Oem brake pads and rotors vs economy pads and rotors
 

My car is due for front pads and rotors

Asked the dealer and it will cost around $300 for pads and rotors

While lordco has economy set that would cost $150

My question is will the economy ones be ok on the car or start giving issues after 6 months

What car? What kind of driving do you do?

Never had issues using cheap rotors on all my cars but cheap pads are crap for stopping power and bite.

I generally prefer OEM pads unless they are euro they seem to dust a hell of a lot other members would be more familiar.

Akebono pads are good but they suck for bite the first 5-10mins.

2004 acura el, just normal daily driving

What was the "economy" options they gave you? If it was the lordco rotors, pay the extra $$ and get the aimco or acdelco ones. Lordco rotors are shit.

Think of it this way, economy pads and rotors are for our mothers driving. Anything beyond that you'd want something better.

Napa Blanks + Porterfield R4's

people track with ebay rotors all the time and they last just as well as oem rotors. I would say spend as little as possible on rotors and spend more on better pads. my ebay rotors has been on my car for almost 3 years and it has no problems whatsoever. Can't beat rotors for all four corners for only 100usd LOL.

I wouldn't completely cheap out on rotors -- the junky ones are still quite prone to warping and hot spots. However, you definitely don't have to pay that much to get good quality rotors. I have been a long time fan of Centric blanks -- they are inexpensive, but still of very good quality. Mine regularly see both street and track conditions without a hitch.

Pads, on the other hand, is very much a you-get-what-you-pay-for type of thing. At least, this has been true in my experience.

+1 Centric blanks

Want to save money? Get decent parts and DIY.

Buy from the States instead. I think I saved close to 100-150 dollars by purchasing Centric Premium versus buying local.

for a typical honda you can find brand names like raybestos on rockauto for even cheaper than that

i've broken-in my akebono proacts properly, is it normal to get a real bite right before the vehicle comes to a complete stop? Only the lightest of feather light braking prevents this, even at say 20% pedal down I'd get a light jerk right before the car is stationary. May be I just miss the smooth gentle stops of worn brakes. FailFish

yup centric is good, i've used it in the past for my previous daily's
i've got stoptech rotors and advics pads on my teg atm and so far so good after 3 years.

i'll probably go with centric and akebono when they're due

I used $40 cheap china rotors on the fronts of my S for track duties and never had any issues with them.
This was with Hawk HT10 pads and R-comp tires at Mission.

The last track day, I used cheap $20 china rotors on the front of my CRX with Hawk Blue pads and didn't have any issues.

As long as they aren't slotted or drilled, most blank rotors will be fine.

But definately don't cheap out on the pads.
I got cheap Raybesto's $19 brake shoes for the CRV and first stop they make a lot of noise. But then again, this is on the rear which isn't nearly as important as it is on the fronts.

PowerSlot + Hawk PC + Spoon

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http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...lotRotors1.jpg



:fullofwin: :fullofwin: :fullofwin: :fullofwin: :fullofwin:

:thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:

Just get some good Hawk pads and blank EBC rotors and install it yourself if you are able.

stoptech rotors are under the centric brand IIRC.

I paid around $90usd per rotor for slotted stoptech, how much cheaper are the centric blanks?

The centric blanks that I use can typically be found for $35 front, $25 rear on Amazon.com.

Thoughts on standard Centric vs the "premium" rotors? Nearly double the cost for anti-rust

the mechanic i used to go to told me that the absolute cheapest rotor he would use is centric, otherwise it's a normal brembo blank for regular cars. people would come in and ask for the cheapest possible so he would get them cut-rate chinese brand and they would come back later complaining about rusting and warping, so he stopped. he would rather lose a sale than have to deal with unhappy customers.

Brakes......buy the best you can afford to buy. Its rather simple really.

With cheap stuff you can take a risk. I have seen defects in cheap stuff that resulted in rotors separating.

White box (cheap cheap cheap) rotors and OEM pads

this is what i've been doing for 6 years.
I've worked at the dealer and a private shop

Even budget track guys use the cheap rotors on nice pads.

no problems

http://www.brakeandfrontend.com/wp-c...0000014771.jpg

Seen this happen with super cheap stuff from ebay.
Never seen it happen with the cheap stuff from the local parts stores.

Brakes and tires are not something I'd use anything less than the best. you pay 1500+ a year for insurance. Paying an extra couple hundred over several years for accident prevention is my idea of money well spent.

Wanna hear something funny.
Brembo Blanks are made in China

If memory serves me correctly, the Centric blanks that I keep raving about are also made in China as well.

I know it is fairly common for people to bash and shxt on Chinese made products -- heck, I do my fair share of that myself. But what people need to realize is, China makes a lot of stuff. A lot of that stuff is shxt I wouldn't touch with a 10' pole. But it also makes a lot of top quality stuff. The difference lies in who the mother company is that commissioned the manufacturing, and how stringent and thorough they are with QC.

From various anecdotal evidence that I have gathered, it certainly seems like the Chinese made Brembo blanks aren't that good. I wouldn't call them shxt yet, but it seems like their quality used to be better.