled rotors, they tend to start crack around the holes. Iv always used solid brembo blanks. As far as the pads are concerned, from what people have told me, you shouldnt "over brake" the rears. I ended up getting cermaics for the front and semi metallic for the rear.

From what i know you shouldnt have any issues with running cross drilled in the fronts and solids in the back. If you really after better brakes, id make sure to get SS lines and a really good brake fluid like ATE Super Blue, something with a higher boiling point

[mulik51]

You can mix and match them like this, not a problem. Especially if you are putting potentially "better" brakes in front. A lot of oem benzes have cross drilled fronts and solid rears.

Anyways, my cross drilled zimermans cracked after some abuse. So, if getting cross drilled don't get the zimmermans. They didn't ever warp or vibrate which is pleasant, but the more I abuse them the more the cracks grow. I have some slotted ones being shipped my way. As soon as I remove the zimmermans Ill take pics and do a detailed thread. There are couple of places who give lifetime warranty against cracking. Swedishdynamics and SP performance I think do. I personally will not get crossdrilled replacement rotors for the car which was not crossdrilled from the begining again. That's why they crack - they are too thin. I looked at my friends e55amg crossdrilled rotors and they are THICK, like twice thicker then mine. That's why they don' crack (I think). Also, it has to do with the shape of the whole. If the angle is 90 degrees then you get a hot spot, but if it is a smooth transition into the whole, then there are less chances of cracking.

Klim

[mulik51]

Like here it is explained somewhat better:
http://www.raceshopper.com/sp_rotors.shtml

As for the pads there is no requriement really, however, I found that EBC reds would dust so much as too plug the wholes on the xdrilled rotors sort of defying their purpose. Either the rotors are not well designed (which I think is true) or maybe you need to use less dusting pads.

Klim

[Superaero]

Don't forget to upgrade the tires before you upgrade the brakes. "Better" brakes won't improve braking unless the tires are good enough to apply the braking forces to the contact patch.

[SaabKen]

Originally Posted by Superaero

Don't forget to upgrade the tires before you upgrade the brakes. "Better" brakes won't improve braking unless the tires are good enough to apply the braking forces to the contact patch.

You been talking to my wife about accessorizing ?

Tires are < 1 yr old. Bridgestone Potenza RE950s all around. V-rated. Nothing fancy. So far so good.

[SaabKen]

Originally Posted by mulik51

You can mix and match them like this, not a problem. Especially if you are putting potentially "better" brakes in front. A lot of oem benzes have cross drilled fronts and solid rears.

Anyways, my cross drilled zimermans cracked after some abuse. So, if getting cross drilled don't get the zimmermans. They didn't ever warp or vibrate which is pleasant, but the more I abuse them the more the cracks grow. I have some slotted ones being shipped my way. As soon as I remove the zimmermans Ill take pics and do a detailed thread. There are couple of places who give lifetime warranty against cracking. Swedishdynamics and SP performance I think do. I personally will not get crossdrilled replacement rotors for the car which was not crossdrilled from the begining again. That's why they crack - they are too thin. I looked at my friends e55amg crossdrilled rotors and they are THICK, like twice thicker then mine. That's why they don' crack (I think). Also, it has to do with the shape of the whole. If the angle is 90 degrees then you get a hot spot, but if it is a smooth transition into the whole, then there are less chances of cracking.

Klim

When you say "abused", how do you mean ?

[mulik51]

No track events or anything, but I do drive very hard sometimes. Basically the brakes were smoking a lot, the rotors were blue. I considered that abuse.

Klim

[SaabKen]

Originally Posted by mulik51

No track events or anything, but I do drive very hard sometimes. Basically the brakes were smoking a lot, the rotors were blue. I considered that abuse.

Klim

If I drove like that, my co-pilot (wife) would be all blue So essentially, it never happens.

Sounds like x-drilled are fine but make sure to get the really good stuff. Otherwise for my purposes, slotted would prolly be more than adequate.

The last set I had were on the car for 4 years, all standard OEM Brembos from eEuroparts:




But to be honest I didn't find them any more effective than the Zimmermans that they replaced.