By William Turner (Wturner) on Friday, September 21, 2001 - 08:55 am: Edit

Atlantic british has some slotted cross drilled brake rotors for $99.95 ea. Are they worth it? Do they make a difference?

Just curious for my next brake job!

THX

By tc on Friday, September 21, 2001 - 09:52 am: Edit

I am sure they will make your breaks cooler but they will break if you don't keep your eyes on them. From one of my visits to the dealer, I over heard a discussion between the service guys about them breaking due to neglect.

By lynden on Friday, September 21, 2001 - 10:03 am: Edit

How do they break??? That sounds weird. Can anyone expound on this?
Lynden

By William Turner (Wturner) on Friday, September 21, 2001 - 10:06 am: Edit

What sort of "neglect" can brake rotors suffer. All you do is look at the shoes on occasion to see if there not worn too much, right??

What more is there?

By Jose A Cabrera (Jcabrera) on Friday, September 21, 2001 - 12:18 pm: Edit

I got (5K miles ago) drilled front and back with Kevlar pads. They are harder to brake with, more pressure needed. Noise, as you drive with the windows down, I hear the air drifting thru the small holes. Over all and for the money, I would not do it again.... I am buying stock rotors and pads next.

By Jon Williams (Jonw) on Saturday, September 22, 2001 - 05:30 am: Edit

Well it depends...

If you have a '96 or newer Disco, you've got vented front rotors/solid rear. The "drilled/slotted" replacement rotors A-B sells are for the '94-'95 Discos with solid front/rear rotors. Basically they won't work very well in your '96-and newer front calipers (cuz the calipers are wider for the vented rotors). I put those slotted/drilled rotors front and rear on my '95 and used standard brake pads. The only significant difference I noticed was it took longer for the rotors to heat-up and fade (which I guess is what I was supposed to notice). I haven't had any problems with them (no excessive noise, pedal effort, etc.) and I've been generally pleased with their performance. Would I do it again? Probably not. They didn't make enough of a difference for me to care. And I wouldn't recommend the Kevlar pads. Believe it or not, a Disco's brakes won't get hot enough to benefit from Kevlar pads, despite what A-B tells you. It takes a LOT of heat for them to really work well, and like Jose said, takes more pedal effort (because they're not heating up enough, therefore not generating the braking friction that Kevlar pads deliver at much higher temperatures).

By MA on Saturday, September 22, 2001 - 07:24 am: Edit

Jon,
I have a friend with Kevlar brake pads on his RR classic. When I drove it, I noticed a huge improvment in brake feel and modulation over the stock ones I have in my Disco. I'm thinking about getting some on my Disco. Does anybody know how often I should replace my brake-pads?

By Jon Williams (Jonw) on Saturday, September 22, 2001 - 02:43 pm: Edit

That's cool. My only experience with Kevlar pads is from racing, and they only worked better the faster you were going (like over 100 mph). Took a lot to stop if you were much slower than that. Who knows, maybe I'll give 'em a try on my truck one day if they work well enough for them.

As for replacement of pads, most folks I've talked to replace them when they're down to about an 1/8" in thickness, and that's when I replaced mine. Depends on how comfortable you are with that...

By Mike B. on Saturday, September 22, 2001 - 04:14 pm: Edit

I'm not having much luck with the my Kevlar brake pads in the rear. It takes too much force to get them to work. Now I know why.

I'm planning on pulling them out and replacing them with cheapie organigs.

Thanks!
Mike B.

By Jose A Cabrera (Jcabrera) on Saturday, September 22, 2001 - 05:35 pm: Edit

I have drilled roots and Kevlar pads.....buy stock rotors and pad, they are noise but far less expensive than drilled rotors and Kevlar pads; unfortunately, I have not seen enough brake improvement to excuse the cost. I am going stock next.

By Russ on Sunday, September 23, 2001 - 08:24 am: Edit

Everyone is forgeting one very important fact about braking. You can do many things to improve or not improve your brake system. Ultimatly the limiting factor, if it's operating properly, is the ability of your tires to stop the vehicle. They are the only objects having contact with the road. A good contact patch with the road is essential and for that reason there is no good excuse for inflating tires higher than nessasary. The only reason for higher pressure is if needed when towing or carrying very heavy loads. If your not doing that and you run high pressures your decreasing your brake performance.

By Bill Bettridge (Billb) on Monday, September 24, 2001 - 04:43 am: Edit

Jon - my '97 has solid rotors front and rear as does every other one I've worked on - I thought only D90's (and maybe RR's ?) had vented front ???

By Jon Williams (Jonw) on Monday, September 24, 2001 - 05:03 am: Edit

I kinda wondered about that when I was looking through a parts manual and the caliper for the Disco from '94 to '98 was the same. Somebody told me once that '96 was when LR put vented front rotors on the Discovery, and having never seen a '96-newer with the wheel off, I took their word for it But yes, the Range Rovers had the vented front rotors in '96 - I know that for sure Sorry for any confusion.