My rotors after long braking downhills are really shaking the steering wheel by the time we get to the bottom. Sticking to the subject of the rotors, I'm looking at getting drilled and slotted, or another forum some suggest frozen rotors. These frozen are running $ 225 each or there about. At one point on recent trip I had a garage pull one wheel and check and everything looked OK. Ceramic pads still had a lot of life in them, and by the time wheel got pulled, everything had cooled down so nothing noticeable about the rotor. So who has done what with either the drilled or frozen rotors, and did they really make a difference? When shopping for rotors one of the questions asked is ABS front and or back. I know they are on the front, how to check on the back(drums on the back)?

tarnold wrote:Sticking to the subject of the rotors,If everyone in this thread who replies follows your request, I'll buy you lunch!!! :B

My guess is that the rotors are warped. Only an excessive amount of heat will warp the rotors. Either the piston(s) in your caliper(s) is gummed up and not releasing, the caliper slides are not moving or there is another problem in the hydraulic system causing the pads to keep too much pressure on the rotors when the brakes are released.Slotted and drilled rotors help when there is prolonged and hard braking. They do dissipate the heat better. Before I invested in the costlier slotted/drilled rotors, I would look for the cause of the rotors warping.Ray

Bryan, carringb, an OP here, tried several high-tech approaches like frozen/drilled/slotted and found that late model OEM Ford brakes worked best. Companies convert Ford Vans to 4x4's and this leaves take-off parts which are often new. QuadVan (call John)in OR and Quigley in PA (call Doug) come to mind. They do this mostly on new vans which are then delivered to retail Ford dealers. Another company, U-Joint Off-Road near Asheville NC (call Chris), does one-off's for customers and they too have take-off parts. My Quigley "kit" was the twin axles, bushings, ball joints, radius arms, rotors, hubs, calipers, pads, ABS sensors, and a few steering linkage parts.Be sure the conversion place you call knows you're working on a DUAL rear wheel vehicle. The Front Hubs are different, to allow for the different style of wheels used on Single- and Dual-Rear Wheel vehicles. They're only selling you the FRONT, so it's easy to forget.You can rebuild your front end and gain superior braking for less than many alternatives. Bryan swears by his, and results on ours were excellent.

As J-D mentioned my experiments with high-performance brakes, including cryo-treated cross-drilled rotors, did not end well. I settled on on 2009 front axle from QuadVan for the ultimate fix.This was 6 months into my experiment:

It does not matter what type of rotors you install on the vehicle, the problem as you stated braking down hill instead of using the engine to slow down, going down hill using the brakes only creates heat, prolonged use of the brakes on hills or severe applications on flat ground eventually will overheat the rotors, and they will warp, even the most expensive vented and fancy racing brakes will be damaged.I am going to suggest that you use the engine to slow the decent, at the top of the hill slow down to a comfortable speed 50 to 55 is good, down shift to 2 gear or third if the gradient is not to steep and go down the hill using the engine, with small applications of the brake when needed. navegator

97 e350 front brake rotors | Good Sam Community

14 Replies

carringb
Explorer
May 15, 2015
As J-D mentioned my experiments with high-performance brakes, including cryo-treated cross-drilled rotors, did not end well. I settled on on 2009 front axle from QuadVan for the ultimate fix.

This was 6 months into my experiment:
j-d
Explorer II
May 15, 2015
Bryan, carringb, an OP here, tried several high-tech approaches like frozen/drilled/slotted and found that late model OEM Ford brakes worked best. Companies convert Ford Vans to 4x4's and this leaves take-off parts which are often new. QuadVan (call John)in OR and Quigley in PA (call Doug) come to mind. They do this mostly on new vans which are then delivered to retail Ford dealers. Another company, U-Joint Off-Road near Asheville NC (call Chris), does one-off's for customers and they too have take-off parts. My Quigley "kit" was the twin axles, bushings, ball joints, radius arms, rotors, hubs, calipers, pads, ABS sensors, and a few steering linkage parts.

Be sure the conversion place you call knows you're working on a DUAL rear wheel vehicle. The Front Hubs are different, to allow for the different style of wheels used on Single- and Dual-Rear Wheel vehicles. They're only selling you the FRONT, so it's easy to forget.

You can rebuild your front end and gain superior braking for less than many alternatives. Bryan swears by his, and results on ours were excellent.
Raymon
Explorer
May 15, 2015
My guess is that the rotors are warped. Only an excessive amount of heat will warp the rotors. Either the piston(s) in your caliper(s) is gummed up and not releasing, the caliper slides are not moving or there is another problem in the hydraulic system causing the pads to keep too much pressure on the rotors when the brakes are released.

Slotted and drilled rotors help when there is prolonged and hard braking. They do dissipate the heat better. Before I invested in the costlier slotted/drilled rotors, I would look for the cause of the rotors warping.

Ray
pconroy328
Explorer
May 15, 2015
tarnold wrote:
Sticking to the subject of the rotors,

If everyone in this thread who replies follows your request, I'll buy you lunch!!! :B

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97 e350 front brake rotors

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