aimco brake rotors - anyone with experience

[kctyphoon]

the hot deals thread has rock auto closeouts on oil filters listed, so i went on and poked around with my car's parts.. they have aimco rotors on clearance for $13 each. amazon lists the part number for $38.. the front rotors on the car i recently got are warped.. wasnt gonn bother yet but if these are decent i will.. thoughts??

 

[jrobb316]

I always tell people cheap rotors are ok as long as you get OEM pads. Aftermarket pads are too hard and will kill the rotor well before they wear out. Or make a lot of noise.

 

[TJJP77]

I've had such bad experiences with cheap rotors that the only thing I use now if not OEM is Centric premium.

 

[kctyphoon]

I've had such bad experiences with cheap rotors that the only thing I use now if not OEM is Centric premium.

well the car i just got only has 30,000 miles on it and the rotors are already warped. its a common issue with the car.. it looks like that particular rotor normally sells for about $40 anyway - so its kinda mid spectrum unless its a brand with known issues.. for $13 a piece i might just get them.. 18 left in stock..

 

[stevenhs]

I always tell people cheap rotors are ok as long as you get OEM pads. Aftermarket pads are too hard and will kill the rotor well before they wear out. Or make a lot of noise.

I stop using after market pads because of brake dust it creates. When I changed to OEM no more dust.

 

[Mikerodrig27]

Make sure you look into why the brakes ended up causing pulsation in the pedal. I can tell you that they didn't warp. Often times it could be a dirty hub, other times it could be that the lug nuts were improperly and unevenly torqued. If you have a dial indicator, you'll want to do a runout test on both the hub surface and the rotors surface.

I've always used aftermarket stuff with no issues. I'm a brake tech and I don't notice a difference in brake dust due to the pads being aftermarket. I also see the same cars come in now and again for different things.

Most of the time the aftermarket stuff is just as good as the OEM. People will run into an issue when using a aftermarket brand and blame it on the pads rotors rather than installation issues. As straight forward as a brake job seems, there are a lot of small things that can go wrong that aren't that obvious.

 

[kctyphoon]

Make sure you look into why the brakes ended up causing pulsation in the pedal. I can tell you that they didn't warp. Often times it could be a dirty hub, other times it could be that the lug nuts were improperly and unevenly torqued. If you have a dial indicator, you'll want to do a runout test on both the hub surface and the rotors surface.

I've always used aftermarket stuff with no issues. I'm a brake tech and I don't notice a difference in brake dust due to the pads being aftermarket. I also see the same cars come in now and again for different things.

Most of the time the aftermarket stuff is just as good as the OEM. People will run into an issue when using a aftermarket brand and blame it on the pads rotors rather than installation issues. As straight forward as a brake job seems, there are a lot of small things that can go wrong that aren't that obvious.

the rotors are warped.. i promise you..

 

[rsanter]

For that price but them and run them. When they warp replace them again

Bob

 

[Mikerodrig27]

the rotors are warped.. i promise you..

Rotors don't actually warp under normal or even abusive situations. Brake pulsation comes from lack of parallelism in the rotors surface. This is caused by the brake pad wearing more on certain spots on the rotors surface more than others which is caused by rotor runout upon installation or improper torquing of the lugnuts. A rotor would have to get red hot before it warps. This is an issue that cars like Nascar formula 1, very very high performance auto x cars pay attention to but not a daily driver even if the brakes are overloaded. This is the first thing that I learned in a ASE class that I took and it was also questioned about in the A5 ASE that I took.

The only reason I am meantioning this is because if a new rotor is mounted without any regard for rotor runout, then the same problem will just come back 5000ish miles down the road.

good luck.

 

[jrobb316]

That's a nice text book answer but back in the real world he has warped rotors. Blame it on the cheap chicom metals rotors are made out of these days. Or some aftermarket rotor killer pads. Maybe he likes to drive with 2 feet. Who knows but go buy the rotors and try em out. Make sure your slider pins are lubed and free and the pad slides freely in the caliper bracket.

 

[organ]

well the car i just got only has 30,000 miles on it and the rotors are already warped. Its a common issue with the car.. It looks like that particular rotor normally sells for about $40 anyway - so its kinda mid spectrum unless its a brand with known issues.. For $13 a piece i might just get them.. 18 left in stock..

bmw?

 

[Ponchoguy]

the hot deals thread has rock auto closeouts on oil filters listed, so i went on and poked around with my car's parts.. they have aimco rotors on clearance for $13 each. amazon lists the part number for $38.. the front rotors on the car i recently got are warped.. wasnt gonn bother yet but if these are decent i will.. thoughts??

ITT Aimco used to be American or Canadian made and supplied a lot of of other vendors. Not sure about now....

 

[sselander]

Aimco is owned by "Brake Parts Inc LLC", who also owns Raybestos

Brake Parts Inc
http://www.brakepartsinc.com/products.html

Aimco:
http://www.aimcobrakes.com/magnoliaPublic/home.html

Aimco is listed on the Raybestos web site:
http://www.raybestosbrakes.com/magnoliaPublic/home/related-links.html

From researching, it looks like they are winding down the Aimco line, which would make sense at to why RockAuto has them.

