ATE PremiumOne Brake Rotors

[Oldswagon]

Our '99 Civic recently started having a brake pulsation and grinding noise as of late. So I pulled the wheels off the car today to inspect the brakes. Since the brakes only had about 40K km's on them, I was disappointed that the rotors seemed to be warped. My other half drives this car for the most part, and it sees lots of highway, and she is easy on brakes.

The rotors were in terrible shape, severely corroded, significant run-out. The rotors on the car are the ATE PremiumOne slotted rotors (not my choice, my FIL had them installed for her a couple of years ago). I know up here in Canada, these rotors are in the CTC flyer all the time and they are not cheap. I would not recommend this rotors to anyone.

On top of that, even though the brake pads had about 60% life left, one of the pads seperated from the backing plate. Not sure what pads they were, but they looked like a decent quality product (they definitely were not an economy pad). Obviously, poor quality control on those pads. I've never had that happend to ANY of my brakes over the years.

Installed a fresh set of Raybestos ceramics and (plain) rotors today. These brakes are very nice so far, hopefully they last longer than this last set.

 

[moribundman]

Originally Posted By: Oldswagon
The rotors on the car are the ATE PremiumOne slotted rotors (not my choice, my FIL had them installed for her a couple of years ago). I know up here in Canada, these rotors are in the CTC flyer all the time and they are not cheap. I would not recommend this rotors to anyone.


I have been using these ATE rotors for years (The name was changed some time ago, but they are still the same elliptically slotted rotors). I never had a problem with them, they were the best rotors I have ever used. Those rotors never warped (I am very careful when installing brakes -- I do check runout, which almost nobody does), never wore strangely, or were anything but excellent. I am especially fond of the elliptical slots under wet driving conditions.

The ATE premium pads are also very good -- never had a problem with any of them.

 

[drewjp]

Same here....I have never had anything go wrong with ATE products. They are a serious brake company.

I would take it up with ATE...they would probably like to hear about this. Most decent small companies would also try and keep you as a customer by making it up to you.

 

[Audi Junkie]

I dislike ATE products.

 

[djb]

I had an ATE rotor that had an out-of-plane surface -- the face that mated to the hub. It took over a year, with multiple tire rotations and balancing, before I noticed the uneven brake pad noise when spinning the wheel while doing unrelated work.

The other three rotors that I bought at the same time had unmeasurable run-out. So my experience is that 25% of ATE rotors are bad.

It's almost certainly not that high, but it's a stronger data point than "I've never had a bad one". A defective rotor like this shouldn't have gotten out of the factory -- ATE clearly didn't have 100% quality checking.

 

[djb]

Originally Posted By: drewjp

I would take it up with ATE...they would probably like to hear about this. Most decent small companies would also try and keep you as a customer by making it up to you.


The ATE warranty is useless. You have to return the product in its original box. I didn't keep the box -- I didn't expect a brake rotor to be defective.

Realistically, any brake rotor warranty has little value. Shipping a 16lb rotor back the company is going to be expensive. And you'll need to buy a replacement while waiting for a possible replacement. The best approach is to just avoid buying parts like this from a company that lets defective products out of the factory.

 

[mechtech2]

Today is not yesterday.
Things have changed, and many products that have earned a reputable name are going by their past performance. But China components, and other cheaper mfg. are utilized often.

 

[Carmudgeon]

ATE makes good brake parts, but their rotors are average.

IME, I've had new ATE rotors that pulsated until given a light skim, and have seen at least one additional complaint about the same.

I've also seen new Brembos with a not unnoticeable casting flaw (a void) right in the friction surface.

Everybody has their QC slips, but...

Balo rotors are excellent, and not inordinately expensive, but they only have a limited application range.

 

[Greaser]

I have ATE rotors with Hawk Ceramic pads on my Cherokee for a year now ,and one moose hunt (up and down steep hills losta braking)and so far so good.I am going to try EBC sport rotors and the Hawk Ceramic pads on my Wrangler this year.

 

[Greaser]

http://www.ebcbrakes.com/

 

[Oldswagon]

I guess others have had good luck with ATE, but we definitely did not with this car. They were on for two years and 40,000 kms. Rusted and warped - these units appear to me to be a low quality product.

As for the brake pads, we looked through the receipts and found that they were Monroe pads from CTC. Brought the pads into CTC and they gave us a refund. We got more money back than the Raybestos pads cost.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Zimmerman or generic.

 

[nthach]

Honda makes their rotors in-house at their Anna Engine plant. Hondas are like cats - finicky about what you feed them.

I'm running Monroe Ceramics in the family beater, they dust like a mofo and they're not as good with stopping now compared to new. I'm throwing Bendix MKD576s back in it ASAP.

 

[97prizm]

I ran Hawk "Blue" pads on my 1984 Mazda RX-7 race car, and I can tell you from experience that when cold they act like a grinding wheel on your rotors. With four track days, some street driving, and two driving school days at the race track my rotors had a 1/4 inch groove cut into them. Greaser as a note I installed ceramic pads on my Geo after the previous set of pads I had wold hardly stop my car when warm. The ceramics squeal until warm making it necessary to check them as most pads only squeal when they are almost worn out. I have seen a little bit more rotor wear then with traditional pads but I think that the trade off is worth it.

 

[Greaser]

Originally Posted By: 97prizm

I ran Hawk "Blue" pads on my 1984 Mazda RX-7 race car, and I can tell you from experience that when cold they act like a grinding wheel on your rotors. With four track days, some street driving, and two driving school days at the race track my rotors had a 1/4 inch groove cut into them. Greaser as a note I installed ceramic pads on my Geo after the previous set of pads I had wold hardly stop my car when warm. The ceramics squeal until warm making it necessary to check them as most pads only squeal when they are almost worn out. I have seen a little bit more rotor wear then with traditional pads but I think that the trade off is worth it.
I've always used the Napa Ceramix and they were good but ate rotors.This wasn't that big a deal since I was using cheap chinese rotors and by the time the pads were almost done the rotors were cooked anyway.I thought I'd try a more pricey rotor that had grooves and "stuff" since they were on sale.Matched with the Hawk pads stopping was much improved.Now I'll try the EBC rotors and Hawk ceramic pads this summer on my TJ .

 

[PT1]

The best rotor/pad combination I have ever used is the Raybestos Advanced Technology. They are excellent IMO. Plus they are guaranteed true out of the box 1 year and the pads are lifetime (as long as you own the car) guaranteed. So if you are a long miler/owner they will be the last pads you ever buy. My local Federated Auto Parts guy gives me that guarantee.

 

[kelpie]

Your car ate your ATE rotors.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[PT1]

Originally Posted By: kelpie
Your car ate your ATE rotors.

Sorry, couldn't resist.