2019+ Solid Brake Rotors = Improved Life

[FineGT350]

I've been doing some digging around on different websites who have posted information on the 2019-2020 GT350 and noticed that a lot of them mention Ford went to the new solid brake rotors to improve durability. Some websites have mentioned that with the new solid brake rotors either double the pad life or double the rotor life. Does anyone know which one is true? I'm trying to consider if it is worth it to upgrade my rotors now rather then wait. If the pads have a longer life with the new rotors then I might be saving some money upgrading to the new rotors sooner rather than later. If it is just the rotors that have a longer life then I'll just wait till mine are all used up and then upgrade. Interested to see what you guys have to say.

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[lenFeb]

IDK about GT350 but I can comment on my experience with my DD 2012 Audi S4 with MT. OEM rotors were solid and lasted to 60K miles. When brakes light indicator came up, I replaced all rotors with cross drilled and slotted once. This past weekend I changed them second time(brakes light indicator came up again) at 91K miles back to OEM solid disks and Akebono pads. So, here you go do the math.

 

[proeagles]

Both would last longer IMO. There is a reason why they switched.

 

[matthewr87]

I think I saw a post on here a while ago stating that the solids were worse on the track (e.g., wore out faster). I can't remember who posted it though.

Edit:

Found it in the "Anyone using Girodisc's rotors on their GT350?" thread and posted by Honeybadger.

 

[Wildcardfox]

I've been doing some digging around on different websites who have posted information on the 2019-2020 GT350 and noticed that a lot of them mention Ford went to the new solid brake rotors to improve durability. Some websites have mentioned that with the new solid brake rotors either double the pad life or double the rotor life. Does anyone know which one is true? I'm trying to consider if it is worth it to upgrade my rotors now rather then wait. If the pads have a longer life with the new rotors then I might be saving some money upgrading to the new rotors sooner rather than later. If it is just the rotors that have a longer life then I'll just wait till mine are all used up and then upgrade. Interested to see what you guys have to say.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/sibling-rivalry-comparing-2019-gt350-gt350r/

excerpt:

[Ford Performance's Vehicle Dynamics Engineer Steven Thompson describes] The 2019 GT350 and GT350R now have solid rotors just like the 2020 GT500. These rotors replace the cross-drilled variants of previous GT350 models. "The change to a non-cross drilled rotor is primarily wear," says Thompson, adding, "The braking performance isn't any different. You [can] slot them, cross drill them, whatever else, we don't really see improvements in braking on the track, but we see much higher wear rates, so actually that's a pretty significant benefit to the customer, because they have to change pads and brakes a whole lot less often, and the braking performance is exactly the same."

—

Wear equals maintenance part. Non drilled equals less costs in ownership maintenance.

 

[JAJ]

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/sibling-rivalry-comparing-2019-gt350-gt350r/

excerpt:

[Ford Performance's Vehicle Dynamics Engineer Steven Thompson describes] The 2019 GT350 and GT350R now have solid rotors just like the 2020 GT500. These rotors replace the cross-drilled variants of previous GT350 models. "The change to a non-cross drilled rotor is primarily wear," says Thompson, adding, "The braking performance isn't any different. You [can] slot them, cross drill them, whatever else, we don't really see improvements in braking on the track, but we see much higher wear rates, so actually that's a pretty significant benefit to the customer, because they have to change pads and brakes a whole lot less often, and the braking performance is exactly the same."

—

Wear equals maintenance part. Non drilled equals less costs in ownership maintenance.

I'm the wrong guy for this discussion because I have carbon ceramic brakes on my GT350, but I'll give it a go anyway.

What I recall on this situation is that the solid rotors should outlast the drilled rotors, but that in track use both rotor types develop cracks long before they wear out, so the difference in rotor life on track is minimal. @honeybadger would know better; though..

 

[Wildcardfox]

I'm the wrong guy for this discussion because I have carbon ceramic brakes on my GT350, but I'll give it a go anyway.

What I recall on this situation is that the solid rotors should outlast the drilled rotors, but that in track use both rotor types develop cracks long before they wear out, so the difference in rotor life on track is minimal. @honeybadger would know better; though..

I’m the writer who interviewed Ford in that article and that is what they said for why the switched over to the smooth rotors.

