Different Kinds of Accord Disc Brakes

When disc brakes were first used, the disc was usually made out of solid cast iron. It was fairly easy to make these type of brakes. However as they were put to heavy use they tended to retain heat and the brakes would start to fade out, and reduce your brakes stopping power. This dangerous problem had to be fixed.

• The next approach was to create a ventilated disc which was formed during the casting process. This disc was hollowed out by using fins or vanes between the disc's two contact surfaces. This approach helped to dissipate the generated heat and is most commonly used on heavily loaded front disc brakes systems.
• This seemed to work fine for most disc brake applications but in the performance area something more was required. The next step was to drill holes in the disc. This is called "cross drilling" and started in the 1960's with racing car brakes. One of the problems with disc brakes is that a layer of gas may form between the pad and the disc. This reduces the brakes capability of stopping. The holes were a way to allow the gas to escape from the disc. Another benefit of cross drilling is that when your car goes through a puddle of water, some of the water remains on the disc and hurts brakes braking ability. The cross drilling helps get rid of the water. A downside of cross drilling is that under very hard applications the holes may become a source of stress cracks. These stress cracks could lead to brake failure.
• As an alternative to cross drilling disc brakes some brake manufactures went to a system called "slotting" their disc brakes. This is where shallow channels are machined into the disc to help remove dust and gas from the brakes.

Some disc brakes have both holes and slots. As a general rule slotted disc brakes are not found on standard vehicle brakes very often. One of the problems with slots is that the edge of the slots tend to wear down the brake pads much faster, and you will be replacing the disc brakes more often. Very expensive brakes.