Rockauto brake rotors: economy vs daily driver

Is there any reason to pick the "daily driver" category rotor over the economy for a daily driver? Car is an 02 wrx wagon. Wont ever see any kind of hard driving event, just some occasional spirited on ramp pulls.

I've had the cheapest rockauto rotors I could buy at the time (I think Centric) on my 09 WRX for like 30k miles (with Hawk HPS pads), no issues. It's all marketing unless you're going to high-end speciliazed stuff, IMO. Most of them are made in China in the low and middle range. 

I went with MaxBrakes.com for my Elantra, based on a recommendation from this board. 

I went with their top of the line kit for about $150 to do pads and rotors on all 4 wheels.

So far it been about 1 1/2 months with no complaints. Plenty of braking, ok initial grab when cold, but good initial grab after the first stop of the day. 

Somewhat related but not Rauto.....put drilled and slotted 19"rotors w/pads from Brake Performance (google it) on the 'V' for a little over $400 for all four corners......18mos ago no issues so far , but i'm not a track star basically DD, minimal dust ....no complaints...just sayin'

I've been doing really well on brake parts by shopping the Amazon Warehouse listings. If you've added whatever vehicles you're interested in to the garage thing you can quickly see what's 'supposed to be compatible' at a glance. The Warehouse stuff is usually just damaged packaging or open box.

In the last 6 months I've grabbed 3 sets of EBC pads, Brembo blanks, Toyota OEM shoes and made in Japan rotors for the fleet. I check the list once or twice a day and just wait until something good comes up. They're so cheap I can actually afford to pick up something I know I may not use for a while.

also RockAuto is running some kind of sale on rotor/pad combo's. I got both rear rotors and pads for my wife's van for ~$45.

For a DD those cheapo rotors are absolutely fine. I know plenty of people who even use them on the track.

Working in the industry, I can safely say that the cheap rotors are likely the exact same castings as the better ones, just in a different box.

You're usually paying for a name or a longer warranty.  If you walk into the parts store and look at the $18 Duralast rotor and the $25 Bendix rotor, they are the same casting from the same Chinese foundry, but the Bendix rotor has a recognizable name and a 2 year warranty instead of a one year.

That is not to say there aren't different castings for your car.  Usually the HD rotors are cast thicker, and then you get into proprietary brands like PowerStop that do their own.

On a side note, I do like the Powerstop rotors.  The coated ones refuse to rust and you can get them with slots... not that slots are necessary for a DD, but I sure did like the ones I put on the F150.  Only reason I got slots was because Rock had them on super sale for $23 each.  Very nice rotors.

I have used the cheaper Centric rotors on two different cars with the same result: deformed rotors, pulsating brakes, and shaky wheels. Never again. 

I've been using those cheapo Max Brakes drilled and slotted kits. As said, cold bite is just ok, but they work great after you start driving. And they were cheaper than the Centric brakes! 

Glad to hear more good things about Max Brakes because that's what I'm throwing on the G35 this weekend. Made in Markham!

I will provide a word of warning on the Max Brakes.

I used the coated ones, and the first couple brake applications at the beginning of the bedding in process were very poor, but by the end of the process the brakes were feeling much better. 

They didn’t really reach their full potential until they had been on for a week or two. 

No noise going forward, but I do get an occasional squeak when backing up. 

759NRNG said:

...put drilled and slotted 19"rotors ...just sayin'

Wow! 19" rotors! You gotta be running 25" wheels!

I run the cheapest rock auto rotors on all my personal cars either race or street and all the shops cars. never had a issue. 

Ill most likely be going with the coated AC delco rotors from rockauto. Looks like they have good pricing right now.