Anyone have any experience with powerstop brakes?

[R18Civic]

I'm looking to upgrade my front brakes. I have centric premium rotors and pads on the front of my Buick, however delivering zZa in the evening has warped then pretty badly. The car shakes on the interstate without touching the brakes, when I do the car shakes up and down which is visible in the steering wheel.

I'm planning on ordering either AC Delco pads and rotors or the Powerstop Z23 Sport slotted rotors and brake pads. Anyone have any experience with the latter brand?

 

[TinyVoices]

If you want better braking performance on the street, you do not want slotted or drilled rotors. Get some Centric Blanks and call it a day. Good high quality rotor.

 

[R18Civic]

My reason for going slotted is due to it taking less pedal effort to stop. GM vehicles warp rotors easily if you panic/heavily apply brakes.

 

[Kool1]

I've used Powerstop slotted rotors on a Toyota pickup truck and they made a strange noise upon heavy braking. Not a squeal or squeak but a roaring noise like a lion. The noise was not due to any problems in the braking system; I believe it was just the nature of the slotted rotors. It was like this for a few years until I sold the truck.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: Hemispheres
I'm looking to upgrade my front brakes. I have centric premium rotors and pads on the front of my Buick, however delivering zZa in the evening has warped then pretty badly. The car shakes on the interstate without touching the brakes, when I do the car shakes up and down which is visible in the steering wheel.


That sounds more like worn suspension components. It also explains the short life on the Kumho tires.

 

[TinyVoices]

Originally Posted By: kschachn
Originally Posted By: Hemispheres
I'm looking to upgrade my front brakes. I have centric premium rotors and pads on the front of my Buick, however delivering zZa in the evening has warped then pretty badly. The car shakes on the interstate without touching the brakes, when I do the car shakes up and down which is visible in the steering wheel.


That sounds more like worn suspension components. It also explains the short life on the Kumho tires.


Totally agree. This does not sound like warped rotors at all.

 

[itguy08]

Yes - have a set on the front of my Taurus. The 10-12 SHO's, well, didn't have the best brakes so when it was time I figured I'd try a set of Pwerstops as Drilled/Slotted and figured it would be a good upgrade.

1st issue - out of the box the pads (OEM) I took off had wire spring clips attached to the pads that were missing on the PS pads. No attachment holes either. Called Tech support and was told someone would call back. That was 2 years ago and I'm still waiting. The pads fit and seem to work well.

2nd issue - followed their bed in procedure to the letter and occasionally have the pulsating brakes like warped rotors. I brought out the dial incdicator and runout was within Ford specs so something must be either warped or causing the pad material to cause high spots. A cursory search says nobody cuts drilled/slotted rotors. I put them on at 78k and now at 109k so I'll probably replace at 120k with something better.

3rd issue - NOISE. Hit the brakes hard and they roar. Early Taurus' were known for noisy brakes but these things are crazy loud. Think 747 stopping loud.

They stop well and have little to no fade but the drawbacks mean the next time it's back to normal pads and rotors.

 

[R18Civic]

Originally Posted By: kschachn
Originally Posted By: Hemispheres
I'm looking to upgrade my front brakes. I have centric premium rotors and pads on the front of my Buick, however delivering zZa in the evening has warped then pretty badly. The car shakes on the interstate without touching the brakes, when I do the car shakes up and down which is visible in the steering wheel.


That sounds more like worn suspension components. It also explains the short life on the Kumho tires.


I do get feedback from the brake pedal. The rotors are glazed and have high and low spots.
The driver side is the worst, when checking the bearing I can hear the pad dragging on the high spots. The Khumos wore completely evenly, no scalloped or feathered tire wear. I also personally know the manager at Firestone where I have my alignments done and he ensures the car is inspected for suspension and steering issues before an alignment is even done on the vehicle. Its audible at highway speeds but is hard to isolate from road noise, not a grinding or howling sound.

Called my guy I go to when a project is too much for me to handle, he concurs from the look of the rotors theyre severely warped.

