reviews of powerslot rotors for f-250 SD 4x2 2003

OH48Lt wrote:
Ford's rotors are not high quality, they warp like the low-end aftermarket stuff. On my trucks, when those rotors warp at 20K-40K miles, they get replaced by decent parts.

My original OEM disks are doing just fine at 190,000 miles.
Just don't make them like they used to...

If the heat in your brake components doesn't magically dissipate into thin air, how do your brakes ever cool down? All the vehicles I've ever owned have used air to cool the brakes. Some vehicles have veined rotors to help the air cool them more efficiently. Solid rotors are cheaper to machine and cheaper to purchase, but I've never heard anyone try and make an argument that they perform better. Heavy duty vehicles use solid rotors for durability and lower cost of maintenance. They have more mass and are less prone to warping.

Comparing carbon brakes from F1 cars to the the brakes on our massed produced trucks is comparing apples to oranges. I do agree the tires on your vehicle are important for braking performance. Tires are where the traction is and that's what is really stopping you.

I'd say there's hundreds of thousands if not millions of people out there that will tell you there's much to gain from aftermarket brake components. OEM is not the best in all cases. Take my Supercrew as an example. I have no idea if the truck stops in any shorter distance than it used too. Never measured it, never will and don't care. What i gained from the new brakes was a lot more resistance to brake fade. The OEM's were terrible for fading and the front rotors were always warping. Only vehicle I've ever owned that had brake "issues" and once the solid rotors were pulled off and replaced with brake components that more efficiently dissipated heat, I had no more issues.

Turtles and peeps and proximi2020, I am not trying to argue with you, everyones entitled to there opinion. I'm just giving the OP real world experience from someone who uses the brakes he's looking at buying, which is what he asked for.

proxim2020 wrote:

OH48Lt wrote:
Rotors don't have to absorb heat before they dissipate it, they do have to get rid of the heat and one good way to do it is to not absorb it in the first place. Some heat leaves via the slots, it never gets absorbed by the rotor. Drilled rotors are OK IF the holes are chamfered correctly.

OEM rotors are not drilled or slotted because it costs more to do that. OEM's have engineers that do nothing but figure out what would be less expensive and still perform adequately. That's why they use cheap steel and as little machining as possible, instead of a quality steel like reputable high-end aftermarket manufacturers do. Ford's rotors are not high quality, they warp like the low-end aftermarket stuff. On my trucks, when those rotors warp at 20K-40K miles, they get replaced by decent parts. I usually use Brake Performance parts, and have had outstanding service from those parts.

Then there are the people who still use ceramic pads on trucks. OK for the wife's car, but not advisable on heavier vehicles. Use a quality semi-metallic pad. They'll dust a bit more, but they sure work better.

Go to brakeperformance dot com or one of the other quality manufacturers and read their FAQ concerning rotors and pads.

Absorbing heat is primarily one of the functions of the rotor. It's not possible for a rotor to not absorb heat. During braking, kinetic energy is transformed into thermal energy via friction. The massive amount of heat generated doesn't just magically dissipate into the air. That's just not possible. The heat is absorbed by the components that's doing the conversion of the energy (pads and rotors). Same as rubbing both of your hands back and forth. Each one of your hands gets warm.

The rotors not only serve as a braking surface, but also as a really large heatsink. The larger the heatsink the more heat it can absorb and thereby dissipate through convection. This is why HD trucks have nice thick rotors. If you were to fit the same diameter, but thinner rotors on a HD truck you would find that they are woefully inadequate for the job. They just can't accept the necessary amount of heat.

Every vehicle out there has a minimum rotor thickness for a reason. As the rotor gets thinner, its ability to absorb and thereby dissipate heat is reduced. If the rotor is no longer absorbing the correct amount of heat, then the friction surfaces begin to overheat as the heat is transferred elsewhere. Pads start to overheat, brake fluid boils, and brake fade sets in.

As Turtle n Peeps pointed out, in the racing world weight really matters. You're just wasting HP by having to constantly accelerate this useless weight. Drilling out a rotor is a creative way to reduce weight, but it also reduces braking ability. There's less material for the heat to be transferred into. At some tracks there are not many heavy braking areas so this is a non issue. At tracks with lots of tight corners you just alter your braking zone to get around it. There's no way that removing material from a rotor will increase its performance.

All of your high dollar racing teams are switching back to solid rotors, but doing it with carbon pads on carbon disc. Carbon weighs about half as much as iron so now there's no longer a need to drill out rotors. F1 cars, probably the toughest test for brakes, use pads, calipers, and solid carbon discs. No holes and no slots. These cars are capable of dropping from 200 mph to 0 in a matter of seconds.

