Brake Rotors

The braking system is one the most important systems in any vehicle. It is what makes sure that you stop your vehicle in time and do not collide headfirst with other vehicles, people or anything that gets in its way. Maintaining your braking system is therefore one of the most important jobs that you get around in your car for your safety and for the safety of others. Many people think that they are doing just that when they change their brake oil and brake pads every once in a while. But the number of people who go beyond brake pads when fine-tuning their vehicles is a handful.

What comes after brake pads in your vehicle’s braking system are brake rotors. When you hit the brakes, the brake fluid in the master cylinder of your braking system transmits that pressure to the brake pads. Brake pads compress against the moving brake rotors, which in turn clumps on the rotating wheel and slows down, and eventually stops, your vehicle. Therefore you can see how important brake rotors are to your vehicle’s baking system.

Brake rotors, which are also known as brake discs, come in different types, and it is important that you know which type suits your vehicle the best. The two major type are drilled brake rotors and slotted brake rotors. Drilled brake rotors, as the name suggests, have holes drilled on its surface. This is because of many reasons. The first reason is that it allows the heat which builds up due to friction between rotors and brake pads to escape. Another reason behind drilling holes on the brake discs is that it allows the gas to escape. Gas is generated between rotors and brake pads in some old vehicles. Having holes on the brake rotor is extremely useful when a vehicle is driving through water. The holes allow the water to be quickly removed from the surface of the rotor. All three of these factors, water, gas and heat, makes your breaking system weak. Therefore successful elimination of all there is necessary in order for your barking system to work well.

Slotted brake rotors differ from drilled brake rotors in the fact that they have slots or grooves on the rotor surface instead of holes. They eliminate heat, gas and water by channeling it away from the surface of the brake rotors via these grooves.

Both types of brake rotors have drawbacks to them. Drilled brake rotors can sometimes crack around the holes after long use. On the other hand slotted brake rotors tend to put a lot of stress on the brake pads and wear them down within very short periods of time. Depending on the type of driving that your vehicle does, whether regular street driving or auto racing, you can pick which brake discs suit your vehicle the best.