 

[Audios]

I would not recommend. Ive had customers supply these pads and rotors and come back saying their car doesn't stop, and heavy vibration. They take a while to break in, but even then you get a loud whirring noise when applying the brakes, even lightly. We had Mr Knowitall with E46 M3 buy these brakes, saying they were better and cheaper than the Zimmerman and Bosch/Textar/Pagid we recommended. He came back a week later and we swapped them out with the OE quality stuff. Id recommend a decent rotor with a ceramic pad, like Bosch Quietcast or Akebono.

 

[thescreensavers]

Originally Posted By: Hemispheres
My reason for going slotted is due to it taking less pedal effort to stop. GM vehicles warp rotors easily if you panic/heavily apply brakes.


Slots wont really do anything about pedal effort what you are after is better initial bite I think.

Buy better pads with a higher working temperature, usually the brake pulsating is from running the brake pad too hot and then it transfers material to the rotor which causes high and low spots and thus vibration. Rotors don't physically warp.

 

[Donald]

I would always go with Akebono ProAct Ceramic. Not really expensive and among the best out there.

I bought some Raybestos 76793PER rotors for my Jeep and they had a squiggly slot and solved the issues I had with my Jeep and it's poor brakes. So if you have brake issues with pulsating brakes, warped rotors, look at these.

 

[Klutch9]

I have their Z17 ceramic pads on both vehicles in my signature. Love em! Brake feel and stopping power is very nice. Rotors are cheapy Centric or whatever RA had for the lowest price.

 

[RooflessVW]

I bought a Z17 ceramic kit with rotors for my X3 when I still had it and it did well for the 20k or so before. They bed in well and I had no issues with pulsation or noise. They Z17 kit comes with blank rotors.

Avoid slotted rotors unless you are prepared for more noise.

 

[SevenBizzos]

I have them with the slotted rotors. I believe they are an improvement over OEM. They do make some noise under moderate braking and especially when they are wet. But I'd probably buy them again. Good performance for the price I paid.

 

[R18Civic]

Centric Premium rotors and Bosch Quietcast pads it is.

 

[ABursell]

I don't believe I've seen it mentioned here, but for years now I have been going with dimpled and slotted rotors from these guys:

www.brakeperformance.com

If you go with their dimpled and slotted rotors they offer a lifetime warranty against warping or cracking, as well as materials and workmanship. They manufacture in the US as well and do all the specific machining and balancing and whatnot that other companies do. They often run sales so if you don't need immediately, check on their pricing over a little time but I believe they often, or maybe always, do free shipping.

However, as pleased with their rotors as I have been over many thousands of miles, I have had poor experience with their pads, both semi-metallic and the ceramic upgrades they offer, even though all of the rotors come with pads I do not use them.

I use Akebono pads and have been extremely impressed with everything about them. Good stopping, minimal dusting, etc.

Between vehicles that I have put this combination on, I probably have over 100k miles and never an issue.

Adam

 

[R18Civic]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone. The parts just arrived this afternoon and I've gotta say I'm impressed with the Bosch pads. The pad material looks to be much better quality than the Centric Premiums I have on there now, and the metal backing and shim are made out of some serious material. One pad seems to weigh 3-5 lbs.

 

[R18Civic]

Quick question... The brake grease Bosch sent with the pads and hardware somehow got punctured. A bit leaked through the paper wrapping and saturated a small area of the brake pad. Is this enough to be concerned about said pad having any issues?

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: Hemispheres
Quick question... The brake grease Bosch sent with the pads and hardware somehow got punctured. A bit leaked through the paper wrapping and saturated a small area of the brake pad. Is this enough to be concerned about said pad having any issues?



I'd call whoever you bought them from you might be able to exchange them. I've gotten a bit of grease on a pad before, and i cleaned it off with brake kleen. I'm not sure if it matters how long the grease sat on the pad. I'm thinking with metallic or ceramic pads, that it would not be as much of an issue cleaning it off, as it would have in the old days of organic brake pads.

 

[R18Civic]

I'll call rockauto in the am.