- Dec 4, 2011
- 1,341
Does anyone have the brakemotive slotted and drilled rotors for their trailvoy/ if so how well did they last and durability? Is upgrading pads and calipers needed? Thanks in advance for your response and help
Slotted + drilled brakemotive?
- Thread starter TexazReece
- Start date
STLtrailbSS
Member
- Dec 4, 2011
- 1,617
I have been shopping for rotors and slotted is just not necessary for a TB. Spend money on a good set of cross drilled. One of the main points for this is that yes a slotted rotors offers more bite BUT how often.are you driving fast enough to refresh your pads? One of the reaesons for slots is for track day use they are made to refresh the braking material to cut back on glazing under high heat. When in use off track your basically cutting your brakes. Cross drilled is the much better aplication for the TB. 
HARDTRAILZ
Moderator
- Nov 18, 2011
- 49,665
My fronts are drilled/slotted and my rears are standard, but new. Ceramic pads all around and it made a huge difference. Feels better and stops better.
DARKASS04EXT
Member
- Nov 21, 2011
- 193
Last time I checked on ebay the Brakemotive set (4 drilled/slotted rotors and ceramic pads) was around $185 for the TB. Overall, I think its a good price with decent quality product. Once im finished with my current pads (spring'12) i'll be getting these for my TB EXT and G6.
STLtrailbSS said:I have been shopping for rotors and slotted is just not necessary for a TB. Spend money on a good set of cross drilled. One of the main points for this is that yes a slotted rotors offers more bite BUT how often.are you driving fast enough to refresh your pads? One of the reaesons for slots is for track day use they are made to refresh the braking material to cut back on glazing under high heat. When in use off track your basically cutting your brakes. Cross drilled is the much better aplication for the TB.
I agree with this, Have used Cross-drilled only rotors on a few vehicles (not yet on the Envoy). and slots are specifically designed for glaze removal and WILL make your pads wear faster.
IMO - If you are panic-stopping every time then cross-drilled and slotted will cut down on glazing. Everyday driving: cross-drilled only works great.
FYI: Since Drilling holes or drilling holes and slotting the rotors reduces overall friction surfaces, rotors and pads will usually wear faster even under normal braking.
(First Post here: migrated from TV, same name here as there.)
Boricua SS
Member
I agree with what's being said.. with D/S rotors, just think of them and a cheese grator and your pads the block of cheese... same concept.. your pads will wear down... plus with D/S rotors, some of them (not all) tend to crack between drill points.. this isn't meant to detour your decision, but just making you aware of the precautions that are out there.. here's a pic of what I mean.. this happened on my friends SS that had Rotor Pro's D/S rotors...
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DARKASS04EXT
Member
- Nov 21, 2011
- 193
Boricua SS said:I agree with what's being said.. with D/S rotors, just think of them and a cheese grator and your pads the block of cheese... same concept.. your pads will wear down... plus with D/S rotors, some of them (not all) tend to crack between drill points.. this isn't meant to detour your decision, but just making you aware of the precautions that are out there.. here's a pic of what I mean.. this happened on my friends SS that had Rotor Pro's D/S rotors...
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Damn, ive never had rotors crack like that. The worst thats ever happened to me was little stress cracks to the outer drill points. Guess i dont drive that hard anymore.
Boricua SS
Member
DARKASS04EXT said:Damn, ive never had rotors crack like that. The worst thats ever happened to me was little stress cracks to the outer drill points. Guess i dont drive that hard anymore.
Yea I'm sure that's an extreme case.. I was just showing what "could" happen as I know all D/S rotors don't do that... they're likeanything else you buy.. it either breaks, or it doesn't...
personally I just get the regular rotors. It's not a hot rod. I'm not trying to stop on a dime. The extra mass in the rotor is good for absorbing the extra heat from a heavy vehicle. A pricier rotor that was heavier would be something I would be interested in. Pricier and lighter... not so much.
