• Slotted Rotors Install
• Best Drilled Slotted Rotors
• What Do Slotted Rotors Do

Drilled and slotted rotors are best for those who drive on rougher roads. Planning to take your vehicle off-road? Look for rotors with a slotted design to give you that added stopping force. The Hawk Performance Sector 27 Rotor is a more affordable performance rotor. Many other drilled and slotted rotors can run you well over $100 for a single rotor, but Hawk Performance’s Area 27. Holes in the rotors could cause a brake system failure in this type of vehicle. Most consumer vehicles don’t put excessive stress on the rotors, so slotted brake rotors aren’t necessary. One disadvantage of slotted brake rotors is that the brake pads tend to wear out faster versus pads on drilled brake rotors. The 5 Top-Rated Brake Rotors. Our Top Pick: Bosch QuietCast Premium Disc Brake Rotor. Our Runner Up Pick: Power Stop K6556 Front and Rear Z23 Evolution Brake Kit. Best Budget Pick: ACDelco 18A1324A Advantage Non-Coated Front Disc Brake Rotor. Best Slotted Brake Rotors: EBC Brakes USR850 USR Series Sport Slotted Rotor.

When you put a lot of work into your ride, the get-up-and-go is usually on the forefront of your mind. But your stopping power is really just as important. If you’re sitting behind the wheel of a performance machine, performance rotors are a must-have item. With so many on the market, it can be dizzying to pick the right ones for your ride. Never fear, Auto Accessories Garage is here to help.

We took a look at our own site data to isolate our top selling brake rotors, and then we compared that data to the top rated rotors per our years and years of customer reviews and product expertise. The results? A comprehensive list of the Top 10 Best Brake Rotors for Car, Truck, & SUV of 2021. Take a look!

The Best Brake Rotor

10. Best Budget Pick: StopTech SportStop Drilled Brake Rotor

A trusted name, and a complete OE swap-out - what more could you ask for? That’s what you get with StopTech SportStop Drilled Brake Rotors! A custom-design will match your vehicle exactly for a fast and simple installation and a durable black coating will resist corrosion along the center of the rotor.

I bought these StopTech brake rotors last year for our [Toyota sedan] and was very pleased with the product. They have minimal dust, no squeaking, and non-warping rotors. So, when my [hactchback] brakes were wearing out, I did not hesitate and ordered a set. I received them in two days and installed in under one hour!
Read More StopTech SportStop Drilled Brake Rotor Reviews

9. Power Stop Z36 Truck & Tow Brake Kit with Calipers

If your rig is pulling a big load, you need brake rotors that are up to the task. That’s where the PowerStop Z36 Truck Kit comes in handy. This complete kit includes brake pads and calipers so you’ll have everything you need for a complete upgrade on your heavy-duty truck that will have you ready for anything!

Tried several other products and could never get the performance and smooth braking consistently like I do with these.
Read More Power Stop Z36 Truck & Tow Brake Kit Reviews

8. StopTech SportStop Drilled & Slotted Brake Rotor

The StopTech SportStop Drilled & Slotted Brake Rotors allow you to amp up your braking power without breaking the bank. The drilled and slotted rotors are designed to pull cool air across the face of your rotors - cooling them down while expelling gas at the same time. These direct OE replacements are sold individually.

Product was as advertised. Looks and performs GREAT!! For what I got I couldn't ask for more. Noticed the results right away and they only got better as they broke in.
Read More StopTech SportStop Drilled & Slotted Brake Rotor Reviews

7. EBC OEM Replacement Rotors

If a simple, part for part, OEM replacement is what you’re looking for then the EBC OEM Replacement Rotors can be the end of your exhaustive search. Backed by a 12-Month/10,000-Mile Warranty, these rotors are designed to fit right into place in your make and model with no mess, no fuss, and no arguments!

