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Originally Posted by marlinspike
My question for David, why did they go with cross-drilled? I think it was on stop-techs own website that I read slotted it better.
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Slotted rotors are standard on StopTech kits. Since this was a show car, not a track car, the owner decided to go with cross-drilled. We also added zinc plating to prevent any rust from forming on the unswept surfaces of the rotors.
Are slotted rotors better than drilled rotors? It depends. For cars that will be raced or taken to the track for high speed driving events, slotted rotors are the better choice. Drilled rotors crack sooner under race conditions than slotted or plain rotors. Either drilled or slotted rotors offer an advantage over plain rotors in terms of additional bite. But drilled rotors have even more bite than slotted. So some drivers prefer the feel of drilled over slotted. And there's about 1/3 pound of weight savings of drilled over slotted. It's just the tendency to crack that prevents most race drivers from using drilled rotors. On the street, drilled rotors are perfectly fine.
Here's an interesting bit of drilled vs slotted trivia. The three Tri-Point Mazdas running in today's SPEED World Challenge Touring Class race decided to use drilled rotors in a last ditch attempt to catch some of the faster cars. The gamble was that the drilled rotors might not make it through the entire race, but the benefit was the equivalent of about 0.6 horsepower, due to the weight savings. Since the race is being broadcast on SPEED Channel in a few hours (time delay), I won't reveal the results lest I ruin it for some fans. But I will tell you none of the rotors exploded!
Bill Auberlen, last year's champion in the SPEED World Challenge series, would often run drilled rotors during qualifying to help him gain position on the starting grid. But he would almost always switch back to slotted rotors for the actual race.
So, the answer to your question depends on the intended use of the car.