I have Brembo rotors and pads on the front and they are great. I might be needing some new rear hardware and I'm considering Brembo as well, no one else

 

I am riding on those brembo for about 6 years (on my camry sedan) - I love them. No issues so far, thickness is still in the range, no warping, perfect quality. And you can't go wrong for just $50 per brembo rotor at tirerack.

 

I would still take an EBC sport dimpled/slotted rotor and a set of their pads over Brembo any day of the week. Yes I do agree that you MAY get more mileage out of a set of brembo rotors, but during the life of the rotors I think you will get better results with a harder compound pad (which I don't think the brembo could handle all that well)

For the money, the brembos are cheaper than the EBC rotors (180 for a pair of EBC) but am not sure that being they are "blanks" with no real good venting system that they wouldn't warp quickly if you slap on a ceramic pad with it. I could be wrong...

either way, I'm an EBC brake user for life. Once you have a set that you properly break in, then do a proper bed in procedure...they stop like no other pad...they bite like an absolutely champ...and overall are incredible brakes

 

For street car slotted or drilled rotors make no sense, imo.

 

From post: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3302043&postcount=13

Thread: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=347101&highlight=13"+rotor


Anyone ever bought from this seller, used the product or KNOW who made the material he's selling?

Prices look good and countless questions (like above) all over the net. . . almost 50/50 so I'm hesitant to buy. . .


http://stores.ebay.com/Brakemotive

TN shows no matches for Brakemotive. . . .

 

thanks for input guys. I see you all (almost) using Brembos with success that's a good thing.

anybody using Centric Premium (blank) rotors ?

here are some review from the tirerack, they tend to give more points in favor of Centric actually over Brembo.

Brembo:
http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brak...a&autoModel=Camry+Solara+SLE&autoYear=2002&autoModClar=&group=Replacement+Rotor

Centric:
http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brak...oyota&autoModel=Camry+Solara+SLE&autoYear=2002&autoModClar=&group=Premium+Rotor

I have never heard of Breakmotive rotors ... but my knowledge is very limited

EBC stuff (all) is too expensive for me.

I like the stopping power of Hawk HPS (I have used them with 64k-78k old OEM front rotors on 00 solara 2.2L with great success), but they dust a little too much, so this time will be going with Akebono Street Performance pads (less stopping power than Hawks, but also much less dusting) and new rotors ...

 

be watching this with ALOT of interest. Since I wrecked the Legend due to front impact....with "average" brakes....meaning they 'stopped' the car....but performance....yea right....whatever.....I will never again have a car with 'standard' brakes any longer...I want what my old 88 civic had....brakes that would put you through the front windshield if I stood on em

 

be watching this with ALOT of interest. Since I wrecked the Legend due to front impact....with "average" brakes....meaning they 'stopped' the car....but performance....yea right....whatever.....I will never again have a car with 'standard' brakes any longer...I want what my old 88 civic had....brakes that would put you through the front windshield if I stood on em

I think something was wrong with your Legend, I've driven that car before and it stops like a fat kid for twinkie... Hondas have REAL brakes, not like Toyota, who can't make proper brakes and a good turning radius if their lives depended on it:disappoin

 

I'm just saying if you're by any means hard on your brakes, I would say blank rotors are junk. Look at it this way, if everything were identical in a perfect world and you drive your car very hard...you're constantly hard on your brakes while "moving" and all the sudden you have to slam on your brakes for an upcoming traffic light (or you can just run the red ...jk). anyhow when you come to a full stop on HOT rotors, most average people don't realize but they will sit there with a brake pad on a super hot rotor surface. At the very least atleast with a cross-drilled/slotted rotor you have a chance at not warping them since you can have the gases and heat escape through the drills and slots. I would still take a mediocre drilled/slotted rotor over a blank performance rotor any day of the week..

BTW what is it with all you guys whining about poor brakes on camry's? I have two of them and honestly they are quite good at stopping. I even find the drums in the back to a pretty good job considering they are only drum brakes. Bottom line..I'll put anyone too the test in stopping power against my 96 beige camry...with ebc's on the fronts and a good set of shoes on the back, I stop better than 95% of people with stock rotors who have disc brakes in the rears too ..I'm fine with that

 

BTW what is it with all you guys whining about poor brakes on camry's? I have two of them and honestly they are quite good at stopping. I even find the drums in the back to a pretty good job considering they are only drum brakes. Bottom line..I'll put anyone too the test in stopping power against my 96 beige camry...with ebc's on the fronts and a good set of shoes on the back, I stop better than 95% of people with stock rotors who have disc brakes in the rears too ..I'm fine with that

I've driven enough other cars to be able to stay Toyota brakes are crap. Trust me. OEM sucks, plain and simple. "Quite good" doesn't cut it when my dad's RL, which is 700 lbs heavier than my car by comparison, stops in a shorter distance that my car.