EBC is the best rotor for crazy driving. I use them together with EBC yellowstuff pads. Other brands might get damaged because the pads are so strong. EBC rotors work well with EBC pads. Cold or hot, brake performance is the best!
Read More EBC OEM Replacement Rotors Reviews

6. Power Stop Cross Drilled and Slotted Rotors

Power Stop Cross Drilled and Slotted Rotors With a combination of both holes and slots, Power Stop Cross Drilled and Slotted Rotors bring exceptional gas dissipation as well as a cooler performance. These CNC milled rotors are drilled specifically to suit your make and model after careful analysis. These are direct OEM replacements with no further modifications required.

Best bang for your buck! I've had Power Stop cross-drilled and slotted rotors on my 2001 Oldsmobile [car] for several years now. Installation is pretty quick and painless and the improvement in performance over stock rotors is quite evident.
Read More Power Stop Cross Drilled and Slotted Rotors Reviews

5. EBC Ultimax Slotted Rotors

Ultimax Slotted Rotors from EBC are designed to be both quiet and cool. The progressive slotting seen on these will promote even pad wear. This way, you get longer life not only on your rotors, but on your brake pads as well. Best yet, you don’t need to live with squeaking and squealing when you tear it up on the roads.

Took me about 3 hours to install these with hand tools in the driveway, not bad at all. These rotors are amazing quality. Very smooth and silent stopping.
Read More EBC Ultimax Slotted Rotors Reviews

4. StopTech Slotted Brake Rotors

Made from military-grade cadmium, StopTech boasts that their Slotted Rotors last up to 60% longer than their zinc-coated competitors. The exclusive “Vac-U-Slot” construction sends gas, dust, and water packing and leaves you with nothing but unparalleled stopping power.

The rotors where very easy to install and the performance was very gratifying. Definitely improved the stopping power of my 2005 [Ford pickup truck] and dissipates the heat very well. Rotors do not overheat like the factory rotors on these trucks.
Read More StopTech Slotted Brake Rotors Reviews

3. EBC Sport Rotors

It only makes sense that a sports car should have sport rotors. EBC understands this - and so do the drivers that rock EBC Sport Rotors. Extra wide mouths will suck cold air into your brakes while expelling gasses. The results keep brake fade to an absolute minimum and an anodized zinc coating will keep corrosion and oxidation at bay. It's no surprise that EBC Rotors top our list.

EBC is a very quality product. I do a lot of canyon driving and stock brakes always warp due to excessive heat. Not EBC's!!! I highly recommend them.
Read More EBC Sport Rotors Reviews

2. Premier (High-End) Top Pick: EBC OEM Rotor Brake Kit

Offering not only the brake rotors but also the requisite brake pads, the EBC OEM Rotor Brake Kit is designed to be a full and complete factory replacement of your vehicle’s braking system. EBC rotors are included as well as your choice of Green Stuff, Yellow Stuff, Orange Stuff, or Ultimax Brake Pads. This entire set comes backed by a 1-Year Warranty.

I’ve made these my go-to for brakes. Good quality, good price.
Read More EBC OEM Rotor Brake Kit Reviews

1. Best Choice: Maxim OE Spec Ceramic Brake Kit

Also offering a full set of rotors plus the accompanying brake pads, the Maxim OE Spec Ceramic Brake Kit gives you everything you need for a precision balanced, vibration-free ride feel. Maxi-Quiet Ceramic Disc Brake Pads are included as well as high quality rotors and this entire set comes backed by a 3-Year / 36.000 Mile Warranty.

I was glad that this complete set takes all the guesswork out of upgrading my braking system!
Read More Maxim OE Spec Ceramic Brake Kit Reviews

Brake Rotors Buying Guide: Slotted, Drilled, or Cross-Drilled & Slotted

Slotted Rotors Install

Brake Rotors are a key component of your brake system, providing a surface upon which your Brake Pads create the friction that slows your wheels and lets you stop safely. Though essential to safe vehicle operation, many factory rotors don't offer much in the way of race-quality performance. Sure, they're perfectly functional, but they aren't particularly innovative and they're not designed to last long, especially if you take your vehicle to the track. Aftermarket upgrades offer a variety of solutions to combat the most common causes of rotor problems, such as accumulated dust, high temperatures, and inclement weather.

