PIU brake rotors

[MisterWizard]

2018 Explorer PIU, getting ready to do all 4 wheel brakes. I've taken an interest in the Raybestos S slotted rotors but the only listing they seem to have for the fronts are the rotors with the vented hat. My vehicle does not have the vented hat front rotors, anyone know if they're interchangable?

 

[Steve8316]

Anything that reduces the surface area reduces braking performance. Slots are just a cosmetic holdover from back when pads weren't fully cured during production - they're useless & counterproductive now. The best brakes you can get are the ones that have the most engineering & development money invested in them: Ford/MC.

 

[J_C]

AFAIK they should work as long as they're the heavy duty with 352mm diameter, which should also mean your rears are (not hat) regular vented instead of solid.

If you're going to be driving aggressively then instead of slotted, I'd get high carbon rotors, and aggressive HD semi-metallic pads that will chew them up faster.

 

[MisterWizard]

UPDATE: I ended up buying non-slotted/non-drilled rotors from Power Stop, along with their "Top Cop" pads.
I'm quite happy with the braking feel and stopping distance, and in the process learned something about the front rotors. A little insert in the front rotor boxes explained that the Ford has superseded the vented hat rotors with the non-vented hat ones.
And a side note: I went right to Power Stop's website to look up and order the rotors. They don't sell directly but had a list of "where to buy", one of the places being Walmart. As it turned out, Walmart was several dollars cheaper than anyone else, and I had them (drop shipped directly from Power Stop) in 2 days. Who would have thought?

 

[LuckyRabbit]

Anything that reduces the surface area reduces braking performance. Slots are just a cosmetic holdover from back when pads weren't fully cured during production - they're useless & counterproductive now. The best brakes you can get are the ones that have the most engineering & development money invested in them: Ford/MC.

Thought slotted was also for water shedding or something like that?

 

[peterk9]

Thought slotted was also for water shedding or something like that?

I'm not a mechanic but did do an Internet search on rotors and the results indicate that drilled and slotted rotors are better than the solid rotors.
They allow for better heat dissipation for one thing.

Are drilled and slotted rotors better? — explained | REREV

Examine the truth about drilled and slotted rotors, evaluating whether they offer superior performance and braking capabilities compared to standard rotors.

rerev.com

are slotted rotors better - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

www.bing.com

Peter

 

[Steve8316]

Thought slotted was also for water shedding or something like that?

No. If it were, all rotors would be slotted since they all occasionally get wet.

It was thought that slots might "scrape" glaze off the pads, back in the days when pads got glaze. But it doesn't happen to modern pads (unless they're intentionally contaminated), so again: anything that reduces the surface area reduces braking performance. This page contains a copy of the Wilwood FAQ about drilling & slotting from decades ago:

(click this text)

 

[LuckyRabbit]

No. If it were, all rotors would be slotted since they all occasionally get wet.

It was thought that slots might "scrape" glaze off the pads, back in the days when pads got glaze. But it doesn't happen to modern pads (unless they're intentionally contaminated), so again: anything that reduces the surface area reduces braking performance. This page contains a copy of the Wilwood FAQ about drilling & slotting from decades ago:

(click this text)
View attachment 466329

Think some of it is $$

There are new production cars with them, mostly higher dollar performance owns

RCF

Mopar SRT line

Toyota GR


I’ve been rocking them on one of my other vehicles with brimbos, zinc washed and slotted rotors and ceramic hawk pads, I don’t put many miles on it but my stile of driving is best described as “ass hole”, the vehicle is what I like to call my snow corvette, spent a good amount of time in snow and wet conditions, I’ve been very happy with the combo and it does seem to work a little better than plain rotors, albeit a small bit