 

hehe, good reading.

to add my 2 cents, on my 00 solara 2.2L (rear drums) brakes are unreal since i installed Hawk HPS pads in fronts, flushed the brake fluid and adjusted rear drums - note i didn't even resurfaced the front OEM rotors at 64k. this thing stops on a dime now

... unfortunately can't say that (yet) about my 02 solara 3.0L with rear discs ... I need to flush the brake fluid finally (always have no time for that) as the one inside looks ... original? some brownish junk.

drilled/slotted rotors are kinda ... too expensive for me ... unless i take ATE PremiumOne Slotted Rotor at around $71 fronts and $64 rears ... that's not bad price for something with slots. drilled ones are out of question ... waaay tooo expensive.

 

drilled/slotted rotors are kinda ... too expensive for me ... unless i take ATE PremiumOne Slotted Rotor at around $71 fronts and $64 rears ... that's not bad price for something with slots. drilled ones are out of question ... waaay tooo expensive.

is this a good enough reason to not get drilled/slotted for a street driven car?

juuuus saying

 

anybody using ATE PremiumOne slotted with (long term) success ? they are not too expensive (just $70 or $64 each), considering them seriously over OE replacements...

 

Ill go with a slotted....but never a dual again. Yes covered under warranty....was given a new set, sold immediately....once a rotor cracks on you....you gonna put on another set?

but I still dont see the use for a street car....now if you autox or something....then maybe not such a bad idea

 

real question is if slotted rotor gives more braking force or only stays cooler over blank rotor ?

I haven't decided yet, but i just want to have the optimal set of brakes (bite force vs dust at ~normal price).

 

I just get Brembo blank rotors and call it a day.

If you want to upgrade your braking performance and don't mind a lot of noise and dust, get Hawk HPS pads from the tire rack and upgrade your existing brake lines to stainless steel versions.

Get a good quality brake fluid like Valvoline. If you want, you can upgrade to a synthetic race fluid with a higher boiling point like Motul RBF600 or ATE Super Blue, but that would require more maintenance since they're more hydroscopic. In other words, you would need to flush your brake fluid every year at least.

If you are set on getting slotted rotors, then get Cryo-treated Powerslots.

 

thanks for input!

I always use only Valvoline DOT3&4. I have Hawk HPS on my other car, but they dust too much after wearing off a little (was better when new).
Now want to get Akebono Street Performance, they are said to dust way less then Hawks.
Noise was never an issue for me with Hawks HPS, they are actually quieter than Wagner Thermoquiet I had before (dusting is same bad or now more with Hawks).

So, blank rotors are all i need.

 

weirdly enough....I had ceramic pads on my g2 legend (factory called for...organics were actually higher priced :shocked: )......and I had VERY lil dust from those and good to above average braking when new pads/fluid was done

 

I haven't installed any aftermarket parts on my Camry yet, however I have installed Centric Cryo slotted rotors on my truck. They've been on for maybe a year and a half or two years and they've been fantastic. I plan on getting a similar setup for the Camry soon.

 

wow, I have just realized that I was the one who started this thread LOL! :lol: forgot about it totally :facepalm:

I love the slotted Centric Cryo rotors very much! they look awesome, and I like the anti-rust protection! :thumbsup:
it seems to be holding up after over a year, nice!

I think those rotors will be my replacements for both cars when the time comes

For time being both cars are still on factory rotors:
a) '02 1mz-fe @ 128k miles (rotors resurfaced around 4k miles ago)
b) '00 5s-fe @ 81k miles (rotors resurfaced last Spring)

They are still good, just thin, they will need getting replaced with the next set of brake pads (rather sooner than later for 5s-fe as the pads are half way done already).

EDIT:
may I ask where did you get your Centric Cryo slotted rotors from? I checked Advance Auto, rockauto and tirerack and none of them carries those... is it perhaps Powerslot Cryo-treated alloy brand instead of Centric Cryo (those are plain, not slotted)?

