How do you choose decent brake discs/pads...?

I think the discs on my '99 Swift have warped and I'm thinking about swapping them myself.  OEM is prolly NLA so how do I choose a decent mfg...?

I've used Centric forever. Looks like Dynamic Friction is available too on Rock Auto. