Brakes for Mom's '04 Honda CR-V

What brakes do you Ladies and Gents recommend?

Backstory: Did the brakes about a year (~7000mi)ago? They have sucked for the majority of that time and are now HORRIBLE. The rotors are warped and noisy. I used some Duralast pads and rotors from autozone figuring they would get the job done (it was also one of a few they had in stock IIRC). Wrong! I could probably get fresh pads and rotors within warranty, but I'm afraid of having the same issues crop up.

Side note: she's a competent driver that does mostly highway miles. Doesn't ride the brakes or any other god awful driving habits. And the brake job was done properly. Everything is in good shape aside from the front rotors.

Honestly, finding quality OEM parts online is your best bet. They seem to last better than any of the cheap aftermarket junk. Honda rotors are good rotors in my experience.

brembo rotors and akebono Pro-ACT ceramic pads. tirerack.com probably has what you want, and they're a GRM advertiser.

or, like Bobzilla said, whatever the top-shelf option is from Honda.

Honda doesn't do tiered parts. It's what came on the car, or nothing (to steal a marketing slogan from bridgestone). For a DD, non-pushed car like a CR-V driven by Mom, I'd just stick OE.

I had good luck with Napa rotors and OEM pads, but terrible luck with the Autozone stuff. Really though I would go with either Brembo rotors and OEM pads or both rotors and pads in OEM if I was doing my mom's car.

dculberson wrote: I had good luck with Napa rotors and OEM pads, but terrible luck with the Autozone stuff. Really though I would go with either Brembo rotors and OEM pads or both rotors and pads in OEM if I was doing my mom's car.

My experience with NAPA is quite the opposite. The rotors are outside of OE tolerances, and the shims/sliders that came with the pads were so awful I had to take them out and put the OE shims back in.

No NAPA brakes for me ever again.

I use Napa Rotors. I usually use good pads though with them. But the prices I pay for NAPA rotors, I completely expect them to be junk from the beginning.....

Bobzilla wrote: Honda doesn't do tiered parts. It's what came on the car, or nothing

i did not know that. thanks for the info!

My wife has an '03 CRV, and we put OE pads and rotors on it a couple of years ago. That was it's first replacement set. Up until about 80k miles it still had it's original pads. It now has 102k miles and these have a lot of meat left. It's not a play car in any way, and it still stops fine with the OE stuff. They weren't all that expensive either.

We only install only OE pads and rotors on Honda and Toyota, and get exactly no comebacks.

Cryo rotors from Tire Rack and a set of Hawk HPS pads. The cryo rotors on my Protege are nearly five years old and are in amazing shape. I'll never get anything else for a DD if I can help it.

I like akebono pads for Honda cars. I believe they are the oem.

Another vote for Akebono pads and decent rotors. Cheaped out twice on wife's Accord before spending slightly more on decent parts.

parts store rotors have worked fine for me (a-x and TT) keep in mind that most of the time rotors don't warp ... it's usually uneven pad transfer ... the heat required to soften the rotors to the point that they could warp .... wow ...

check this out

http://www.alconkits.com/index.php/Learn/Brake-Tech/The-myth-of-warped-brake-discs.html

I see a lot of recommendations for Brembo rotors. Are they still the same quality they once were? I had heard they were now manufacturing rotors in China too.

the ones I get (when I get them) come in boxes with Italian writing all over them (doesn't mean that's where they come from

wbjones wrote: the ones I get (when I get them) come in boxes with Italian writing all over them (doesn't mean that's where they come from

Well I know that many of the rotors I have bought in the past said they were mfg in Italy. The ones I bought for the 4runner from Tire Rack were.

the last time i bought brembo rotors from tirerack.com, IIRC the fronts were made in china and the rears were made in italy.

AngryCorvair wrote: brembo rotors and akebono Pro-ACT ceramic pads. tirerack.com probably has what you want, and they're a GRM advertiser. or, like Bobzilla said, whatever the top-shelf option is from Honda.

This. These pads go a year longer than anything else I've ever installed on my wife's '97 Camry. We do a lot of mountain driving and they've proven fade resistant too.

Thanks for setting me straight on this guys. OEM Honda pads/rotors here I come..

I know a great online site