Which brake rotors

[sugarray]

I have a 2015 Ram 2500 and tow a 32’ bumper pull camper. My dealer notified me I need brakes and rotors at 52,500 miles.

What are your all’s recs for brands?

 

[Admin]

 

[Neohio]

Are you going to install yourself or have a shop do it?

 

[Mopower58]

When I had my own shop I used Advanced Auto Parts exclusively and rarely ever had a repeat problem. I usually just replaced the rotors if they were warped. In my mind if you turned them they would be thinner and warp quicker the next time. I always used the best on 3/4 and 1 tons because most of them were work trucks. Seems like the best pads were Wagners. FWIW Advanced Auto bought out Car Quest Auto.

 

[Neohio]

The most important part of any brake job is heat cycling the pads and rotors.
The shop should do this, but most will not.
Usually consists of some 40-5mph stops, HARD and quick, followed by some 55-25 stops. Then a few minutes at 60+ to cool everything off.
In the past I would get 18-24 months out of pads and rotors, using dealer parts on my truck.
The last brake job on my truck and my wifes, I spent the time to do the break in, I am at almost 4 years on my truck, and 2 on my wifes. Mine are finally starting to show age and need replacing.

 

[NTCPrezJB]

The most important part of any brake job is heat cycling the pads and rotors.
The shop should do this, but most will not.
Usually consists of some 40-5mph stops, HARD and quick, followed by some 55-25 stops. Then a few minutes at 60+ to cool everything off.
In the past I would get 18-24 months out of pads and rotors, using dealer parts on my truck.
The last brake job on my truck and my wifes, I spent the time to do the break in, I am at almost 4 years on my truck, and 2 on my wifes. Mine are finally starting to show age and need replacing.

Interesting. I've never heard of this. You can bet I will be asking my friend Mr. Go Ogle all about it soon though. Always learning!

 

[JTW]

I usually buy advanced auto or Napa brand.. I usually go with the mid line pad. I’m not worried about dust so I think it’s an organic pad. And typically I don’t worry about the rotors until I feel itin the peddle. You can generally get a couple sets of pads on a stock rotor before it has to be replaced. That’s as long as you don’t let the pad get worn thru and eat up the rotor too bad.

 

[JTW]

And like @Neohio said.. I will take off and cycle the pads after changing. 50-60k is about all I can can get out of a set of pads.

 

[sugarray]

Not sure, but likely will do it myself.

 

[swsebek]

Mid price and grade on both. Advance for me too

 

[JTW]

Did you notice any shimmy in the brakes? I’m pretty sure it’s standrad now to just tell people they need rotors.

 

[Smitty335]

The most important part of any brake job is heat cycling the pads and rotors.
The shop should do this, but most will not.
Usually consists of some 40-5mph stops, HARD and quick, followed by some 55-25 stops. Then a few minutes at 60+ to cool everything off.
In the past I would get 18-24 months out of pads and rotors, using dealer parts on my truck.
The last brake job on my truck and my wifes, I spent the time to do the break in, I am at almost 4 years on my truck, and 2 on my wifes. Mine are finally starting to show age and need replacing.

Sounds like we should do this after picking it up from the repair shop, wouldn't hurt!

 

[DG Rider]

It's more than just shimmy.

Rotors have a minimum thickness spec for machining and service limit, below which they should be discarded. A shop that willingly goes below this is opening themselves up to all sorts of liability if something should go wrong. A lot of hard brake users will develop tiny surface cracks in the rotor (squarebody fords...Jesus Christ!), and its not hard to imagine this growing (as cracks are want to do) completely through. I would imagine the thinner the material gets, the more likely this could happen...though I've never seen it myself. And as @Mopower58 said, it seems like they warp easier as they get thinner.

I do not generally turn rotors on my own cars unless they are minimum or shimmy anyway. The reason they get turned otherwise is to provide a new surface for the fresh pads. Not doing this can sometimes cause weird sounds an pedal feedback. I know this (hence not turning my own)...and It goes away quickly...but in this day and age, everybody feels like the average shop is cheating them thanks to "undercover videos" and such, so the likelihood hood of a customer returning minutes later after that new brake job and complaining is very high.

This is also the reason i always do a test drive similar to what @Neohio was talking about to seat/heat the pads. New pads on new rotors don't have the same feel and power as the ones they drove in on, and people don't like paying money to jump in the car and be greeted with less braking than before. Again, as they seat in they come good, but the average customer these days can't even check the oil, much less know the ins and outs of braking. Better to head off trouble before it gets started.

