Brake Rotor - Are there any good ones left?

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Oldswagon
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Aisin OE (from the dealer) is pretty good, Centric Premium or Centric High Carbon are decent as well. Clean the hub flange really well and make sure the runout is under 0.002" after installation, and you should be ok for a while.


Rockauto.com shows the OE pads as Advics. I am assuming these would be the same as the Toyota dealer? They are about half the price. I may go with these since Abekonos are out of stock and are more expensive. The Beck/Arnley OE pads are also listed as being made by Advics but are more expensive than the Advics ultra premium pads.


They are different -not the same. The dealer pads are usually the Advics PV565H material. Have you checked toyotapartsdeal for pricing on OE parts?

 

[Oldswagon]

Originally Posted By: The Critic


They are different -not the same. The dealer pads are usually the Advics PV565H material. Have you checked toyotapartsdeal for pricing on OE parts?


I appreciate all the great info, you seem to know you Toyota pads. I just checked Toyotaparsdeal - they don't ship to Canada. There is an online Toyota parts place I deal with here, but the price on the pads, plus the shim kits is almost double what the Advics are on RockAuto. The local dealer is about the same.

So are OE pads really worth double the price? Are the Beck/Arnley that are listed as OE brakes different too? What is the difference between the Toyota OEM and these Advics?

Advics:

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=1875010&cc=1441501

(note it shows Toyota OE part numbers on this listing)

Beck/Arnley - OE

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=2000054&cc=1441501

What about Toyota TRD pads?

 

[Hokiefyd]

I used Beck/Arnley pads on our MDX once, and they were in an Advics box, but I was not satisfied with them at all. I'm afraid what worked for me (the Akebonos have been excellent) may not work for you, given meep's experience with that brand. I'm getting ready to do brakes all around on my Ridgeline, and am targeting the Centric 125-series rotors and Centric Posiquiet pads. AutoZone charges a pretty penny for their coated rotors (over $80 each for the front rotors for my Ridgeline, vs. about $50 each shipped for the Centric rotors from RockAuto.com). If AutoZone's price was significantly closer to RockAuto.com's price, I'd probably buy locally. But, I can't justify a $100+ difference for four rotors, especially when I know the Centric 125-series rotors have consistently positive reviews...and, I generally haven't been wow'd by AutoZone's house brand stuff in the past.

 

[philipp10]

I have been driving since 1977. In all the years leading up to 2015, I never replaced a rotor, just slapped on pads and keep going. Never saw a pulsation issue. Last year I had a set on my RAV4 but they were so rusted I decided to replace. Guess what? I got pulsations. Moral of the story, if your rotors are still working, don’t replace them.

 

[meep]

sorry it's taken me a while to respond -- I've never tried any other pad besides akebono since that's been my go-to. If I were to do it again, I'd be looking hard at pad ratings and leaning towards braking performance with less worry on dusting.

 

[09_GXP]

I really enjoy the Raybestos Professional Grade rotors. I've used them on 6 or 7 vehicles and never had an issues. I'm currently running them on my MX-5 Miata race car and they will last a couple sets of race pads before they start crazing from the heat. Haven't warped or worn one out yet.

 

[artificialist]

I never had a problem when using the Raybestos premium line.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Oldswagon
Originally Posted By: The Critic


They are different -not the same. The dealer pads are usually the Advics PV565H material. Have you checked toyotapartsdeal for pricing on OE parts?


I appreciate all the great info, you seem to know you Toyota pads. I just checked Toyotaparsdeal - they don't ship to Canada. There is an online Toyota parts place I deal with here, but the price on the pads, plus the shim kits is almost double what the Advics are on RockAuto. The local dealer is about the same.

So are OE pads really worth double the price? Are the Beck/Arnley that are listed as OE brakes different too? What is the difference between the Toyota OEM and these Advics?

Advics:

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=1875010&cc=1441501

(note it shows Toyota OE part numbers on this listing)

Beck/Arnley - OE

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=2000054&cc=1441501

What about Toyota TRD pads?





I don't know - large pad mfgs offer many different formulations. The formulations that Advics uses for their aftermarket line are likely different than their OE line. For instance, take a look at this document:

http://www.ameca.org/wp-content/uploads/...il-1-2016-1.pdf

I buy a lot of Toyota pads and often see "Advics PV565H FG" printed on the pads. But look at how many other formulas are produced by Advics. These formulas may be similar but are obviously different to a degree. My guess is that the aftermarket pads from Advics and Akebono are fine, but IME they tend to be slightly different than the OE pad. To some people, this is an issue. To others, not so much.

