Centric Premium vs Raybestos Brakes

[country_rob]

Howdy,

I have been on-line trying to purchase brake drums for an old Jeep. I finally was able to track them down; however, for my year,make, and model, there are two options, one for Raybestos for $135 per drum, and one for Centric Premium which is only $40 per drum. Does anyone have an idea why the big difference in cost between the two manufacturer's? The warranties are the same, so there must be some other difference. Are Raybestos that much better then Centric? Does anyone have any experience with one manufacturer over the other?

Thanks

 

[firefighter]

Centric is a newer company, very good products. We started using them at the shop when people don't want OE. We used to use raybestos. I liked raybestos 10 years ago, but lately ecspecially when it came to pads they did not have a clean cut on the stamping which left a rough lip you had to file down so they would slide in the caliper bracket. I have not had this problem with Centric. Centric brakes, also seem to produce a good pedel feel and stopping power. I've only hung about two dozen sets of this brand so far so the jury is still out, but no complaints yet.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Brake pads are like ice cream. They come in a MILLION flavors and you may not like one of them.

My personal experience with Centric is mixed. Bought some wonderful rotors from them, good quality.

Bought some Posi Quiet Pads that were absolutely horrible!

So a mixed report.

 

[Bluestream]

Hard to know who actually makes the pad anyway. The name on the box means nothing. I have been in a plant that makes brake pads, and I can tell you after seeing how they make them the cost to make a set of pads is $1-$2. This company would box the same pad under many different names, and they sold none under their own name. After seeing how they are made what we pay at retail is a huge mark-up (rip-oof) at the very least.

 

[ludey]

Tell me about it. I once got a hold of wholesale price sheet for a famous brake pad manufacturer. I couldn't believe the markup!

 

[MaximaGuy]

Raybestos is a joke... I was a big fan of Raybestos but I have since moved on since their quality has take a steep fall..

I will go with Wagner, Adaptive One, Hawk etc.

 

[wgtoys]

Even "top name brand" brake discs and drums are often reboxed Chinese made products these days. I've have a set of Centric rotors on my Acura for about 20k miles now. So far, so good.

 

[dparm]

Drums/rotors...just get whatever is cheap. In my Honda days, I used to run the cheap $40/pair Autozone blanks. Worked just fine and I didn't cry when I chewed threw them.

 

[bowlofturtle]

centric and rays are what i normally use. I let the cost pick for me. In the end i get the cheapest rotors which are normally C-tek and run a mid-range ceramic pad. So far great results from my maxima and camry. Both those cars are parent driven daily. So i dont know 100% on dust but they pedal feel is great and they never had a warp problem in the past 5+ years.

Ive never tried drums with either company tho. My Infiniti i've been looking at c-tek rotors and hawks HPS or something else since i have a dust issue and a rotor warp issue known on the car.

 

[dparm]

Warped rotors is a myth. The vibration comes from uneven pad deposits, usually caused by improper bed-in procedure. Stoptech wrote a huge tech document on this years back.

 

[38sho]

rotors warp dude

I'e seen some warp so bad when u put them on a laithe you [censored] near have to be Hellen Keller not to notice them wobbling and deformed

Many top tier race teams use very, very expensie components in their brakes to deal with higher heat and better effective braking. If they could get away with using 15.00 rotors instead of setups in the thousands, I'm sure they would be.

 

[SteveSRT8]

here's the link: http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_warped_brakedisk.shtml

Believe what you want, VERY few rotors really warp. We have a machine shop in the family and have the local Sheriff contract. Sometimes a hundred rotors a month go through that place and you almost never see any real runout.

So it does happen but exceedingly rarely

 

[bowlofturtle]

my rotors warp due to poor OEM design. too small of a surface or something on the 03-04 G35's front brake system, they fixed it in the 05-06 buy going from 11inch to 12inch rotors and using a 2 piston system vs the older 1 piston.

it hasn't happened to me. but many board members have posted they had warp rotors.

 

[mechtech2]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Warped rotors is a myth. The vibration comes from uneven pad deposits, usually caused by improper bed-in procedure. Stoptech wrote a huge tech document on this years back.


I've done umpteen jillion brake jobs.
Rotors indeed warp.
Heat, Uneven rusting in the internal vents, uneven brake torque, etc..
The Stoptech articles are informative, but not 100% correct. They are heavily biased for racing and hard use, NOT normal street use.

 

[santov]

I'm a huge fan of Centric. They rotors, even the cheap line, are blanchard cut with painted centers. The entry level pads and pad backings look really well finished, with a grove in the middle of the pad for dust/dirt. I've used the ceramic pads on several Hondas, my wife's Infiniti and they dust low and have great stopping power.

FYI: They are the parent company of Stoptech and PowerSlot.

 

[Mr Nice]

Does pumping the brakes help reduce warp rotors ?

 

[unDummy]

No, pumping brakes doesn't help reduce warped rotors. Cooling the brakes does and is why some plumb air flow hoses from the front of the car to the caliper/rotor area.

Anything to keep the rotors from overheating helps. Quit speeding, tailgating, driving like an id10t...usually makes brakes last a long time.

I also disagree with stoptech. Spend a couple weeks on a brake lathe and measure some run-outs. Stoptech's article is overly quoted internet misinformation.

 

[country_rob]

Ok, Thanks guys for all of your commments. I thought maybe I would only like 1 or 2 postings....but I'm happy everyone has been willing to help.

OK...sounds like i should not feel bad about purchasing Centric brake parts!!

I guess the price difference still bothers me....why is
Raybestos at $135 and Centric at $40? Is Raybestos that greedy?

Very Strange!!!!

 

[santov]

If you're comparing Centric online versus Raybestos at a parts store, the margins at parts store is crazy. I like RockAuto for parts, but the shipping on rotors gets expensive. Check out disciuntbrakes.com for great pricing on Centric stuff.

 

[Kaboomba]

Wow, lots of love for Centric on here--I might have to try a set next time around.

Right now I'm working through Wagner ThermoQuiet. I'm happy, but would like better feel. I will say the Wagner setup works well with the ABS tuning.