The most popular designs in aftermarket rotors are Drilled and Slotted. Let's take a look at these two design types and figure out what are the optimal Brake Rotors for your car.

Drilled Brake Rotors

As you might imagine by the name, Drilled Brake Rotors have been drilled to create a series of holes on their surface. This innovation has allowed for manufacturers to go well above the standard performance customers expect from factory brake rotors.

These rotors allow for the venting of brake dust and/or gas off the surface of your rotors, leading to better contact with the pads, while also absorbing precipitation like rain or melted snow and expelling it through the bottom of the rotor. Both moves allow for sharper pad contact. For daily drivers, these are a fantastic option. They look cool, bite hard, and give you a leg up over your factory set-up.

Slotted Brake Rotors

A series of slots and/or ridges are molded into or cut out of the surface of Slotted Rotors. As a result, nothing stays on the surface for very long. Be it brake dust or gases or rain water, the slots work quickly at expelling the contaminant.

Where these rotors shine comes with heavy-duty towing and high-performance racing applications. Due to their thicker, non-porous surfaces, there is less risk of cracking or rotor surface damage. For a driver that really puts his or her ride through the ringer and needs high-temperature stopping power, they can't be beat. Perfectly suitable for street use, these are still maybe an option better suited for when you're ready to take things up a level.

Cross-Drilled & Slotted Rotors

Or you can have the greatest of both worlds! Sort of.

Cross-Drilled & Slotted Rotors offer the functionality of both kinds of aftermarket brake rotors in one package. There is a catch, though: because they offer a combination as opposed to one or the other, neither function works as well together as it does separately.

That said, if convenience and performance are the names of the game, you'll find both here. Many complete brake kits also come with these rotors, figuring that most customers simply want a major improvement over and above OEM applications. Designed to please all comers, these just might be the perfect rotors for your vehicle.

There are several different types of rotors available for vehicles today: blanks, drilled, slotted, or drilled and slotted.

Rotors, which are sometimes called discs, provide a point of contact for your brake pads when you engage the pedal to stop while driving. The pressure from the pedal activates the caliper housing for each set of pads, compressing them into the rotor to create friction. That set of processes reduces the forward momentum of the vehicle, which allows you to come to a complete stop whenever necessary.

The design of drilled and slotted rotors offer drivers the advantages of both designs with minimal side effects. The drilled holes give you better cooling for the heat generated by heavy braking, while the slots work to sweep away gas and dust which come through braking. That also means the disadvantages of both drilled and slotted rotors apply to this product.

If you’re thinking about a disc replacement today, then here are the pros and cons of drilled and slotted rotors to think about.

List of the Pros of Drilled and Slotted Rotors

1. They work better in wet climates when frequent precipitation occurs.
When the weather turns wet, does the braking profile of your vehicle change? If it does, then there’s a good chance that you’re using blanks or slotted rotors on your vehicle. Drilling holes in the rotor give the pads a better bite when you engage the braking system. More friction develops when the system engages because the holes offer moisture a place for escape. Even when water is present, the components of your system stay drier, which means your performance is enhanced.

2. They provide support for heavy-duty vehicles.
The slots on rotors provide extra support for all heavy-duty vehicles, including off-road, competition, and trucks. When choosing rotors with slots, the quality of the machining becomes the most crucial attribute for success. The inner and outer edges must be crafted with an excellent skill to prevent them from cracking sooner than they should. That means you can choose almost any drilled and slotted rotor design for any vehicle you own if you trust the manufacturing process of your preferred brand.

3. They can stop brake pads from glazing.
Brake pads can glaze when there is a continuous application of braking, like when you’re going down a mountain descent. The constant application of friction between the pad and rotor causes surface glazing. Light application of braking functions most of the time can cause some pads to polish themselves too. Reducing braking performance occurs during this situation, including the squealing associated with excessive pad wear.

