Another good experience with Advance Auto Wearever

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Bottom_Feeder

Bottom_Feeder

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I've had Wearever rotors and Wearever Gold Ceramic pads on my Subaru for about a year and I've been very happy with them. The Chinese-made rotors were machined nicely and the fit perfectly. No complaints at all.

The wife's Corolla needed rear drum brakes late last year, so it got Wearever parts. Again, the Chinese drums looked well-made and nicely finished. Actually, the Wagner shoes looked suspiciously cheesy but everything seems to work fine.

So the wife complained of grinding from the front end last week, and after driving it about 20 feet and hearing the telltale screeching noise of pad backing plate against brake rotor, it was apparent that the front brakes were shot. Back to Advance, this time buying online and taking advantage of a coupon code and saving a bunch of cash. Again, the Wearever rotors looked nicely made and finished, and the Gold Ceramic pads came with rubber-coated shims. After some break-in, the brakes work great with plenty of cold grab and no noise.

I'm not a big fan of Chinese-made products but I've been more than happy with the quality and price of Advance's Wearever brake rotors.
 
Where were the pads made?

I used Wearever rotors on the back of my Sonata. They seemed decent quality. Probably the same Chinese factories turn out many of the different brands available.
 
I just put a set of wearever rotors and gold pads this past weekend; I've been using this brand for the last two years without any issues. They are so cheap that I just pull the old rotors off and replace them vs having them turned.

Make sure you take advanage of the $15 rebate. Like the nexgen oil rebates from advance, it's online, quick, and painless.
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/content_rebates___

With the rebate and the $40 off of $100 coupon codes it cost me just over $50 plus my labor for a whole new set of brakes, what a deal!
 
My wife once complained about "front end grinding" three years ago - that was the last of that. Old age I guess ... ... ... what's a guy to do?

Ps -
I would NEVER buy chinese car parts intentionally. I didnt buy a purolator air filter for our 09 Subaru as it was sourced form china. We need jobs HERE.
 
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite

I would NEVER buy chinese car parts intentionally. I didnt buy a purolator air filter for our 09 Subaru as it was sourced form china. We need jobs HERE.


I agree with you, and I try very hard to avoid Chinese products. But when it comes to rotors, there are basically no US options for aftermarket brake rotors. All the US foundries have closed down. So a lot of times, you're left with Chinese or nothing. Unless you happen to find very old stock at your local auto parts store, you won't be finding USA made rotors.

The vast majority of rotors you can buy come from China. There are others from places like Korea and Brazil, but they seem to be in the minority.
 
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Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite

Ps -
I would NEVER buy chinese car parts intentionally.


Haven't tried to buy any rotors lately have you? Your aftermarket options are pretty much China, China, and China. There are no aftermarket producers left with production in the USA. The last set of rotors I bought were the rear rotors for my Explorer, and they were a set with a a lot of dust on them from the back room - Wagners made in Brazil.
 
Originally Posted By: MNgopher
Haven't tried to buy any rotors lately have you? Your aftermarket options are pretty much China, China, and China. There are no aftermarket producers left with production in the USA.

Exactly. So knowing that, I got rotors at the best price and most convenient place I could find, knowing full well they were going to be Chinese-made.
 
Quote:
...I didnt buy a purolator air filter for our 09 Subaru as it was sourced form china.....

To be fair, Fram is now the same, as this post shows. It is, what it is. Unlike oil filters, it's very difficult to find standard US made air filters.

As for the OP, thanks for sharing your experience. Curious how long the rotors with last. AAP is perhaps my favorite b&m parts store, and as mentioned buying online using codes, can save some serious coin.
 
I just got pads at Advance Auto. I was going to get the Wearever Gold pads , but they were only rated EE. The Silver [one step down] were rated FF.
I'll take the better braking [better coefficient of friction]vs. possible dust.
 
Which is understandable. Where are the ratings listed?

The old CarQuest rotors and semi-metallic pads that were removed from her car never really felt that great for some reason. They were never good at any particular temperature and they dusted like crazy. These Wearever Gold Ceramic pads seem to have a good amount of cold grab and they only get better as they get hotter. The ones on the front of my Subaru make almost no dust, especially compared to the Napa semi-metallics on the rear.
 
Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
Which is understandable. Where are the ratings listed?


It's generally stamped or marked somewhere on the pads themselves, from my experience.
 
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I hate Wearever Silver products. That said, I am sure that their ceramics are decent. You get what you pay for, in most cases.

They were prone to oxidation, squeaking, and were just generally poor quality with poor stopping power, especially when wet. I replaced them at half of their life.

I've had good luck with O'Reilly's ceramic Brake Best Select, which is made by Bosch. All things considered, wouldn't surprise me if it is the same as the Wearever ceramic.

Just avoid value pads. I also like to spring for the Wagner rotors but they don't seem to be radically different than the store brands.

Almost all brake parts these days are imported, it seems.
 
I used them on my dad's 2007 Pontiac G6. They work as they are supposed to.

For that car, the Wearever gold pads came from India. That really annoyed me. At one time, at least brake pads could be easily be found that were made in first world countries.
 
There still are plenty of brake pads made in first-world countries, but I doubt you'll find them sold under the store brands, as those are probably sold mostly on price point.

Akebono ProACT are USA made. Bendix CT-3 are made in Canada and the US, from what I've seen. There are other examples, too. Just do a little research before you buy.

But for rotors, there's almost nothing except Chinese parts.
 
Originally Posted By: zeezee
I hate Wearever Silver products. That said, I am sure that their ceramics are decent. You get what you pay for, in most cases.

They were prone to oxidation, squeaking, and were just generally poor quality with poor stopping power, especially when wet. I replaced them at half of their life.

I've had good luck with O'Reilly's ceramic Brake Best Select, which is made by Bosch. All things considered, wouldn't surprise me if it is the same as the Wearever ceramic.

Just avoid value pads. I also like to spring for the Wagner rotors but they don't seem to be radically different than the store brands.

Almost all brake parts these days are imported, it seems.


Evidently, you only used the silver on one car once.
 
My buddy and I have noticed that the lateral runout on inexpensive rotors tends to be higher than premium rotors. For this reason we stick to Centric Carbon or Premiums vs the C-TEK.

For a Toyota, the OE pads are priced so attractively that to me it makes little sense to use anything else.
 
Obligatory Chinese rotor picture:

rotor_warning.jpg


Having said that, I have to wonder why you even needed new rotors. I have a Ford with over 208K miles in it's original vintage 1995 rotors.
 
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