Brake Job (front) - 2008 Subaru Forester

[Soobs]

Hey all,

I finally got around to changing the front pads, rotors, and hardware on my 2008 Subaru Forester X that has about 135,000 miles. The old pads have about 50,000 miles on them. I bought everything from RockAuto and went with Advics rotors, Advics pads, and Carlson QuietGlide hardware. Everything fit perfectly, is quiet, and has excellent braking performance. I forgot to grab pics of the Carlson hardware, but it is a nice complete kit that even included new rubber boots and pieces for slide pins. For lube I used the included moly grease for the pad shims and everything else I used AGS Sil-Glyde. The following is the specific part and model info:

Rotors - Advics F6F128U (Made in China)
Pads - Advics AD0929A (Made in Japan)
Hardware - Carlson 13417Q (Made in USA)

Here's a shot of the old pads/rotor. They are original OE rotors (resurfaced once or possibly twice.. I can't remember) and Akebono pads last installed by a dealer service department. The inners were wearing faster on both sides. The slide pins were definitely in need of cleaning and relubing too. You might notice some excess grease in the pic. That's because I had recently cleaned and lubed shims and abutment clip areas to get rid of some noise.

Old vs new rotor

Old Akebono (bottom) vs new Advics (top) pads

It all came together great.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Nice work!

 

[The Critic]

When did Advics start making rotors in China? They used to be the only vendor who sold Made in USA rotors to the aftermarket.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Looks good!

When did Advics start making rotors in China? They used to be the only vendor who sold Made in USA rotors to the aftermarket.

Was Advics the OE supplier on the Forester?

Possibly, Advics is still using the US for cars they supply OE rotors to. For example,many Toyotas. I checked the Opticat for a few Toyota Advics rotors,and they still show up as US-made. The OP's part number does say China.

It's nice to have a US_made aftermarket rotor option. I hope the Toyota Advics rotors don't go to China too

 

[Soobs]

When did Advics start making rotors in China? They used to be the only vendor who sold Made in USA rotors to the aftermarket.

This was a surprise to me too.

Was Advics the OE supplier on the Forester?

Possibly, Advics is still using the US for cars they supply OE rotors to. For example,many Toyotas. I checked the Opticat for a few Toyota Advics rotors,and they still show up as US-made. The OP's part number does say China.

It's nice to have a US_made aftermarket rotor option. I hope the Toyota Advics rotors don't go to China too

I'm not sure who made the OE rotors, but the inside of them says they're made in Japan. On RockAuto they list the Advics rotor as "Ultra Premium OE Replacement."

 

[Soobs]

It looks like this rotor is part of a new Advics product offering that just released January 2021. Perhaps many of these new offerings are made in China?

https://aisinaftermarket.com/uploads/wcqtgtdv_ADVICS_ProductExpansionFlyer.pdf

 

[partspro]

Nice work!

Great pictures

 

[benjy]

your OE pads in the pics still look good, BUT brakes are surely most important + DIY is cost efficient as usual!!

 

[Gasbuggy]

I'd probably save the old pads and rotors as spares

 

[edyvw]

This was a surprise to me too.



I'm not sure who made the OE rotors, but the inside of them says they're made in Japan. On RockAuto they list the Advics rotor as "Ultra Premium OE Replacement."

I love language “ultra premium!” What is it was just premium?

 

[The Critic]

I love language “ultra premium!” What is it was just premium?

The box, so they can charge 1.5x as much as anyone else.

 

[atikovi]

Personally I would prefer the used OE rotors over new Chinese and my eyeball mike says they have plenty of life left, but you probably got a good deal at Rock.

 

[The Critic]

Personally I would prefer the used OE rotors over new Chinese and my eyeball mike says they have plenty of life left, but you probably got a good deal at Rock.

Metallurgy of the OE stuff tends to be better, but Chinese is usually ok.

 

[edyvw]

Personally I would prefer the used OE rotors over new Chinese and my eyeball mike says they have plenty of life left, but you probably got a good deal at Rock.

I track my BMW on Chinese made ATE rotors.

 

[Marcozi]

Factory rotors or Brembo rotors only. Btw, my car (2018 M249i) came with Brembo brakes, including pads. It now has Performance Friction -08 pads.

 

[VK56VD]

How are you liking the Advics pads? I’ve installed Advics pads on a 2015 MDX before and was not satisfied. They were dusty and had less bite than OEM.