Questions about centric vs napa rotors/calipers

[shahsmerdis]

hi everyone,

About to place an order for this weekend so I can finally wrap this up.

I'm I right to assume tha centrics 120 series is about the same level as napa's preimum series?

Does napa Ultra premium series really mean life time warranty? so if it ever warps or causes pulsing, I can swap them out for new ones? Or is that considered ware?

Lastly for those suffering from frozen calipers, would you go with centric or napa? About the same price. my hesitation here is centric states they replace all ware items including the piston no matter what. Napa only claims to change all ware item. Maybe I missed the part about piston also being changed. my lean is on napa for life time warranty. Though through my google searches I have hard time believing that people can be replacing their calipers so often. Almost seems like if life time warranty is usless. if there is a good remanufacturing process shouldn't that at least be every 2-3-5 years? not every year as my google search has been showing me.

I don't understand how this can be a problem it is a simple piston gasket and seal, toyota for failing and the remanufactures not being able to fix it.

Thanks

 

[84ability]

I would go with 5th gen calipers (Centric) from Rock Auto. Search for the thread. I ended up using NAPA rotors/pads with that setup and it's been fine so far but there are probably better options.

 

[shahsmerdis]

I would go with 5th gen calipers (Centric) from Rock Auto. Search for the thread. I ended up using NAPA rotors/pads with that setup and it's been fine so far but there are probably better options.

went with rockauto + 142 series centric.

lets see where this goes. report back on sunday when everything is back together

 

[shahsmerdis]

Kinda have the worst headache, need to decide tonight on which rotor, napa ultra premium vs premium vs centric ?Google search gives me half people saying one or the other. heads about to explode. I'm about to flip a coin. What would you guys pick? Thanks

 

[xxaarraa]

Curious why OEM rotors are not considered? I have tried NAPA, some no name Amazon brand etc. but none of them last. I went back to OEM.

 

[shahsmerdis]

Curious why OEM rotors are not considered? I have tried NAPA, some no name Amazon brand etc. but none of them last. I went back to OEM.

I couldn't get them in time for online shipping, only choice is 93 dollars at local dealer after talking him down from 103. Online is 70+ shipping. Unless I should go with that I don't mind ill do it. Just want to stop thinking about it . I've been over thinking this brake job for 2-3 weeks. First brake job here... but a lot of things were wrong. so good thing I did it.

 

[shahsmerdis]

Does seem like they have Ultra premiums in stock, and I can't make multiple trips to napa . are premiums good enough for daily driving?

 

[Jerm]

As far as the pads go I have not tried either of these I do however have the Napa calipers and I was VERY impressed and still am with them. They have a great coating on them which I love as well. I only currently run them on the front but whenever I get the time I plan on swapping the rears out just to match the front. (I am a bit OCD) I had to change the front due to the frozen caliper BS. Good luck and I hope this helps...

 

[xxaarraa]

Does seem like they have Ultra premiums in stock, and I can't make multiple trips to napa . are premiums good enough for daily driving?

Yes, premiums are going to be enough for daily driving. Its not a question of braking performance, I would imagine on a heavy and relatively slow truck, all rotors perform adequately. I think it's more to do with rotor and pad life. Do you want to be doing a brake job again in the next 15-20k miles because you got a cheaper set put in now? That's the decision to make.

BTW, you seem to be over thinking this. A brake job is relatively easy and inexpensive for our trucks, just go ahead and do it.

 

[rooost]

Id bet you there are probably only about two or three different brake rotors in the world, just all branded differently. Sure some are really really cheap and garbage but even garbage will work. I know that Autozone was selling really bad parts for a long time but I think things are getting better now

These guys with the OEM parts fetish, Id have to say are a bit more OCD than me..and that is saying alot! Most parts are made by subcontractors anyway, there is no such thing as a Toyota brake rotor !

Also check out partsgeek, I love the layout better than the RockAuto guys, lots of options on parts too

 

[xxaarraa]

Id bet you there are probably only about two or three different brake rotors in the world, just all branded differently. Sure some are really really cheap and garbage but even garbage will work. I know that Autozone was selling really bad parts for a long time but I think things are getting better now

These guys with the OEM parts fetish, Id have to say are a bit more OCD than me..and that is saying alot! Most parts are made by subcontractors anyway, there is no such thing as a Toyota brake rotor !

