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Do you think el-cheapo rotors (autozone et al) are crap?

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No Lifer
I'm looking at some el-cheapos that I put on my van two years ago and they are all rusted up pretty badly. I know surface rust is normal in rotors (despite the OEM ones on our prius having basically none, whereas el-cheapos get surface rust after the first rain), but I'm talking about the hub and the edges and everything, in some places it seems they're starting to separate. Anyway, I'm really wondering where I should just switch back to OEM rotors.
 
on simple daily driving cars... i've always gone el cheapo... mind you never from autozone because they were never the cheapest rotors.

normally napa or rockauto (even after shipping) comes out cheaper then autozone.

Never had an issue. The pad is the main thing that stops the car. most rotors are pretty thick and dont crack unless your on a road course or ride on them all the time.
 
El-cheapo rotors are made of inferior metal, they are Chinese after all where not only are the materials but the production processes inferior. They will suffice for a daily driver but they are going to wear quicker, cause more brake dust, and warp a lot easier then a decent quality rotor would. I only use the el-cheapo ones on cars that are being sold. It simply is not worth your time to do the job with substandard parts and then spend more time keeping your rims clean. Don't use the el-cheapo pads either.
 
It does not matter that they are made in China. Most rotors are made in China now, even Napa's premium stuff.

FOr my car (mazda 3 hatch), there are no el cheapo rotors. If I go to Autozone, they have to order than and they cost $90 a piece. The cheapest I every found them was $55 for non premium, but spending $10 more got me the premium version from Autopartswarehouse and I got free shipping.
 
Gibson486 said:
It does not matter that they are made in China. Most rotors are made in China now, even Napa's premium stuff.

FOr my car (mazda 3 hatch), there are no el cheapo rotors. If I go to Autozone, they have to order than and they cost $90 a piece. The cheapest I every found them was $55 for non premium, but spending $10 more got me the premium version from Autopartswarehouse and I got free shipping.
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Definitely does matter where it is made. Stick with a quality rotor from a country that makes quality products.
 
brembo blanks (or comparable grade from tirerack) or bust. im not risking my ass on the road to save a few bucks.
 
ExarKun333 said:
Definitely does matter where it is made. Stick with a quality rotor from a country that makes quality products.
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Not really, anymore. Everything is from China, even the top of the line stuff from Brembo and Napa is from China. Just look up premium rotors for a Mazda 3. They are ALL from China.
 
I have used 6-7 sets of autozone rotors over the last few years on my SRT-4 for track use with various track pads (HT-10, Carbotech XP 10s, etc) and have found the rotors to be a great value for the 40$ they cost. Typically I replace them when I replace pads (3-4 track days), and they still have life left in them, but I swap them anyway since they are under hard use.

Given that they can withstand this kind of abuse, I use them on my wife's sentra and my tsx as well.
 
Marlin1975 said:
Brembo gets its rotors from China now. Just saying for all the anti-china people that buy name brand items 😉
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Shh, don't wreck they view that every brand is completely different and not made by one company and sold to the brands to repackage and sell as their own.

It's kinda like the people that refuse to buy store brand food at the grocery store. It's the same thing as brand name but without the fancy packaging.
 
JeffreyLebowski said:
Shh, don't wreck they view that every brand is completely different and not made by one company and sold to the brands to repackage and sell as their own.

It's kinda like the people that refuse to buy store brand food at the grocery store. It's the same thing as brand name but without the fancy packaging.
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A lot of Brembo's aftermarket stuff is still made in the USA. Their OEM stuff is not the best anymore for the very reason you state. China can make some decent stuff, but the main reason products get outsourced there is cost. Make it cheap, that is pretty much all they care about. I avoid China products like the plague, and would recommend the same.
 
I've had three vehicles where OEM rotors were SIGNIFICANTLY better than the cheapies. I actually have gotten to where I generally just pony up the money and buy OEM brake stuff unless it's for a high performance application.

I had a grand am (worst car I've ever owned) and the autozone cheap rotors actually cracked vertically from heat.. Granted, I was pushing the car pretty far past its limits, but still.. They should just fade, not structurally fail.



