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I'm hoping to word this and get responses that will benefit anyone, so it's a little generalized, but here we go: Simple question - to someone on a budget, and being that the rear brakes are only about 25% of the stopping power, with the bulk of the responsibility of braking being on the front brakes - what are people's opinions about skimping/going cheap on the rear brake pads and rotors (i.e. organic/cheap semi-metallic pads, and cheap rotors) and take what they saved on the 'better' parts to roll over into other car repairs/or roll that savings into better front rotors and pads?? OR - is it just better for whatever reason to get similar brake materials for the front AND rear (remember, key word here is: budget!)? Will it make any difference? Rear brakes last A LOT longer than fronts, and the only thing that would concern myself, with my limited knowledge, is possibility of a cheaper rotor warping, causing annoyances. OR - third option might be to get cheap pads for the rear but good rotors??? Opinions???

My first question is: What is wrong with them? Grinding noise? Shaking? Or just worn? If they're just worn, you can get away with pads and a thorough inspection and greasing. I highly recommend you don't "Cheap out", but instead just get what you need. If you don't need rear rotors, don't buy 'em, just get high-quality pads.

Remember that while they only do 25% of the braking, they keep the rear-end in line with the front, especially in slippery conditions, and bad rear brakes require the fronts to do 100% of the work, which can kill them.

I usually don't mind pairing a decent pad with a somewhat cheaper rotor. Works for me. What's very important is keeping your calipers and everything else in good order. Having fully/partially seized rear brakes can trash your pads/rotors very quickly with abnormal wear patterns. You're also doing the fronts no favours.

repinS wrote:I usually don't mind pairing a decent pad with a somewhat cheaper rotor. Works for me. What's very important is keeping your calipers and everything else in good order. Having fully/partially seized rear brakes can trash your pads/rotors very quickly with abnormal wear patterns. You're also doing the fronts no favours.

X2

The rotors I use are 1 step from the bottom. Nice pads seem to chew through rotors.

I don't think you want to cheap out on the most important part of going... stopping. So many other things you can use "cheap" stuff and be fine.

00Beast wrote:My first question is: What is wrong with them? Grinding noise? Shaking? Or just worn? If they're just worn, you can get away with pads and a thorough inspection and greasing. I highly recommend you don't "Cheap out", but instead just get what you need. If you don't need rear rotors, don't buy 'em, just get high-quality pads.

Remember that while they only do 25% of the braking, they keep the rear-end in line with the front, especially in slippery conditions, and bad rear brakes require the fronts to do 100% of the work, which can kill them.

To answer your question, my answer falls under the category of "Shame on you, bad car owner!". The rears pretty much needed done when I bought it, 12K miles ago. Now, they desperately need done (too many other things that were higher priority on the list). What's "wrong" with them, is that they chirp when I brake, because it's nearly metal to metal (I know, I know...). Rotors may still be able to be turned though, there's still plenty of thickness left. So, pads for sure, maybe rotors too. Fronts were pretty recently put on right before I bought the car, but if we know most used car dealers, they probably put the cheapest thing on there that they could. They still seem to be in good shape though.

I just got the new tires put on, and it completely smoothed out the RIDE, but still when I BRAKE, I get 'some' shake....drastically reduced from when the old tires were on there (a problem with one of the steel belts on one of the old tires probably contributed to that), but it still shakes/pulsates a little. Being that the rear brakes need done regardless, I'm hoping that shaking is coming from them and that it will go away once I replace them this week. They're DEFINITELY getting serviced this week, just trying to figure out if I should just get econo-pads and rotors, mid level, or some combination of the two. I'm definitely not going to put premium materials on the back brakes, I still have a couple other things on the punch list to look into (i.e. the ISS, lower ball joints, etc.).

You can't turn the rear rotors, they're solid. I somewhat agree with the other two, get "cheaper" rotors, but good pads.

I priced out three options at three different prices for your car on RockAuto, these numbers are shipped to Fort Wayne, not including any potential sales taxes, and includes the 5% discount:

#1:
Wagner QuickStop Ceramic Pads (ZD714)
Wagner Standard Rotor (BD125702)
$68.41

#2:
Centric Premium Ceramic Pads (30107140)
Centric Premium Rotor (12062045)
$74.93

#3:
Akebono ProACT Ultra Premium Ceramic Pad (ACT714)
Centric Premium Rotor (12052045)
$102.92

Option #2 or 3 would be my choice, personally. #2 is what I'm actually running in the rear right now. I've put on about 30,000 miles (just over 1.5 years) since installation and am very happy with them. I did the calipers at the same time. I'm hard on my brakes and regularly do spirited driving, but I wouldn't consider myself to be a brake abuser. The only gripe is that dust is a little high for a ceramic pad. The Centric premium rotor is a good one, the benefit to them is that the hats and edges come pre-coated black - mine are still in great shape. #3 would be my choice the next time around. The Akebonos are a formidable option even for performance applications - almost as much stopping power as something like the Hawk Performance Ceramic, but with less dust.