Also check out partsgeek, I love the layout better than the RockAuto guys, lots of options on parts too

Hey Roost, its not about having an "oem fetish" its my work truck not a collector item. I'd put in whatever parts are made well and don't need me to redo the job in a short while. My time is the most important expenditure for me.

I had stock rotors last 51k mikes, then some Napa rotors last 32k then some amazon rotors warp in only 15k. I'm going back to stock. While there are no Toyota made rotors, Toyota does insist on certain build quality standards and in general, Toyota oem parts are overbuilt. Hence our trucks are mechanically sound. The entire value in Toyota trucks is the mechanical quality of the parts and components.

 

[shahsmerdis]

Curious why OEM rotors are not considered? I have tried NAPA, some no name Amazon brand etc. but none of them last. I went back to OEM.

Hey Roost, its not about having an "oem fetish" its my work truck not a collector item. I'd put in whatever parts are made well and don't need me to redo the job in a short while. My time is the most important expenditure for me.

I had stock rotors last 51k mikes, then some Napa rotors last 32k then some amazon rotors warp in only 15k. I'm going back to stock. While there are no Toyota made rotors, Toyota does insist on certain build quality standards and in general, Toyota oem parts are overbuilt. Hence our trucks are mechanically sound. The entire value in Toyota trucks is the mechanical quality of the parts and components.

I do realize I am overthinking this. But like you said I'm I want to get the job done once. the stock rotors I think lasted us until now so 11 years is great! Im going to go with napa. they claim 6 years warranty on the rotor(ill get this in writing), then again they also claimed two different prices for the rotor each time I called. Unlikely I will have the car for another 6 years, so hopefully this should be the last set of rotors I'd have to buy. my mom drives like a snail so should be fine... I will do one last evaluation, but maybe the existing rotors might still be usable, I'll check before I drive over to napa...


I do realize some of us over pay for OEM. but aftermarket brake job almost cost us our lives. On an older car we spun out of control (Jamed up wheel). Turned out OEM did a design change or accounted for something different than what the aftermarket counter part didn't do. Dad did a 180 on the freeway. is paying a little extra worth it here and there for piece of mind I think so....

Thanks for your input guys!

Edit: what do you mean lasted for 32k miles, what caused them to fail, ultra prem or prem? Thanks

 

[shahsmerdis]

Edit:

Should have just ordered centric's on prime when I had the chance. but napa sold me subpar cheap qualtiy and claimed it was napa premium. googled it it was 30 dollars rotor. the other napa said they had it in stock went there wasted for 30 min and they said they didnt have it.

needless to say im doing online orders only. I had to go to stealership. but dam the OEM rotor was made really really well....

 

[xxaarraa]

Edit:

Should have just ordered centric's on prime when I had the chance. but napa sold me subpar cheap qualtiy and claimed it was napa premium. googled it it was 30 dollars rotor. the other napa said they had it in stock went there wasted for 30 min and they said they didnt have it.

needless to say im doing online orders only. I had to go to stealership. but dam the OEM rotor was made really really well....

I don't think I've ever witnessed a brake job being given this much thought and discussion, even on $150k sports cars.

It's not that hard.....

 

[shahsmerdis]

I don't think I've ever witnessed a brake job being given this much thought and discussion, even on $150k sports cars.

It's not that hard.....

I over think as an engineer its a good and bad thing at times...

Car is fixed!!!! Still on old "new" brake pads, and old rotors. they have some life. I didn't have the right bit to brake the banjo bolt to redo the calipers . so I left the existing rotor and old brake pad that was a month old. I was worried about the brushing noise as I was turning the wheel, but after few releases of parking brake centered itself as driving.

but but!

I broke a wheel stud again!!!!!! found the evil lug nut that did it...

:boom:

 

[rooost]

All that stuff about Toyota spec and quality sounds great, and I love Toyota..but if that were the case then we might not have caliper issues....

I guess if you want to remove all question, then it is worth it to pay 2x what substantially good parts cost.