 

[oldbmwfan]

Primarily pad life. The abrasion of the holes on the pads acts like a cheese grater and wears the pads much faster. Rotors may or may not last marginally longer. In the thread posted above, HB noted he got small surface-level cracks (normal) very quickly with the solid rotors, and more than the drilled rotors, but then they didn't progress so it seems like they are lasting.

My drilled rotors have lasted through 4 sets of stock pads up front and are still above the minimum wear and are even and smooth, no vibrations. But they do chew through the pads super fast, 3 hours of track use per set up front and ~6-7 hours in back at the tracks I run.

 

[JAJ]

I’m the writer who interviewed Ford in that article and that is what they said for why the switched over to the smooth rotors.

Cool! Was the Ford engineer referring to track use or general use or both? The quote refers to "wear", which is when metal gets ground off the rotor by the pads. Cracks aren't really wear in that sense; they're a breakdown in the metal grain structure caused by repeated heating and cooling. If the solid rotors are more crack-resistant, that's fantastic. As I said, HB has more direct knowledge, and maybe others as well.

 

[Wildcardfox]

Cool! Was the Ford engineer referring to track use or general use or both? The quote refers to "wear", which is when metal gets ground off the rotor by the pads. Cracks aren't really wear in that sense; they're a breakdown in the metal grain structure caused by repeated heating and cooling. If the solid rotors are more crack-resistant, that's fantastic. As I said, HB has more direct knowledge, and maybe others as well.

Thompson said it was a maintenance wear issue that meant that the overall cost of ownership went down as they eliminated the drilled holes as you do not need to replace brake parts as often.

I didn’t mention cracks in my article or my posts.

I will say I cannot extrapolate but the reason for the change was not cracking or any other issue than what he said in the interview which was it was an cost of maintenance which was the reason behind the change in 2019.

 

[JAJ]

Thompson said it was a maintenance wear issue that meant that the overall cost of ownership went down as they eliminated the drilled holes as you do not need to replace brake parts as often.

I didn’t mention cracks in my article or my posts.

I will say I cannot extrapolate but the reason for the change was not cracking or any other issue than what he said in the interview which was it was an cost of maintenance which was the reason behind the change in 2019.

Your post with the quote was a direct and constructive response to the OP's actual question, although he was also wondering if he'd be money ahead to swap now rather than later and it's not clear there's an answer to that yet, although @oldbmwfan makes it clear that the drilled rotors eat pads. The post immediately before your post was about cracking in track use, which may or may not be relevant to the OP's question - it depend on whether he tracks his car or not. With all that said, I was curious if the engineer you interviewed said anything about cracks, and it sounds like he didn't.

 

[Wildcardfox]

Your post with the quote was a direct and constructive response to the OP's actual question, although he was also wondering if he'd be money ahead to swap now rather than later and it's not clear there's an answer to that yet, although @oldbmwfan makes it clear that the drilled rotors eat pads. The post immediately before your post was about cracking in track use, which may or may not be relevant to the OP's question - it depend on whether he tracks his car or not. With all that said, I was curious if the engineer you interviewed said anything about cracks, and it sounds like he didn't.

cracks or cracking issues of drilled rotors were not in the interview or discussed as a reason for changing to the smooth rotors. Because it wasn’t included I cannot speak on that.

 

[FineGT350]

Thanks so much for all the replies and useful quotes from the Ford engineers themselves! I do track the car as much as I can. Once a month to once every other month, all while putting on 5K-7.5K street miles on during the summer. I would love it if I could get an actual percentage because then I could do some math. For now I'll just keep everything stock (2017 model) since it is a healthy investment to jump to new rotors, especially if I don't need them and can't financially justify it.

 

[shogun32]

but we see much higher wear rates, so actually that's a pretty significant benefit to the customer, because they have to change pads and brakes a whole lot less often, and the braking performance is exactly the same."

and yet NOT a SINGLE data point in the entire word salad. When will techies dare to provide some actual FACTS and not a bunch of unsubstantiated hand waving? The pronouncements were presumably made upon hard data. PUBLISH IT.

 

[Wildcardfox]

and yet NOT a SINGLE data point in the entire word salad. When will techies dare to provide some actual FACTS and not a bunch of unsubstantiated hand waving? The pronouncements were presumably made upon hard data. PUBLISH IT.

Hope that made you feel better.

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