I was impressed with the cheapo rotors and pads we put on my GF's integra.
Her car is used for either smooth, cruise control, 65 mph riding on the highway, or slow cruising around town/in traffic. Nothing too severe, and so we figured that we would save a few dollars and get the autozone lifetime pads, since they were on sale, and half the prioce of the usual OE equivalent pads that I get from my distributor. Pads are cheap enough that I figured if they are that bad, I can replace them quickly and easily.
I got the Albany 'lifetime' warranty pads for the front and rear from autozone. AZ was out of front rotors, but I got a set of rear rotors (Albany brand) from them. I got the house brand 'prostop' front vented rotors from pep boys.
Except on my truck, which has large vented rotors front and rear, which cost $100 each, I dont think its worth it to pay $10-15 to turn a rotor, especially if it is a solid one. Rotors are only as good as its heat storage capacity, and the less mass, the less capacity. Since the rotors (frt and rear) on my truck are oversized for towing, and I dont tow, I havent had an issue. Especially because they arent very succeptible to warping.
I was REALLY impressed with the new rotors and pads on the integra. I figured they would provide just good enough ho-hum performance, and that Id probably use them for 20k and then replace them early. Because of how well they do, Ill probably use these pads and rotors again, maybe on other cars too!
The performance was as good as on my friend's new integra I drove a few years back. Her integra also stopped better than when she had the pads done at the dealer last time.
So suprisingly, I have been really happy with autozone lifetime pads and the standard 1 year warranty rotors.
Just my experience. But whenever possible (I use the rule that if rotors are less than ~$50 each, or are solid, they should be replaced with the pads), Id say to do the rotors with pads, so its all new. That yields the best performance for me at least.
It may be different if you use through a set of pads in 20k miles or less... I can often get 100k of life on pads, even on my cars that get around-town and traffic driving. I dont think ive ever goten less than 40k miles on a set of pads, even on euro cars using soft pads. YMMV.
JMH
