Just hit 500 miles on a set of cheap brake pads and the rotors are already shot

I put these budget pads on my Civic last fall thinking I'd save maybe 60 bucks. The car stopped fine at first, but I just checked them and the front rotors are deeply grooved. The shop manual says rotors should last through at least two pad changes, not half of one. I guess the pad material was way too hard or had metal in it. Now I'm looking at a full rotor and pad job, which costs way more. Has anyone found a good mid-price pad brand that's easy on rotors?

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarmurray9d ago

Forget the pads for a second, did you bed them in right? Cheap pads can be okay if you do the heat cycles properly. If not, they glaze and chew rotors.

jesse_craig229d ago

Hold on, I gotta disagree with blaming the bedding process. Some cheap pads are just junk material, period. I've seen pads that were basically cement blocks, they destroyed brand new rotors in a month even with perfect bedding. The shop manual is right, rotors should last longer. This sounds like a case of ultra hard, abrasive pads that no break in could fix. You can't polish a rock, and you can't make bad pads good.