ok, here's my issue. 90-93 Accords are notorious for warping rotors. When I bought my car a few months back it had brand new (white-box) rotors on it. Of course they are now warped to hell. I want to replace them with something less prone to warp. What do you suggest??
something that isnt from a white box! lol. sorry, i had to say that. im not sure what the best thing is though.
Decent quality cross-drilled rotors. They won't heat up as much while braking, and will be less prone to warping. Plus they look better....
For your car, I'd buy a pair of Brembo OEM replacement blanks and some new pads while you're at it. You shouldn't have any issues.
Cross drilled have holes drilled through the rotor to help keep them cool, help vent away brake dust, and improve stopping. Slotted have slots/grooves cut across the face of the rotor to do pretty much all of the same. I think drilled stay a bit cooler under heavy use, but I think slotted provide better stopping in general. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but this has always been my understanding of the two...
They're all form over function. Cross drilled can be more prone to cracking if they're not manufacturered well. I've read good things about slotted/dimpled too. But unless you're road racing and on the brakes all the time you're not going to get any real benefit out of either. They won't hurt you either of course. Everyone I've talked to in the street/autocross world pretty much suggests sticking with good quality solid OEM replacements. (Brembo are most often mentioned)
the reason your rotors are warped is not because they are prone to warping, when is the last time the rear brakes were set up and serviced. The front brakes are only designed for 70% of the braking, if the rear are out of adjustment the front has to support 100%, causing them to overheat and raise the heat level in the brake system making the brake fluid expand and hold the brakes on. With the heat raised on the rotors then a quick drive through a cold puddle, the rotors will warp quite easily. Also another thing to check is if the brake fluid level is too full, make sure its between the two lines, not at the full line but between the two. If its too full, its will do the same thing and expand and hold the brakes on. Also, pull your handbrake on, if it pulls up half way or more to hold the wheels, your rear brakes need set up.
I haven't had the rear brakes serviced. I assume they are fine as the ebrake works excellent and I don't have to yank it on.
I'll check it out... The cars are prone to warping rotors though. It's a common thing with fourth gen accords. I've read it in more then one book.
Gord is right about cross drilled, I have seen many cracked sets of cross drilled. I don't know what to say about the warped rotor deal, I have actually had better luck with white box on my civic, over Brembo blanks, I have warped 2 sets of Brembo and never a set of no-name This is with lots of track laps too. Cryo-treated ones may be a solution, but an expensive one...
the cross drilled one's will work great. Like mentioned earlier they will stay cool and prolly won't have as much chance of heating up and warping.
I will admit that most people on this board by in no way need cross drilled or slotted rotors, by the way both of the above will warp as well. The amount of cross drilled/ sloted rotors on the market today are not worth the money. However, KVR, Stoptech, baer etc all have quality rotors that deserve the money. I would stick with a quality rotor from brembo, euro rotor, or even robesto. As jdmh22 said, the biased brake setup maybe a problem with your car, as well a simple bolt on upgrade may help, i believe the cailpers from a 94 and up accord will fit.
Is this your winter beater? Stick a set of white box on and call it a day. Not sure how much they are for accords, but for a vw you can get them for like $18 a set from Altrom. Funny thing is that this is what I switched to on my race car. I was eating the finish off the oem Brembo's so I just ended up getting the White box, hoping to get a weeknd out of them. I ended up getting 3 weekends! My beater gets no love though, and it is definitly not getting slotted or drilled rotors. Throw a set of cheapies at it and call it done
Slotted and cross-drilled rotors are largely for looks, as Gord said. In fact, they can often be counter-productive. The mass of the rotor determines how much heat it is able to absorb from the pads... cross-drilling and slotting reduces the mass, which reduces the amount of heat they can absorb. They rely on the cross-drilling or slotting to shed the heat faster, which partially makes up for having less mass. However, one of the things that can cause warping are the rapid heat-cycles from very hot to very cool, which you will get more of on cross-drilled. Also, you technically have less swept rotor area on a slotted or drilled rotor (although some claim you get more "bite" from these slots or cross-drills biting into the pad.)
depends on the use. I would recommend hawk hp's for street use, maybe the hawk hp plus's. If you plan on doing any track, solo then go hp plus. DON"T buy KVR carbon kevlar pads, well do if you want them to blow up on you (i had a set blow at 210 kph.)
thats not 100%, the cracking bit, its fair rare. I have run cross drilled for years and after hard street use, and even harder track and solo use it takes me 2 yrs to develop small stress cracks.
perhaps it depends on the brand of rotor. I don't have personal experience though so id imagine you'd know better.
Axxis/PBR have a new 'Ultimate' pad out this year thats supposed to be Hawk HP+ calibre at significantly lower price. (Front ITR pads are ~$50 CDN) I'm probably going to pick up a set. I like Honda pads but holy crap they're expensive. $80 for the little chicklet-pads for my rear brakes.
I have the same problem with my Accord. What are these Brembo rotor worth?? My car is just for the street, no rims on it either so I'm not concerned with looks. What about OEM Honda rotors?? I'm not sure what is on the car now, but I know they are from K&B. What about pads? Stay with OEM Honda or something else?
