Pad slapped some Centrics on the wife's 200

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dwcopple

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Car has just under 19K miles on it but it had to have sat for while before we got it. It is a 2011 model but the voice on the Uconnect sounded like an elderly lady. Anyways, we would get a shake in the pedal when braking from higher speeds so I ordered a set of Centric 301 series ceramics from Amazon (love my Prime) and nabbed a set of rotors from Advance using a coupon code of course. I pulled the wheels (must be the first time ever as I had to boot the tire pretty hard several times with my foot to get it to come off the hub. The rotors were still like new (thank goodness, no abundant rusting) so I returned those. When I pulled the caliper (tough too) to inspect the pads I found that they were really worn down to less than 25% life left and the groove cut in the middle of the friction surface was packed full of crud. The new Centric pads had much larger friction area and an angle cut groove in them. I cleaned up the hardware and greased the slide area and put in the new Centric pads and reassembled being sure to put some anti-seize between the lug area. Brakes like new now and no vibration or noise at all. Sweet. Brake job cost me $18.68 for set of new ceramic pads. Gotta love that. The Centric box did say MADE IN CHINA on it
frown.gif

http://www.centricparts.com/products/premium-brake-pads
 
IMO, I've tried the 105 Posi-Quiet Centrics on my car - there was some squeal and if the car hasn't been driven in a while(I bike 80% of the time) or it's been wet out, there will be a grind/groan from the brakes.

I swapped out to Wagner ThermoQuiet - and the noises have been largely gone. I also had a Centric caliper that froze up. I'm just completely meh on Centric.
 
Virtually everything Centric is China made.I believe all they do in this country is cryogenic rotors,stock and ship and "design".
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
I don't get it. How did you get vibration or shake from "bad pads"?


I will withhold comment, and just request a 10K mile follow-up from the OP.
 
Originally Posted By: nthach
IMO, I've tried the 105 Posi-Quiet Centrics on my car - there was some squeal and if the car hasn't been driven in a while(I bike 80% of the time) or it's been wet out, there will be a grind/groan from the brakes.

I swapped out to Wagner ThermoQuiet - and the noises have been largely gone. I also had a Centric caliper that froze up. I'm just completely meh on Centric.


Honda application? Sounds about right. If it's the fronts, you need the OE style two piece shim kit or else there's a decent chance that you will develop some amount of noise.

The Centric 105s are/were a decent pad, not so sure about their economy line though. With the 105s, the rears are almost always FG rated but the fronts are now FE rated, so we haven't used those in a while. Been using Raybestos EHT instead with good results, but I still personally feel that Akebono's compounds in the ProACT line delivers more consistent performance throughout the entire temperature range.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
I don't get it. How did you get vibration or shake from "bad pads"?


Some pads just chatter and/or do not feel smooth while braking. The symptom is a bit different than pedal pulsation or brake judder. The factory Advic pads on my Prius tended to do this once they had been overheated.
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: nthach
IMO, I've tried the 105 Posi-Quiet Centrics on my car - there was some squeal and if the car hasn't been driven in a while(I bike 80% of the time) or it's been wet out, there will be a grind/groan from the brakes.

I swapped out to Wagner ThermoQuiet - and the noises have been largely gone. I also had a Centric caliper that froze up. I'm just completely meh on Centric.


Honda application? Sounds about right. If it's the fronts, you need the OE style two piece shim kit or else there's a decent chance that you will develop some amount of noise.

The Centric 105s are/were a decent pad, not so sure about their economy line though. With the 105s, the rears are almost always FG rated but the fronts are now FE rated, so we haven't used those in a while. Been using Raybestos EHT instead with good results, but I still personally feel that Akebono's compounds in the ProACT line delivers more consistent performance throughout the entire temperature range.


Close - Lexus. FWIW, there's still some squeal - and I have Wagner's QuickStop ceramics in the back. The Centrics I pulled out were FF rated, the Wagners that are in are GF rated. For some reason, Wagner rates their semi-metallics as EE, and NAO/ceramic as GF/GG, FF for QuickStop/PerfectStop and the ones they sell to Federated affiliates.

I've used Monroe Ceramics in a friend's old Civic with no noise, and I have Chinese-made Bendix CT3s with single shims on my parent's Sienna and those haven't squealed a peep.
 
Originally Posted By: dwcopple
Do you grease the back of the pads when installing? It helps a ton.


Not really. I usually use Molykote M77 between the pad and the shim when using OE shims. Otherwise I don't use anything.

Most shims should not require grease. Grease doesn't have much dampening ability by itself.
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Grease doesn't have much dampening ability by itself.
it sure helps with the friction of the pad sliding around on the caliper mount and caliper though. For a few bucks for a tube that does several brake jobs and gives good peace of mind, it is well worth the effort in my experience.
 
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