Can I drill my front disks?

My rear disks are drilled and slotted, fronts are just slotted.

Would it hurt the mechanical integrity of the front disks if I used the rear disks as a template to drill the fronts out to match?

 

You can, but it should be done on a drill press. The holes also have to be counter sunk to keep from eating the pads. As far as structural integrity goes I have no idea.

 

I have a couple of drill presses, and a Bridgeport milling machine. The actual job is not an issue.

I just don't want the disks to explode to pieces the first time I slam on the brakes.

 

I could always buy drilled and slotted front disks, but these have less than 200 miles on them.

Maybe I would be better off filling in the holes on the drilled rear disks!

 

I drilled out a lot of brake rotors on my stock cars over the years for weight savings and cooling. Just, however you lay the holes out, make sure they are all even around the rotor so you don't throw off the balance

 

Now that's funny..

 

Good to know.

I was going to line up the grooves and lay one of the drilled ones over the top of the non-drilled ones, and mark all the centers and punch them all and drill the same size as the rears. Figured that would keep it balanced, and match the fronts when see from the profile.

 

It can be done but you need to be VERY precise or the balance will be off like Bob already mentioned. I tried doing the same EXACT thing many years ago and could never get the damned things quite right for balance after that. It wasn't too bad at normal speeds and the major portion of the imbalance never really showed until over 100mph though. Have to remember that even 1/2 grams here and there amount to many pounds when it gets flung around in circles fast enough.

I simply used thin cardboard taped to the edges of an old worn out cross drilled rotor I had replaced with a cheaper non-drilled version from the parts store and "rubbed over it" with a ballpeen hammer to get my template. But in my defense.. I only used an old-timer craftsman drill press and you could certainly do much better with the Bridgeport setup.

Also keep in mind that no one will turn the rotor for you after it's drilled either.

 

Laying it out so the holes miss the internal cooling vanes is the tricky part

 

I haven't looked at them closely, but I am hoping that my drilled and slotted ones have the slots spaced out the same way. If not, I won't even attempt this.

If they do, I will line up the slots and copy the holes over from there.

 

That is why I laid out my hole pattern with scribe marks and a center punch by hand because of where the vanes were - then I used a counter sink cutter to finish off the edges - I'm going to do this to the Maverick's discs also - Granada on the fronts and Speedway on the rear

 

I have done it on a Bridgeport Mill. Find absolute center and there is a formula in the Machinist Bible that will allow you to plot perfect spacing for each hole.

 

Surely a new set can't be too expensive in the US, I would look at it as "time spent VS price paid"..... You don't see a lawyer mowing his lawns often

 

But we seem to have this strange enjoyment in doing this stuff ourselves - now the lawn work I can understand

 

I did it on a vehicle that drilled and slotted rotors were not available. I agree if they are available just buy them.