# Diff brand rotors on the front n rear!!!



## sp1012 (Feb 6, 2010)

I installed zimmermans in the front couple of weeks ago and was suppose to get zimemrmans for rear but the guy that i m suppose to get it from said he can not get zimmerman but he can get brembo blanks for similar price. so my Q would b . does it matter if i have diff brand rotors in the fron n rear. any disadvantages. thanks in advance.


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## KG18t (Aug 9, 2006)

nope, doesn't matter. The Zimmermans are a decent quality rotor somewhat comparable to the Brembos. If you were going with autozone cheapos, I might cringe a bit, but... yeah.


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## spitpilot (Feb 14, 2000)

Any rotor from an OEM quaity supplier is OK...ATE, Brembo, Meyle, Zimmerman etc...just stay away from Chinese Cheapo Knockoff parts!...Rotors are castings and need precision machining to give flat parallel surfaces etc...At least with EU based suppliers you have some assurance that there is decent QC...I've not seen that on Chinese parts..had some fail on me when I needed part quick and had no chance to buy smart...now I will NOT accept Chinese parts for anything important..a trick tailight housing maybe..ignition, suspension, brake parts..functional stuff..NO WAY!


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

spitpilot said:


> now I will NOT accept Chinese parts for anything important..a trick tailight housing maybe..ignition, suspension, brake parts..functional stuff..NO WAY!


Spit, you have so much hate for the chinese...I'm begining to think your racist :laugh:
I didn't want to be the guy to inform you, but... brembo has a manufacturing facility in China 
...and its a foundary so it makes brake disks


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## sp1012 (Feb 6, 2010)

got zimmermans . wouldnt ve make big diff but peace of mind i guess. thanks guys


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## sp1012 (Feb 6, 2010)

while we r on this . i also got pbr deluxe pads for front n rear. organic compound something . any experiences


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## [email protected] (Sep 14, 2006)

spitpilot said:


> Any rotor from an OEM quaity supplier is OK...ATE, Brembo, Meyle, Zimmerman etc...just stay away from Chinese Cheapo Knockoff parts!...Rotors are castings and need precision machining to give flat parallel surfaces etc...At least with EU based suppliers you have some assurance that there is decent QC...I've not seen that on Chinese parts..had some fail on me when I needed part quick and had no chance to buy smart...now I will NOT accept Chinese parts for anything important..a trick tailight housing maybe..ignition, suspension, brake parts..functional stuff..NO WAY!


Meyle rotors are made in China! :sly:


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## KG18t (Aug 9, 2006)

ignorance was bliss.


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## sp1012 (Feb 6, 2010)

regarding above comments i would say . as long as product meets quality standards of the company parts should b good. most of the stuff is manufactured in china due to productions costs. wouldnt trust something that is designed and meets quality standards of some chinese company.


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## sp1012 (Feb 6, 2010)

sp1012 said:


> while we r on this . i also got pbr deluxe pads for front n rear. organic compound something . any experiences


 any experience or suggestions regarding ^ comment. m looking is how are they in wet conditions


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## KG18t (Aug 9, 2006)

sp1012 said:


> any experience or suggestions regarding ^ comment. m looking is how are they in wet conditions


kinda like brakes... in the wet. not sure what you're digging for here.


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## spitpilot (Feb 14, 2000)

GTijoejoe said:


> Spit, you have so much hate for the chinese...I'm begining to think your racist :laugh:
> I didn't want to be the guy to inform you, but... brembo has a manufacturing facility in China
> ...and its a foundary so it makes brake disks


Read my posts carefully... I sure don't hate the Chinese as a people at all..in fact I've had and have many close Chinese friends, live in a city that is 50% or so Chinese...great folks..even better food and cultural events!....BUT I do resent the Chinese businesses that send in "plain brown box" parts..and the US distriubutors that sometimes try to pass them off as OEM quality!....I"ve been in VW scene for a long time...and remembered EMPI as a trusted brand of aftermarket parts from the ol daze (air cooled)...bought a replacement axle for my Passat under that brand name....part was CRUDE!...Rubber boots looked like the afternoon kindergarten class had molded 'em, rubber looked an felt cheap...doubt they have lasted (based on my experience with the boots on some Chinese tie rod ends..which cracked in less than a year)...the axles themselves weren't even painted...and who know what quality the CV joints themselves were...maybe wrong hardness, rough machining...hard to know.....And I had the same experience trying to buy some motor mounts..got some "Made in China" parts that were verrrrrrrry crude...sent both the mounts and axle back and got some quality EU made parts to put on!...So yes I do have bad feelings towards the businesses that foist that quality of part on an unsuspecting consumer....many websites hide their country of origin....just beware..I now ask B4 ordering!