I'm not sure what your price range and definition of "cheap" would be, though.

Wow, repinS...thank you for doing that for me, that's pretty cool! Hopefully someone who reads this will be able to take advantage. I SO WISH I had a garage, but I do not, so therefore a mechanic will be doing that job for me (especially with the weather changing, and my busy weekday schedule). Yes, I realize it's an easy job, and in fact I've done it before...more than once...fronts and rears both, but I have yet another trip this coming weekend to go on (I go to Illinois, about 200 miles from where I am, twice a month), and just want to get it done before then.

He uses Napa parts, semi-metallic pads and their mid-grade rotors. He quoted me $180 for the job, which is about what I was expecting. I can always tell him to bump up to the ceramic or whatever their premium pads are if I want to. Should I?

It will be a lot less dust, less noise and slightly better braking with ceramics. It's really up to you though....

I would go for ceramics. I'm running them all around, and while I do have the performance Hawk series, which might be more than you need or are looking for, they are great pads. They're real quiet, they bite like crazy, but they dust pretty bad. My wheels aren't chrome anymore after a week. I would go for the Centrics. Centric makes good stuff. We have Centric ceramics on my parents' Lexus GX I believe, and my dad is not gentle at all with those brakes. They're completely silent and barely dust at all.

You can turn solid rotors, it's just not as 'easy' and most shops can't cope with the increased 'time and effort' required. So it is not cost effective to turn them, and if they have any pulsing they pretty much done for as there is not as much material available for cutting. So it would be correct to say that 85% of the time the shop won't turn a solid rotor but it's not worth the effort anyway.

My $0.02:

General rule of thumb for quality pads, exceptions alway exist, is that carbon metallic > ceramic > semi-metallic in terms of stopping power. Ceramic > CM > SM in terms of dust, SM > CM > ceramic in terms of cost. CM > ceramic > SM in terms of pad life and rotor life. CM = ceramic > SM in terms of noise. Also, you only get to pick two: stopping power, pad life/low dust, low cost. Stay away from cheap pads always (no matter what composition they claim), anything that costs less than $40 a set retail is likely crap (not including RockAuto pricing!). Stay away from cheap rotors on the front. The cheap vented rotors are thinner and more prone to cracking and developing hot spots but will get by if you're in a pinch and can last a good while with a quality brake pad.

I've been through several sets of pads on the LeSabre. The best I've had thus far are the Performance Friction carbon metallics; I have tried all the Autozoo/AA pads on various vehicles, nothing compares. I have not compared to Hawk, or other quality CM pads yet. I have not tried any quality ceramics either, but with the white rims on my SSEi I may (if the PFC's ever wear out). I don't know how the NAPA branded pads compare to the other brand name pads. I know that my latest PFC's are 30% wear in the same time that the duralast gold pads on the SE have completely worn out, and the PFCs were more aggresively used.

I've had decent luck with the Duralast Gold (about 15K), the Wagner Thermoquite (about 20K), Raybestos (about 15K), Performance Friction (about 50K on the LG3 set before the L67 swap). I've got the Wagners on the truck now, they seem to be holding up well considering it has no back brakes. It's nice to have the lifetime warranty from the store, but I put way too many miles on my DD to deal with that.

So if you don't put a lot of miles on the car the store-bought 'lifetime warrany' premium pads (CM, SM, or ceramic) is what I'd recommend. I don't know if your mechanic is going to give you the store warranty (if they have one), so you may want to check into that.

Hope that helps!

Ludichris wrote:He uses Napa parts, semi-metallic pads and their mid-grade rotors. He quoted me $180 for the job, which is about what I was expecting. I can always tell him to bump up to the ceramic or whatever their premium pads are if I want to. Should I?

If you can upgrade to the ceramics and keep it under $200 or so, I'd do it.

Why not just buy the parts, and find a mechanic that will do you a favour and just pay the labour.

Find the parts when there on sale, and put them away until you can pay for the install.

You cant cheap out on brakes, just think if you hit something or someone how much your deductable is for insurance is. Not cheaper than the brake parts thats for sure.