Need good and bad stories of rotors purchased from Ford, AutoZone, Advance, NAPA, etc. I have a recurring problem of brakes vibrating/shaking after having rotors turned, and new pads and correcting problem for about a month or so. Decided the cure, hopefully, would be to replace the rotors with new ones.

 

You dont need to spend a pretty penny on rotors. Your pads are more important.
Slotted and drilled is nice, and will help a bit, but if you took the money you spent upgrading from regular rotors to slotted and drilled rotors and instead applied that to better pads, you would get more bang for the buck.

O'Reillys has good generic rotors. Get some of those and you should be good.

 

Check this:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post10980595

Unfortunately, the link I posted does not work, and I found it again, but can't get to it for some reason.

The claim being made is that the rotors don't really "warp". Most vibration problems are caused by material transferring from the pad to the rotor. Very little is needed to cause the vibrations. Material also transfers after a stop when the brakes are held, such as at a stop light at the bottom of a long hill.

Variation in the materials, such as harder material mixed into the cast, will create high spots on the rotor as they will not wear as quickly. The high spots become hot spots, and gather more material from the pad.

Soooo, you are right to research results from other brands. I would think avoiding the cheapest ones would be a good practice.

Another reference to that article:

There's no such thing as 'warped' brake rotors - Orlando Autos | Examiner.com

 

I just pulled the trigger on EBC slotted/drilled and their "yellow stuff" pads. Four Wheeler had a very good test article on them. At 100,000+ on my fronts, I needed some new ones. Should have them replaced next week. I will report later.

Pap

 

I just put on rotors and pads from ART last weekend and like them a LOT.
They are a lot better then the stock ones.
But then again my truck weights in at 12,000 lbs everyday.
That is why I did a lot of research and went with the ART's

 

I used Napa Premium rotors and Superduty pads from Hawk. The rotors are high quality but the pads have a lot of metal in them which translates into noise. Next time I will use
Yellowstuff pads or the Hawk LTS pads.

 

Bed your new pads and rotors in properly immediately after they are installed and they will give you better service. The OE Ford pads and rotors have been known to last a very long time. I'm at 51k and change on mine the pads have been glazed over a few times from mountain roads and they are still kicking. Some of the aftermarket rotors and pads grip better so I'm going that route when my stockers are done for.

 

I have used just about every OEM and aftermarket pad and rotor out there, factory FoMoCo, Motorcraft to the available fare from Napa, O'Reilly's, Autozone, etc.

The best stopping/fade resistance/life for me have been the EBC dimpled/slotted rotors and either yellow or greenstuff pads, depending on what is available for the particular model.

For about the last 6-7 years I have used EBC pads and rotors almost exclusively, on all my vehicles.

I have a Porsche Cayenne that would go through factory pads and rotors in as little as 14k, never more than 20k (gets driven hard up and down twisty mountain roads daily) until I tried EBC's on that too. 31k to date and brakes are probably 30-40%. The rotors take a beating on this thing, and will be done when the pads are, that is for sure, but the life difference has been pretty substantial.

Anyway, I have been very happy with EBC parts.

 

have the exact same set up on mine and have been very satisfied with them.

 

I would echo what A/Ox4 said. I put the O'Reilly rotors on mine when it had about 65K on it. The rotors are still in great shape. Spend the money on pads, and you should be happy.

I will make one qualification to my statement - I do not do a lot of heavy towing, so I cannot speak to how well they would hold up to towing a 10K trailer every day. For daily driving and the periodic load of building material for the extreme DIYer, they have held up very well.

 

Bosch quiet casts from o'riellys or oem w/ ceramic pads - have both on several of our trucks and have been happy.
Properly Bedding in new pads has as much to do with how long they'll last as the pads themselves.
A lot of folks also overlook the springs and clips. The hwde kit is cheap - replace it all for a more reliable job.

 

I use strictly Brake Best pads and rotors. The rotors (front and back) are about $65 a piece, and the pads are about $30 a set. I have 99k on my truck and have replaced the rotors once and the pads twice.
Im sure I could get better performance from parts costing twice as much, but as easy as it is to do the breaks on these things, it's crazy to shell out the extra $. I have never had an issue with fade or vibration, and the pads seem to wear very evenly.
One odd thing that has happened to me, and maybe some of you guys can relate, the right side park brake shelled itself at 95k, chewing up the rotor and pads. When I got it apart I found ground up springs, a worn cable end and the shoes looked like someone had hit them with a jack hammer......and I have never used the park brake in 9 years.

 

This topic has me wondering if anyone has used the drilled and slotted rotors off of ebay. It sounds pretty good to me, at right around $250 for four rotors and pads. Anyone try them?

 

recently i had a caliper stick and warped a rotor. by the time I was done, I used 1 rotor, bendix pads and 2 remanufactured calipers. The offshore rotor worked for my application, as well as the 2 locally remanufactured calipers. Ford caliper slides sieze pretty easily, check to make sure your pads are evenly worn also. All it takes is 1 slide to stick, or 1 caliper to stick and the rotor is toast within a few miles.

 

I used drilled/slotted from Rotorpros on my 2002 F-350 and they did me a great job, lasted almost 80k with no issues. I am trying EBC's this time, hope to install them this week or next.

Pap