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

spitpilot said:


> Read my posts carefully...


I do! I'm just giving you a hard time, you do have a lot of posts about staying away from chinese sourced parts.

I just wanted to shed some light on reality, not all chinese parts are crap.
Now I agree and would stay away from chinese parts as much as I could unless I know what I am getting.


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## germancarnut51 (Mar 23, 2008)

KG18t said:


> nope, doesn't matter. The Zimmermans are a decent quality rotor somewhat comparable to the Brembos. If you were going with autozone cheapos, I might cringe a bit, but... yeah.


Zimmermans are German made and much higher quality than the Brembos which are Mexican made and suffer from spotty quality (lots of friction surface defects). Meyle is a German company, but many of their parts are now made in China and very high quality. If price was no object, I choice would be #1 Zimmerman, #2 Meyle, and #3 Brembo.

I'll take Meyle over Brembo any day of the week. I put Meyle rotors with PBR Deluxe pads on the front (upgraded to Corrado G60 11" calipers) and back of my 97 Jetta GT a few months ago, and I'm really happy with them.


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## sp1012 (Feb 6, 2010)

zimmermans with pbr deluxe all around n she brakes like a charm . thanks guys


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## spitpilot (Feb 14, 2000)

GTijoejoe said:


> I do! I'm just giving you a hard time, you do have a lot of posts about staying away from chinese sourced parts.
> 
> I just wanted to shed some light on reality, not all chinese parts are crap.
> Now I agree and would stay away from chinese parts as much as I could unless I know what I am getting.


 I agree..parts can be made anywhere and be good quality...provided a company with integrity sets up the manufacturing site and monitiors quality!...It's the parts made by who knows what method, to who knows what specs...shipped in plain brown boxes...or worse counterfeit labeled to pretend to be from a recognized supplier that are the problem....
I've had personal experiences, and seen some of others' that tell me a significant % of stuff out there "made in China" is NOT "OEM quality"....I'd much rather pay a bit more for parts made in the EU, by real OEM suppliers to the German auto industry..they have some pretty stringent quality stds and trade laws to maintain brand integrity of parts in the EU...Its a PITA to have to change parts shortly after you just did because say the rubber grease seal boots crack in less than a year...when quality ones last years 'n years!...


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## germancarnut51 (Mar 23, 2008)

spitpilot said:


> I agree..parts can be made anywhere and be good quality...provided a company with integrity sets up the manufacturing site and monitiors quality!...It's the parts made by who knows what method, to who knows what specs...shipped in plain brown boxes...or worse counterfeit labeled to pretend to be from a recognized supplier that are the problem....
> I've had personal experiences, and seen some of others' that tell me a significant % of stuff out there "made in China" is NOT "OEM quality"....I'd much rather pay a bit more for parts made in the EU, by real OEM suppliers to the German auto industry..they have some pretty stringent quality stds and trade laws to maintain brand integrity of parts in the EU...Its a PITA to have to change parts shortly after you just did because say the rubber grease seal boots crack in less than a year...when quality ones last years 'n years!...


I gotta agree with you, I've seen lots of junk Chinese Made parts being sold by chain auto parts stores (AutoZone, Kragen/Parts America/Oreillys, NAPA), and GAP (germanautoparts). I've also seen high quality Chinese Made parts sold by (primarily German Companies), Meyle is one I buy lots of parts from. There are also German Companies I've bought parts from that sell Chinese Made parts that are not the same quality as the parts that Meyle Sells. One of these companies is JL Germany. I got one of their Chinese Made flywheels about a year and a half ago. It came with a Sachs Clutch kit I bought on an eBay Deal. I didn't need the clutch and flywheel at the time, but the asking auction price was so good that I decided to bid and keep the parts for spares. I won the auction at $25 (plus $50 for shipping). The Sachs clutch was exactly what I expected, but the flywheel was not as well made as I expected to come from a German Company. The machining was a little on the crude side, but the dimensions appeared to be okay. I debated over using the flywheel or tossing it, and reusing my old flywheel earlier this year. After much deliberation, I went ahead and installed it with some remaining concern, but after using it for three months, it appears to be fine.

I have not seen any decent cv axles from from Chinese Manufacturers yet, regardless of the name on the box. New cv axles from: NAPA, EMPI, Kragen/Oreillys, AutoZone Duraast, and Cardone Select all appear to be the same crudely, poorly made, short service life, Chinese Made junk.

So, it's not that Chinese Manufacturers are not capable of making great parts, it's that the parts sellers buy/accept the least expensive parts available because consumers (that's us) are willing in many cases to accept the lowest priced goods without considering/inspecting the quality of what's being delivered.

