Reccomend me rotors/pads please..

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vlado11

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Dec 29, 2006
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I have had some very bad luck with the autozone rotors/lifetime pads combo. Poor performance, and premature warpage. I've had early warpage problems with the basic Brembo rotors, also. And I'm easy on the brakes, coast to stops, drive mostly hwy, etc. Are there any reasonably priced rotors/pads you've had good luck with, and where to get them?
Car is '97 Altima with rear drum set up.
Thanks
 
Napa Ultra premium rotors. around $60 each.
for pads on an Altima I have used Performance Friction Carbon Metallic with good results (altho its been a few years - I had a 2000) or on other cars I really like the Wagner Thermo Quiets. Make certain that you use a torque wrench on the lugnuts - and ensure that the brake calipers sliding surfaces are clean and very lightly lubed with either anti-seize or silcone brake grease. also make certain that the calipers are not sticking. (the car is 12 years old.....) I'm not a big fan of the Autozone cheap pads - too many complaints.
 
I hope you are "setting" in your new rotors/pads when you initially put them on. This seems to be the trick to making the change worthwhile.

I cannot think of the term used, but basically you want to "heat treat" your new rotors to prevent pad clacking and to get them hot enough that they won't warp later on.

I changed my brakes recently and here's what I did:

I found a highway area that had very little traffic and a good sized break-down lane on the right side of the road. You want to drive for a while and regularly use the breaks so that you get them up to operating temperature. Then, find a clear area and go up to 60-70 mph and brake as hard as you can without engaging ABS. Brake until you hit 10 mph and then let off the brakes and accelerate up to 60/70 again. Drive for a minute or two and then do the same stopping procedure. Repeat this 4-5 times and after the last time, you want to drive around for at least 10 minutes (depends on the weather) until the brakes cool off. Avoid coming to a traffic light stop or stop sign. You pretty much just want to keep moving until the brakes have cooled down as they will become extremely hot from the repeated hard stops.

Afterward, if you look at the rotors, they should have a blueish/yellowish hue that indicates they are tempered. After this, you should be good to go. Your rotors should last a lot longer and your pads will be mated to the rotor surface so stopping performance will be optimal
 
I had good luck with the Napa ceramic pads(safety stop I believe)on a '99 Maxima.
 
I believe Napa "premium" rotors are just reboxed Raybestos parts...so they'd be a nice solution. Raybestos pads or any name brand pad for the application would be just fine too. The autozone whitebox rotors/pads are junk. Even when they honor the warranty and give you new parts, it's still a hassle when you've got to replace them because of premature wear/failure. After a do-over, "free replacement" turns out not to be so free after all, unless your time is free too.
 
My friend who teaches autoshop at BOCES (tech high school) said when he owned his own auto shop business he put a cheap rotor on one side and an expensive rotor on the other side, (told the customer) and a year latter they looked pretty much the same. His view was while pads may make a difference, he was not sure the rotors made that much of a difference. All from China these days.
 
My Centric Premium rotors already have a crack on them after 17,000 miles. They were Made in USA IIRC.

Autozone has a new pad out-- Duralast Gold CMAX. It's supposed to compete with the premium pads on the market. I've heard a lot of good things about them, but they cost $60/set. That's significantly more than a set of mid-grade Raybestos ceramic pads.

Whatever you do, just get a set of premium rotors. For pads, all of the premium ceramic pads are about the same. From my experience, all of the premium aftermarket ceramic pads value low dust, low noise and super long life over stopping performance.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
napa ultra premium rotors and bendix CT-3 or standard ceramic pads.


I put Bendix CT-3 with Raybestos premium rotors over 20K ago and they have performed flawlessly.
Very little dust,nice firm pedal,no noise.Real nice pads,rotors have remained true and are not bad rust havens.

We put some performance brakes on a customer car(he provided the parts).
I was sceptical about the dimple drilled rotors and ceramic pads,but after a year they are
holding up very well,no rust on the inside face or edges,they are wearing and stopping well.
I cant recommend them based on one car but i will be trying them out on a Nissan soon.
At under $300 for all 4 its worth a shot.
http://brakeperformance.com/site/index.php?ad=google&gclid=CJbA1PKHvZwCFYZM5QodSzrioQ
 
Last edited:
Rotors are a [censored] shoot.
Big money does not ensure anything.
So I like cheap rotors and the best pads I can obtain.
If a cheap rotor goes, you are still money ahead.
 
Thank you everyone... I never knew rotors/pads need to be broken in, hard even. I always went eazy on them, and never torqued the lug nuts with a torque wrench. There is a NAPA nearby, so I'll go with their primium rotors, and whatever premium pads they have. Will follow the break-in procedure, and we'll see what happens. Thanks again.
 
And I was wondering how the brakes on my wifes '06 altima are still good after hard 66,000 miles. She broke them in properly! She's been hard on them since day one, and never makes a complete stop at STOP signs ! :)
 
I'm using Auto Zone Heavy Duty rotors (front/back) and Duralast Ceramic pads one two vehicles, one with light mileage and on my Santa Fe which is heavy on the miles.

Very smooth, very durable.
 
Originally Posted By: vlado11
Thank you everyone... I never knew rotors/pads need to be broken in, hard even. I always went eazy on them, and never torqued the lug nuts with a torque wrench. There is a NAPA nearby, so I'll go with their primium rotors, and whatever premium pads they have. Will follow the break-in procedure, and we'll see what happens. Thanks again.


Definitely use a torque wrench. Along with fluid changes and tire rotations, using a torque wrench on lug nuts should be a mandatory.

For the break in procedure, you would want to go hard on the brakes when they are brand new. This is when you have the warranty/exchange period, and this is the best time to verify that they are indeed good brakes. Just remember to warm up the rotors before you go and do the 60-10 stops.
 
I just put a set of Satisfied Pro Performance VS pads on the rear of my wife's CR-V, with a set of Autozone Duralast rotors.

The pads are impressive and inexpensive. They are engineered to the same spec as OEM, and have D3EA certification.
I will soon be doing the fronts with the same combo. The total cost for pads and rotors for all four corners is just over $200.

If you liked the stock braking of your car, the Satisfied pads might be a good solution.
 
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