http://www.crossdrilledbrakes.com/do...frontbrakekit/

Anybody ever tried a set of these?

 

I wouldn't recommend drilled rotors from any company.

In the olden days, when a brake pad got hot, it would outgass. The gas formed a layer between the pad and rotor, and lifted th pad away from the rotor surface. So, they drilled holes in the rotor surface for the gas to escape through.

The down side of that is the removal of material to drill a hole reduced the surface area of the rotor, and that decreased brake effectivness when the pads were cool enough not to outgass. Life's full of trade offs.

Today, brake pads don't outgass. Drilled rotors are strictly for bling. So, a lot of people went for the bling, and bought the drilled rotors. But, the holes created stress risers, and caused the rotors to crack, and significantly shortened the life of the rotor. Then manufacturers went to a dimple rotor. You get the bling, but not the stress cracks. But, you also get the decreased surface area, which tends to decrease brake effectivness. Dimpled rotors are also slightly noisier. Few race cars use a dimpled or drilled rotor - I don't use them on my race car.

Slotted rotors are a little like a cheese slicer. When you're really hammering the brakes, lap after lap, they get pretty hot. That can cause even a good pad to glaze. The slots move over the pads and slice off just a little bit of pad material, and goves you a new surface. That works really welll on the track. On the street, all it does is create more dust, more noise, and reduce pad life.

For a street driven vehicle, there's nothing better than a solid surface rotor. Pick one that's a good quality, and don't waste money on bling or gimmicks.

For pads, there's dizzying array. There are a lot of ceramic pads available. The only advantage to a ceramic material is that when they squeal, it's at a very frequency, and most people can't hear it. That keeps people from bringing it back to the shop for warrenty work. Some ceramic pads specifially say in the warrenty they are not recommended for towing. Ceramic can be a better performing material than other types, but isn't always. So you have to be carefull when buying them.

The stock brakes are actually pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. I have tried EBC truck pads, and I'm not impressed. Hawk makes a good brake pad that I'v used on cars, but never on a truck. I like Performance Friction carbon metallic pads; availabel at Autozone. I had them on a previous Dodge truck, and they were a significant improvement over stock.

Currently, I'm using Duralast Gold parts from Autozone. Inexpensive, perform better than stock, generally a shelf stock item, and have a lifetime replacement warranty.

 

They don't work as good on our trucks. Actually, the rotors may crack. Your best beat is to install an exhaust brake for more braking power.

 

I got 112k on my truck now and gonna have to put some shoes on and turn the rotors soon. Saw this kit and figured it might make a difference. Thanks for the replies

 

Thanks boB... Exactly what I was looking for. I had suspicions about slotted rotors on rigs and just got off the Autozone website looking at the Duralasts!

Thanks