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autozone duralast brake rotors

KobeJ05

Well-Known Member
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March 8, 2009
Messages
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City, State
Marina, CA
Year, Model & Trim Level
1994 explorer 157k miles
anyone had issues with the duralast rotors? i didnt even had them on there for 5k miles and there shakeing again like before. i was thinking of trying napa.
 



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They weren't duralast, but I used O'Reilly's cheapos and within a few weeks they were warped again... I had some old Motorcraft OEM rotors laying around so I had those turned, and it's been 8 months with no effects yet, still as smooth as can be.

For the most part I try to keep jobs as cheap as possible, but with brakes I've learned this : SPEND THE MONEY. It's worth it. I'm using OEM rotors and Performance Friction Carbon Metallica Pads, PERFECT.
 












anyone had issues with the duralast rotors? i didnt even had them on there for 5k miles and there shakeing again like before. i was thinking of trying napa.

Duralast should be fine. Stay away from the Valuecraft. They are garbage. Also, make sure that you properly clean the rotors with brake clean before installing them, use new pads, and follow proper break-in procedures.
No matter what you buy, it can only take a few repeated hard stops, such as in rush hour traffic, to warp rotors, new or not. ---rant on--- That's why I get so pissed off at stupid drivers who decide to SLAM on their brakes in traffic, and end up coming to a complete stop while still having a car length or two in front of them. Brakes are not an on/off switch! ----rant off---
 






agreed...

I had my brakes done in march i believe... i took it to a guy who does all the Ambulance and Medic fleet work for the hospital i work at... the rotors i got are good, but the pads are terrible... so much dust and they squeak like crazy... cant wait till after my vacation next week to drop these POS pads and go for HAWK Pads !


dont buy the cheap stuff when it comes to stopping power !
 






agreed...

I had my brakes done in march i believe... i took it to a guy who does all the Ambulance and Medic fleet work for the hospital i work at... the rotors i got are good, but the pads are terrible... so much dust and they squeak like crazy... cant wait till after my vacation next week to drop these POS pads and go for HAWK Pads !


dont buy the cheap stuff when it comes to stopping power !

Hawk pads can squeak too, I had to take my apart every couple of months to grease the back of the pads to get them to shut up. But it was worth it to me because I wanted to be able to stop in a hurry.

As far as rotors go if you buy the really good ones they won't warp after a few hard stops. I had 50+ on my powerslots and they were still true, granted I paid 2 or 3 times what a cheap rotor would cost, but it was worth it to me to not have to worry about them having problems.
 






My Performance Friction Carbon Metallica pads never squeak.. I used the regular amount of brake quiet on the sides of them during installation and have been super quiet ever since.
 






The Autozone Duralast C-max Gold Ceramics are a pretty cost effective way to get good ceramic pads. Maybe not as good as Hawk or Performance Friction (or maybe they are?), but still good.
 






Brakes are one of, if not THE system to drop the bucks on in a vehicle, especially something like a truck/SUV that needs the stopping power.

I can definitely recommend Napa/Rayloc brake parts. I have the top end rotors/drums/pads/shoes all around and they are excellent. They are smooth, quiet, very low dust, and well worth the money. Never had a problem with warping or any kind of damage, even with performance use. The lifetime warranty pads/shoes will save you lots if you plan on keeping your vehicle quite awhile. You can save some money getting the 1-year warranty rotors/drums rather than the lifetime warranty since it's the same part, you're just paying twice as much for them to cover the replacement so it makes more sense to just pay for the single...unless you think you might actually replace the parts 3 or 4 times, then the lifetime hardware is probably worth it.

Brembo makes good solid parts too, and Powerslot rotors are available if you feel like dropping some coin on even higher performance parts.
 






Guess I got lucky.. I put Autozone El-chepo rotors and pads on a little over a year ago....no problems
 






im gonna invest in napa rotors
 






Another option is to look at Rockauto.. A rotor from bendix, wagner, etc and not those store name brands are about the same price as the ones at advance,autozone, etc and you won't get that chinese crap that advance/autozone sells for the entry level.
 






I picked up my new rotor and two sets of pads from o'reilly's. No problems as of 10 months. I believe they were house brand.
 






i know i said im gonna use napa brand but im just gonna swap them out on warentee and go from there.
 






On my last brake job, I made the mistake of cheaping out with the AZ Valucrap rotors. Never again.

6 months later, they started warping. I'm replacing them over the winter with some Motorcraft rotors and Napa Ceramix pads. For what 2 sets of cheap rotors/pads cost, I could have done the job with quality parts, and saved the hassle of another replacement job.

I'm tired of wobble at the slightest brake pressure. :(
 






My experiance with all parts marked "duralast"
4 CV/Axles .. all junk in less than 30 days. In the store managers defense, he ended up refunding me every dime. My time and aggrivation, were, as always, free. (actually think he just gave up after I blew up on him for the crap parts) Maybe they manufacturer had production problems??? who knows?? Got others at NAPA, went OK until ... well nevermind that

All 4 calipers... rears crapped out after 1 year, got those replaced free under the "lifetime warranty".. basically means when the part dies, they will replace it IF you can prove it with receipt.

