What are the best brakes and rotors that won't break the bank but will last longer than 3 months. On my F150, Fusion, and wife's edge we use autozones dualistic and have not been happy with them. Obviously they are cheaper but I take them off and swap them out for a new pair for free. On my F150 I was doin g the rear brakes 2 times a year and I never really slam on the brakes. However the fronts lasted like 4 years. I want something better on my 2011 f250 diesel. Another thingreat i didn't like about autozone brakes were they left brake dust on my rims. I also used rotors from autozone but if you didn't drive the car for a day it showed rust on them. So what's good?

I was told to check out maxbrakes.com from someone but after doing some shopping I'm thinking they are cheap garbage. I can do fronts and back rotors and pads for 280. Napa wants 250 just for the fronts. I also saw powerstop brakes for about 500 for everything. What is everyone running or recomend? Thanks

 

One thing to keep in mind there are different grades of parts available at places like AutoZone or Napa, crap, better, best. Brake parts are a little different depending where you buy them too.

 

I believe on my F150 I bought the midrange ones. They were OK just had to replace 2 times a year which wasn't a huge deal. I would change them when I took winter tires off and when I took summer tires off. I just didn't like how they left brake dust on my chrome rims. Mine were not nearly as bad as my dad's 06 ram 2500 cummins. He ran autozone then switched to napa. My biggest thing was rotors having rust spots and made my truck look like ****. I will look into napa

 

Also what kind of rotors are better? Regular, slotted, or drilled and slotted?

 

WOW youre opening yourself up to a huge debate there. I wont get into the pros/cons of each type, you could search all day on the interwebs and get plenty of opinions on that. What I will say is for the money you cant beat EBC. On my 2004 F-150 I ran their dimpled/slotted rotors and greenstuff pads and they were great, long lasting, low dust and much better stopping power. That was a few years ago, now they have green, yellow and orange all made for different things. Just remember to follow their break in procedure.

 

Ya I figured I would. The reason I asked I was looking this more and it seems to be a love hate thing. I was looking at powerstop and the reviews were good but when I Google slotted and drilled rotors I see pictures of cracked rotors. I will do some more research

 

I have used Centric Premium rotors for years now on many different vehicles, and have been very impressed with them every time. They do have different quality levels, I find the ones that are painted/powder coated, usually called premium. Never used the slotted/drilled versions. These rotors are made from a better grade of material, so I don't see the deep pitting or rusting common on replacement rotors.

 

Personally I would leave the drilled to the race car guys. The idea behind drilling is to allow more cooling but it also weakens the rotor obviously. Some will tell you that drilling and slotting is just removing surface area and to just use regular pads, however when the pad is making contact with the rotor at speed it creates gas and that gas acts like a cushion between the pad and rotor surfaces. So a slotted rotor is designed to channel the gas away from the surface, much like channels in a tire direct water away.

 

Thank you. I never knew anything really about them except for racing and every brand I look at has these. I had no clue. I will just stay with normal rotors

 

I'm with Metro. I have put Centric rotors on a couple cars. All of Centric rotors have the black hats and cooling fins. I also used the Powerslot Cryo treated rotors with Hawk LTS pads on mthe front of My Super Duty. Stops great and zero issues with them, they are a dusty pad though.

Just the yesterday I helped install a Powerslot Z36 kit on an Excursion with another member. They are a zinc coated rotor which shouldn't rust either. Can say on how well they work but several members here have gone with them.