Bendix CT-3 pads and Raybestos rotors PICS

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I just bought a used 2007 Hyundai Sonata that turned out to need front brakes. I decided to go with Bendix CT-3 pads. I had been considering Akebono ProAct pads, but the Bendix were around $10 cheaper and both get good reviews. I paid $46 shipped from Amazon.


Pads First Impression


When the pads first arrived, I panicked because the clips said "made in China." I had read online that these pads were made in the USA, but I didn't email the company. (BTW- Akebono told me the ProACTs are made in Kentucky.) Luckily, it turned out the pads were made in Canada. The pads are GG rated. The originals are marked FF.

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Rotors First Impression

I’ve recently been trying to avoid made in China products, but I didn’t have much choice for rotors. I settled on Raybestos Professionals for $27 shipped each from Amazon. I’ve since found out I could have bought EBC rotors for $75 each (made in USA or UK), or Auto 7 brand rotors for $41 each (Most likely Korean made).

The Raybestos rotors appear to be well made, from a casual inspection. They seem to have a similar thickness to the OE rotors, but I didn’t measure them. The vanes also appear to be very similar to the OE design. They seem to be well machined.

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Installation and Break In


I installed the brakes yesterday. The installation went fine. I used the 30-30-30 burnishing method recommended on the Bendix website. The pads definitely heated up, because I could smell them.

I was initially dissapointed. After the break in the car seemed to stop fine, but the pedal was very soft. I cracked open the bleeders when I pushed the piston back in the caliper, so I thought maybe I let some air in the system.

After sitting overnight and cooling down, the pedal feel has definitely improved. The car stops well and the pedal is firmer, but it still doesn’t seem as firm as it was before. However, I could be misremembering how firm it was, as I've only had the car for two weeks. I may try bleeding the brakes this weekend and see if that improves it.


I'll try to update in a week or so.
 
You have a very good combination there.. I wouldn't worry about anything for a long while.. but I'd bleed the brakes anyway just cuz you opened the bleeder screw..
 
Originally Posted By: EricF
but I'd bleed the brakes anyway just cuz you opened the bleeder screw..


I put some tubing on the screw, then opened it so it pushed the old fluid out, instead of back into the brake system. It was basically like bleeding the caliper. I was careful to not let it suck air back in, but I guess it could have some how. I might bleed them anyway, just to see if it is an improvement.

At the worst, I'll just have new brake fluid in there.
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When you order products from the far East, you can have the factory put on whatever "made in XXX" sticker you want. It's hard to say if your pads were made in Canada or not...
 
Give it some time to sit properly in the calipers and to bed itself nicely with the rotors. I recently changed my pad and rotor on my 94 grand cherokee with Thermoquiets and AA rotors and it took a few days for me to notice improved braking.
 
FWIW, Chinese rotors seem to be hit and miss. I recently slapped on Motorcraft pads that were EE rated with Raybestos Advanced Technology rotors which were made in USA and China respectively. The Raybestos AT rotors seem to be well made and they are HEAVY. I had some cheap Aimco GS rotors on it and they had runout issues.
 
Originally Posted By: Bluestream
When you order products from the far East, you can have the factory put on whatever "made in XXX" sticker you want. It's hard to say if your pads were made in Canada or not...


Spoken like a true conspiracy theorist.

They went through the trouble of clearly labeling the clips as "made in China" to distinguish them from the rest of the product. I'm going to trust that the pads were in fact made in Canada.


Back on topic - the pedal has definitely firmed up over the last couple days. I'm getting no noise from the front brakes and they seem to be performing very well. (The rears have rusty rotors and are grinding a little)

So far, I'm pretty satisfied with the combo. And, for $111 in parts, I got a top-shelf brake job.
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I replaced OEM front rotors and pads of my '04 S2000 with Bendix CT-3 pads and Wagner rotors, they are as good as OEM in stopping distance but without noise or brake dust. The parts costs about $110-120 after rebates.
 
Well, it's now been a couple months and several thousand miles, so I thought I'd update.

I'm not very satisfied with this combo. I was assuming the stopping performance would improve with some miles on the brakes, but that isn't the case.

Stopping performance is poor for the first few stops in the morning.

It seems like the pads are glazed. I had the brakes flushed at the dealer and another shop said they believed the pads were glazed. I took everything apart and sanded the pads. That helped for a little while, but now the problem has returned.

I tried to follow the break-in procedure on the Bendix website, so I don't think that could have caused the problem. I went to email Bendix yesterday, but the "contact us" portion of their website caused an alert from my anti-virus software, so I didn't continue.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Please don't take this personally, but you will never get oem levels of performance from a so called 'dust free' pad.

