A set of average "ebay-grade" rotors: wimpy pattern, lousy cadmium coating.
Porsche 911S crossdrilled rotors, OE on most of their cars. Made by ATE, excellent quality, superior pattern with full-spectrum coverage.
Masking & Coating Application
Chamfering & Cleaning
Crossdrilling Complete
Milling Process
Stock OE Rotor
CAUTION ABOUT BUYING EBAY ROTORS
Blank Rotor
Milling Process
Drilled Rotor
Chamfering Complete
Masking & Coating
Finished Rotor
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RETAIL DRILLED ROTOR MANUFACTURE:
We've been making custom crossdrilled brake rotors since the fall of 1997...we also deal with about 4 or 5 major west coast distributors. We have personally spoken with factory reps from almost all your major manufacturers: ATE, Brembo, Girling, Zimmerman, BBS (Becker Bremscheiben), Bradi (which is a lower-quality Brembo off-brand), OP and a few other unknowns.
HERE IS YOUR BIG KEY: there is no such animal as "factory crossdrilled rotors". The casting process (with current technology) just flat-out doesn't allow for it. In other words, the rotors don’t just “roll off the foundry line” with the holes somehow already “cast into the metal”. They have to be milled into the steel AFTER being cast.
Also, even at the industry-level, crossdrilling is a slow and tedious process---even with a fully-automated CNC machine doing the work. (this is largely due to the number of holes per rotor.)
There are only a few companies out there that even sell factory-replacement "performance rotors" under their own name; one is Zimmerman, with their "sport crossdrilled" rotors. Even they, however, are having them milled at a separate facility on a contracted basis. (And the Zimmerman ones are pretty wimpy, if you get a close look at them; not even close to the patterns we do.) Even Porsche factory rotors--usually made by ATE or BBS, depending on the model and year, (for the 911 twin turbo, for example) that come crossdrilled when you buy the car, are being done out-of-house by a Porsche-subcontractor.
Pretty much every company that you see out there that sells crossdrilled rotors, is doing them in almost the exact same manner: they purchase the blank rotors from a supplier, and a subcontracted machine shop is doing the milling and chamfering. They then sell them under their own name. And of course the way they make money on them is by purchasing them at lower cost, and raising the price to make a profit.
We would warn you also about many of the ebay rotor sellers. Some of the sites have half their words misspelled (usually a pretty good indicator of an overseas seller), their terminology is wrong, their prices are deceptively low, they don’t even sell rotors for most of the applications we do, their crossdrill patterns are wimpy, and most of them don’t even show a picture of the correct application---they use some bullcrap "stock" photo of rotors that, for all you know, could be for a Chevy 1500 truck.
And if you ask them to send you a picture of the ACTUAL ROTORS you would be buying, they'll say "we dont have the time or the manpower" to do it.....so in reality you don't even know what you're really getting until it actually shows up. Would you want to buy that?
In stark contrast, when you buy from RotorLab, we will send you pictures of YOUR ACTUAL ROTORS--and we'll send them to you BEFORE THEY SHIP, so you can see what is actually coming---not some bullcrap "stock photo" of rotors that, for all you know, could have been sititng on a shelf for the past 2 years.
RotorLab rotors are the right application every time, the right level of performance, and at a price you can afford.
ROTORLAB CROSSDRILLED ROTOR MANUFACTURE:
We here at RotorLab also purchase blanks and mill them...but the difference here is that we own our own shop, our own mill, use diifferent design software and methodology, and we do ALL the work oursleves---NOTHING is "farmed out" here. This is also the reason why we are able to sell our rotors at lower prices than retail shops or mail order houses. We are not a retail shop-----we are a small, part-time 2-man operation, and our labor time doesn't "cost" us anything. We don't have to pay shop costs, employee wages or health benefits, lease payments, state industrial or workman's comp, or any of that other BS. And in turn, you end up getting a top-quality product without getting raked over the coals by a retail outlet.
We have, to date, sold in excess of 260 sets of rotors....and over the years so far our customers have raved about our products. Are we trying to say that ours are "the best that can be bought anywhere"? Of course not. But it most certainly is fair to state that ours are at the least comparable to anything currently available out there, and at a dramatically reduced cost.
Another thing to consider is the source. Wouldn’t you rather buy from a group of enthusiasts? We at RotorLab are not some big retail outlet or “pretty boy store” that sells shift knobs and exhaust tips and “…oh by the way we sell these rotors made by some body else, too.” No. We are serious enthusiasts just like you. And our rotors are serious custom stuff.