brake rotors, what's good?

First off, I'm real glad to see that Brembo makes at least three types of stock placement rotors for the 7 G. Now here's my dealio...

Around one year ago, I bought a set of Valucrap, ahem, I mean Valucraft rotors, with some ceramic blend pads and replaced them all. Now, probably only 15-20k miles later, the rotors have warped something imense, I mean entire car shaking and shuddering when I even dare think about touching the brake pedal, I checked the rotors and pads for wear, and they are good so far, for the most part at least. But dang, these rotors did not last long, now I'm not a racer type a guy, but I admit I beat the car pretty good sometimes on the highway and around town and have to make some pretty decent stops.

Now here's the question, since I never set foot on the track, and I don't kick my car's butt on a daily basis, can I get away with a better name brand rotor OEM type, like the Brembo non-slotted non-drilled? Or will that warp just the same as the cheapy Valucraft? Are the advantages worth it to get slotted even if it's a daily driver that's only driven hard on occasion? I won't get drilled ever because I'm scared of cracks. I need to get these buggers replaced soon or something's gonna come loose, and I don't know if I can come up with the dough to pay almost twice for slotted rotors, but I'll be more than happy to shell out for a Brembo stock piece if it'll do me good (or at least better than generic).

And pads? I just got what sounded cool, I like saying, ceramic metallic mix, lol. I'm such a newb, but hey, we all learn as we go right? Also, I changed the rotors myself last time, but my neighbor did the pads, something with a c-clamp that I really didn't follow, who's got a front pad/rotor replacement guide, or who knows where a basic one is online?

Thanks guys!

The pads are really easy.

After you have the caliper unbolted you simply place a used pad back in the caliper. (Note: This is done so the caliper piston doesn't get damaged when retracting it). Then place the C-Clamp on the caliper around the pad and the back of the caliper housing and compress it. Most brake pads out there are all ready to 'plug and play' with anti-rattle clips, and backing plates (shims).

What constitutes the bulk of your driving? Stop and go? Highway?

Living basically in the heart of the city, most places are a short in town drive, but if I want to go anywhere that's more than 5 minutes away, it's quicker to hop on the freeway. So it's 50/50 come to think about it. Stop and go, and the hop on the freeway so long stops from high speed. But it's not like I floor it/slam on the brakes full tilt stoplight to stoplight.

Now, if you suggest a slotted rotor to help in cooling to stop the warping, are there any brands out there you'd reccomend other than Brembo, maybe a little cheaper, but will still hold up well under those conditions? I don't want to have to choose between tires and brakes, but I'll need both by winter that's for sure.

Thanks for the tip, again, I'm a newb, so I take it only one side of the caliper moves, and I won't have to c-clamp both sides of each caliper then? Sounds even more simple then my neighbor made it look. Oh, and why I'm not asking him (just FYI), well, I left KC a while ago and he's no longer easy to get a hold of.

You can use a slotted or drilled rotor just remember those are difficult to machine cleanly. Powerslot makes nice rotors. Akebono makes great brake pads. But the best remedy is to allow extra stopping distance, yes more than you already may give. I've never had any issues with mine and I ALWAYS give plenty of space, plus plenty of distance back from a stoplight when on surface streets.

The less you have to use brakes on the highway the better, that 2-second following distance thing really helps to.

With sometimes up to 4 lanes, I usually am not stuck behind someone, or, tailgating, it's those off ramps when I'm pushing 90-100mph on the highway, then I gotta slow my roll to the stoplight, and even with what seems 1/8 of a mile of distance, i'm on those brakes pretty hard. But that's not often usually I try to stay under 75 being that in town highway speed is 55 most places.

Swapping rotors is fairly easy, if I can get some that can stand up for more than a year, I'll just throw in some new ones when that happens no need to machine the old ones, shoot, saves me hundreds in labor (Mitsubishi dealer wanted almost 400 to do just rotors and pads last time) WTF? So I gave my neighbor a six pack and he went to work with the parts I picked up at the local autoparts place.

