Are Cryo-Treated Rotors Worth the Expense?

I've been looking into picking up a set a Powerslot rotors and was wondering if anyone has any experience with the cryogenically treated version of these rotors? It's about $20 extra per rotor to get the cryo-treated rotors. I have no problem spending the extra money now if it will pay off in the long run. But if it's snake oil obviously I would prefer not to waste the money. So does this cryogenic treating have any real world benefit when applied to rotors? Will the treating improve rotor longevity? Thanks guys.

 

[corkey]

http://www.cryogenicsinternational.com/rotors.htm

all the info you need, disregard the pink heep,,

 

[techieman33]

If your a very aggressive driver than they might be worth the extra cost. If not then I wouldn't spend the extra money. I had normal power slot rotors and drove my mountaineer like it was in a road race all the time and never had any problems with them.

 

[James909]

Thanks for the input guys. Very informative link. Normally I am actually very easy on my brakes. However these rotors are actually for a Yukon and not an Explorer. The question was general enough that I figured it was OK to post it here. Anyway the Yukons are notorious for underpowered brakes and with pathetic back brakes the front brakes are responsible for most of the braking force. This combined with the fact that I occasionally tow with this truck I was a little worried about the front rotors warping.

 

[corkey]

i have an Extended cab long box 2wd chevy so i know of the brake problems they have.
when braking hard the rotors can and do warp, so cryo and powerslots should fix that,,

 

[Anime]

When it comes to brakes, stuff like slots, holes, and cryogenic treatments are really more of a high-performance thing. Powerslots are nice, and there is some real-world benefit to them, but it is minimal (or rather, should be minimal) in a well-designed and well maintained braking system. Cryogenic treatment is more for the cross-drilled rotors, since they are notorious for cracking and even crumbling (!) due to the loss of strength from all that material being removed and being under constant stress from heating and cooling. It might help slotted or even smooth rotors some, in terms of increasing logevity under hard use, so the rotors don't warp when they otherwise might. That said, Powerslots with cryogenic treatment are about as wild of a real-world high performance braking solution as I would ever suggest on a daily driver, so if you feel that's what you are wanting, sure, it might be worth the dough.

My suggestion for daily driver brakes is usually based on warranty. Good metallic pads/shoes with a lifetime warranty can be worth it in terms of money saved on buying new pads every few years if you keep a vehicle for a long time, or never plan on getting rid of it at all. Brand name smooth rotors with a good warranty behind them from an auto parts store can be much nicer than dealing with a performance company that has a short defects-only warranty, and then requires you send in your rotors for inspection, while your vehicle sits on jackstands for a month. Not so bad for weekend drivers or second vehicles, but it's not very practical for single vehicles or something you drive every day. Dumping money on new parts every time something happens that should be covered under a warranty gets old pretty fast.

Rear discs (instead of drums) seem to make a bigger difference than slotted rotors in terms of braking performance.

Also keep in mind that improving the braking performance on the front axle quite a bit (Powerslots and high friction Hawk/EBC pads) can have strange and even dangerous handling effects under hard braking, when the rear brakes go unimproved, especially on something with the rear weight of an SUV.

Tires make a HUGE difference as well. You can improve brakes all you want, but where the rubber meets the road is probably a bigger part of it. Highway tread tires will usually give better braking on pavement than all-terrains or off-road treads, and wider or high performance tires will give even more braking friction as well, not just from their width, but usually from a slightly softer tread compound. The opposite is true on loose surfaces, where a mud-terrains lugs will dig in, and a smooth highway tread will just slide along.

If the Yukon already has 4-wheel discs, and you're considering going to Cryo'd Powerslots on all 4 corners, it will likely give an improvement, but I'm not entirely sure you couldn't get a good bump in braking ability with Auto store parts for much less money. Sometimes just a really, really good set of pads/shoes does it, sometimes a caliper rebuild helps, and even a brake fluid change or going with new hoses will improve things.

I went with house brand lifetime warranty Rayloc pads and shoes from NAPA, along with rotors, drums, hoses, etc. and have been more than pleased. I can engage the ABS on demand, and even lock up the tires. I've stopped hard and done a lot of nutsy driving on them for a few years and have yet to have a problem. The stopping distance might not be as short as if it were equipped with Powerslots and soft pads, but I also don't think I'd want that kind of stress on the braking system, since it takes a lot more force to get just a small increase in stopping ability. The best part is I spent $200-300 for all new parts, most of which had a warranty long enough that I could get another if there was an issue, and of course free replacements for the pads and shoes forever.

So, are the Cryo'd Powerslots worth getting? Probably, but I'd say you'd have to improve the whole rest of the system to really see the benefit. Powerslots with new pads might give an improvement, but depending on what's on there now, ANY good new rotor/pads might give an improvement. If you plan on keeping everything else stock, you may be able to get 80-90% of the improvement for 30% of the cost by going with some good pads and new smooth rotors, or maybe even just new pads/shoes if the stock rotors/drums and the rest of the system is in good shape.

 

[Maniak]

I've been looking into picking up a set a Powerslot rotors and was wondering if anyone has any experience with the cryogenically treated version of these rotors? It's about $20 extra per rotor to get the cryo-treated rotors. I have no problem spending the extra money now if it will pay off in the long run. But if it's snake oil obviously I would prefer not to waste the money. So does this cryogenic treating have any real world benefit when applied to rotors? Will the treating improve rotor longevity? Thanks guys.

We ran ART brand cryo treated/slotted rotors on our X. I ran them for close to 200k miles. When I finally took them off (never had them turned) they were wore down lower than min. thickness but never warped.

What I"m saying is that they lasted a really long time.. and worked so much better than stock ones.. BUT they were expensive. (At least ART brand).

Are they worth it for a regular DD vehicle? Probably not. For towing etc, yea, they might be. and $20 extra for cryo treating just seems really low so I don't know how good of a job they are going to do.

We do plan on getting a set of ART rotors for the mustang (still on the factory Rotors) and the 4x4 van (tow rig) will be getting them too..

~Mark

 

[James909]

Thanks for all of the feedback guys, very informative. So it seems like these rotors might have a slight edge, but not a night and day difference. I was kind of on the fence about these, but I just found that Rock Auto has these rotors dirt cheap. $98 each for the cryo-treated ones, so I think I'll give them a try. I'll couple them with Hawk pads and stainless lines that I already have but need to install and I'd expect a noticeable difference. I'm not doing anything with the rear right now (drums). I know switching to rear discs would be a significant improvement (I did it to the Explorer) but that's not feasible right now. If I ever have trouble with the rear end though I'll definitely switch then.

 

[BigRondo]

I was kind of on the fence about these, but I just found that Rock Auto has these rotors dirt cheap.

How about dirt cheap with a discount on top? Rock Auto Discount Code

 

[James909]

Even better! Thanks!

 

[BigRondo]

Even better! Thanks!

You're welcome.

 

[Fredness]

Used the PowerSlot Cryo's and loved them. We routinely warped rotors on mountain trips with towing. Not a "performance only" thing in my book. No cross-drills, stick with the PowerSlot and Hawk, you can't go wrong. Greatly improved braking, feel and longevity.

 

[James909]

Good to hear more positive feedback. Thanks.