Brake Rotors From China; a USITC Publication

[ChrisW]

Publication 4009: Brake Rotors From China

I was reading and searching one day about brake rotors from China, this is a very long (150+ pages) and technical read [technical in the sense of it's use of terminology]. I still haven't finished reading through it all, but I found some things rather interesting; how there was an Antidumping Duty Order on aftermarket brake rotors from China for quite some time.

A highlight that I thought was interesting:
There are what is considered to be only two domestic manufacturers of aftermarket brake rotors; Federal-Mogul, Inc. and Affinia, Inc.
Quote:
These two U.S. producers claimed to have accounted for all U.S. production of aftermarket brake rotors in 2006.


I just recently bought some Wagner aftermarket rotors, and right on the box they show affiliation with parent Federal-Mogul, however, the rotors I received were made in China.

Some of the material in the PDF are above my head in terms of understanding, but an interesting read none the less. What do you all think?

 

[MNgopher]

Note that the document was published in June of 2008. At the time the report was written, Federal-Mogul had already stopped domestic production of brake rotors, so its no surprise the Wagner rotors you bought were made in China. (See footnote 17 on Page 4 of the report.) The last wagner rotors I bought were made in Brazil. Affina no longer makes rotors in the US either, meaning there are no aftermarket domestic rotor manufacturers left.

 

[ChrisW]

Ah, that would explain why its next to impossible to find domestically made aftermarket brake rotors! Must be all old stock for anything that we do find today.

While I don't dislike aftermarket brake rotors made in China, there is definitely a widely varying quality level. For example, the Wagner I bought for my bro's S2000, made in China, did not look as beefy and well finished as the Centric Premiums [made in China] I had bought for my '09 Mazada6, the Wagners had a thinner inboard rotor face than outboard compared to that of the Centrics; the Centrics were even thickness on the inboard and outboard face. While there was [thickness, not run-out] variation on the Wagner, they are smooth and brake straight and true. (My speculation is that the Wagner were not cast very well which led to more material removal/machining necessary to create to rotor faces that are parallel and true to each other)

 

[Donald]

One would hope that Wagner would be reviewing quality of the rotors as no matter where the rotors are made they do have the Wagner name on the box and that is a brand that has a name that stands for quality brake parts.

 

[doitmyself]

What about true OEM rotors on new cars? Are they all outsourced too?

 

[Quest]

Yes, they are definitely dumping cheep rotors into our country, citing:

(a ) Toy corolla rotors from my local national chain source sells them for 27.99ea
(b ) Toy Camry rotors are approx. 34ea
(c ) honda fit rotors are 24.99ea

Now, how can you beat those prices when you are a mech?

Q.

 

[tig1]

About 5 years ago I bought two rotors that were made in China for my old 96 Merc GM. The only reason I bought them was these were the only ones in stock and I needed them NOW. At first they were fine, but in about 14 months I began to get rotor shutter. I checked the run out with a dial indicator and they were well within spec. After looking at them closer I noticed shiny spots on the brake surface of the rotors. These turned out to be hard spots that was causing the shutter. Poor quality castings. I replaced them with Wagner rotors(USA made) and never had another problem. Last year I helped a friend with his brakes and the Wagners were made in China. Bummer. However the quality seemed to be fine.

 

[PF52]

Originally Posted By: Quest
Yes, they are definitely dumping cheep rotors into our country, citing:

(a ) Toy corolla rotors from my local national chain source sells them for 27.99ea
(b ) Toy Camry rotors are approx. 34ea
(c ) honda fit rotors are 24.99ea



True that. Autozone has Cavalier rotors for $19, and if I remember right, some model years are even less.

 

[mechtech2]

Originally Posted By: Quest
Yes, they are definitely dumping cheep rotors into our country, citing:

(a ) Toy corolla rotors from my local national chain source sells them for 27.99ea
(b ) Toy Camry rotors are approx. 34ea
(c ) honda fit rotors are 24.99ea

Now, how can you beat those prices when you are a mech?

Q.


Very true. Why even consider re-machining in these cases?

I have found Chinese rotors Remember that there for sure can be problems with supposedly very good expensive ones.

 

[bladecutter]

And these are the reasons why I only buy EBC rotors that are made in the UK.

BC.

 

[edwardh1]

who makes toyota rotors that the toyota dealer sells?

 

[Donald]

An auto mechanics instructor at a technical high school fixed someones vehicle with a good and cheap rotor and same pads. A year or two latter, both rotors had performed the same and looked rusty.

 

[Quest]

to be fair/honest: IMHO some decently cast, priced decently chinese rotors actually worked out better than some famous "Brand name" stuff.

