I had a tire rotation and balance yesterday and it appears it's time for new brake pads, and judging from the huge ridge on the rotors they'll have to be replaced as well.

EBC Redstuff pads seem to have some fans but I've also read that ceramic pads are noisy and squeal. We've gone 65,000 miles on the originals which is okay by me. This car doesn't get driven hard and only sees very easy service so I'm wondering if I should just get a good semi-metallic pad equal to OEM and call it good. Comments?

Next up the rotors. I've read the comments about avoiding the Chinese imports, but which ones are they? Zimmerman, EBC, or something else? Don't yell at me, but just for fun I checked Autozone and they list a premium quality rotor with a 2 year warranty although it doesn't state a country of origin. EBC's warranty by contrast is 12 months. Does anyone want to confess to using the Autozone rotors?
Comments or suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks

 

I'm a little surprised that nobody wanted to share any personal experiences with brake and rotor replacement using products different from what is mentioned in the FAQs. Could it be that everybody just uses the same stuff without variation? What's the possibility? Amazing.

 

I have to do this soon, with 70K on the meter. It seems to me that if the OEM went this far, they must be fairly good, no?

 

That's finally how I figured it Bruce. The brakes always worked great on this car so why try to outsmart the factory? I probably could have stretched it out a few thousand more miles but I didn't want to get caught needing to do the job at an inopportune time. 65000 in mostly city driving is pretty good in my book so no need to try for a record.

 

Stickman, I am running full ceramic pads on my car along with some E-bay slotted/drilled rotors (don't recall a manufacturer). My car will stop on a dime now. If I leave something on the seat, one hard brake and it is off the seat no questions asked. As for squeaks, none to be heard of. Normally brake squeak is due to the pad (regardless of what type of pad) vibrating against the piston of the caliper. If you apply a little bit of pad glue ($5 bottle at any local auto parts store), you will be pretty much garanteed not to have any squeaks. The glue gets applied where the piston of the caliper touches the pad (back side of the pad). If you are worried later about not getting the glue off, don't. A little tug when the caliper is free of the rotor and the pads come off.

I spent $200 for all 4 rotors and 2 sets of pads. So, I am sure I didn't get the highest quality stuff. But, for the price and the performance gain, they have more than lasted their money's worth already. It's been 30K miles and the pads still have lots of life left, the rotors are still true (never turned). With that being said, what normally trashes a rotor is a hard braking followed by a run through a puddle. The water getting splashed on the rotor will cause it to cool unevenly which will cause the rotor to flex some, resulting in it not spinning in a true circle. From there, the more you heat it/cool it, the worse this warp becomes.

 

i used el-cheapo pads from advance and have no problem with them, i went the expensive route with other cars and really don't see/feel any difference...but then i'm not a race car driver :+)

 

I have done the drilled and slotted ebay rotors with a set of pads included. I have done this with my XJ & 2000 lincoln Continental and have never had an issue. They work just as good as anything else I have done. Over the summer I purchased a set of drilled and slotted from the same person on ebay for my father who has a Ford f350 super duty that hauls heavy loads and they have been great. My father commented the other day that his rotors always warped within months of replacement. So far all has been well. I would give it a shot for the money. Well worth it if you can find a good shop to install parts for you if you do not want to do it.

 

Stickman, where are you living? If you are in the DC area, I would tell you to come on down to my place and in the course of say 90 minutes, we can get all 4 rotors changed out and new pads put on your car. It is really easy and as long as you have some basic tools (metric wrenches, metric sockets, wire brush, jack, jack stand, 6" C-clamp (2), and pad glue), you can do this job yourself. I have done a few cars and it is really easy to get done. The only "hard" part to this job is having the special tool to spin in the rear calipers. But, that is a $10 part.

 

Chris,
Thank You for your generous offer. An extra pair of experienced hands is always a plus on most any project, but I think the drive would be a bit much as I'm in Southern California. Nonetheless, aqccording to my wife I've got more tools than the law allows. I was just interested in expanding the feedback on others' experiences with differing parts from what is mentioned in FAQ.

Not bragging but I built this in my garage.







Thanks again.
Frank

 

OMG! That is STUNNING

 

Stickman, don't tease me with a car like that. I am waiting patiently for a house so I can have a garage to work on a vehicle like that. I am torn between either a 1970 Dodge Charger (with a blown Viper V10), a 1923 T-Bucket, or a 1933 Vicky. We'll see. So many toys, so little space and money.

 

Stickman, lovely Cobra. I went with Akebono euro pads for really low dust and the Centric rotors from Tirerack. Price was decent and didn't think I needed drilled/slotted rotors as I'm a fairly tame driver myself.