Shops and auto parts stores will sometimes throw in a "rotor turning" for your new rotors. The legitimate reason for this is that sometimes new rotors come out of the box warped...or so I'm told. I've never has this happen, so for me its just a waste of rotor.

I've always been told that euro cars (IE-BMW, etc.) are designed to have the rotors replaced at every pad replacement, so certainly, a mfg can choose how durable a rotor material is. My experience with them seems to support that euro rotors typically have large lips on them at pad changes (meaning they have worn down significantly).

Any quality rotor like Raybestos or Wagner will do fine. Just avoid the cheap chinese junk at the bottom of the price range.

 

[sugarray]

No shimmy at all, not even when towing the travel trailer. It has brakes, but still no shimmy. I just had new tires put on and was told my pads were 1/2 up front and 3/4 rear. So, it’s a head scratcher. I’ll pull the wheels off once get home from camping. Just trying to get ahead of it if I can.

 

[Plumber32]

Who keeps a truck long enough to need brakes? Time for a diesel @sugarray exhaust brake is awsome. Rolling through the Rockies I never have to touch the brakes!

 

[Smitty335]

No shimmy at all, not even when towing the travel trailer. It has brakes, but still no shimmy. I just had new tires put on and was told my pads were 1/2 up front and 3/4 rear. So, it’s a head scratcher. I’ll pull the wheels off once get home from camping. Just trying to get ahead of it if I can.

Turning brake rotors are almost a thing of the past, since the rotors are no longer part of the inner wheel assembly, and there not that expensive - the cost of turning the old style. What I've found out is pulling trailer without brakes really heats up brake rotors/and glazing pads. Rotor on!

 

[DG Rider]

Turning brake rotors are almost a thing of the past, since the rotors are no longer part of the inner wheel assembly, and there not that expensive

I wish you'd tell some of my bosses this. Of course, with a lot of brake speciality shops doing $99 per axle jobs, that ain't necessarily true. but i do hate turning rotors...

 

[JTW]

Ill also note.. the metal in the aftermarket rotors don’t seem to be as good as what comes from the factory. So after you change them. They seem to wear more. At least that’s what I’ve noticed on my stuff over the years.

 

[Smitty335]

Ill also note.. the metal in the aftermarket rotors don’t seem to be as good as what comes from the factory. So after you change them. They seem to wear more. At least that’s what I’ve noticed on my stuff over the years.

Yep there are all kinds of grades of steel, we went back to domestic pipe 18 years ago, no more threading and leak issues. The cost is almost double per foot, but figure the labor cost and it actually cost less per foot.

 

[Mopower58]

Ill also note.. the metal in the aftermarket rotors don’t seem to be as good as what comes from the factory. So after you change them. They seem to wear more. At least that’s what I’ve noticed on my stuff over the years.

You obviously never had a Ford with a brake shake, especially 89-97 ford T-birds,Ford rotors use to be junk, replace them with aftermarket and never look back.

 

[lee]

I've always been told that euro cars (IE-BMW, etc.) are designed to have the rotors replaced at every pad replacement, so certainly, a mfg can choose how durable a rotor material is. My experience with them seems to support that euro rotors typically have large lips on them at pad changes (meaning they have worn down significantly).

The Euro OEM generally like to target performance. This leads to the pad and rotor being a 'set' . The Japanese OEMs have less performance (as in track performance - repeted stops from high speed with no cool down) but better road maners, quiet, long life etc. The OEMs have the advantage in that they test the brakes as a set for the life of the parts. They understand what will happen down the road. When you throw on the Auto Zone lifetime guarantee $4.99 pads who knows what you are going to get (maybe the guarantee is for your life time and they know you will not be back). The OEMs can play around with the pad material to improve wear with out sacrificing stopping or whatever they decide - you can not.

The domestic OEMs used to treat brakes like a commodity , whoever had the best price got the business. I dont think they do that any more. I recently replaced the rotors on my '04 Silverado (great truck buy the way @ohanacreek ) because they became pitted from rust. I dont drive the truck every day (or every week) and the rotors became rusted to where they didn't clean up from just driving. This created high wear on the pads. With 10+ years and 120k miles I'm happy to pay the price for OEM parts and get that kind of service out of the new set.