The drilled and slotted rotor design helps some pads disengage from the glazing process. When constant friction is present within the driving environment, the pad fuses part of itself to the disc, causing the lack of performance, The slots on a rotor break up the contact points of the pad, providing vital momentary pauses in contact that stop the process from occurring.

4. They offer daily driving support.
When you’re behind the wheel every day to commute back-and-forth to work, you want two things from your braking system: a solid bite and consistent friction. That promotes robust stopping power when you need it during an uncertain situation. Drilled and slotted rotors offer drivers the consistent performance they want without changing the responsiveness of the brake pedal. This process gives you the confidence needed as a driver that you can handle whatever situation might come your way.

List of the Cons of Drilled and Slotted Rotors

1. They sometimes experience premature wear.
There are several advantages to consider with drilled and slotted rotors, but it comes with the same disadvantages for each style too. That means your rotors will sometimes wear unevenly when using your brakes if the same area of the rotor receives contacts. High-performance vehicles see this issue most often, with cracks sometimes developing due to the heat and extreme environment they encounter. If you use a vehicle for frequent stops at highway speeds, you may encounter this issue too.

2. They tend to wear in grooved cycles.
Drilled and slotted rotors tend to wear down in concentric cycles, which means you can receive vibration in the steering wheel over time when the rotors age or the hole patterns are not staggered correctly. This issue may cause some vehicle owners to swap out their rotors more often because of the aesthetic concerns they cause. If you’re sensitive to this issue, then a rotor designed more for your specific environment will meet the demands of how you drive each day.

3. They have a shorter lifespan.
Slotted rotors already have a shorter lifespan compared to other options for your vehicles. They also cause some brake pads to experience higher levels of wear-and-tear too. If you drive regularly and go through a period of heavy braking, you may discover that the drilled and slotted rotors require replacement about the same time as your brake pads. Depending on the quality of the rotors used, that means you could be replacing these items as soon as every 25,000 miles – and even more often for frequent city drivers.

If you’re looking for extended life with your brake rotors, then your best option will always be the blank design. It offers more metal for contact, providing a consistent surface of impact to create friction for your stopping power.

4. They sometimes create extra noise when stopping.
All brakes create a squealing sound when the pads wear down because you have metal-on-metal contact. The issue with drilled and slotted rotors involves the rumbling that you hear because of the slot engagement with the pads as you stop. This issue doesn’t impact the safety of your braking system. Some drivers find the extra noise to be more than a little unpleasant. Heavy vehicles can create an excessive sound level which isn’t dampened when the windows are rolled up.

5. They don’t offer a cooling effect for all vehicles.
Drilling does help a rotor cool down some for all vehicles because there is less metal involved with the contact points from the pads. That can be beneficial for some vehicles, but it does create a negligible effect in others. The opposite effect impacts the rotors too. Because there is less metal involved with the design, the disc heats up faster than a solid rotor would. That’s why you don’t use this design in high-performance settings. Too much heat causes warping or cracking, which requires you to complete an immediate repair.

6. They cannot be resurfaced.
If something happens to your drilled and slotted rotors for some reason, then a full replacement is necessary. You cannot resurface the rotor to restore its functionality as you can with some solid-type discs. Although the cost difference of resurfacing is somewhat minor compared to the cost of a full replacement, those who prefer a DIY approach to swapping out the brakes will discover that this disadvantage might cost them a couple hundred dollars, if not more, to complete the necessary work.

Best Drilled Slotted Rotors

These drilled and slotted rotors pros and cons look at the details of using this design with your current driving habits. Most street vehicles benefit from this design, especially in wet environments, because of the consistency offered. There are exceptions to this based on how you use your car, however, so review each point carefully to ensure this investment makes sense for your current needs.

What Do Slotted Rotors Do