A brake rotor coming apart when you need it is a very scary thing.. And that's when brakes fail - the time you need to push them to the limit.



Basically, imo, spark plugs/wires, electronics, etc etc are ok to 'risk it', but brakes need to work - period.
 
ExarKun333 said:
A lot of Brembo's aftermarket stuff is still made in the USA. Their OEM stuff is not the best anymore for the very reason you state. China can make some decent stuff, but the main reason products get outsourced there is cost. Make it cheap, that is pretty much all they care about. I avoid China products like the plague, and would recommend the same.
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I don't know about cars, but the brembo is starting to get sorta tainted in the motorcycle scene. I was really excited about my 1098 having monoblocs until I found out they're basically fake... A cost-cut caliper toned down and sold to Ducati. That being said it had the best street brakes I've ever used.

The worst bike brakes I've ever had were on my 675. They had way way too much initial bite, and were actually extremely dangerous in the rain.. They'd lock up before the forks would compress if the road was wet (if the suspension is setup correctly)

I ended up swapping the pads out the to the Triumph rain pad and it helped, a little.
 
Got a pair of cheap autozone rotors and pads on the lady's Grand Am. Put them on roughly 20k miles ago and the brakes feel solid as ever.

My GTI needs new brakes soon though, and I plan on actually putting quality parts on it though. Probably Greenstuff pads..haven't decided on rotors.
 
Gibson486 said:
Not really, anymore. Everything is from China, even the top of the line stuff from Brembo and Napa is from China. Just look up premium rotors for a Mazda 3. They are ALL from China.
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Snap-on makes a lot of their shit in china, lol. I was like, "Wait, what? $500 for a floor jack and it's made in china? WTF?"
 
Two years old? They're due for replacement anyways. I don't get much time out of the cheap rotors unless you can live with a real bad wheel shimmy when braking. I replace them when it becomes too annoying to deal with warpage. I find anything made in USA or Canada is actually surprisingly better, but the cheap rotors work fine for a period of time anyway.
 
just because its made in china doesn't mean its cheap or will break faster then USA made stuff.

raybesto cheap-o rotors are something i normally run from rockauto. never found an issue. They were $20 rotors on a maxima vs $45 at napa/autozone

I went with napa prem for the rears of g35 and one of calipers locked up and overheated but didn't warp the rotor even if it was glowing red. They cost me $55 per rear rotor were as autozone/ and rockauto wanted about $75.

A lot of rotors are china made. And i feel in the end its the DRIVER that determines how the car runs. have a person ride on the brakes, even brembos will warp. got a guy always downshifting rather then braking then his are going to look great after 100k.
 
ExarKun333 said:
A lot of Brembo's aftermarket stuff is still made in the USA. Their OEM stuff is not the best anymore for the very reason you state. China can make some decent stuff, but the main reason products get outsourced there is cost. Make it cheap, that is pretty much all they care about. I avoid China products like the plague, and would recommend the same.
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you do realize that the only factory in the US only makes race goodies in Detroit correct?
I have been by the place, its about as big as a large grocery store.
So i would go out and say that NONE of the stuff you are buying is made in the USA.

It would appear that the NA production is actually out of Mexico.
 
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WTF? I have had high end rotors develop surface rust quickly...has nothing to do with quality.

Just get a mechanic to do the work for you, you are going to kill someone working on your brakes.
 
alkemyst said:
WTF? I have had high end rotors develop surface rust quickly...has nothing to do with quality.

Just get a mechanic to do the work for you, you are going to kill someone working on your brakes.
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Are you saying brakes are impossible for Joe Schmo to to correctly? Shit, I should be dead 10x over.
 
Toastedlightly said:
Are you saying brakes are impossible for Joe Schmo to to correctly? Shit, I should be dead 10x over.
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no, saying people that ask questions like this should not be doing brakes.

Most that work on their own cars really have no freaking clue what they are really doing anyway, it's scary the crap I have to look at and just know it's not right.

That said, many mechanics are idiots too.
 
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