Powerstop Slotted Rotors/Pads Z-36

[rollinstone]

62,000 on the 2014 Expy. We tow a 3500 lb trailer 4000-5000 miles a year. Rest of the time it's a daily driver. Always easy on starts and stops, even when towing.

Getting the front end wobble while slowing to stop at the bottom of a hill. Suspect rotors warped.

RockAuto offers drilled/slotted Powerstop Z-36 4-rotor package with pads for trucks and SUVs for towing for about $415. Daily driver set about half that.

I'm reading here that drilled/slotted is "all for show," "overkill," "not worth the money," "if it was so good race cars would use them!"

OK, if true, what's the alternative? Is there a good non-slotted rotor set designed for towing? Pretty sure dealer Motorcraft daily drivers are about the same price.

 

[joethefordguy]

drilled/slotted rotors dump heat faster, so they should recover from braking quicker.
solid rotors, because they don't have any material cut away by the drilling and slotting, mass more and so hold more heat before they fade.

so if you hit your brakes a lot, drilled/slotted can be helpful. if you're towing a lot, a solid rotor may be the way to go.

in the end, the only way to know for sure is to find comparison tests on your model of car. good luck with that.

 

[postwick]

drilled/slotted rotors dump heat faster, so they should recover from braking quicker.
solid rotors, because they don't have any material cut away by the drilling and slotting, mass more and so hold more heat before they fade.

so if you hit your brakes a lot, drilled/slotted can be helpful. if you're towing a lot, a solid rotor may be the way to go.

in the end, the only way to know for sure is to find comparison tests on your model of car. good luck with that.

They don't dump heat faster. That's a myth. They can handle less heat because there's less metal. Metal can carry more heat than air.

If you want to dump heat faster, get a set of those caliper covers. They act like a heat sink.

 

[postwick]

FWIW rotors don't warp. Common misnomer. They develop hotspots, which changes the molecular structure of the metal - hardening it. Pad material can build up on that spot, plus that spot not wearing like the rest of the metal, resulting in humps.

Anyway, for the most part rotors are rotors. Big hunk of metal used to convert kinetic energy into heat and soak up that heat. I had a really bad pulsation on a Taurus SHO a few years ago. The stock Ford rotors were junk. Put on a set of cryo treated rotors from Centric and they were fantastic.

Where stopping power is concerned, pads matter more than rotors. Generally speaking, a hunk of metal is a hunk of metal. But with pads, the material can differ greatly.

 

[GAINMOB]

They don't dump heat faster. That's a myth. They can handle less heat because there's less metal. Metal can carry more heat than air.

If you want to dump heat faster, get a set of those caliper covers. They act like a heat sink.

False...I had them and painted them to match the truck with my name on them... just cosmetic

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[GAINMOB]

They don't dump heat faster. That's a myth. They can handle less heat because there's less metal. Metal can carry more heat than air.

If you want to dump heat faster, get a set of those caliper covers. They act like a heat sink.

That's what they advertise

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[postwick]

False...I had them and painted them to match the truck with my name on them... just cosmetic

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It's not false. I mean, they're metal and connected directly to the caliper. It's impossible for them NOT to act as a heat sink. They absorb heat (touch one after driving for a while, I dare you) and have a large surface area exposed to the air.

 

[1oldtimer]

Another Problem with Drilled and Cross Slotted are they cant be turned.
If they are just slotted, then you can have them turned.

 

[Machete]

62,000 on the 2014 Expy. We tow a 3500 lb trailer 4000-5000 miles a year. Rest of the time it's a daily driver. Always easy on starts and stops, even when towing.

Getting the front end wobble while slowing to stop at the bottom of a hill. Suspect rotors warped.

RockAuto offers drilled/slotted Powerstop Z-36 4-rotor package with pads for trucks and SUVs for towing for about $415. Daily driver set about half that.

I'm reading here that drilled/slotted is "all for show," "overkill," "not worth the money," "if it was so good race cars would use them!"

OK, if true, what's the alternative? Is there a good non-slotted rotor set designed for towing? Pretty sure dealer Motorcraft daily drivers are about the same price.

I had PowerStops. They lasted 25k miles.

Think about OE rotors w high quality ceramic pads.

Don’t fall for slotted and or drilled for a friggin Expy unless you spend lots of time on the track and replace brakes in between hard runs.

These aren’t track cars.

 

[Blue87GT]

My understanding (previous race experience/have a car with drilled-stock equipped) is that drilled or slotted do nothing for heat-they allow the gasses expelled from the pad under braking to escape, thereby allowing harder braking.

Also true above, cross drilled cannot be turned.

Finally, cryo treated is truly harder-I had a set turned, and the sound was drastically different. They had to take it a lot slower on the turning process-the brake guy was shocked at how different it was too.

End all be all for performance brake rotors now are ceramic-cost HUGE loads of money though!

 

[Machete]

Yup. 1st paragraph is exactly right.

Let’s now debate SS brake lines and high performance brake fluids

 

[postwick]

62,000 on the 2014 Expy. We tow a 3500 lb trailer 4000-5000 miles a year. Rest of the time it's a daily driver. Always easy on starts and stops, even when towing.

Getting the front end wobble while slowing to stop at the bottom of a hill. Suspect rotors warped.

RockAuto offers drilled/slotted Powerstop Z-36 4-rotor package with pads for trucks and SUVs for towing for about $415. Daily driver set about half that.

I'm reading here that drilled/slotted is "all for show," "overkill," "not worth the money," "if it was so good race cars would use them!"

OK, if true, what's the alternative? Is there a good non-slotted rotor set designed for towing? Pretty sure dealer Motorcraft daily drivers are about the same price.

Rotors don't warp. It's a common misnomer. They develop hotspots which hardens the metal so the hotspot doesn't wear like the rest of it, resulting in humps.

Anyway, drilled rotors are a gimmick. They're prone to cracking. Slotted does offer more bite at the expense of wearing down your pads faster. Get a good set of solid cryo treated rotors and semi metallic pads.