Centric v Raybestos v Wagner

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Nov 14, 2011
Messages
326
Location
Massachusetts
Hi All,

Planning to do brakes and rotors all around on my wife's 2011 Elantra soon. I'm going to order the parts off of Rockauto, and can't decide between these three brands which are all relatively close in price.

-Wagner's rotors have painted hats, hear mixed things about the ThermoQuiet pad quality.
-Raybestos' EHT pads are criticized by some for having non-standard pad thickness but praised by others.
-Centric seems to have the most positive opinions from what I can tell, their rotors have painted hats and the PosiQuiets aren't fully ceramic from what I can tell, which should help the rotors last longer.

I'm curious what everyone else uses. I don't believe $80/rotor and $80 for a set of pads from the dealer will yield any better quality. I'm also planning to get Carlson caliper bolts and boot kits all around; for some reason the caliper brackets on this car have gotten super rusty, much more so than my Corolla with 1.5x the miles. I don't want to re-seat rusty bolts on worn boots.

Thanks!
 
I rarely buy oem pads from the dealer, but it would be hard to buy better stopping pads than what is on my 13 elantra, it brakes really well.

I have 60k on them. I will probably buy factory hyundai pads when it needs brakes.

If i went aftermarket on this car, i'd buy akebono.
 
Ive had good experience with Boschs..
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00MY3QGE0/ref=mp...------------1-0

Good for the price but I just bought some Bendix per member Trav's advice but have yet to install them so cant say. Ive had Akebono's - wasnt super impressed with them, not very great stopping power. I have wagner blanks for rotors and no issues so far with them.

If you are only deciding on those options, the centrics seem to be the best bet.

Ignore the link, i used ur 2011 corolla in the search.
 
Last edited:
I bought some Centrics from RA for my first front brake change (OEM replacement) and I have zero complaints about them. They are the mid-grade quality.
 
Originally Posted By: spasm3
I rarely buy oem pads from the dealer, but it would be hard to buy better stopping pads than what is on my 13 elantra, it brakes really well.

I have 60k on them. I will probably buy factory hyundai pads when it needs brakes.

If i went aftermarket on this car, i'd buy akebono.


Interesting, I hear a lot of good things about Akebono, so I suppose I could try them on top of NAPA Premium rotors (my local NAPA carries the Akebono pads). This car is just about to tick over to 60k and has the original rotors, second set of pads, and the braking is quite good.

Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Ive had good experience with Boschs..
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00MY3QGE0/ref=mp...------------1-0

Good for the price but I just bought some Bendix per member Trav's advice but have yet to install them so cant say. Ive had Akebono's - wasnt super impressed with them, not very great stopping power. I have wagner blanks for rotors and no issues so far with them.

If you are only deciding on those options, the centrics seem to be the best bet.

Ignore the link, i used ur 2011 corolla in the search.


Info for the Corolla never hurts, so thanks for the link anyway. I'm open to all suggestions of other brands in a similar price range. I see a lot of people on other forums suggesting that you need slotted/drilled rotors on ANY car, which is why I come to BiTOG for realistic advice. It seems like Wagner makes good rotors (I've heard Advance Auto's Wearever are rebranded Wagners), but people seem to either love or hate their ThermoQuiet pads.
 
My choice would be Akebono pads and Wagner E-coated rotors.

Napa charges WAY too much for the Akebono pads (almost twice what Rock Auto has them for)
 
I have started buying Centric parts, including things like calipers, for used cars at work and some customer cars, and so far have not had any comebacks from them. Not even the cheap C-TEK stuff (knock on wood). Both of my trucks have Posi-Quiet semi-metallic pads now and no complaints, though any semi-metallic pad will produce more visible brake dust than ceramic. I like their products and don't really trust much else in that price range. Previously I was buying mostly NAPA pads, but their cheaper grades of pads were junk and I had to quit using them. I'll still buy Adaptive One, fleet, or the "ultra premium" grade, but nothing below that. I also stick to "Gold" or "Platinum" at the other parts stores when I use them...middle grade and lower is generally junk. As for rotors, if it has to be cheap, I would prefer Centric if I don't have to have them NOW. NAPA's cheaper rotors sometimes need turning, and still cost more than Centric.

I've also heard very mixed reviews on Wagner's pads. Some people swear by them, but my truck fully consumed a set of Thermo-Quiets in 27K miles, which was kind of disappointing, and I know a couple shops that hate them due to noise comebacks. One referred to them as "Thermo-Sqeaks" and refused to buy them.
 
Akebono performance (not ProACT) pads are top of the line & made in USA. High carbon rotors like Centric 125 or Raybestos advanced tech will be more durable than standard discs. If you want even more durability, go for Centric cryo treated 125 rotors which should last for 3 pad changes.
 
I would really suggest OEM. As a dealer tech , I have changed brakes on the forte/elantra hundreds of times. The hyundai/kia oem pads and rotors are very high quality. The fit is superb , much better than any high tier aftermarket. OEM pads always come with hardware clips that fit 100% of the time. Rotors are high quality , coated hats and thicker than aftermarket. Hyundai/Kia rotors are made in Korea not China which is where nearly all aftermarket comes from. All around OEM is really a great option for not a whole much more $$$.
 
