I've been working with a couple of Indy car teams, a NASCAR team, and a Trans-Am team on cryo-treating brake rotors. They are a pretty eclectic mix... The Indy brakes are a ceramic hybrid (and HUGE) and are slotted, the Trans-Am are usually cross-drilled, though some are slotted AND cross-drilled, and the NASCAR greatly depends on which type event they're running. On road courses they're almost always slotted/cross-drilled and on big oval tracks they're usually solid or lightly slotted.

FWIW on my '90 and my wife's '85 I use a set of the Brembo replacement rotors that I drilled on a Bridgeport and cryoed... Never had a problem with cracking or warping.
-Jeb

 

It's amazing what cryo treating a rotor will do for it... stunning...

 

I've been using drilled rotors for a couple years & some hard braking, they work great with the Hawk pads, no warping. I'm considering upgrading the front calipers, whats a good affordable caliper upgrade?

 

affordable? The C5 brake upgrade... that's a good deal...

check Wilwood or Brembo, too. Someone here has a kit that allows you to install the Porsche/Brembo caliper. I don't remember price.

 

yes!

I didnt know this but a race friend of mine told me the slotted rotors are made so that it cuts into the pad and not necessiarly vents gases.
now as oppose to regular rotors what will cross drilled(lets say eradispeed or other high performance rotors) rotors of the same size yield in better braking. about how much difference in ft can you tell?
thanks alot your friend/vendor
Sean

 

You don't need to post pics to convince me because I know its probably not true. Not saying that the rotors are indestructable, if you bolt these rotors on the C5R and run them at the 24hr of le mans they will be TOAST after a few laps. However, you are saying that your friend cracked the rotors under a "fun run"? please define that...Is he driving an Indy car or trying to stop from 200mph.
I would love to see a regular street car trying to crack these rotors making a "fun run"

 

As an aside and not directed at zelement ...Just my opinion, but a brake rotor comparison ought to be about improvements in braking distance, affect on pad fad, etc vs whether or not they crack. They all crack if you're aggressive enough

If you're going to play on a road course, brake rotors, including stock type rotors, are nothing more than a wear item. I cracked my OEM rotors last year and my new set from this year had microcracking after 2 weekends (and I have 3.25" brake cooling hose going to center of each rotor ). Gotta pay to play.

A big mistake new folks make is that they come in from a session and set the parking brake. That warps the rear rotors in a heartbeat. Many also fail to properly cool the brakes during the cool down lap.

If rotors cracked on a "fun run", they were likely already well on their way to failure prior to the run and the evidence was overlooked during the pre-run inspection.

Just my $0.02

 

I spent a weekend at Hallet, Oklahoma back in June working with a group of friends AND the Skip Barber Formula Dodge people. The cooldown lap is ABSOLUTELY critical to brake life, as is NOT setting the e-brake. I ran around the entire time with a set of micrometers and an infrared heat gun measuring rotors. On heavier cars (like our Vettes, as well as Porsche's, Bimmers, and the like) you see a TREMENDOUS amount of heat (I charted 660 degrees on one set of brakes 15 minutes after it was parked from the cooldown lap) and a considerable amount of wear. The most wear I saw was after a particularly hard session on a 993 Porsche; the left front had .013" worn off from the previous measurement (two 7-lap sessions before). .013" is a TON and shows what kind of wear is associated with a heavy car decelerating from road course speeds. On the ZO6 I took up there we had two sets of rotors, a set of Brembo replacements and a set of cryo-treated OEM rotors (the cheap-azz Brazilian ones). The Brembos showed very little wear but had a pretty good amount of runout when we pulled them (after the Friday night "get acquainted" session). We pulled them off after the second session on Saturday and ran the OEM's... I made the driver NOT run a cooldown lap so I could get a good reading right after he came in; 1608 degrees!!!! Within 5 minutes it was down to a little more than 500!! So it cooled VERY rapidly. Before we put the car on the trailer on Sunday afternoon I measured the OEM's one final time; they had worn less than .0001" average and had '0' runout. That was a pleasant surprise. The Brembos were slotted and the OEM's were just plain.
-Jeb

 

.013"!!! That is HUGE! Insane... that is like milling 3" of pavement of the highway!

And the temps... geez... that's just nuts... 1600*!!! Toss a steak on that griddle!

I am curious by the fact that the cryo treated rotors cooled so quickly. Not surprised they held up so well... sounds like my next set of rotors will get the ice job!

 

well... email me for all ice jobs!!!
44 per rotor!
let me know your friend/vendor
Sean Blanton
slimshaby@mindspring.com