 

I've had some pretty terrible experiences with warping "Premium" white box blanks on pretty much every make of car... Since this experience I started installing Brembo blanks and/or Centric rotors exclusively with a decent ceramic pad and haven't had an issue since! The rotors I had issue with were what Car quest considered to be "premium rotors" in a white box with a premium CQ sticker on them. Since then, i've been told CQ changed their vendor to raybestos, but with the terrible support I got I won't buy parts there any more... Doing captive rotors that warped in under a month on a customers car was the last straw... I have yet to have a brembo or centric rotor come back with friction spots or warpage... Not saying it won't happen, but it's been amazing the difference since I started using these name brand rotors! The centrics are from china and the brembo's are from mexico at least on all the boxes i've remembered to look at...

Cheers

 

the word "premium" is totally abused nowadays to the point where it became a synonym of "crap" ... I love those slotted Centrics (or PowerSlots) with black paint though, pricewise they compare also better than Brembos Slotted (unpainted centers) ... I think I will get them when the time comes

 

hehe that's right about "premium". But even the basic Centric C-tek works fine. The rust is ugly like on any untreated rotors.

Most coated rotors use a zinc type coating, the Centric Premium ones use powder coating. GM has a new process using Ferritic Nitro-Carburizing (FNC) and that's supposed to be pretty good too, and I wonder if this will work its way into aftermarket rotors.

Check out the pictures:
http://wot.motortrend.com/gm-plans-...gm-plans-roll-out-of-rust-resistant-brake-rotors-on-selected-models-140867.html

 

hehe that's right about "premium". But even the basic Centric C-tek works fine. The rust is ugly like on any untreated rotors.

Most coated rotors use a zinc type coating, the Centric Premium ones use powder coating. GM has a new process using Ferritic Nitro-Carburizing (FNC) and that's supposed to be pretty good too, and I wonder if this will work its way into aftermarket rotors.

Check out the pictures:
http://wot.motortrend.com/gm-plans-...gm-plans-roll-out-of-rust-resistant-brake-rotors-on-selected-models-140867.html

right, I think Brembos are zinc coated, they have that greenish look, like any OEM metal parts do and they are usually zinc coated, pretty easy to see when you take a pic of them with camera and flash (makes it look like they have green sparks around them).

powder coating should do I think, at least for a while. will look for FNC, sounds cool hehe, will see if more companies accommodates that tech.

I am wondering if it really pays off to get Cryo treated rotors. I read they wear down much slower than "classic" non-cryo ones. forgot the numbers, but it was like, they can last up to 2-3 times longer, pretty much that would mean the life of a car. not sure if one is supposed to turn them though...

 

Brembo or centric premium preferred rotors have returned 100 000km's after install on small automatic cars like mazda 3 and focus ZX5. While they show wear they still function properly with good braking performace... I also have had good luck with akebono pads although I can't source them enough to say I use them exclusively... Although I'm from Canada I almost always find myself ordering parts from Rockauto even with shipping prices I can cut costs and get better parts at the same times. So it really comes down to what they offer coupled with shipping location and parts prices the customer is willing to pay. Sometimes my favorite brembo/akebono combo isn't an option... I have found the centrics to be on par if not even better due to the powder coating process you guys speak of. It doesn't last forever but it keeps the rust off the non friction spots on the rotors for a good few months even in the salt belt around my area... I do like the wear indicators on brembo blanks tho and I do wish centric would follow suit on that, it isn't a big enough deal to me to pick one over the other...

Centrics do seem to be coming in slightly below the cost of brembo's lately and brembo's seem like they aren't being sold by rockauto the way they once were...

Keep in mind all the warping issues I had with whitebox chinese rotors did happen 3 or 4 years ago now. As far as cryo being better for the street, I would agree that all of this does come down to metallurgy the reason economy rotors warp and/or get friction spots is because of poor heat treat processes which I have been told in some cases happens on a cement floor in china with a methane torch powered by human fecal matter! (seriously) The problem I find is finding blanks that have undergone a cryo process... Slotted or drilled rotors are hard to sell to customers because for most people I do think they come with unnecessary cost. About the only street vehicles I would recommend them for are overloaded utility vans that carry insane amounts of weigh around... I personally haven't installed enough of these to comment on slotted or drilled rotors being worth the extra cost... I have a couple contractors as customers that are very hard on brakes and again have returned with centrics and decent ceramic pads that are withstanding punishment much better then the factory ford/gm combos....

If I do get any negative feedback I will let you guys know. All of these name brands are only as good as their quality control and because most of these things come out of the 3rd world I find it hard to stand behind the name 100%... I can say that every set of akebono pads I have ever gotten over the years have performed above and beyond their duty and for the money they're hard as heck to beat, they of course are made in japan...

