Help with brakes please ~ Solid or Cross Drilled?

[SteveH]

Its a pretty simple one

Time again for a new set of brakes for the beast... The age old question is do I buy "standard" discs or cross-drilled discs.

If I used my car on the track it would be a no-brainer, cross-drilled all the way... But the fact is that I don't track my car, I have always used the standard solid/vented discs and have never had an issue with brake performance, those 8-pot Brembo's are brilliant and solid discs cope fine for my driving style, rarely do they get super hot.

Although its a brash statement, for my driving I don't reckon that there will be any performance difference between XD and normal discs, so aside from the aesthetics of XD looking cooler the deciding factor is durability... Having made a few calls I have had conflicting advice:

One camp says that the XD brakes last longer because the gases produced when pad meets disc can be dispersed quicker and run at a lower temperature, so they last longer as they are less likely to warp, they wear at a slower rate.

The other argument is that the XD discs are prone to cracking, and unless you clean the discs regularly, the vents fill with muck & brake dust so there is no point in them being drilled in the first place, therefore the solid discs last longer.

HHHEEELLLLPPPP!!!!??????

[Nige_RS4]

There's also the difference in cost of the two types of disc to consider too!

The way I read your post, it looks like you've already made up your mind Steve!

[SteveH]

Sorry, forgot to add cost... cross drilled are 15% to 20% more £'s depending where you buy, so I suppose they need to last 20% longer or more to justify the extra, so 24K instead of 20K miles.

Seriously though, I have not made up my mind, its a genuine question. Have people who have moved to cross-drilled found they are more or less durable?

[bakerdcb]

I have had a number of issues with various cross drilled discs. Never any with solids. I know which I would go for and I track my car too and have had no problems with my solid ones

[PhilT]

Having had solid, cross drilled, and grooved in the past I would always recommend the grooved.

[MarkB]

The only grooved discs I ever had I hated. They were V noisy. Is that still the case these days?

I love the look of drilled but have opted for solid as I think they are more durable

[PhilT]

I wouldn't call them 'noisy', but I know when they are working!!

[DaveP]

X-drilled will give slightly better initial braking performance in the wet...and probably slightly better performance overall as the gasses can escape.

If you are not tracking your car I wouldn't worry about the cracking...

If you are tracking the car, I would suggest 'J' or 'grooved' patterned discs...

If you're happy with the solids...then stick with them.

[david7m]

If standard are adequate, I'd stick with them!

Dave

[SteveH]

Cheers for the comments; I reckon that solid discs are the way forward for me. I do question the manufacture ethos though... the discs only last as long as the pads, to my mind, that means that the pads are manufactured far too hard, they should be softer... I would expect the discs to last a couple of sets of pads!?

[Wolverine]

I think x-drilled can only be justified if you track your car or drive it very hard or live in the mountains !

I'd put money on that you would not be able to tell the difference from the car seat in general day to day driving. Save the money and go for standard in my opinion.

[Tweaky]

Steve i bought a full set of x-drilled discs and pads for my car....delivered to my door for £995. Bare that in mind when doing your sums. I had solid discs on mine originally, then replaced them with the drilled discs...mainly for the looks i must admit, but when i got back into the car i noticed quite a difference in performance....they seemed to have much more initial bite than the solids!! Now that might also have something to do with the fact that the old ones where worn i don't know.

Hope this helps
Phil

[david7m]

Steve i bought a full set of x-drilled discs and pads for my car....delivered to my door for £995. Bare that in mind when doing your sums. I had solid discs on mine originally, then replaced them with the drilled discs...mainly for the looks i must admit, but when i got back into the car i noticed quite a difference in performance....they seemed to have much more initial bite than the solids!! Now that might also have something to do with the fact that the old ones where worn i don't know.

Hope this helps
Phil

Are you suggesting that £995 isn't much more than standard? Sounds a lot more to me, but then again I have no idea how much standard parts are for your car! Standard S3 pads front and rear about £100 inc VAT, standard discs front and rear about £250 inc VAT.

Dave

[Tweaky]

As set of discs and pads for an RS6 is normally around £1500 for the parts alone. And yes i do still think £1000 is a hell of a lot of money for a set of brakes....but then you have to have them so there is bugger all you can do about it bar really shop around.

[david7m]

So upgraded ones are cheaper ...sweet

Dave