FAQ: Brake Rotors and Pads

For what it's worth, my stock rear rotors literally fell apart at 50k miles. I replaced them with cheaper (Chinese made) NAPA discs and have been good to almost 127k. During that time, I've changed the fronts at least twice. I'll consider getting a better quality set for the front next time, but the rears are not getting any special treatment.

I used to use the cheap rotors from NAPA, Autozone, etc. but I had a lot of warping issues because of the way I drive. I bought a set of cross drilled rotors off of ebay and I haven't had those issues since. I think they really help to disburse the heat.

I think having 12" rotors on the front helps my rears last longer. The OEM rear discs were a bad defective design, imo.

quote "The OEM rear discs were a bad defective design"
so were the fronts IMO

The fronts were too small, so they corrected it, but a conservative driver could get by on them. The rears however had a different kind of problem. Mine looked like this:



That's not rust, it's actually where the steel "plating" broke away. The insides looked to be made of sand. Talk about a nasty sound... I thought my rear wheels were going to fall off! Rear pads were totally trashed.

The cross drilled look nice. What I don't like about our brakes is that they seem to develop hard spots rather quickly. Mine are somewhat new and are not warped but at hiway speeds when I brake the car tends to vibrate as if the rotors are warped, but at low speeds they work fine.

i have the exact opposite problem, but its the car itself that vibrates, not the peddel or steering wheel. i think its warped rears.

NO 4 EVR wrote:

Mine are somewhat new and are not warped but at hiway speeds when I brake the car tends to vibrate as if the rotors are warped, but at low speeds they work fine.

Mine vibrate only if I brake HARD at anything over 60 mph, gradual braking, they work just fine. Don't know what I'll do if a deer decides to cross the road, and I'm approaching at 80+...

My .02 cents. If you get a lot of shudder, with hard braking, check your rear rotors. My my rears were thin and even with good pads they would shake the whole car. I am not sure if it the stance or suspension, but I could not believe how much the rear brakes where shaking the car.

This happened on both my rivs, luckily the second time around I knew to swap in new rear rotors. IIRC the min thickness of the rear rotor is like 10mm or something. It was cast right into the OEM rotor. The rears are not vented and 9.5mm still "LOOKS" pretty thick.

My rears caused some serious vibration under hard breaking before they were replaced.

ive had excellent perf since i put on some drilled powerstops with Hawk Ferro Carbons..... only the front got drilled though,since the rear are not vented theres no point...

Who has used what and what and what type of results have you seen from each rotor type.

I still have the stock rotors on my car. I changed the front brake pads to Hawk performance pads this summer. Once they get warmed up, it stops really good.

I bought drilled rotors off of ebay. I think they were around $120 for the set of four. I was getting a lot of warpage from the cheap-throw away rotors. I definately believe in ceramic pads!

ceramic pads coupled with slotted/cross-drilled rotors work wonderfully. Using ceramic pads (when OE suggests semi-metallic) on standard rotors seem to be hit or miss. some people say they love it, some say its a huge problem of warping and eating rotors/pads. The issue seems to be that the ceramic pad heats up much quicker (as it should) than the semi-metallic and the rotor might not be able to cope with that heat very well. This is a heavier vehicle and for that reason, I'd have to suggest using performance rotors if you want to use ceramic pads.

Between slotted vs. drilled, the benefit is the same and the method depends only on the manufacturer. Personally, i'd buy some that are drilled and slotted.

Just to keep it clear, the oem front rotors are vented rotors and the rears are solid rotors. I only say this because the topic says "solid v. slotted..." The rear will remain a solid design regardless of slotting/drilling and the front respectively. The only way that could be changed is by replacing the calipers also. I know I have seen someone with a bonne change their rear brakes to a vented design like the front

slotted rotors keep the pads from glazing over by scraping a bit of material from it,drilled rotors,allow for gas,and better heat disipation. IMO slotted are only necessary for a road race car,since you have a better chance of glazing...

i ordered front power stop drilled rotors from www.autopartswarehouse.com and they sent the rear ones. now i have to pay a/b $30 to send them back the they called today saying they sent the drilled ones for the front and i have to call ups to refuse shipment and then the will send the right ones on thursday and they should be hear on friday.

shoulda ordered them from summit...

i just replaced mine yesterday!
urbsnspices is right, the stock ones are supposed to be replaced at 9.5mm and they are like 10mm new so you must have a micrometer to really tell if they are too thin, but mine were warping so i knew they needed to be replaced.
smooth as ever now, even under 100-0 stops!!! but i can actually feel the fronts slightly warped now, before the car shook to the point i didnt know what it was.
btw i took lots of pics and can do a write up for replacing the rear rotors/pads if anyone wants.

I have a pair of drilled front rotors in the for sale section if anyone is interested.

About 30k miles ago, I replaced the front rotors (as usual, they warp every so often) and pads. I didn't need to replace the pads, actually. But they were making noise, so tried the Hawk Ceramic pads. $80 + shipping if I remember. They seemed to stop the car pretty well, quieter, and less dust on the wheels.

But aren't ceramic pads supposed to wear a lot longer? Guess not. Yesterday I heard a grinding noise from driver side, and today it got a lot louder. Checked the rotor, and the outside pad must be totally gone, because I can see where it's turning a nice, deep groove into the disc, which were starting to warp anyway, but probably had another 5k miles left. So strange that a premium pad like the Hawk should fail so prematurely.

Any suggestions on what to go with? I liked the Hawks, but I don't want to replace them again in 30k miles. What's as good or better, for the street?

sure its not something between the pad and rotor like a metal shard causing the groove?
i like my bendix pads and rotors. they are barly even worn after at least 15k miles plus they have a lifetime warenty! if they wear out they will send you new ones FREE! i've never heard noise from them and they dont have that much dust.
my only complaint is that they dont have much inital bite, but if you get on them they will stop the car every time, even when hot. the "bite" that some import and german cars have is nice, i dont know if its the pads,calipers, MC, or all the above that give them better brake feel?

from what i understand; the more stoping power and race inspired formula you go with the more dust you will have and the faster they will wear. on the other hand, a low dust, long life pad will not stop as well. so what's the happy medium?

Point. I'm not sure if it's the pad. I thought it was a rock or something at first. Maybe it was, but surely the pad is ruined by now. Hawk is based here in OH. When I take them off, If it looks like the pad is defective, they'll be receiving them in the mail.

Not sure about your theory, it could very well be correct. From what I know, the more race-inspired pads wear faster, will wear your rotors faster, and have lots of friction, which to me means lots of dust and noise.

I'm going to look into some life-time warranty options. Makes sense as often as I go through brakes. Is there such a thing as a life-time rotor?

i think napa's rotors have the warenty, but when i priced them they cost double just for the lifetime gar.
which works if you plan on replacing them a 3rd time. (over 150k miles just to get your moneys worth)
the rotors should last a long time if the pads are gently on them

my hawks have quite a few miles on them...an they look beautiful...i dunno if maybe diff in rotors apply here i wouldnt think so but..i have the drilled powerstops in the front..so the pads can breathe bttr,,low dust..no noise...an makes the abls go crazy when i get on them..