Thank you Proxim2020. For a minute I thought I was living in the brake twilight zone where rotors don't get hot. :R :B

OP please read Proxim2020's post and then read it again. It's 100% accurate and correct.

Let me also add this to his post. Brake rotors are exactly like the radiator in your truck. It's a heat sink. It takes kinetic energy in and transforms it into thermal energy. As Proxim2020 said, if the rotors take in more heat than the designed temp, you will have over heating of the pad and fluid and rotor which causes brake fade. :E

When you make that radiator (rotor) smaller, you have less material to absorb the heat from the kinetic energy.

It always made me chuckle when people say: "when I changed to brand X pads and rotors on my truck it stops soooooooo much better!"

"Better" to me, means "a lot" quicker. And to that I say, no it doesn't. Why? Because "you" don't decide how fast the truck stops; a computer and your tires do. Your tire choice you have on your truck has a WAAAAAAAAAAY bigger decision on how fast your truck stops than ANY rotor or brake pad combo you pick.

The ABS system on your truck won't let your tires lock up. Now if you have a really hard tire on your truck the ABS is not going to be applying much continuing pressure to the calipers or slave cylinders because the tire is so hard it wants to continually lock up and skid. That equals a looooooooog stopping distance. Soft tires have a really high coefficient of friction so they grip the road a lot better and will stop your truck a lot faster because the ABS pressure will stay on a lot longer.

Let me close in saying this. It's very important to stay with OEM pads with some (most?) vehicles now days. Why? Because the ABS software matches the pad spec material. I know for a fact BMW is that way. When you put a different spec pad than what was matched with the software the two won't jive and you will have longer stopping distances.

Be safe out there; the brakes now days aren't your fathers 1947 Oldsmobile brakes. :B

before i bought my 2500, my Supercrew was my tow vehicle. weakest link on that truck was the brakes. bought pads rotors and calipers of the brand your asking about from rock auto. brakes are much improved. was on the fence with buying the calipers but the old girl is pushing 300,000 miles and figured it couldnt hurt.

shes retired from tow duty now, living out here days clean and parked in the garage and her heaviest load is a bed full of groceries. happy with the brake choice.

OH48Lt wrote:
Rotors don't have to absorb heat before they dissipate it, they do have to get rid of the heat and one good way to do it is to not absorb it in the first place. Some heat leaves via the slots, it never gets absorbed by the rotor. Drilled rotors are OK IF the holes are chamfered correctly.

OEM rotors are not drilled or slotted because it costs more to do that. OEM's have engineers that do nothing but figure out what would be less expensive and still perform adequately. That's why they use cheap steel and as little machining as possible, instead of a quality steel like reputable high-end aftermarket manufacturers do. Ford's rotors are not high quality, they warp like the low-end aftermarket stuff. On my trucks, when those rotors warp at 20K-40K miles, they get replaced by decent parts. I usually use Brake Performance parts, and have had outstanding service from those parts.

Then there are the people who still use ceramic pads on trucks. OK for the wife's car, but not advisable on heavier vehicles. Use a quality semi-metallic pad. They'll dust a bit more, but they sure work better.

Go to brakeperformance dot com or one of the other quality manufacturers and read their FAQ concerning rotors and pads.

Absorbing heat is primarily one of the functions of the rotor. It's not possible for a rotor to not absorb heat. During braking, kinetic energy is transformed into thermal energy via friction. The massive amount of heat generated doesn't just magically dissipate into the air. That's just not possible. The heat is absorbed by the components that's doing the conversion of the energy (pads and rotors). Same as rubbing both of your hands back and forth. Each one of your hands gets warm.

The rotors not only serve as a braking surface, but also as a really large heatsink. The larger the heatsink the more heat it can absorb and thereby dissipate through convection. This is why HD trucks have nice thick rotors. If you were to fit the same diameter, but thinner rotors on a HD truck you would find that they are woefully inadequate for the job. They just can't accept the necessary amount of heat.

Every vehicle out there has a minimum rotor thickness for a reason. As the rotor gets thinner, its ability to absorb and thereby dissipate heat is reduced. If the rotor is no longer absorbing the correct amount of heat, then the friction surfaces begin to overheat as the heat is transferred elsewhere. Pads start to overheat, brake fluid boils, and brake fade sets in.