HARDTRAILZ
Moderator
- Nov 18, 2011
- 49,665
v7guy said:
Do some research. Heat absorption is bad and drilled will not fade as quick. There is also a lot of negative to unsprung rotational mass.
SBUBandit
Member
- Dec 5, 2011
- 597
I have had Brakemotive's Drilled/Slotted on all 4 wheels on my TB for a few months now. For me it came down to the fact that since day one I haven't been happy with the brakes. I find myself way too often coming into a turn hotter than expected, as I have always felt the truck seemed underbraked for its weight. Also, the brakemotive rotors were actually less expensive than 4 standard rotors. I also installed Monroe Ceramic pads on all 4 and followed the whole "burn-in" procedure, which made my wonderfully nauseous in itself. I am much happier with the brakes now. It doesn't take nearly as much pedal to slow the truck, and added bonus the look good. Now I just need some bigger wheels to show them off and maybe paint the calipers.
HARDTRAILZ said:
I think you need to do some research.
There is a lot of negatives to increased rotational mass. But you take the hit when you have to. To be fair, a lot of us are increasing the rotational mass through wheel and tire choices. If there is ever an argument for increased rotational mass it is in the braking system.
The whole purpose of a rotor is to be a friction surface and absorb/radiate the heat from braking. The rotor cools down by pumping air through the vanes. By a rotor having greater mass it can absorb more heat and stay cooler overall. Saying rotors absorbing heat is bad is like saying The Victoria Secret fashion show is no good... It's just not true.
A drilled rotor is going to have less mass to absorb and radiate heat, it's going to have less friction surface and it's going to have an increased possibility of cracking from the stress riser formed when drilling the rotor. Porsche supposedly casts the holes in their rotors and they still crack.
All of this is a moot point really because for most of our use these slots and holes are mostly there to look pretty anyway.
smitty5150
Member
- Nov 18, 2011
- 1,069
I have had the brakemotive front and rear pads and rotors for almost 2 years/ 30k miles. They have been a great improvement over stock and the pads are still at least 60% left. I don't drive t like its a race car, which may be why they are lasting so long. I would recommend this set up to anyone, based on my personal experience with the product.
I hear more good then bad news on this so i purchased a set f/r with pads for $185 on ebay. Hopefully there here by thursday since im going on a trip to california i want to see how good they really get. 
gmcman
Member
- Dec 12, 2011
- 4,659
bigredtank
Member
- Nov 21, 2011
- 31
reece you took the words right out of my mouth i was JUST about to post up and ask the same question. 185 is pretty cheap. i thought i was gonna be spending hundreds. im going more for the look then the practicality and usability of them. i think theyll look sweet behind my black SS wheels.
good seeing you the other day man! GREAT turn out!
-gabe
good seeing you the other day man! GREAT turn out!
-gabe
- Dec 4, 2011
- 1,341
bigredtank said:reece you took the words right out of my mouth i was JUST about to post up and ask the same question. 185 is pretty cheap. i thought i was gonna be spending hundreds. im going more for the look then the practicality and usability of them. i think theyll look sweet behind my black SS wheels.
good seeing you the other day man! GREAT turn out!
-gabe
Good seeing u to bro, sorry for a late response work has been taking up alot of my time LOL. I too like the look but even more so the performance
- Dec 4, 2011
- 1,341
smitty5150 said:
How hard was the install? Was is simply removing wheels then remove old rotors bolt on new or did u have to go more into it. Simply put was it pnp
Chickenhawk
Member
- Dec 6, 2011
- 782
My opinion, based on a few years on the highways and an hour or two on race tracks over the years:
Slotted rotors provide marginal improvements that aren't really important for 90% of the driving population. (I put them on my truck.)
Cross-drilled rotors are STRICTLY for the looks. They have no benefits on the street whatsoever and will marginally decrease braking performance. (This won't affect most people when you start with good brakes anyway, so if people want to put them on their vehicles for the looks, go ahead. Just as long as they understand it is for the look and not for any benefit.)
