I have gotten a lot of great info here regarding aftermarket brakes for my '08 G35x.
I am planning on the Centric 120.42080 front rotors with Hawk Performance Ceramic pads.
I see that Centric makes a high carbon version of the 120 which is the 125. Only $10 more on Tire Rack.

Does anyone have experience with the Centric high carbon rotors with the Hawk Performance Ceramics? Is it worth the minor price difference?
http://www.centricparts.com/products/hcr


As always, thanks for the great information!

Get the high carbon. Don't get the Hawk Ceramics--get Stoptech street performance instead.

I have the Centric Premium Rotor (not high carbon) and the hawk performance ceramic pads.

I would like to swap out the pads asap. They make noise, and the braking power is not as good as OEM. I want to try out the StopTechs once I wear down these brake pads.

I would not buy from TireRack. They are more on the expensive side. You can get this at RockAuto and pair it with the 5% coupon code online and have it much cheaper without tax. I put together a package for all four rotors and pads from TireRack and RockAuto. It costs $375 at TireRack including taxes and shipping, and $309.24 at RockAuto including taxes and shipping.

Thanks for the info and yea Rock Auto much better. It looks like the high carbon not available for the rear. I don't think it is needed for rear but is it ok to out different rotors from back; if I put the 120 series on rear.??

It should be fine. I'm planning on doing mine soon.

You can usually find the Stoptech pads on Amazon for even less than RockAuto FWIW.

Good info

Not very good advice. Amazon sells these parts for more than RockAuto.

Also, Amazon started to charge tax in some states.

StopTech pads Front 309.08880
Amazon Price: $62.38
RockAuto Price: $50.79
TireRack Price: $70.00

StopTech pads Rear 309.09050
Amazon Price: $47.74
RockAuto Price: $37.89
TireRack Price: $53.00

These prices do not include shipping and/or tax. RockAuto also has a 5% off coupon you can easily search on Google.

After applying the 5% off coupon and shipping, total for RockAuto for me is $94.15. Amazon sells this for $110.12 with free shipping.

Now for the rotors

Centric High Carbon Rotor Front 125.42080
Amazon Price: $70.81
RockAuto Price: $64.99
TireRack Price: $79.00

Centric Premium Rotor Rear 120.42088
Amazon Price: $43.70
RockAuto Price: $36.79
TireRack Price: $47.00

Again, I can calculate the total from Amazon to be $229.02 with free shipping and not including tax. RockAuto is $224.19 with the discount and includes shipping and handling and no tax.

I had my local mechanic install this combo a few weeks ago and I am very happy with them. They outperform the OEM rotors and pads albeit with more dust but the trade off is worth it.

One question and it is related to aesthetics:

For both the front and rear: The contact area of the pads on the rotors does not cover the entire rotor surface. This leaves about a 2cm area on the inner most part of the rotor closest to the hat. The hat is black but this untouched area is now a 2cm band of rust that is not particularly pleasing to the eye.
Reasoning? Pads too small or rotor not an EXACT spec to the OEM??
Not that I am changing anything, just curious.

Thanks!!

I'm pretty sure this is a normal thing to happen. Some guys will paint the whole front of the rotor and when using the brakes, they will just take off the paint where they come in contact with the rotor. Leaving the rest of the rotor painted.

I have High Carbon front and premium rears with Carbotech Bobcat 1521 street compound pads. It's an awesome setup in my opinion.

The 2cm of rust appears to be normal, I gave the rotors a quick blast of black paint and no rust band for me. The rears didn't have the e-coating so I had to paint those anyway.

If we're splitting hairs for pricing: a vendor on eBay sells the rotors with free shipping and has been the cheapest I've found. Rockauto followed by Amazon (w/ Prime) also have good prices.
Carbotech pads are on the pricier side, so I order from thmotorsports since they have free shipping on orders over $100.

I hope the "high carbons are better than the regular Centrics...

Can't fault Centric because some company used their blanks and did a shoddy cross drill job. That crack is more of a problem due to cross drilling than it is with Centric rotors. Stoptech/powerslot all start with Centric blanks.

I have learned to avoid drillied rotors thanks to y'all.

Centric is Stoptech. It's the parent company..