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Feels like I need to change out my brake rotors so I'll need to do both pads and rotors. On my other LS I replaced the rotors and pads with NAPA brand for both and they did well. Thing is they are actually more expensive than OEM. I found a kit of OEM pads and rotors for about $250 shipped. So, looking around I've heard of others using Centric and I can pick those up for less than $40 a rotor and NAPA ultra premium pads for about $70. Has anyone used Centric brand before? Any other brands to look at? I might just pull the trigger on the OEM kit but thought I would get suggestions of anything else before making a final decision.
I’m using Centric Premium rotors and their most expensive ceramic pad. They stop incredibly smoothly and generate virtually zero brake dust.
I did a good amount of research before going with the Centric but Brembo rotors were also highly recommended as well as OEM of course.
To be clear, I bought the Premium rotors — the hats and cooling fins are coated in a black paint to help prevent rust. Cheaper rotors will rust quickly without any sort of coating and just wouldn’t look right on this car imo.
I’m using Centric Premium rotors and their most expensive ceramic pad. They stop incredibly smoothly and generate virtually zero brake dust.
I did a good amount of research before going with the Centric but Brembo rotors were also highly recommended as well as OEM of course.
To be clear, I bought the Premium rotors — the hats and cooling fins are coated in a black paint to help prevent rust. Cheaper rotors will rust quickly without any sort of coating and just wouldn’t look right on this car imo.
Cool...thanks! Even the premium rotors are only about $55 each from autoanything. With $50 pads you're only talking $160 or $250 for OEM.
I bought mine from "brake_overstock" on eBay, I think they're Callaghan branded rotors and pads. Very well priced and they look good. Can't comment on stopping power as I only have the rears fitted currently
During my 9 years of ownership I replaced my pads front and rear and turned the rotors that where warped badly only to have the out of round return a year later. A few years ago I replaced front and rears with OEM everything. The car never stopped this well since I purchased the car.
i'll be honest with you. we didn't think we were going to keep the car, so i threw the cheapest pads and rotors on the front of the car and the cheapest pads on the rear that NAPA had. and now of course, the car is handed down to me, i thought i was going to regret putting those on. but surprisingly, i have had no issues what so ever with the pads. stopping feels good (as good as the top of the line NAPA pads that i had on before) & it hasn't made any noise like squeaks (knocking on wood), lol.
now, will i do that again when brakes have to be replaced.....probably not, but who knows...if these perform as needed....maybe, lol.
I totally agree with this when it comes to BMW, GM, Chrysler, Ford, Mercedes, Audi (gonna split hairs and say OE is original equipment, and OEM is original equipment manufacturer, and you mean OE)....why? Original equipment means the discs are baked in an oven for a day, with nitrogen introduced to the oven (FNC). This produces a grayish white coating that is rust resistant. The pads wear the coating away, so it doesn't rust for a couple of years. Lexus, imho nice to have. I have original equipment on the fronts, and in 27k, there is rust. So yes, prefer original, but no way to get with free shipping (that I know of), and the advantage isn't as much as the mfgs. that I mention above. You can spot Toyota OE by the gray, not black hats.
p.s. on the Centrics, nice that the inside where the parking brake will live is black. Maybe that prevents a little corrosion on the mating to the hub (although even the cheap non coated came right off, no muss, no fuss). Note the cross-hatch similar to Toyota OE. $27 each, can't lose!
sigh, I wasn't planning on it, but I put my Centrics on today! (rear)
I like the quality. For whatever reason, I got them $27 each on amazon. It wasn't a deal of the day, it was that price for a while...
My concern is I don't think the rear pads sweep to the hats, so the gap will rust....
I put another few coats of high temp black paint over the cooling fins and going further up from the hat on the rotor. Didn’t bother to mask anything off on the rotor so that the brake pads could make a perfect paint line.
I’m just OCD about these things so I do that anyway but it’s disappointing the Centic rotors aren’t coated all the way to the friction area
Still haven't made up my mind just yet but I'm kind of leaning towards Centric premium pads and rotors. They will be $180 to my door vs $250 for OEM pads/rotors. I'm doing the fronts so the cost is a little more than the rears. The OEM ones probably don't have any coating on the hat so they'll probably rust pretty quick. I noticed on my son's GS you can see the rust on his rotor hats.
09-01-18, 04:03 PM
Which brand of brake rotors?