I checked rock auto's site. If it were me id go Bendix or Bosch BE model. Id pass on the wagners. Regardless I find the thing with brake pads is that everyone has a different preference. Id like to see them run tests to see if any one set of pads has any edge in reducing stopping distances.
 
Originally Posted By: HKPolice
Akebono performance (not ProACT) pads are top of the line & made in USA. High carbon rotors like Centric 125 or Raybestos advanced tech will be more durable than standard discs. If you want even more durability, go for Centric cryo treated 125 rotors which should last for 3 pad changes.


Problem with the Akebono performance pads, they dont make em for all cars...
 
Like Thax said, OE pads are a very good value on Hyundai products. For $70-$80, you get new shims, hardware and great pads. We almost always use OE on our customers cars. Centric 105s PosiQuiet ceramics are our backup pads (that we only use if we are forced to). With that said, 105s do last longer than OE and have been quiet for us, but the newer ones do not seem to have as much bite as the factory pads.

For rotors, we either use Centric 120/125 premium rotors or the Akebono coated rotors from WP. Most of the premium rotors are similar - just make sure you check runout after installation. Machining the rotors using an on car lathe is also an option.
 
I'm jaded. I went through the same research on my wife's Rav4 a couple years ago regarding which pads and rotors to buy. After a lot of studying, bought the Wagner thermoquiet pads and AC Delco rotors off Amazon. Installed them and squeak, squeak, squeak. It was horrible. Pulled the wheels and greased up the outside of the pads. Reduced it to only squeaking first thing in the morning when it reverse and waking up half the neighborhood. Wife couldn't take it anymore. Took it to my local independent shop. They said the brakes are fine, just sometimes brakes squeak. No safety issue. No charge.

Went to my local independent auto parts shops that sells to the repair shops. They sold me some Professional pads and some no-name rotors for cheap. No more squeaks. Wife is happy. I'm happy. I'll just buy "whatever" from the local store now.
 
For a Hyundai, I would get some OEM brake pads off of EBay and Auto 7 rotors off of Rockauto. I once made the mistake of buying cheap economy rotors off of Rockauto and I now have a pulsation when braking. Plus they rust badly when it rains and sqeuel for a while. I won't make that mistake again.
 
I have had excellent experience with Centric rotors on 3 different cars and trucks. I also really like Hawk pads, just make sure to get the right composition for your application. No sense getting racing pads for your daily driver. I bought a cheap set of pads from Advance Auto- the house brand, and they sucked- terrible brake compound and poor machining of the backing plates. I had them on for a few thousand miles then swapped them out for Hawk Ceramic pads which performed much better. I usually get rotors and pads from Tirerack.
 
Looking at the RA list:

for the Front, the Raybestos SGD ceramic are the best bet. I have used these on multiple vehicles and they are great; I don't pay triple for Akenono any more. For the rear, I'd get the centric ceramic. Whatever you get on each axle, get ceramic for performance, ease of maintenance, and rotor life. Other pads are just nonsense unless you track your car and have a deep budget.

Rotors are more competitive.

If you haven't figured this out, you need to put at least one item in your car and start matching shipping locations. Else each item ships from a separate place and it racks up. They have a truck logo they put next to items to help you decide.
 
Originally Posted By: Oro_O
Looking at the RA list:

for the Front, the Raybestos SGD ceramic are the best bet. I have used these on multiple vehicles and they are great; I don't pay triple for Akenono any more. For the rear, I'd get the centric ceramic. Whatever you get on each axle, get ceramic for performance, ease of maintenance, and rotor life. Other pads are just nonsense unless you track your car and have a deep budget.

Rotors are more competitive.

If you haven't figured this out, you need to put at least one item in your car and start matching shipping locations. Else each item ships from a separate place and it racks up. They have a truck logo they put next to items to help you decide.


^^^THIS!
 
I am using the Raybestos EHT pads and Centric Premium Discs this time. This combination stops really good, I think better than with any other pad/rotor set I have ever had. What I don't like is the pads squeal like a stuck pig! I have done many brake jobs and this is the first time I have had squeaky breaks with new parts. I will be taking everything off today and hopefully find out why the squeak and a solution. It's a great combo but the squealing has to go.

Originally Posted By: smc733
Hi All,

Planning to do brakes and rotors all around on my wife's 2011 Elantra soon. I'm going to order the parts off of Rockauto, and can't decide between these three brands which are all relatively close in price.

-Wagner's rotors have painted hats, hear mixed things about the ThermoQuiet pad quality.
-Raybestos' EHT pads are criticized by some for having non-standard pad thickness but praised by others.
-Centric seems to have the most positive opinions from what I can tell, their rotors have painted hats and the PosiQuiets aren't fully ceramic from what I can tell, which should help the rotors last longer.

I'm curious what everyone else uses. I don't believe $80/rotor and $80 for a set of pads from the dealer will yield any better quality. I'm also planning to get Carlson caliper bolts and boot kits all around; for some reason, the caliper brackets on this car have gotten super rusty, much more so than my Corolla with 1.5x the miles. I don't want to re-seat rusty bolts on worn boots.

Thanks!
 
You don't want to use Ceramic on vehicles spec'd for metallic.People think they are some outer-space-age material that's a miracle,they are not.They had to come up with a replacement for banned asbestos,and ceramic was it.They wont last longer or stop faster than metallic.They will be quieter and dust less,but that's all.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top