Brake Performance Blogs

One of the most common questions we hear is: What’s the advantage of drilled and slotted brake rotors compared to stock (plain) OEM rotors? The answer comes down to improved stopping performance, better heat management, and longer-lasting braking consistency—especially under real-world driving conditions.

The Advantage of Slotted Rotors

Slotted brake rotors are designed to significantly improve braking performance. Each rotor is precision-machined with four to five slots per side (vehicle-specific), extending to the outer edge of the rotor. These slots serve several important purposes:

• Clear brake dust, water, and debris away from the pad surface, ensuring consistent pad contact
• Improve wet-weather braking by maintaining a clean friction surface
• Reduce brake fade by allowing heat to escape more efficiently
• Promote even pad wear and better pedal feel

Machined rotors deliver more responsive, confident braking, especially during repeated stops or aggressive driving.

What Do the Drilled Holes Do?

Another frequently asked question is about the purpose of drilled holes. Their primary function is heat dissipation. During prolonged or heavy braking, heat builds up between the brake pad and rotor. Drilled rotors allow this trapped heat to escape, helping to:

• Maintain consistent braking performance
• Reduce the risk of brake fade
• Extend rotor and pad life

Dimpled slotted vs. Cross-Drilled slotted Rotors

Performance rotors are available in different styles as listed in our performance brake rotors page but these two drilling styles, each designed for specific vehicle needs:

• Dimpled & slotted Rotors
  These feature shallow, non-through holes that dissipate heat without fully penetrating the rotor surface. This design maintains structural integrity, making them ideal for heavier vehicles or applications prone to rotor warping.
• Cross-Drilled & slotted Rotors
  Cross-drilled holes pass completely through the rotor, allowing air to flow through the disc for maximum cooling. This design is commonly used on light- to medium-duty vehicles and high-performance applications, where improved heat dissipation and reduced brake fade are critical.

A Worthwhile Upgrade

The noticeable improvement in braking performance, combined with enhanced cooling and cleaner operation, makes drilled and slotted brake rotors a smart upgrade over standard OEM replacement rotors. Backed by a manufacturer’s warranty and trusted by customers for over 20 years, our machined performance brake rotors deliver the stopping power, reliability, and value drivers expect.

When you step on your brake pedal, it forces the small piston(s) inside your brake caliper to compress, squeezing your brake rotors and essentially slowing down your car. Although this is the simplest way to explain the concept, it doesn't factor in some of the details that allow this to happen. Because the brake pedal doesn't just magically connect to all four brake rotors, it relies on the use of brake lines to divert your single force acting on the brake pedal onto the four corners of the car. These lines are filled with a hydraulic fluid we call brake fluid.

Brake fluid works well because it's a non-compressible, hygroscopic fluid which allows all the energy that your foot releases onto your brake pedal to be converted into braking pressure that squeezes your brake rotors and slows them down. So why is brake fluid so vital, yet often overlooked when shopping for brake rotors?

When you apply your brakes it causes your brake pistons to compress and clamp the brake rotors. This friction creates heat, lots of it. This means your brake fluid needs to retain its incompressible nature without boiling or evaporating due to the temperature.

What happens when your brake fluid boils or overheats? It creates air bubbles in the system and air is compressible opposed to brake fluid. So in turn, when you press down on the brake pedal, instead of clamping the rotors and slowing down the car, the brake fluid compresses the air and the brakes are not doing their job. This also translates to the driver as a mushy or unresponsive feeling brake pedal.

With all this talk about brake rotors, we haven't forgotten about those of us that still use brake drums! Depending on your vehicle make and year, you could have all four drum brakes, or it's also possible to have a combination of rotors and brakes (i.e. Rotors in the front, brake drums in the rear).

The drum brake is made up of a few components. The brake drum is what you will see on the outside, which houses the internal components. The brake shoe, parking brake, and adjusting mechanism are what makes up most of what's hidden behind the brake drum.

Most of the time, you will be replacing the brake drum and the brake shoes. Those are the two brake components that see the most day-to-day wear. The parking brake (if it's integrated into the rear brake drum) also needs to be replaced normally around 75,000 miles, but earlier if you use it frequently.

Lastly, the adjusting mechanism which generally consists of the cable, adjusting lever, star wheel adjuster, and automatic adjuster spring can also see wear with age. This is more prevalent in harsh weather conditions such as rain and snow. If you are driving a vehicle 10 years or older, it's recommended to change it out regardless due to age.