My daily driver is a 86 toyota land cruiser diesel which has over 300 000km's on the clock and is on it's 2nd set of brakes... Downshifting is a big part of this, also the truck has big brakes for its size and toyota factory parts, due to brembo/centrics being hard to source for my model specifically!

I'll stop talking now, back to the grind!

 

Impressive credentials.... now what do you think of a set of factory rotors (front) that have gone 300K Km, never been turned, and burned through 4 sets of brake pads.:facepalm: If you had just replaced the front rotors with re-built 96', twin piston calipers, would you go with Centric or Brembo?

 

I have yet to see any replacement rotor last as long as the original parts on these cars. I've tried several different brands and although they were not terrible by any stretch, they simply did not stand up as well. Perhaps a high end rotor would last long I don't know. BTW, with Brembo, they make some nice stuff and some is complete crap (with a low price to tell you as much).

BTW SR are you interested in some new rear rotors for your car (the ES300 ones)? I have two new ones sitting in a box, I painted the non friction surfaces with Por-15 paint which will never come off. Let me know otherwise I will be putting them up for sale.

 

I think 300 000km on factory rotors is a result of a good driver with a manual transmission, most likely! Also car that hasn't sat around in the salt belt alot, meaning it's been driven frequently probably a fair amount on the highway... Also pad material and characteristics can play a dramatic role in rotor life... I have seen 160 000km factory rotors on a ford focus automatic! Now that is amazing!!! A 5 speed car with a good driver that downshifts while braking. rotors can last an amazing amount of time...

If prices on centric premium prefered rotors and brembo blanks were identical for your car I would go with brembo's! Centric's are a close 2nd best, the only reason I choose bembos is I've used them more often then centrics... I also like the wear indicator on the brembo blanks! A nice akebono pad and some mindful driving and I think you'll be amazed at what kind of miledge you can put on them....

It really is hard to beat a real Japanese made toyota rotor! It all comes down to how much you have in your wallet. Many of my customers need low prices to keep there older japanese cars going! Most of the vehicles I look after are worth under 5000 dollars and the majority are japanese! If you can find an importer that ships containers in, you can get OEM toyota parts at really reasonable cost, but it can take a painful amount of time!

I do agree even brembo isn't what they once were, but I have yet to have an issue with blank rotors, that being said I don't use their pads or slotted rotors...

Again I have to say if it wasn't for these couple rotor manufacturers I've had luck with, it's hard to say what I would have done... There were a few years were it seemed like so many aftermarket parts for older japanese cars had really really poor quality! This lead to me read a lot of forums like this one! Also a great deal of time spent talking to various vendors and remanufacturers to really figure out what was behind all of it... Slowly I do think chinese manufacturers are getting better a few are almost great! ie centric...

Me dumping car quest and the other local parts places was a really hard choice, but in the end it seemed to really help me get my customers better parts for better prices. Service at my local parts suppliers had gotten to be terrible mainly due to what I consider to be employee's with poor customer service skills and belaming car manufacturers for poorly remaned parts... Also carquest re boxing and re badging parts drove me absolutely nuts...

I don't really love supporting a huge company that seems to be dominating parts sales, but when you want good quality aftermarket parts and you know the brands you like, rockauto is hard to beat... I've tried some canadian based online places with free shipping and between their customer service not being excellent and prices being high, coupled with some of my favorite parts not being offered, I went back to rock auto!

Cheers

 

Actually, it's automatic. As it happens though, the car was bought by my Dad just a year and a half before he retired, and yes many, many of the miles on it were put on driving to and from our family cottage, and on long road-trip vacations. The Centric rotors are available at a local retailer for sure, but I'm going to look into a set of locally available Brembos. I'm not looking for monster brakes so that I can roast them at every chance, just that many of my friends are driving big dollar machines, and I have experienced what a terrific set of brakes can do for a car.

 

Try Rockauto with this discount code and make sure all parts are shipping from one location or as few as possible

Discount code put in "How Did You Hear About Us?" box for 5% off
85597063729583

Also try Autopartsway.ca which offers free shipping in canada on orders over 75 bucks... If you use the online chat and ask for a discount code they will usually give you 2% off....

You may as well go with the cheapest place! I almost always see parts in 2 days!

Cheers and yes I try really hard for my customers, lol...
What's crazy to me is local parts places can't even touch the deals I get for these "good" parts online... Sure I can get white box rotors for 10 bucks but I wouldn't even put them on a customers car!

cheers