After doing considerable research on new rotors I took the plunge and ordered a set of rotors and pads from Ebay. My intention was to at least equal oem braking performance while enhancing the look of my 07 G35 S.

The common wisdom when it comes to rotors seems to be "brakes are important, don't be cheap when replacing them". But, when I started researching them I was drawn to the very low price from some ebay vendors. Brakemotive76 in particular had a great price for all 4 rotors and pads to match for my S model. The low price led me to scour the internet for forum posts reviewing their products.

I could only find good reviews and that--added to the 51 thousand plus positive feedback--led me to take the risk. For $227 I got all 4 drilled and slotted (and zinc coated) rotors and Powerstop Z16 ceramic pads for all 4 corners.

I ordered them last Monday, they shipped on Tuesday and I received them on Thursday. I got them installed yesterday and immediately bedded them properly upon picking up the car (fortunately the brake/tire place I use is in a rural setting so plenty of empty roads for bedding) I actually did about 12 60 to 20 or 10 mph runs in a row to ensure I had a good even layer of pad material on the rotors.

I drove around some last night and my initial impression was they were great. After more driving today I have to say I am amazed. They have better bite than the OEMs and the slight judder I experienced with OEMs during high speed braking is completely gone now. They are perfectly smooth and they look great in my opinion. Also, I washed my car today and they didn't rust at all.

I drive about 20 to 25 thousand miles a year so I will try to remember to update this review thread next year when I have around 10 or 15 thousand miles on them. If they hold up as well as they perform initially I will only be buying from these guys from now on.

Here are a few pics from right after I bedded them....brown on the tires are from the wheels sitting on the floor of the shop.

 

I had those rotors on my sedan. In 20k miles the slots were completely worn and they had a lip bigger than someone who had been punched in the mouth.

 

nice cheap setup hope they are quality rotors since most ebay products tend to be cheap in price and quality, but since your research proved otherwise i hope they last you a while and Paixao experience is not repeated with you.

Also the area that the pad is not making contact with on the surface(the cleaner looking area) will rust after a few weeks once the coating wears off, so if you have time i suggest painting that area before it gets worse and then you have to remove the rust and then paint.

 

I will definitely follow up on this. Posts like this make me that much more interested in how this turns out. If you get time could you provide a little more information?

1-did you get the set up with the pads or did you choose your own and what was the pad material?
2-what kind of driving do you do? any track days or autocross using them?
3-how long ago did you get these rotors and did you post any reviews, positive or negative on any forums?

Even if these wear out in 20,000 miles they were so inexpensive I won't be terribly upset and I will have posted valuable information that--hopefully--future buyers can find with a google search. Like I said, it won't take years for me to know if they are good or bad because I'll have 20k on them by this time next year. Thanks for the input...

And kool_yar, I appreciate your suggestion but I want to let them rust to see how long it takes...given paixao's information I may have to replace them by next year anyway.

 

The thing that concerns me here is that the 'inner' pad contact area (closest to the hub) runs right through the opening of the innermost holes. If the rotors do wear deeply, it seems like that would result in a different thickness right at a place where the rotor is drilled through and therefore possibly create a weak point along that line around the rotor. I could be totally wrong, but based on my limited knowledge of metallurgy, that's what just popped into my mind when I saw it. Please do keep us posted on how they work out in the long run.

 

^ while your concern is valid, the issue here is that these drilled holes are chamfered and even if the rotors reach their minimum thickness they wont be able to shed down to the point where they are flush with the drilled hole itself(hope that makes sense) and cause a crack through that drilled hole (depending on rotor quality) at which point youd know you need to replace your rotors by the feel of your car braking.

 

link ?

 

^ + 1

 

I bought them and installed them last August. I used OEM pads. I am by no means hard on my car. No track days or auto x events. I didnt post any reviews as I figured I was getting what I paid for.

If I still had them Id happily post pics. They were so grooved and worn they werent worth keeping. My brake pads outlasted the life of these rotors.

I hope your experience differs greatly from mine.

 

i've learned alot about ebay items ... its all about hit and miss ... those ebay turbo kits for Hondas some turbos crack under pressure about 1 hour of being installed ... some are still running like a champ

thats why sometimes its a big risk i

btw why didnt you use the pads that they come with ? maybe thats why ? 0.0

 

what about these ?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/G35-S...Q5fAccessories

better quality ? 0.0

 

Here is the link to the ones I bought:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT

There are several sellers just a little more expensive--in the 250 to 260 range. And then there is another set that is around 320...Brakelabs is very popular in that range and very well reviewed on the forums. Also the R1concepts e-line comes in around that price.

After seeing pics on forums and looking closely at their product pages I really couldn't see a significant difference in the cheaper range stuff. And these came with the Powerstop brand pads--not a big name brand but the others had no associated brand. Also the rotors came in Powerstop boxes...

Also, brakemotive76 was a forum sponsor on several forums a couple of years ago. You would think that if everything he sold was crap it would have been easier to find bad reviews.

If I have to replace these I will probably look in to brakeperformance.com....they have dimpled/slotted that look really nice and similar in quality to the r1concepts premium for a little less.

 

These were from StopTech, notice the holes were champherd.

 

^^ Yikes!

 

^ yes i have seen those as well, but compare the lower rusted drilled hole with the cracked one and see the difference in thickness, its very obvious the owner let the rotor wear down well below its minimum thickness.

Once the chamfered area is "compromised" u need new rotors, which is why having D/S is a better idea as once the end of the slots are starting to disappear you know its time to change your rotors and avoid such mishaps.

Most d/s rotors site state ... "The slots and diamonds are machined to the minimum rotor thickness to insure rotor strength and integrity" Once you see the slots starting to even out with the rotor switch out