If you look at it logically, cross-drilled rotors don't make sense. There are no 'build-up of gases under the pad' issues with modern brake pads made in the last 20 years. They don't run cooler because there is no air flow out those holes. (They run sideways to the airflow and at 700 RPMs, there is no way any extra air can either escape or be taken in through the holes.)
In fact, if you think about it, they provide LESS braking power because they are lighter and are more prone to heating faster. Solid rotors or slotted rotors not only have more rotor surface for the pads to contact, they also have more metal and more mass.
Any rifle shooter will be glad to tell you there is a real good reason they INCREASE the mass and the surface area of a rifle barrel if it is needed to be consistently accurate shot-after-shot, even when warm. It is for this very reason that long-range accurate target rifles have much larger outer diameter barrels and the barrels are much heavier than your normal hunting rifle.
Simply transfer the analogy of the 'bull-barrel' target rifle that takes longer to heat up and can ultimately absorb more heat, to the brake rotor and one can see logically that drilling holes provides no benefits but is in fact marginally detrimental to performance.
By the way, some of the people who need to use their brakes the hardest (outside of race tracks) are police, fire and ambulance ... and they NEVER use cross-drilled brake rotors.
Personally, brakes are one place I don't worry about finding the cheapest parts on the market. I want the BEST parts on the market and this is why I would not buy anything except the premium line of rotors from well-known companies. But that's just me.
Slotted rotors provide marginal improvements that aren't really important for 90% of the driving population. (I put them on my truck.)
Cross-drilled rotors are STRICTLY for the looks. They have no benefits on the street whatsoever and will marginally decrease braking performance. (This won't affect most people when you start with good brakes anyway, so if people want to put them on their vehicles for the looks, go ahead. Just as long as they understand it is for the look and not for any benefit.)
If you look at it logically, cross-drilled rotors don't make sense. There are no 'build-up of gases under the pad' issues with modern brake pads made in the last 20 years. They don't run cooler because there is no air flow out those holes. (They run sideways to the airflow and at 700 RPMs, there is no way any extra air can either escape or be taken in through the holes.)
In fact, if you think about it, they provide LESS braking power because they are lighter and are more prone to heating faster. Solid rotors or slotted rotors not only have more rotor surface for the pads to contact, they also have more metal and more mass.
Any rifle shooter will be glad to tell you there is a real good reason they INCREASE the mass and the surface area of a rifle barrel if it is needed to be consistently accurate shot-after-shot, even when warm. It is for this very reason that long-range accurate target rifles have much larger outer diameter barrels and the barrels are much heavier than your normal hunting rifle.
Simply transfer the analogy of the 'bull-barrel' target rifle that takes longer to heat up and can ultimately absorb more heat, to the brake rotor and one can see logically that drilling holes provides no benefits but is in fact marginally detrimental to performance.
By the way, some of the people who need to use their brakes the hardest (outside of race tracks) are police, fire and ambulance ... and they NEVER use cross-drilled brake rotors.
Personally, brakes are one place I don't worry about finding the cheapest parts on the market. I want the BEST parts on the market and this is why I would not buy anything except the premium line of rotors from well-known companies. But that's just me.
Lima Tango
Member
- Dec 4, 2011
- 242
TexazReece said:
Yes, pretty much remove wheel, remove caliper, remove caliper bracket, slide off old rotor, slide on new rotor. Not hard at all with the possible exception of a couple stubborn bolts that were heavily yellow loctited from the factory. Check out the how-to in the articles section; I was very thorough and included pictures for reference.
LennieM
Member
- Jan 2, 2012
- 28
woody79
Member
- Dec 3, 2011
- 351
LennieM said:Bought from ebay seller powerautosport not the cheapest but they are still working great and no cracks after 1 year of service.
Mostly for the looks but the ceramic pads make less brakedust on the rims, also painted the calipers and put som stickers on there
I really like the Trailblazer stickers on the calipers. Nice touch