Rotors... front and rear... Used them once with the "best" pads autozone/duralast make. Lasted 1 year, never again

Ball joints... 3 uppers in 1 1/2 years... enough said

Tie rod ends... 3 in 30 days (right around the same time as CV/axles).. the manager hates to see me walking in the door, and IF/when I do go there, its ONLY for oil/chemicals

That was enough to convince me that duralast will NOT last and I will never buy anything with the duralast name on it ever again.

Use the good stuff, it costs a little more, but in the end.. the money/aggrivation/time you save is yours to keep.

Rant finished
 






I actually buy Advance AutoParts Rotors/Pads (mid grade) and the key to buying the cheapo-mid grade rotors is to turn them right when you buy them, sure it says "already machined" on the box and they are "supposed" to be true, but I can always see just a little out of round condition in them even brand new, I used to work at Ford, and the only rotors that I knew I wouldn't have to turn were the OEM Motorcraft from the parts counter, everything else was always turned b4 installation, just one cut does it usually, and the other thing is that it gets the protective coating off really well, brake cleaner does too, but you have to work at it sometimes.

Also, no matter what rotors/pads you buy, make sure you seat them properly, meaning NO HARD STOPPING for the first 400 or so miles until the pads seat. This can mean the difference between pads/rotors lasting a long time w/out warping, or rotors warping in the first 6 months...
 






I actually buy Advance AutoParts Rotors/Pads (mid grade) and the key to buying the cheapo-mid grade rotors is to turn them right when you buy them, sure it says "already machined" on the box and they are "supposed" to be true, but I can always see just a little out of round condition in them even brand new, I used to work at Ford, and the only rotors that I knew I wouldn't have to turn were the OEM Motorcraft from the parts counter, everything else was always turned b4 installation, just one cut does it usually, and the other thing is that it gets the protective coating off really well, brake cleaner does too, but you have to work at it sometimes.

Also, no matter what rotors/pads you buy, make sure you seat them properly, meaning NO HARD STOPPING for the first 400 or so miles until the pads seat. This can mean the difference between pads/rotors lasting a long time w/out warping, or rotors warping in the first 6 months...



You know if what you say is true yo may have just touched on the issue. When people go a while with bad brakes then replace it. They hard stop a few times trying out the new brakes not realizing they messing up the seat. I didn't do any hard stopping because I never do anyway . I'm a slow driver. I haven't had a minutes trouble out of the el cheapo rotors.. JMO
 






Also, no matter what rotors/pads you buy, make sure you seat them properly, meaning NO HARD STOPPING for the first 400 or so miles until the pads seat. This can mean the difference between pads/rotors lasting a long time w/out warping, or rotors warping in the first 6 months...

This is not always the case and will depend on who made the brake pads. I won't get into to much detail but the smoothness and maximum performance of brake pads depends on how well you've been able to deposit a thin layer of film from the pad to the rotor. My experience comes from racing cars and customer work on cars/trucks but I bed in all the brakes I install. For those of you who don't know what "bedding in" a set of brakes means here is an example.

Get the car/truck up to 45mph and lay on the brakes as hard as you can until the car slows to 15-20mph then get it back up to 45mph and do it again. You repeat this until the brakes start to fade (normally 5-10 times) and then drive the car normally for 15 minutes or so to let them cool down.

Its important to keep in mind that this will vary between pad manufactures. Some pads come with a high friction top layer that is designed to be driven nice and easy for 400 miles while others, like Hawk, use the bedding procedure I mentioned above. The key is to get a transfer film on the rotor and your only chance of getting an even layer is either when the rotor is new or freshly turned.

I keep my customers away from cheap rotors not because they don't work but because the quality of the materials is so low that after a few years the rust kills them. I've seen a few sets that were shuddering pretty bad look great with the wheel off but the back side of the rotor looked like a lunar landscape.

I always recommend good quality pads and rotors and I think most autopart store brand ceramic pads are junk. A set of performance friction or Hawk pads make all the difference in the world.
 



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as always, follow the recommendations of the manufacturer, I agree, the procedure I mentioned isn't true 100% of the time, however when installing pads other than non-performance or racing pads, I have found this to be the proper procedure 99.9% of the time for all Autozone/Advance/O'Reilly/Generic Parts Stores... the rust issue GreenGSX mentioned is something I haven't experienced myself, however, I am in Georgia so we don't have as much salt on the roads and hardly any snow so I can't speak for those who do, rust just isn't an issue here. However, what GreenGSX mentioned about the rotors needing to be freshly cut I think is definately true, again, when buying rotors from the auto parts stores, have them turned immediately, even the nice cross-hatched pattern on most new rotors sometimes isn't as good as a fresh cut, and like I said, in most cases, the rotors are slightly warped from the get go, so turning them makes them true.

Remember, the cheapo rotors are made with cheaper metallurgy, meaning the alloy that they are made from is usually inferior to OEM or performance rotors, that being said, just know that with these rotors, your chances of warping them are higher than usual, but if you follow some common sense rules, you will have a better chance of not warping them.
 






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