I used to be a big fan of Bramdo cast (Italian or some other countries except Sino) but they aren't anything better than those that I bought these days: still rusts and warp after a few years time.

I have used Wagnar and/or Raybustos but neither of the US casts are that great either (some resulted in comebacks due to warpage, not due to seized caliper or improper pad breaking ins)...

So, unless you go with the absolute cheepest Chinese or India casts, otherwise: I'd say that most of the chinese ones are fairly decent these days.

Also: didn't you know that over 1/2 of the Raybustos line are casted in China also?

I no longer send rotors to machine shop to re-surface (even with sufficient materials remaining on them), citing too high of a cost to machine a pair as opposed to buying fresh new ones.

Lastly: rotors, depending on operational conditions and/or metallurgy (casting), they will all eventually warp. Some warps sooner than others and I don't doubt that, but given their costs when new, I'd rather buy fresh new ones (takes longer to warp) than re-machine the used ones and reuse.

Q.

 

[RH+G]

^^^ I concur with everything said

 

[stephen9666]

Originally Posted By: Bladecutter
And these are the reasons why I only buy EBC rotors that are made in the UK.


EBC now says some of their rotors for the US market are not made in the UK.

This text taken from this link:
http://www.ebcbrakes.com/automotive/ebc_premium_replacement_rotors/index.shtml
Quote:
a majority of the designs specific to the USA are also BRITISH made...but EBC like every brake manufacturer ....does need occasionally to buy some rotors in from approved sources.




Originally Posted By: Quest

Also: didn't you know that over 1/2 of the Raybestos line are casted in China also?


I would actually guess it's now much higher than that. As another member said, there aren't any companies producing aftermarket rotors that I'm aware of.

EBC actually says this on their website. They also claim there are no US foundries producing rotors or blanks for them to buy.

Quote:
None of our competitors will ever tell you where their rotors come from and we at EBC are as disappointed as the rest of the world that cost pressure means there is not ONE foundry left in the USA to supply such parts,


I will challenge them when they say "None of our competitors will ever tell you where their rotors come from." I emailed both Centric and Raybestos when I was looking for rotors for my Hyundai. They both told me their rotors are made in China.

 

[antonmnster]

I just put a set of mid-line Napa pads and rotors on my BMW. I get a discount and the price was VERY right.

I was a little disheartened to see "made in China" on the rotor boxes, but we'll see how it goes. Had I known that before I got all amped up about new brakes I probably would have shopped around.

One week in and and so far so good. The safe-stop pads have nice bite. A few 80 to 15 mph slowdowns really made 'em smoke, but they look like they're bedded in well.

 

[97prizm]

I picked up new rotors for my geo from advanced AUTO parts that were made in GERMANY OR ISREAL AS I REFUSED to buy parts made in China

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: 97prizm
I picked up new rotors for my geo from advanced AUTO parts that were made in GERMANY OR ISREAL AS I REFUSED to buy parts made in China


Yep, if consumers balked when offered the Chinese product more often you'd see a significant decrease in production of everything from there. I have noticed among the general public that increasingly customers are questioning why they have NO other choice except purchasing things made in China.

 

[stephen9666]

Originally Posted By: 97prizm
I picked up new rotors for my geo from advanced AUTO parts that were made in GERMANY OR ISREAL AS I REFUSED to buy parts made in China


What were the brands and prices of the rotors? Advance didn't have anything in stock that wasn't Chinese for my Sonata.

Did they have a way to tell if they were Chinese before ordering them?

Did you have to order them and just hope they wouldn't be Chinese?

 

[ChrisW]

The article makes it clear to me that there are currently no domestic aftermarket brake rotor manufacturers. I don't think it to mean that there are no domestic manufacturers for the OE market. Perhaps I can talk to someone in the steel industry whether they know if there are truly no more domestic manufacturers of brake rotors, aftermarket or OE. I would consider a domestic manufacture to be one who casts and machines their own rotors and not necessarily one that buys castings from outside the US and machines them to their standards. Aside, I thought our [US] production of steel was still regarded as pretty high compared globally? Or does the US really import that much steel?

However, with as many threads that I have read about factory equipped cars with bad rotors, I begin to wonder how high of a grade the OE is getting if their rotors are cast/made in China or other non-US countries. It's sort of like the USDA 'Prime' beef, where supposedly only the top restaurants get first pickings, but at some point, I begin to think that the OEM would not want to put the top pick rotors on a car because logically they should cost more. At least if I were a foundry/machine of rotors, I would of course charge more for my better grade stuff. Unless there isn't that much of a price difference between the economy and prime rotors I make, but from a profitable business standpoint, I'd definitely take advantage of the you get what you pay for mind set and make my better grade stuff noticeably more expensive than economy grade.
/tangent