To inspect the brake shoes, most drum brakes have an inspection hole where you can see the brake shoe friction surface to give you an idea of how much life is left. The minimum wear thickness should be:

• Un-bonded: 0.8mm or 1/32 inch
• Bonded to backing plate: 1.6mm or 1/16 inch

Uneven and scoured brake wear also indicates that the brake shoes should be replaced

With all the different types of rotors available today, it can be intimidating when you don't know which one fits your needs. We get multiple calls a day from customers asking if the slotted rotors are the right brake rotors for their needs. In short, there is nothing wrong with the way plain brake rotors function, as we assure that all of our rotors are made to meet and exceed the manufacturer's specs.

Let's get back on topic. As we all know, brakes are one of the most important components to your own safety and the car's safety as well. With every driver, there is a specific driving preference which is why there is such a variety of brake rotors available.

One of the most popular and versatile brake rotors would be our slotted rotors. Slotted rotors are brake rotors with slots etched onto the friction surface of the rotor. These slots help "wipe" the brake pad clean during each pass and help maintain even pad wear as well as performance. While even pad wear promotes longer brake pad life, the slots also help direct brake dust away from the face of the wheel, keeping your car cleaner as well as preventing severe debris build-up around your brake components.

Lastly, all BrakePerformance Slotted Rotors feature slots which extend all the way to the edge. This is especially helpful during wet driving conditions as the slots help direct water on the surface of the rotor away from the friction area, reducing wet braking distance.

Often viewed as performance rotors, slotted rotors offer benefits for everyone. Regardless if it's an SUV, or daily commuter, improved braking performance in all weather conditions and better brake pad life is a plus in anyone's book.

Just about every component that's part of the car's brake system is vital to the safety and performance of your vehicle. Along with making sure your brake rotors are properly wearing, your brake pads have enough pad life left, your brake fluid is not contaminated, now you also have to deal with ensuring that your brake lines are operating as they were designed to.

Not to worry, as we want to make sure you understand how your brake system works without having to be a professional automotive technician! In order to understand the role of the brake lines, let's quickly go over the overall layout and function of the brakes. This quick and dirty visualization leaves out a lot of detail for the purpose of understanding the place for brake lines.

When you press down on your brake pedal in your car, hydraulic fluid is being forced from that single pedal, to the master cylinder, and then to all four of your brakes. The master cylinder essentially takes the pressure of your foot on the pedal, and converts it into usable hydraulic pressure. This pressurized hydraulic fluid then travels down through brake lines to each of your four brake calipers. This same pressurized brake fluid then compresses the pistons inside your brake calipers, forcing your brake pads to squeeze together essentially slowing down your brake rotors.

So why is it essential to replace old brake lines? First, almost all of the factory brake lines are normally made out of rubber hoses. As we know, rubber becomes brittle and loses its inherent characteristics as it gets exposed to weather and age. Instead of pressurizing the piston inside the caliper, the brake lines will expand or crack. What does this mean? It means that all the energy your foot is exerting is not going into slowing the car down, but just expending the brake lines (think of a garden hose with the end capped off and the hose expanding).

Essentially, you are at risk of losing braking power or complete control of your brakes should any of the brake lines burst. It's important to inspect your brake lines during your routine inspections and every time you change your brake rotors or brake pads.

Lastly, there are also stainless steel braided brake lines, which offer a more consistent brake feel and much better longevity against bursting and cracking.

The beauty of modern cars is that they have a lot more technology built into them that allows the driver to be informed of what is happening with the car, at any given moment. One of the biggest benefits comes from knowing the status and condition of your brake system. This is important because the properly functioning brakes are the last thing that keeps you and your car safe in moments of sudden danger.

Enter brake sensors. Sure, they may not have always been your favorite feature of the car, and had a pesky habit of lighting up your dashboard on several occasions. But they did it for your safety. More importantly, that is the only thing they were designed for. The safety of knowing when your brakes are in need of maintenance before it's too late.

The traditional method of jacking up your car and removing your wheels one by one just to inspect your brake pads and brake rotors is tedious and not exactly convenient. Not every car is equipped with brake sensors, so to some this is still the only solution. For everyone else, this is the down and dirty on how brake sensors work.

The brake sensor is normally attached to the brake pad itself. Because brake rotors wear at a similar rate on the front two brake rotors, it's pretty common to only see one brake sensor. This is because if one side is wearing low, it's almost always the case that the other side is at the same wear thickness. The brake sensor itself is normally a wire that is encapsulated by a plastic compound. Once the compound wears down to what is considered a minimum wear level on the brake pads, the metal wire makes contact with the metal brake rotor, creating a light to display on the car's dash. This holds true for the rear brake pads and rotors, too.

Once your brake maintenance light triggers, you need to replace the brake sensor as they are only meant for one-time use. Re-using old brake sensors that have already been triggered will not work even with new pads as they will always show your brakes need replacement, even if you just replaced the brake pads.