Cheap eBay Brake Kits: Good or Bad Idea?

My Mazda 3 is in dire need of some new brakes. Last time I got brakes, I got cheap Centric rotors and Stop Tech Street Performance pads. They suck. The rotors also warped to hell in short order and have casting defects. This is the second different car I have had this happen to with these brakes, so never again.

I've seen brake kits like this on eBay and Amazon recently: http://r.ebay.com/Lru1P1

Are these too good to be true? I do about 20-25k/yr, and lots of highway driving. These are cheap, and reviews seem to be ok. Good or bad idea?

They probably won't last that long, or be as effective as OEM. If you just want cheap brakes, as long as the reviews are good, I'd go for it.

I've had very good luck with Centric's premium rotors on a few different vehicles (Odyssey, RAV4).

I just put a set of those on my wife's van a few weeks ago. So far so good, they are a little noisy at times and they make a ton of dust. It really hasn't been long enough to see what the durability is like.

Check Amazon, I got them for right about $100 delivered.

Replacing cheap brakes with even cheaper no name brakes doesn't sound like a good idea.

I would go with parts store stuff before those cheap parts, they should be a little better.

You put Centric's most aggressive pad on their softest rotor and then were surprised it didn't work?

Try the same pads but with the actual matching rotors like the high carbons...

In reply to Javelin:

Kinda dumb, now that I think about it.

It's funny, on my old 2002 WRX, I had cheap Centric rotors and Hawk HPS pads. They were the best brakes I have ever had on any car. No warpage, no fade, no vibrations at all.

I figured that these kits were total crap, just wanted to check with the hive mind.

As someone who has experienced a pad material and backing plate seperation at speed; I cannot recommend generic or cheap brakes.

Interesting. I have cheap Centric rotors & Stop Tech Street Performance pads. I've put about 60k on this combo with no issues. On the second set of pads now.

I've run cheap Centric rotors on everything including a lemons car and have never had an issue. I always use decent pads and always bed them in well.

Yea stay away from the eBay crap. Check out rock auto. There are deals to be had there once in awhile.

I've got Centric high carbon rotors for track use and they've been good for 6 days track use so far with Hawk DTC-60's.

Have you read the Stop Tech article about "warped rotors"? They say it's due to uneven pad deposits on the rotors from overheated pads, so you probably need some more aggressive pads for your driving style.

i put a powerstop kit on the front of my truck 2 years ago. the only reason anything bad happened is my caliper started sticking and i ignored it for over a year pulling a trailer. it was sub $120 shipped from amazon for front rotors and ceramic pads.

RX8driver wrote: I've got Centric high carbon rotors for track use and they've been good for 6 days track use so far with Hawk DTC-60's. Have you read the Stop Tech article about "warped rotors"? They say it's due to uneven pad deposits on the rotors from overheated pads, so you probably need some more aggressive pads for your driving style.

Yeah, that's what I thought it was. I pulled the rotors, and while there were some deposits, there were also casting defects in the rotors. There are vertical lines in the rotors that have missing material.

I think I will go with the high carbon rotors and maybe try to find a deal on some Hawk HPS pads. I had them on my 2002 WRX and they were great.

For DD use on my Elantra I've had good luck with NAPA rotors and their adaptive one pads. I've also used their rotors with different pads on other cars with good results.

The marketing for them seems a bit gimmicky with the different friction rating for inner and outer, but they perform well. They are smooth and quiet, excellent stopping power compared to the oem pads (warm or cold), and little to no dust.

I have to do the brakes on the wife's van before winter and will be going with the NAPA stuff again.

I had some chinesium kit for the rx7, might as well have not used the brake pads at all they barely stopped the car. tossed them out for semi mets.

For cheap, it seems powerstop is the way to go. I keep meaning to pick up a set, friend of mine liked them more than the squeaky Hawk street pads he had before.