Economy front brake rotors; are they OK?
 

I've always received good information here. I'm looking for some front brake rotors for my non-Mercedes (Land rover Discovery). I've looked on ********.com in their "Economy" Category ($$ is a bit tight right now) and they have a few brands I am not familiar with; Pronto and Centric and They also Bendix. I recognise the Bendix Brand, I called to see if they could tell me if they were US made, and they could not.

BTW, I have Akebono Ceramic pads on the way,....figured the pads were more important.

Just wondering, what your thoughts are on Economy brake rotors,.....they are a fairly simple device. I've never heard of NON-Drilled rotors cracking,.....so,...what problems could a cheap brake rotor have??

Brian

I got "economy" rotors from NAPA for my Chrysler Van. I thought that as long as they were smooth and flat they'd be OK. A big mistake. In just 1 years time the metal pitted and bubbled and I needed to replace them again. It was like they were made of Swiss cheese. The metal was a very low quality. They came from China. I would advise against the cheap stuff, especially where brakes and safety are involved.

German made rotors only. Or you'll be sorry in about 500 miles. Napa gold may be ok.

Personally I use zimmerman or MB original.

China metal process is not that good.I've but U.S. made cheap rotors with good luck,but they do wear with ceramic pads,rotors dipped in liquid nitrogen are the best. Former machinist

I've been running bottom of the barrel chinese rotors on my Ranger for the past 3 years, and the brakes are just starting to get a little funny(decreased braking capacity, have to pull the wheels and investigate). So I've been okay, but I haven't had to make any emergency stops in the three years either.

I've used both cheap and higher end. I've had cheapos that failed too soon and other cheapos that lasted a long time without incident (pitting or warping). You can take a chance on the cheaps versions and for the most part, changing them isn't too hard so why not?

I had a Dodge truck that went through rotors quite frequently, they would warp - I assumed they were under engineered. Always bought them from the dealer until the last pair that I bought cheap from autozone. Those actually lasted longer than any of the dealer rotors - go figure.

I've put 12,000 miles over two years on napa basic rotors on a 201, no rust, no grooves, no warping.


I've used a lot of centric rotors with no bad results from that rocky place.

Land Rover rotors?
 

You were looking for Land Rover rotors? Do you know if there is a website for Land Rover enthusiasts? Certainly they would have some opinions. I use the Akebono pads too. Would think you'd definitely want to keep the same quality on rotors as you have with the Akebono pads.

I would spend the extra cash for better ones. I had to toss on some cheap ones from a local store on my V90 as they were grooved badly and I needed pads. One had significant run out directly from the box. :rolleyes:

Slapped ATEs on it as I should have done from the beginning, no issues.


There are many ways to save a buck to afford something better like this. Just be creative.