I have no doubt that if everyone paid more attention to the quality of what was in the box, instead of just the price (rejecting poor quality), then the quality of what is being offered for sale would improve. The cost may increase slightly, but the amount of money and time saved by not having to replace defective parts, and extended service life will easily exceed any additional initial cost.


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## spitpilot (Feb 14, 2000)

Amen on the last post!....I've got US made tools that are decades old and well used...still in very good shape....and I've got some stuff that was junk after first use...made in China....The problem is that folks want prices to stay the same even thou incomes are many times more here than decades ago...good motor crane (cherry picker) in the 60's...$200-300..well made, clean welds, good finish etc...crude by serviceable one today...still $200, but welds look shaky and paint is already flakin off when you upack it...US made it would probably cost $500-1000 today...


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## Slimjimmn (Apr 8, 2006)

Being a parts installer, I have noticed that any "economy" line brake rotors are chineese made. Most "mid grade" are made in canada, and "premium" lines are made in the USA (sometimes canada also). 

Economy lines: Brake best, premium plus,napa best ect.. (basically any rotor under $20)
Mid grade lines : A1 cardone, mighty, tech select (basically rotors between $20-40)
Premium lines : wagner, brembo, napa premium, ate ( basically rotors over $40)

I have purchased rotors from all lines. I have never had issues with a premium rotor out of the box. Most mid and economy lines are warped right out of the box. My workplace, unfortunately, buys economy line rotors and marks them up to premium prices and then forces me to cut on the brake lathe a BRAND NEW rotor before it even goes on a customers car. For the typical end user I would only recommend PREMIUM lines and you won't have any issues mainly wagner or napa premium rotors.

ANd talk about quality.... About 2 years ago there was a huge fiasco with chineese brake rotors. There was no regulation or QC at the plants and when the china govt stepped in ad basically closed down many plants, the open plants had to double or triple output to keep up with demand. Well long story short, my local Mighty distributor ended up finding 3 pallets, yes 3 pallets, of junk rotors that were cut horribly and not finished correctly. Also found out the local napa AND oreilly warehouses sent back 100's of pallets of junk rotors back to china at the same time.


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## TBT-Syncro (Apr 28, 2001)

spitpilot said:


> At least with EU based suppliers you have some assurance that there is decent QC...I've not seen that on Chinese parts.


you mean like Brembo? They're Chinese made, does that mean they're garbage too? :laugh:


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## germancarnut51 (Mar 23, 2008)

TBT-Syncro said:


> you mean like Brembo? They're Chinese made, does that mean they're garbage too? :laugh:


From what I've seen most Brembos were Mexican made. Have you seen some Genuine Brembo rotors that were marked Made in China? Could they have been knock-offs?

Brembo quality has been spotty for a while. Lots of friction surface defects (casting flaws).


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

For the last time, brembo has a Chinese FOUNDARY, they make brake disks in china. Is this the only place that makes brembo disks? absolutely not. Brembo also has tier 2 suppliers that make disks for them as well in N.America..in that case brembo is only machining them not casting. Brembo is getting larger as an OEM supplier so their overall brake manufacturing is increasing as they keep up with mass production OEM and OE aftermarket parts as well as the race market (which is pretty small). 
Brembo will decide which is the best place to make the disks depending on the origin of the market and the demand for parts (facility capacity).... for example, their OEM supply will be their most important business based on guaranteed mass quantity for production and service parts, so because we build these cars in N.America they will focus Mexico and other N.American foudnaries to cast their parts for OEM's.... same in europe.

Are we finally finished about chinese parts??? seriously.... what about all the tier2,3,4 suppliers which get internal components made in china that you never even know about because they are finished assembled etc. in different countries???

If you still don't believe china can produce good parts than that's too bad for you, you can live the rest of your life in ignorance. :beer:

If you get upset because china parts you got are crap, you should be upset at the supplier who tries to replicate OE parts and their abilities for proper QC.:thumbup:
[/rant ended]


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## germancarnut51 (Mar 23, 2008)

GTijoejoe said:


> For the last time, brembo has a Chinese FOUNDARY, they make brake disks in china. Is this the only place that makes brembo disks? absolutely not. Brembo also has tier 2 suppliers that make disks for them as well in N.America..in that case brembo is only machining them not casting. Brembo is getting larger as an OEM supplier so their overall brake manufacturing is increasing as they keep up with mass production OEM and OE aftermarket parts as well as the race market (which is pretty small).
> Brembo will decide which is the best place to make the disks depending on the origin of the market and the demand for parts (facility capacity).... for example, their OEM supply will be their most important business based on guaranteed mass quantity for production and service parts, so because we build these cars in N.America they will focus Mexico and other N.American foudnaries to cast their parts for OEM's.... same in europe.
> 
> Are we finally finished about chinese parts??? seriously.... what about all the tier2,3,4 suppliers which get internal components made in china that you never even know about because they are finished assembled etc. in different countries???
> ...



