Cross drilled or slotted rotors?
Cracking is limited mostly to drilled discs, which get small cracks around outside edges of the drilled holes near the edge of the disc due to the rotor’s uneven rate of expansion in severe duty environments. Manufacturers that use drilled rotors as OEM are doing so for two reasons: looks, if they determine that the average owner of the vehicle model will not overly stress them; or as a function of reducing the unsprung weight of the brake assembly, with the engineering assumed that enough brake rotor mass remains to absorb racing temperatures and stresses. A brake disc is a heat sink, so removing mass increases the heat stress it will have to contend with. Generally an OEM application that is not drilled will crack and could fail catastrophically if used over and above the original equipment design. Once cracked, these discs cannot be repaired. Carbotech does not recommend cross drilled rotors for any kind of track use.
