drilling disc brakes

[mikehallbackhoe]

I was wondering if there would be any benefit to drilling holes in my 84 crx disc brakes. I know it helps them to run cooler, and improve wet braking, but what about weight reduction ?

[hawk2100n]

No, there are almost no real benefits to drilling your disc brakes. You will shorten the life of the pads and rotors severely. If driving so properly, you shouldn't ever put them under severe duty and then on a CRX you couldn't place them under this kind of load unless racing with a LOT more power. Don't waste your time or effort on this.

[Sven7]

No, there are a million easier ways to save 1/16 lb.

Not to mention the safety issues of drilling stock brakes.

[jtbo]

Carbon brakes might be good for weight saving, but the price will certainly zero any savings from there, also they might not work so well on road usage as from my memory those needed warming up to start working well.

[oil pan 4]

Bad idea.

[mikehallbackhoe]

I have read about doing it to some disc brakes. one of my concerns is coasting for 10 miles down twisty mountain roads. I tend to ride the brakes quite a bit, and am worried about excessive heat. the crx is pretty light. but the brakes are fairly light duty too.

[serialk11r]

From what I've heard (not much), slotted is far more effective than drilled, drilled brakes often develop stress fractures and stuff too. Slotted however will reduce pad life by a lot as well.

If you don't feel brake fade, then it's not a problem...?

[johnunit]

You run a very real risk of literally blowing up your rotors if they ever do get warm. I mean loud bang sound and then no more rotor for your pads to grab. Catastrophic brake failure in the most extreme imaginable sense.


so no.

[Vekke]

Drilling wont help a lot to that fading consern. Use the same calibers and install better brake pads read street brake pads. They wont fade so easily and have better grip.

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I have drilled the discs from one of my previous cars. They will start to crack from hole to hole. Specially when you have run them hot in a track and then you drive into water pool etc. First they get twisted and after that they start to crack... So dont drill.

Your mountain driving is propably not nothing compared to racing what they can take also few laps with stock brakes. CRX is so light that it should not have any problems on normal roads of any kind. People race those cars with stock discs and race pads in 24 hour races in Finland .

[Sven7]

OP, have you had problems with overheating in the past? I have to push my Rabbit pretty hard (autocross conditions) for a pretty long time to start feeling fade so there probably won't be a problem with you coasting down a mountain.

How about vented rotors and practice some engine braking?