urrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cross drill brakes DO NOT Cool better then blanks. Braking and Heat exchange work under the same principle, more surface area the bigger.
Second, they are weaker. TRUE brembro cross drilled (the ones that come on the big brake kits) Are fordged with the holes already on them. Thing is, you can't buy these rotors unless you have a brembro big brake kit (2500 for the kit) and they defently will be more then 120 a pair. The shitty ones that you see on EBAY and other places are not true cross drilleds. Basicly what they are is a company that buys brembros blank rotors, then they get drilled. This is a HORRIBLE way to do it. Drilling causes vaibration that will cause micro cracks in the rotor. When you heat them up, there is a good chance that you can actually brake your rotor.
Third, they dont last as long. They are prone to warping in short periods of time, and then you cant resurface them. What a waste.
Finally, if you go on brembro's site, there normal rotors that are cross drilled (agian, they are not the ones that are forged with holes) used to say right on the page, "DO NOT USE FOR RACING"
The reason why there are cross drilled rotors are for 2 reasons.
One, back in 50-60, pads suck. When the pads heated up, they would emit a shit load of gas. This gas would actually get between the pad and the rotor and the pad would ride on the little patch of gas which means, the brakes would not work. The cross drilled rotors were made to have some place for the gas to go.
Fast forward almost 50 years, and guess what happen? Chemistry. Performance pads of today are great. They do not emit a shit load of gas.
Second reason, weight reduction. In full out dragsters of things like that, the thing that they care about is making there cars as light as possible. This sometimes means even converting to a motorcycle disc setup. Because this is america, manufactors see this and say "well, it may not really help them, but people like to LOOK like a racecar, lets make XXXX" This logic is why you see 8ft spoilers, Hoodpin stickers, vinals, ect.
I know
So my recomendation, Autozone blank $20 rotors.
Next, for your pads, no "performance pad" is only $39, unless your shopping at autozone, and guess what, those are not performance pads. Those are just one step up from normal OEM pads. I had them once, holy shit, I had multiple people almost kill themselves in my car because my brakes sucked so much.
(AEM PADS are not performance pads. They are made by the same manufactor of hondas OEM brakes (Nissin) and are only a one step up. Again, nothing to shit your pants about)
Get a true performance pad.
Cobalt Fricition
Project Mu
Hawk
Forndo (sp? b16, help me on the name of the pads you use)
Axxis Ultimants
Endless.
All will cost you between 60-120 a set (depending on how streetable you go) With the higher end pads, they are designed to have a higher heat range (brakes on road course get up to 1300 degrees in some cases) These ones are great on road cousres, but some dont start to brake until sometimes as high as 300 degrees. Basicly they are a track only pad. If you drive them on the street, your going to have to brake alot sooner to heat them up.
Currently I am running the Cobalt friction GT sports. They are a daily driver/solo2/HPDE pad. Basicly means their heat range is good enough for the normal driving (like starts at 80 degrees or something like that) but still good for a mild roadcouse run.
With true performance pads, there are tradeoffs. Performance pads will dust alot more then your normal Bosch pads. They will also squeek and growl. Is it worth it? Hell yes. I feel a shit load safer knowing that I can stop in time.