 

[KrisZ]

For compact and midsize cars, as those are the ones I have personal experience with, I find the cheapest rotors I can get and paint the hats myself. The current set on my 06 Mazda 3 is now 6 years old, in the rust belt and only now they are developing a slight pulsation, only noticeable at highway speeds. The "superior" OEM ones were pulsating after 4 years. Also, due to heavy salting, I find that on a daily driven car, the rotors, be it coated, OEM or the cheapest of the cheap, will be too rusty between the vanes or will have a big rusty lip, so resurfacing them doesn't make sense. Maybe a quick and dirty pad slap to get a bit more time out of them, but that's it.

 

[SHOZ]

I just got some from Rock Auto made by Dura International. They are black plated on the hat and internally on the vanes. Good price too at $33 shipped.

 

[The Critic]

FYI - US made brake rotors do still exist. I just bought these last week. The rotors were definitely machined much nicer (a lot smoother) than any premium aftermarket rotors that I have used. Even the unswept areas were painted (normally you get a rust ring).

Untitled by The Critc, on Flickr.

Untitled by The Critic, on Flickr

 

[Oldswagon]

Thanks for the info. I will have to check if the Toyota rotors for my application are still USA made.

 

[kschachn]

Like the Critic, I bought Toyota rotors for my Sienna a while back and they were USA made (and well made) but I'll warn you they weren't cheap. The ones I got for my BMW were Brembo and made in Italy, also well made.

 

[Donald]

I have been told there are rotors that are cast overseas but machined in the US. A mechanic told me that but I cannot remember the brand.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Donald
I have been told there are rotors that are cast overseas but machined in the US. A mechanic told me that but I cannot remember the brand.

That is true. But my understanding is that Advics is casting and machining these units in the US.

Their pricing is reasonably good as well. My cost of them was only about 20% more than Rockauto's price for premium aftermarket on the same car.

 

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted By: philipp10
I have been driving since 1977. In all the years leading up to 2015, I never replaced a rotor, just slapped on pads and keep going. Never saw a pulsation issue. Last year I had a set on my RAV4 but they were so rusted I decided to replace. Guess what? I got pulsations. Moral of the story, if your rotors are still working, don’t replace them.


+1 for the above comment.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
Originally Posted By: philipp10
I have been driving since 1977. In all the years leading up to 2015, I never replaced a rotor, just slapped on pads and keep going. Never saw a pulsation issue. Last year I had a set on my RAV4 but they were so rusted I decided to replace. Guess what? I got pulsations. Moral of the story, if your rotors are still working, don’t replace them.


+1 for the above comment.

Of the last 10 brake jobs I did, I think only 1 car did not display any signs of pedal pulsation. All of the cars were coming to me for their first brake job, so they had the original rotors and pads.

 

[andyd]

Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
Originally Posted By: philipp10
I have been driving since 1977. In all the years leading up to 2015, I never replaced a rotor, just slapped on pads and keep going. Never saw a pulsation issue. Last year I had a set on my RAV4 but they were so rusted I decided to replace. Guess what? I got pulsations. Moral of the story, if your rotors are still working, don’t replace them.


+1 for the above comment.
Yah, I hit them with a wire wheel to scrub off the transferred pad material. Generally, I just pad slap. Rotor-wise, I favor a cheap ,dusty pad. If the dust bothers, paint wheels matte grayish black

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: KrisZ
For compact and midsize cars, as those are the ones I have personal experience with, I find the cheapest rotors I can get and paint the hats myself. The current set on my 06 Mazda 3 is now 6 years old, in the rust belt and only now they are developing a slight pulsation, only noticeable at highway speeds. The "superior" OEM ones were pulsating after 4 years. Also, due to heavy salting, I find that on a daily driven car, the rotors, be it coated, OEM or the cheapest of the cheap, will be too rusty between the vanes or will have a big rusty lip, so resurfacing them doesn't make sense. Maybe a quick and dirty pad slap to get a bit more time out of them, but that's it.


Agreed on rotors rusting out around me before they wear out. It doesn't matter the brand. 4-6 years seems to be it for rotors. I saw that on our old Fit, and on my Cruze.

I went with whatever rotors Advance had. They looked identical to OEM.