It's a trade off. Try bedding the pads per this link:

http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

It's what you do first. If it can't help, as many times the fix is temporary, then you start pad shopping again.

The method in Steve's link is what I had to do when I got some performance pads for my Neon. I got them smoking a couple times before they would bite well. I have NAPA whitebox rotors too and they didn't mind this (ab)use either. If you've got nothing to lose you might as well see if getting them really hot a few times helps.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Please don't take this personally, but you will never get oem levels of performance from a so called 'dust free' pad.

It's a trade off. Try bedding the pads per this link:

http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

It's what you do first. If it can't help, as many times the fix is temporary, then you start pad shopping again.


You may have missed it in the first post, but I did burnish in the pads. That break-in method is pretty similar to what I did, except fewer stops at a higher speed. I don't think it is an issue with bedding them properly.

Here's what the Bendix website recommends:
Quote:
A series of controlled moderate speed stops (15-20 Stops from 30-mph w/30 sec cool down) is required to properly "burnish" or break-in a new set of pads. During this initial stopping period, the process of lining transfer from the disc pads to the rotor surface helps condition the rotor surface to properly seat the brake pads. All pads are cured and all pads need to be burnished.


As far as what I expected, the original pads were FF rated and the Bendix pads are GG rated. I had no reason to believe they would stop worse than the originals.

Also, these pads don't say they're "dust free," just that they have "low dust."
 
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Well, time for another update.

Over the last couple of weeks, the pads have really settled in and now the car stops great.

I've put at least a thousand miles on the car since my last update. I don't know why it took so long, but the pads seem to be broken in and now working great.
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I wouldn't think it would take 4K miles for the brakes to really bed in, but I guess it did.
 
I use the cheapo Raybestos rotors on my Honda and so far so good, no warping and they have lasted several years now, but I can't say the same for their ceramic pads...[censored]
 
Originally Posted By: stephen9666
Originally Posted By: Bluestream
When you order products from the far East, you can have the factory put on whatever "made in XXX" sticker you want. It's hard to say if your pads were made in Canada or not...


Spoken like a true conspiracy theorist.


Seriously, a chinese made pipe went through multiple chinese hands, was stamped made in America, and installed in a Chinese power station. Ran 6 hours before exploding and killing 6 people.

It can, and does happen
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: stephen9666
Originally Posted By: Bluestream
When you order products from the far East, you can have the factory put on whatever "made in XXX" sticker you want. It's hard to say if your pads were made in Canada or not...


Spoken like a true conspiracy theorist.


Seriously, a chinese made pipe went through multiple chinese hands, was stamped made in America, and installed in a Chinese power station. Ran 6 hours before exploding and killing 6 people.

It can, and does happen


Are you saying we should question every item that isn't marked "made in China"? Is every item secretly made in China?

The example you quote (which may or may not be true, I'm not familiar with that incident), was in China. I'm sure they do far less to enforce labeling rules than the US.

The pads were marked "Made in Canada" and I have no reason to believe they weren't made in Canada. As I said earlier, they went to the effort of marking the clips "Made in China." I doubt Bendix is running some huge conspiracy.
 
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I guess I'll write another quick update:

The pads continue to perform very well. I had to do a pretty quick stop today, and the car stopped great.

I commute 1,000 miles/month, so I've put a significant amount of road time on these since the last update.

Overall I'm satisfied with my rotor/pad choice.
 
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Glad you are satisfied with your brake combo. However, beings that it took so long to get decent results, I sure wouldn't buy those brake pads again. You should get good results in no more than 50 miles of driving, usually soon after burnishing. I've used Raybestos, Hawk, AC Delco, Wagner and Duralast Gold brake pads and never experienced what you reported with those Bendix pads.
 
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Glad you are satisfied with your brake combo. However, beings that it took so long to get decent results, I sure wouldn't buy those brake pads again. You should get good results in no more than 50 miles of driving, usually soon after burnishing. I've used Raybestos, Hawk, AC Delco, Wagner and Duralast Gold brake pads and never experienced what you reported with those Bendix pads.


Yes, it was very strange and when they need to be replaced I'm going to try something else.

I can't think of any reasons it would have taken so long for the pads to break in, especially after I properly burnished them.
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow

Seriously, a chinese made pipe went through multiple chinese hands, was stamped made in America, and installed in a Chinese power station. Ran 6 hours before exploding and killing 6 people.

It can, and does happen


China has some of the most criminally negligent manufacturing regulations and of course the culture of bribery is rampant there even today. Even Western companies many times have to "pay" to play so to say.


All the more reason why the sooner the US revives its manufacturing base the better.
 
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