How about these guys, in my price range, but the slot design looks kind or hokey.
Tire Rack.com ATE Rotors

I've always wondered if that design worked. Tire Rack does quite a bit of research into a product before they sell it, so I'd say if it stood up to their scrutiny than its a safe bet to say it'll be a decent product.

It may also help to bleed your brakes.

Brembo hands down for OEM replacement...usually cheaper than OEM with the same or better quality. Just watch out for "slotted or Xdrilled" rotors especially on Ebay. The cheap ones are most likely cheapo rotors that were just slotted or crossdrilled.

i bought some cross drilled and slotted rotors off ebay for my vr-4 about 3 years ago and the are still straight.

I saw some rotors on eBay for reasonable, they claim to be authentic Brembo OEMs, but this company has slotted them with their own machines and sells them for cheaper than Brembo slotted, but for more than Brembo OEM. I forgotty the linky, whoops.

i'm running powerslot rotors w/ akebono SP pads. both are top notch and have survived countless harsh canyon carving runs.

I have the Brembo Slotted with Akibono...no complaints! I tell you one thing, stay away from EBC pads...they suck ass...they wear out way too quick and they are noisy!

i have Brembo cross drilled all around with Hawk Ceramic Pads all around also.... great set up

Look at these, they have all the goodies, including zinc plating, even brembo doesn't do that with their OEM style. Rust is ugly.

http://stores.brakeplanet.com/Items/es22900?

Looks like quite the deal for a cheap alternative to the real name-brand deal.

for pads i got Hawk high performance pads, they are great.

don't skimp on brakes they are what stop your car.

you got to be careful with our brakes because we don't have ABS

Oh yeah, definately. But there's skimping and then there's saving money. This just looked like a well made product, and if it's any good, I'm game. I don't really look forward to dumping 200 bucks into new brakes, but if it must be done, it must. I would just like to stick with OEM, but again, the Brembo OEM type do not have any coating and will rust in no time. There's no compromise I guess, no real middle field brake rotors are there?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ohgrfreak

Oh yeah, definately. But there's skimping and then there's saving money. This just looked like a well made product, and if it's any good, I'm game. I don't really look forward to dumping 200 bucks into new brakes, but if it must be done, it must. I would just like to stick with OEM, but again, the Brembo OEM type do not have any coating and will rust in no time. There's no compromise I guess, no real middle field brake rotors are there?

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i had got mine rotors from ebay but paid like 100 for just the front. they are still doing well a year later.

even with zinc plating it can come off. i used some rim cleaner and it stripped the platting off. i went from shinning rotors to rusted ones in 12 hours

What brand were the rotors you got from ebay? I never use abrasives or corrosives on my wheels, so flaking shouldn't be much of a problem, but I'm sure every coating will flake after some time. 100 bucks coated/plated aren't a bad deal at all. The ones I have been seeing and wanting are powerslot, brembo slotted and similar for at least 160 per front pair and up. That plus shipping and pads will add up quickly.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mitsu...0437QQtcZphoto

yes the year is wrong but contact them and you will get the right ones. they are even vendors here.

the only reason i used a chemical is because somebody got something on my rim i couldn't take off. it was better than scratching my rim

hey your cars look the exact same.

his is the closest to my car.

rims are slightly diffrent, i'm lowered, i got jdm heads, and some other diffrences

but he is my twin

My wheels are long gone though, I stuck my metallic silver Borbets back on until I can save up for some Euro-mesh type wheels. But it is pretty sweet to see two dark grey 7Gs with tint and the same color wheels at the same place at the same time.

Has anyone bought rotors from brakeplanet.com? That seems like a mighty good deal. But not if they are no good. Anyone have experience with the company?

I almost bought rotors off of brakeplanet too but i read a lot of reviews on different websites and none that i read were good. It seems as though they are very sketchy from what i have read. Just google search brake planet reviews and see what you come up with.