yup, you run the cheapest you can that will still meet the performance requirements. Front engine cars, combined with production friction material, means that not much braking work is done by the rears, meaning not much thermal mass is required, which means less cooling is necessary.

Thanks for the info guys, its about the same info I got on the Crossfire forum. I just don't get why Ford did this with the Contour, but Chrysler didn't with this car. You'd think you'd want every advantage with a sports car. I'll find out how they hold up when I go to the Dragon in a couple weeks

i thought the rears were vented on our cars?

I think he meant that the Crossfire has non-vented rear disks, which I find surprising.

Although, I will also suggest that you get away with not only the cheapest setup, but the lightest you can afford. I'd think the solid rotors would be a tad lighter than the vented discs, having less material overall, but probably cost is the primary concern.

Can you say "cost effective"?

That and it gives the car owners something to figure they need and guys like us something to make work. The SHO went through this and still I'm amazed at the owners who work so hard to get the early vented ones for a common street application.

The Crossfire is really Benz in Chrysler badging. It is very common for the europeans to use larger solid rear rotors instead of smaller vented ones.

Ford uses solid rear rotors on the Expedition. I don't remember clearly, but it seems like the Exp[lerer as well. The rotors on the Expedition (and Lincoln Navagator as well) are very hard, much harder than anything else Ford is using. They are very hard to wear out and they can be difficult to machine as they chatter like hell and leave a hearingbone chatter pattern if turned too agresively.

If more rotors were made as hard, their would be a lot less rotor wear complaints.

Originally posted by RogerB:

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I think he meant that the Crossfire has non-vented rear disks, which I find surprising.

Although, I will also suggest that you get away with not only the cheapest setup, but the lightest you can afford. I'd think the solid rotors would be a tad lighter than the vented discs, having less material overall, but probably cost is the primary concern.

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Right, my car has solid rear rotors I can understand this, but then again, why not just make them big and vented, how much more can this really cost


Todd at TCE, you got SS lines for this car and a suggestion for brake pads. These things dust up real bad and although I don't auto-X the car, I do some "spirited" driving from time to time and like to go down to the Dragon once a year, so anything that would make my car brake even better than it does now would be great, thanks Todd