As Turtle n Peeps pointed out, in the racing world weight really matters. You're just wasting HP by having to constantly accelerate this useless weight. Drilling out a rotor is a creative way to reduce weight, but it also reduces braking ability. There's less material for the heat to be transferred into. At some tracks there are not many heavy braking areas so this is a non issue. At tracks with lots of tight corners you just alter your braking zone to get around it. There's no way that removing material from a rotor will increase its performance.

All of your high dollar racing teams are switching back to solid rotors, but doing it with carbon pads on carbon disc. Carbon weighs about half as much as iron so now there's no longer a need to drill out rotors. F1 cars, probably the toughest test for brakes, use pads, calipers, and solid carbon discs. No holes and no slots. These cars are capable of dropping from 200 mph to 0 in a matter of seconds.

I put the Power Slot rotors and Hawk LS brake pads on my Excursion. Was recommended on the Ford forum. Original rotors were starting to warp giving a pulse to the brake pedal. Will do the same for my F-250 truck.

I put pads and rotors from these guys on my F350:

Brake Performance, 9424 Eton Ave. Suite I, Chatsworth, CA 91311
Phone: 1-818-772-5540 - Toll Free: 1-866-756-5536
Phone Sales: Mon-Fri 8AM-6PM(PST) / Sat 9AM-3PM(PST)

Got the slotted and dimpled and they are much better than the OEM and I plan to install same stuff on my RV in near future. They did produce better stopping for the truck. I did front only as that is where majority of stopping power comes from. Son has same type on his F150 (all 4) and is very happy with them.

Rotors don't have to absorb heat before they dissipate it, they do have to get rid of the heat and one good way to do it is to not absorb it in the first place. Some heat leaves via the slots, it never gets absorbed by the rotor. Drilled rotors are OK IF the holes are chamfered correctly.

OEM rotors are not drilled or slotted because it costs more to do that. OEM's have engineers that do nothing but figure out what would be less expensive and still perform adequately. That's why they use cheap steel and as little machining as possible, instead of a quality steel like reputable high-end aftermarket manufacturers do. Ford's rotors are not high quality, they warp like the low-end aftermarket stuff. On my trucks, when those rotors warp at 20K-40K miles, they get replaced by decent parts. I usually use Brake Performance parts, and have had outstanding service from those parts.

Then there are the people who still use ceramic pads on trucks. OK for the wife's car, but not advisable on heavier vehicles. Use a quality semi-metallic pad. They'll dust a bit more, but they sure work better.

Go to brakeperformance dot com or one of the other quality manufacturers and read their FAQ concerning rotors and pads.

DownTheAvenue wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
0 reason now days to get drilled or slotted rotors. That's from the people who are in the brake business that hire big buck engineers and not from me.

They won't hold as many BTU's because there is less material. They look cool though! :B

Can you cite a source for your first statement?

Your second statement is misleading. With the slotted rotors, there is more surface area than conventional rotors, thus the ability to better dissipate the heat. Same principle as all the fins on the head of an air cooled lawnmower engine.

With rotors, holding the heat, as you assert in your second statement, is the problem. Dissipating (or getting rid of the heat) is desirable.

Wilwood Tech answers.

Wilwood wrote:
So in the final analysis, drilling and slotting rotors has become popular in street applications for their pure aesthetic value.

In other words; slotted or drilled rotors "look" cool.

I will say one thing. There was one advantage to having drilled or slotted rotors when I was racing circle track. We wanted to least amount of un-sprung weight we could have on each axel and A arm. Drilled rotors were a way of doing this. The trade off was the brakes could not take as much BTU's. Depending on the track this may or may not be a problem.

As far as my second statement goes; it's not misleading at all. The simple fact is this. The more material (cast iron) you have the more heat it can hold. There is a reason drag cars like mine have small thin brakes on them. They don't have to hold much heat. They just stop you at the end of the track and you're done.

Tow vehicles are a different story. They slow down or stop a lot of weight over a long period of time. They have to hold a lot of heat and dissipate a lot of heat. It's a big job!

I know you "think" that if you have some little slots in the rotors this will make the heat dissipate much faster. The articles I have read from the experts say no; it just doesn't work that way. They say "vented" rotors work but not slotted rotors.

And what do we see on big TV from an F250 to a class 8 truck? Yep, a big chunk of cast iron; whether a disk or a drum. No fancy weight saving slots or drill holes. Why? Because it works the best? Why? Because the engineers studied it and say so that why! :)

Most all but the cheapest rotors are vented and do a great job getting rid of the heat.

From reading lots of truck sites drilled rotors tend to warp after a while under heavy trailer braking.

This young guy does an excellent job of explaining some of the choices.

Engineering Explained