If done properly, and with care, slotted and drilled rotors can be machined. Not all warped, worn or damaged rotors can be brought back from the dead, but more often than not, a proper machining job can breathe new life to your rotors and should be. No, drilled and slotted rotors cant be turned on a standard brake lathe, but a machine shop can grind them like a flywheel to freshen and true them up. How do you think about the answers?

1. Can You Machine Drilled And Slotted Rotors Made
2. Can You Machine Drilled And Slotted Rotors
3. Best Drilled And Slotted Rotors
4. Can You Machine Drilled And Slotted Rotors Bearings
5. Can You Machine Drilled And Slotted Rotors Rubber
6. Cross Drilled And Slotted Rotors

Rotor Resurfacing/Machine Rotors

Shop Drilled Rotors performance brake kit, Blank OEM Brake Rotors, Drilled and Slotted Brake Rotors. Drilled Rotors is your trusted break kit online store.

Brake rotors lose some thickness little by little whenever brakes are applied. People machine rotors to extend rotors life. There are downsides, though. Machining can lead to poorer quality rotors and safety issues, is time consuming, and can be difficult to do correctly.

Can You Resurface Drilled and Slotted Rotors?

You can cut or machine a drilled and slotted rotor. Just set your brake lathe to its slowest setting to avoid any chatter. Whenever replacing your pads, you’ll want to replace or cut your rotors, so the new pads can bed-in properly. However, if you want that non-directional cross-cut finish go with a new set of rotors from PowerStop. It’s likely to cost close to the same, and even possibly less than cutting a rotor.

Can You Machine Drilled And Slotted Rotors Made

What is Machining Rotors?

Machining rotors can gain back some friction on worn rotors and reduce run-out. Some people even resurface rotors a couple times before rotor replacement. The machining process usually start with sanding the rotors with 120 grit sandpaper to get rid of build-up deposit and dirt. Then cutting, thinning, and trimming the surface of rotors, also known as resurfacing. Finally, testing. Test drive the vehicle to see if the rotors gained some friction back.

Why do people machine rotors?

• Can gain back friction and stopping power
• Can extend rotor operational life
• Reduces run-out on new rotors

4 reasons why resurfacing rotors is concerning?

1. Reduces rotor quality
2. Cost and time
3. Safety
4. Hard to resurface rotors properly

Reason 1: Quality

• Machining rotors make them thinner, susceptible to warping
• Machining pushes the rotor thickness to the limit
• Thin rotors lead to overheating, warping, vibrating, etc.
• When the rotor thickness is different, it results in imbalance, weight shifting, shaking, and vibrating
  
  

Reason 2: Cost and time

• The cost to machine rotors might be greater than just replacing new rotors
• Need to machine both rotors (a full set) to avoid imbalance
• Machining rotors might take a couple hours at the repair shop

Reason 3: Safety

• Rotor weight needs to be evenly distributed or else it leads to shaking and vibrating
• It takes as little as .001 inches difference in thickness to notice when driving and braking
• If rotors are machined too thin, they can warp and damage brake parts
• By machining the rotors to the maximum level, rotors will overheat, fade, and lose stopping power
  
  

Reason 4: Not getting rotors resurface properly

• Some repair shops may resurface rotors as fast as possible. This can lead to mistakes in the process or too much metal being shaved off.
• Using worn bits to machine rotors may result in vibration
• Rotor vibration due to trimming metal off rotors

Tips:

• Depending on the rotor condition, replacing rotors is a better option than resurfacing
• Check out PowerStop’s high-quality performance brake kits and rotors! Do it yourself, replace your own rotors to save money or bring PowerStop’s rotors to a reliable repair shop.

To find the right brake kit for your vehicle: www.powerstop.com
PowerStop brake kit installation videos: Installation Videos
More PowerStop video content: www.youtube.com/user/PowerstopMedia/
For more helpful Tips and How To: www.powerstop.com/info/how-tos/

Remember, Don’t Just Stop…PowerStop!

What are the advantages of slotted drilled rotors?

Did you ever wonder if slotted drilled rotors would provide better braking on your family car or truck? Here’s some info right from the experts.

Brake rotor temperatures

When you apply the brakes, the pad’s friction material and rotor convert the vehicle’s motion into heat—a lot of heat. You can calculate exactly how much heat if you know the vehicle weight, swept area of the rotor (the part the pad clamps against), the rotor’s mass, and vehicle speed. If you don’t want to do the math, trust me, it’s hot. In fact, a Formula 1 race car can generate 1,000°F. Most car fanatics figure that since racing cars use slotted drilled rotors and those rotors can handle 1,000°, they must be great for their family cars and trucks. Ah, not so fast. Let’s take a look at the complete picture.

Brake pad fade

When you stomp on the brakes and they heat up, they can reach a critical point called “fade.” At the fade point, the brake pad resins (the material that hold the friction portion together) begin to vaporize, causing a gas layer between the pad and the rotor’s swept area. Think of this like brake pad hydroplaning. I know where you’re going with this; you assume that drilled and slotted rotors relieve the gassing pressure and reduce the hydroplaning effect of fade, right? Well, you’d be a bit off base because modern brake pads are far less prone to this phenomenon than older brake pad formulas.

Braking heat

That doesn’t mean new brake pads don’t generate heat, they do. But the question is, does stopping with ordinary brake pads and rotors generate enough heat to cause fade? Keep in mind that brake heat dissipates two ways; the majority of the heat is removed due to the pumping/cooling action of the rotor vanes, and the rest through the caliper and brake fluid. When brakes heat up to near the fade point, enough heat has already entered the brake fluid, causing it to boil.

Can You Machine Drilled And Slotted Rotors

Do slotted drilled rotors aid in cooling?

That’s the $64K question and the answer is no. The biggest advantage of slotted drilled rotors is that the holes and slots literally scrape off the face of the brake pads, “refreshing” them with each rotation. They provide a minimal cooling advantage, if at all. Depending on how the slots are designed, that refreshing feature may actually cause the pads to wear out faster.

If you want better braking, get better cooling

Best Drilled And Slotted Rotors

Rotor vane design is the single most important feature to look for in a brake rotor because the pumping action is far more effective than the slots and holes. Remember, the vanes are a centrifugal fan that suck air into the rotor near the hub and throw it out the vanes on the rotor’s circumference. Car makers spend a lot of money and engineering time designing these “fans” and that’s what makes OEM rotors more expensive. Factory rotors generally have more mass than economy aftermarket rotors as well. More mass, bigger fans, more vanes all add up to better cooling.

The downside to slotted drilled rotors

Can You Machine Drilled And Slotted Rotors Bearings

High quality drilled rotors generally don’t crack. But economy drilled rotors do. If you’re going to add them, make sure you buy premium rotors. And be prepared to change your brakes more often since they tend to wear out pads faster.

Can You Machine Drilled And Slotted Rotors Rubber

Cross Drilled And Slotted Rotors