Are brake best brake rotors decent quality?

[Smoqueed]

I've had great luck with Centric C-TEK ceramic brake pads before. Really cheap, really quiet, and they're rated GG!

EDIT: DOH! You're talking about rotors, well I've had no problem with Centric C-TEK rotors either haha

 

[HangFire]

Originally Posted By: BigD1
Rotors can and do warp. Bought a brand new 1998 Malibu, and the front rotors warped right at 15,000 miles. Warped again around 28,000 miles. All of it was fixed under warranty. Third set lasted until the car was totaled at about 95,000 miles. GM had quality control problems in their rotor supply, and they claimed they just kept changing them to weed out the bad rotors.


Fascinating. Do you have the before and after runout specs?

Or are you just going on what the service writer told you?

 

[HangFire]

Originally Posted By: Smoqueed
I've had great luck with Centric C-TEK ceramic brake pads before. Really cheap, really quiet, and they're rated GG!

EDIT: DOH! You're talking about rotors, well I've had no problem with Centric C-TEK rotors either haha


It's OK, the OP was asking about pads in another thread. As for rotors, I have C-TEK's on my Corolla. Almost 40K and no problems at all. Of course, I checked runout when installed, and have been regreasing the calipers/pads every once in a while since then.
Originally Posted By: Jimkobb
I picked up some Raybestos rotors at Rockauto for around $19 each for my Corolla.

So another vote for Raybestos.

Again, none of it matters if mounted crooked. You have to confirm all rotor installs for runout. Even a perfectly straight rotor can get mounted a little crooked on the hub, and then it's only a matter of time until the pad material builds up on the alternating high sides, and you get the warped rotor feeling.

 

[ram_man]

So apparently an out of balance rotor is somewhat common? I've never experienced it until maybe now.

 

[Riickk]

Quote:

Again, none of it matters if mounted crooked. You have to confirm all rotor installs for runout. Even a perfectly straight rotor can get mounted a little crooked on the hub, and then it's only a matter of time until the pad material builds up on the alternating high sides, and you get the warped rotor feeling.

I've never encountered that problem in 50+ years.
Aside from press-fit rotors where the mechanic is actually an a55, hard for me to see how you *could* manage to mount a rotor cocked to one side. A tiny bit of grease on the center hole to ease things, turn down the bolts on the studs just like you would mounting the wheel+tire, and it's virtually got to be on correctly.

 

[HangFire]

Originally Posted By: Riickk
Quote:

Again, none of it matters if mounted crooked. You have to confirm all rotor installs for runout. Even a perfectly straight rotor can get mounted a little crooked on the hub, and then it's only a matter of time until the pad material builds up on the alternating high sides, and you get the warped rotor feeling.

I've never encountered that problem in 50+ years.
Aside from press-fit rotors where the mechanic is actually an a55, hard for me to see how you *could* manage to mount a rotor cocked to one side. A tiny bit of grease on the center hole to ease things, turn down the bolts on the studs just like you would mounting the wheel+tire, and it's virtually got to be on correctly.


Please show us your runout measurement setup, and some of the numbers you've been getting recently.

It only takes a bit of rust or grease or grit to throw off a mounted rotor by several thousandths. All the factory service manuals have instructions on how to check runout, and list the specs, usually very few thousandths. Yet everyone feels free to ignore this part of the manaul.

 

[SilverFusion2010]

I've found that as long as you clean the hub/rotor mating surfaces very well and then hit them with some cleaner, you'll be ok. I use the lug nuts to press the rotor on. Use a star pattern and torque maybe a 1/4 turn per lug until you've got everything seated. Then spin em back off and install your retention screw

 

[HangFire]

Originally Posted By: ram_man
So apparently an out of balance rotor is somewhat common? I've never experienced it until maybe now.


Out of balance and out of true are two different things. An out of balance rotor can be perfectly true. An out of true rotor can be out of balance. The two don't have to have anything to do with each other.

A true rotor can be mounted crooked, and will have measurable runout.

A new warped rotor (rare nowadays) is very difficult to mount true, but sometimes you can correct for it by indexing it on the studs, or even putting a shim behind it. the industry sells shims for the purpose, for example:
http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/honda,2010,accord,3.5l+v6,1444944,brake+&+wheel+hub,brake+rotor+shim,13714
http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=1037822&cc=1444944&jsn=8

 

[HangFire]

Originally Posted By: SilverFusion2010
I've found that as long as you clean the hub/rotor mating surfaces very well and then hit them with some cleaner, you'll be ok. I use the lug nuts to press the rotor on. Use a star pattern and torque maybe a 1/4 turn per lug until you've got everything seated. Then spin em back off and install your retention screw


I used to think that, then my instruments proved me wrong. Proper cleaning does improve the odds a bit.

 

[KenO]

Originally Posted By: ram_man
Originally Posted By: andyd
The rotors on a 3 yr old car need changing? Is this normal? TIA


I had a vibration like warped rotors I went to replace the pads and turn the rotors and the local part store messed them up turning them so I bought a new set . Rotors can be ten minutes old if the driver rides the brakes they'll warp. They were slightly warped when I bought the car.



Rotors don't warp from heat - especially the minute amount of heat thata street pad generates. 75% of what people interpret as 'warped rotors' are pad deposits on the rotor. The other 25% comes from improper installation or over-torqued wheel lugs. Most of the time when I'm pulling off a rotor that has an actual, measured out of round (with a dial indicator) it took every bit of my impacts strength to get them off, as if He-Man himself tightened them.