Which brake rotors didn't work for me (RL field test)

[Tony94]

Manufacturer: Power Stop/Autospecialty
Product: Cross-drilled brake rotors
Warranty: 2 weeks or 500 miles (buyer beware! RED flag!)
Purchase date: 3/03
Replacement date: 2008
Malfunction date: 2005
Malfunction type: Rotor warp causing brake pulsing and shudder

User Experience: Only lasted few miles of LIGHT usage. They say they can be turned, but after seeing the meaty rotors I got from Raybestos (Advanced Technology brand (?), but not the top of the line offering), why bother?

Recommendation: Select rotors by WEIGHT! More metal trumps theories and snake oil: holes, slots, blah, blah...

(PowerStop: Wanna give me my $169 back? I'll send you back your rotors that suck.)

Tony

[zuper8]

interesting, thanks for posting. i'd also be interested to see how your experience with the raybestos-advance rotors goes. i put those on a corolla, and that little car warped them in months. not very happy. but they certainly were less than $169, so hey.

[swampthing]

wow! sorry they gave you such crappy service! i have slotted cross drilled of another brand however and love them no warping whatsoever, if supercars come with them i dont believe its all just snake oil

[Tony94]

wow! sorry they gave you such crappy service! i have slotted cross drilled of another brand however and love them no warping whatsoever, if supercars come with them i dont believe its all just snake oil

Note that my '94 weighs in at over 3800 lbs. Your '00 is surely quite a bit lighter and probably has bigger rotors to begin with (?).

[swampthing]

bigger rotors but i believe a stock 2000 ssei weighs in at 3750 or so. but i'm not arguing that they didn't screw up i just didn't want someone else shopping rotors to stay away from cross-drilled slotted thinking they were the next tornado air system....

[BonneMe]

wow! sorry they gave you such crappy service! i have slotted cross drilled of another brand however and love them no warping whatsoever, if supercars come with them i dont believe its all just snake oil

Note that my '94 weighs in at over 3800 lbs. Your '00 is surely quite a bit lighter and probably has bigger rotors to begin with (?).

2000's are heavier than a 92-95 generation, your car with an empty tank is actually around 3400-3500lbs... But he has 4 wheel disk, and an inch larger front brake IIRC.

Reading this, it appears you got two years out of them (3/03 to 2005?) That sounds pretty *dang* good for a brake on an H body if you ask me lol..

Cross drilled, slotted, carbon/ceramic, etc all have a point and a place. But many times these features become dangerous when they're done on inferrior material and done with inferrior processes compared to the high performance variant. Cross drilled rotors on a full on Baer system, are created very differently from the parts counter stuff normally....

[swampthing]

agreed, I took a chance on mine and they are still performing well after one year. I only pid like 250 for all four with pads the rotors are good the pads suck! so when they wear out im gonna get good quality ones

[Tony94]

bigger rotors but i believe a stock 2000 ssei weighs in at 3750 or so. but i'm not arguing that they didn't screw up i just didn't want someone else shopping rotors to stay away from cross-drilled slotted thinking they were the next tornado air system....

I would stay away from them if they are "thin" compared to "heavy duty" replacements. Larger diameter makes a big difference also: I remember contemplating Grand Prix brakes (11"?) for my 1980 Trans Am (10"?) as per Pontiac mag article/study. Apparently, the Raybestos units have a "no turn guarantee" while the AutoSpecialty cross-drilled units had a junkyard part length warranty. Indicative? Ask me in a year and a half or so about how the Raybestos parts are working for me. (Note that the boxes said "Advanced Technology", but I ordered the mid level units.. beyond "Professional Grade" though).

2000's are heavier than a 92-95 generation,

That doesn't sound correct. 2000 was the new generation body sytle and surely was lighter???

your car with an empty tank is actually around 3400-3500lbs... But he has 4 wheel disk, and an inch larger front brake IIRC.

I remember going over the scale and weighing in at 3820, but I suppose my photographic memory" could, within an extremely small probability, be wrong.

Reading this, it appears you got two years out of them (3/03 to 2005?) That sounds pretty *dang* good for a brake on an H body if you ask me lol..

It started small and got progressively worse. The failure point is when I first noted pulsation in braking, which was way before I actually replaced them. Seriously, the meat on the Raybestos units is so dramatically different, that I'm not even going to bother turning the too-thin cross-drilled ones. What a stupid theory to begin with: a bit more cooling can compensate for more metal.

Cross drilled, slotted, carbon/ceramic, etc all have a point and a place. But many times these features become dangerous when they're done on inferrior material and done with inferrior processes compared to the high performance variant. Cross drilled rotors on a full on Baer system, are created very differently from the parts counter stuff normally....

I was just noting my experience with a specific brand of cross-drilled rotors, not cross-drilled rotors in general.

[willwren]

Tony, 2000 and newer ARE heavier. Age has nothing to do with it.

[Jrs3800]

Funny... My 95 SE weighs 3465 Lbs with no fuel... Only thing I need to be an SLE is Leather... The 00+ Bonneville are 3700-3800 Easily...

Just to compare, My 95 TS with the 3800 TPI comes in at 3700 Lbs

[swampthing]

just because they redesigned the car doesn't mean it's lighter. happens all the time with sedans

[Jrs3800]

Agree 100%...

Friend used to have a Malibu Maxx.. I fell on the floor when I found out it was a couple hundred heavier than my Bonneville...LOL

I bought a set of Rotors that were Bendix replacements... Very thick and beefy even compared to a stock piece... I have been driving on them for 4 years... No warp..

[clm2112]

just because they redesigned the car doesn't mean it's lighter. happens all the time with sedans

My experience as well. The cars of the late 80's are pretty light compared to cars post and prior. Simple, boxy, low-tech. I may be mistaken, but my base model 1990 LE (along with it's cousins) is probably one of the lightest examples of the FWD H-Body's.

[Jrs3800]

Yes curt you are correct..

I had a few more options on my 91 LE and it came in at 3390 Lbs... Pretty light for a Full size car..

[67goat]

I intalled cross drilled rotors a while back that I purchased from Summit Racing (their brand name). They are pretty beefy rotors. Initially had some pulsating when I first installed. Pulled them off and found that the edges where the drilled portion meets the face of the rotor was not finished very smoothly. Put them on a drill press to mildly clean up any possible burrs, got new pads again (lifetime warranty), re-installed and have been trouble free for a year now.

[swampthing]

my slotted rotors make a little noise when you press hard but no vibrations from it and the car stops great!