So, are you saying that the poorly made Brembo rotors that are showing up here in the US, stamped Hecho in Mexico are actually cast in China, but finished machined in Mexico? 

Personally I've seen poorly made parts from all over the world, not just China. Ultimately I blame the Buyers for this situation. If the focus was not on buying the least expensive parts, and instead on buying quality, the crappy stuff would not exist in the quantity it does, because the Manufacturers would not have a market to sell the stuff in. 

Are you saying that the Brembo rotors appearing here in the US with friction surface pock marks (holes) marked Made in Mexico are actually coming from foundries in China? Then who is to blame? Personally, I'd still put the blame at the foot of Brembo. No matter where they chose to finish machine the rotor blanks, they could/should have rejected the finished rotors because of the casting flaws. Because of the spotiness of in the quality of Brembo rotors, I had was in the market for rotors, I'd personally examine the quality of the EXACT rotors I would be getting, BEFORE I agree to buy them. I've seen this inconsistent quality problem from parts made from other world wide manufacturers for years. Robert Bosch has factories all over the world. I've never had new parts problems with parts made in Europe (Germany specifically). But I have seen Bosch marked parts made in other parts of the World that I would not touch.

I don't get upset when i receive parts made in China when they're well made. I'm not looking to buy parts at the lowest price regardless of the quality. I want the best quality parts I can get, and I get upset when I pay premium money for parts, I get misled by the Seller, and I get junk parts made in China.


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## Slimjimmn (Apr 8, 2006)

I have bought many things that were "made in china" and so far the only quality part I have received was my 6' HDMI cable I bought for 9.00 off ebay. Every other chineese part or thing i have bought has been cheap and junk product.


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## toquikforsilver (Sep 14, 2008)

nothing wrong with the cheap Chinese stuff. Spent 17.99 and 18.99 yesterday on pads from autozone, i know i get what i pay for so most likely i will need new pads in a few weeks ahah.


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

germancarnut51 said:


> So, are you saying that the poorly made Brembo rotors that are showing up here in the US, stamped Hecho in Mexico are actually cast in China, but finished machined in Mexico?
> 
> Personally I've seen poorly made parts from all over the world, not just China. Ultimately I blame the Buyers for this situation. If the focus was not on buying the least expensive parts, and instead on buying quality, the crappy stuff would not exist in the quantity it does, because the Manufacturers would not have a market to sell the stuff in.
> 
> ...


I completely understand your experiences and your frustrations, I really do.
I'm not saying brembo's poor parts come from China (in every case) most likely the poor parts that are stamped Mexico are made in mexico because logistics wouldn't make sense to ship extra heavy parts to mexico just for machining, that would be expensive. Surely the crap mexico parts are made in mexico for the most part.... and yes you should blame brembo (the manufacturer) not always the place of manufacturing.... 

Now I don't disagree with you that customers are mislead, and there is a very high risk/experiences with China made parts.....I'm just trying to educate on that fact that not ALL china/mexico or what have you parts are a POS.

.... now, disks are very simple in the fact that they don't have any parts... I meant for assembly for example things like axles or other parts which contain many components... even certain types of motors' or servo's... things like that.. if the majority of the products or final assembly is in a 'respectable' country for manufacturing, it still can contain mexican/chinese parts (for example)


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## TBT-Syncro (Apr 28, 2001)

germancarnut51 said:


> So, are you saying that the poorly made Brembo rotors that are showing up here in the US, stamped Hecho in Mexico are actually cast in China, but finished machined in Mexico?


They may even just be boxed in Mexico. Companies will often do things like this to avoid importation taxes and tariffs.


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## spitpilot (Feb 14, 2000)

Having lived thru the evolution of Japanese quality...I think I'm qualified to comment on the Chinese supplied auto parts...

"Back in the day"...if you got a toy made in Japan for Christmas...it most likely was broken by New Years! Very poor quality, cheap materials etc....Over time that "cheap/poor quality Japanese products" morphed into..."Hey have you seen the lastest ....(plug in cameras, electronics, lab equipment etc) from (plug in Japanese suppliers like Sony, Olympus, Nikon, Toshiba, Hitatchi etc).

China is for the most part where Japan was in 1950's...with an added dose of "rip off anything to make a buck"!....
The real problem is parts "branded" but not OEM quality...if you buy a "plain brown box part" just to get lowest $$'s price and end up with a part that fails in a few weeks or months...shame on you!....But if you buy a part with a name you recognize as a reputable supplier from the past..like EMPI etc....and open the box and find crap..shame on the folks that put it on the market!:thumbdown:


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