Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Brakes Solid rear rotors, why?

I posted this question over in the Crossfire forum w/o much sucess, so I thought I'd run it past you gurus, especially if your an SCCA guy. Why would a manufacturer run solid rear rotors instead of vented ones Is there an advantage to this or what? Thanks guys

Given that most of the braking "work" is done by the fronts, and the heat sink needs are therefore less for the rear rotors, most manufacturers will go with the solid (as in non vented) rotors because it is cheaper.

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.