Brake rotors come in a number of flavors. You often see them vented, drilled, or slotted. Sometimes there’s a combination of the three, and it’s best to know which works most efficiently for the driving you plan to do. We know one of the biggest enemies of brake performance is heat, so the goal for any of these choices should be cooling your brakes to keep them from fading.
Jason Fenske from Engineering Explained is here to help you decide what kind of brake rotors you should choose.
Most brakes are of the vented variety. These vents help move heat along and keep your brakes in the proper temperature range they prefer to mitigate fading.
Alternatively, you might see drilled rotors on some high-end sports cars. You won’t see these rotors on race cars though, as the drilled rotors can become stressed and damaged during the high-stress environment of racing. The reason you see drilled rotors on some sports cars? Honestly, it’s because people think they look cool. 🙂
Slotted rotors are better for actual heavy-duty performance applications. They’re stronger than drilled rotors, and they provide some other advantages as well, such as additional biting surfaces.
As always, Jason dives into the science behind it all in this video, which you can watch by hitting the play button above.