 

[kctyphoon]

bmw?

no its a Honda Crosstour.. alot of people having the same problem.. car just turned 30,000 miles, has the stock pads with no real sign of wear. i just bought out the lease from my sister whom does not drive like its nascar. im just gonna guess it might be from honda upgradeing to dual piston calipers for this model but not changing the rotors from the regular lighter accord. just a guess - but who knows..

 

[sselander]

Beck-Arnley has rotors, and a selection of pads for the CrossTour

Beck-Arnley catalog:
http://www.beckcatalog.com/

Beck-Arnley website
http://beckarnley.com/

 

[kctyphoon]

Aimco is owned by "Brake Parts Inc LLC", who also owns Raybestos

Brake Parts Inc
http://www.brakepartsinc.com/products.html

Aimco:
http://www.aimcobrakes.com/magnoliaPublic/home.html

Aimco is listed on the Raybestos web site:
http://www.raybestosbrakes.com/magnoliaPublic/home/related-links.html

From researching, it looks like they are winding down the Aimco line, which would make sense at to why RockAuto has them.

thanks for that.. i think im just gonna get them... how bad could they be..

 

[abvw]

That's a nice text book answer but back in the real world he has warped rotors. Blame it on the cheap chicom metals rotors are made out of these days. Or some aftermarket rotor killer pads. Maybe he likes to drive with 2 feet. Who knows but go buy the rotors and try em out. Make sure your slider pins are lubed and free and the pad slides freely in the caliper bracket.

No, he's right. Rotors don't warp under normal usage, but their surface do get uneven/unparallel (from wear and tear and deposits) and thats where the noise and pulsations are coming from. We cut rotors to get them flat/parallel again (gets rid of high and low spots), not to straighten a warped rotor.

There are plenty of other variables that can cause a pulsating pedal. Seized guide pins, seized pads, creeping rust/corrosion build up between hub and rotors, etc etc.

 

[Mikerodrig27]

That's a nice text book answer but back in the real world he has warped rotors. Blame it on the cheap chicom metals rotors are made out of these days. Or some aftermarket rotor killer pads. Maybe he likes to drive with 2 feet. Who knows but go buy the rotors and try em out. Make sure your slider pins are lubed and free and the pad slides freely in the caliper bracket.

Gotcha, google warped rotors and this is the first link:

http://www.brakeandfrontend.com/warped-rotors-myth/

But as you and the other guy say, they must be warped

 

[kctyphoon]

ok - while you guys argue over technical terms i bought both front rotors for $45 shipped..

you can argue the difference between unparallel vs warped vs uneven all you like - feel free to continue the "who can use google more" argument.

 

[blarf]

I always tell people cheap rotors are ok as long as you get OEM pads. Aftermarket pads are too hard and will kill the rotor well before they wear out. Or make a lot of noise.

I stop using after market pads because of brake dust it creates. When I changed to OEM no more dust.

Uh, this will depend entirely on the manufacturer. Euro manufacturers tend to prefer dusty pads, Asian ones less so. A lot of it depends on the target market.

Make sure you look into why the brakes ended up causing pulsation in the pedal.

This.

ok - while you guys argue over technical terms i bought both front rotors for $45 shipped..

you can argue the difference between unparallel vs warped vs uneven all you like - feel free to continue the "who can use google more" argument.

Well it's the difference between potentially throwing a bandaid on it and actually fixing the problem. Some cars are extremely sensitive to rotor runout (Volvo 700/900 come to mind) and others dramatically less so.

The distinction is important if you end up with a rotor that's out of round (uncommon but not unheard of) or if you're putting the rotor back on to a hub which does not have an even mating surface. Then you're just back at square one.

 

[rice rocket]

I always tell people cheap rotors are ok as long as you get OEM pads. Aftermarket pads are too hard and will kill the rotor well before they wear out. Or make a lot of noise.

I don't get this. Honda/BMW/VW/etc. don't make pads. They contract it out to Bendix, Akebono, Pagid, Jurid, etc. Why do you pay the dealer markup?

 

[Mikerodrig27]

you can argue the difference between unparallel vs warped vs uneven all you like - feel free to continue the "who can use google more" argument.

Okay, obviously my conversation with you guys has no merit. What Blarf said is correct. Some cars will feel the effects of parallelism being off because of the caliper piston travel to brake pedal travel ratio. AKA, pistons have a large surface area. Now I'm clocking out. You can go on believing that your rotors are warped. It's not my time and money.

 

[kctyphoon]

Okay, obviously my conversation with you guys has no merit. What Blarf said is correct. Some cars will feel the effects of parallelism being off because of the caliper piston travel to brake pedal travel ratio. AKA, pistons have a large surface area. Now I'm clocking out. You can go on believing that your rotors are warped. It's not my time and money.

Listen, I appreciate ur taking the time to post, but I really didn't come here to depate technical terms with anybody and I'm not playing the "I know more than you" game. Warped rotors is common term only used for the last 50 years or so, and u can walk into ANY mechanics shop from NY to Cali, and everyone uses the term. So thanks for your input but I feel fairly confident on my $45 gamble and 20 minutes of work will be worth it. .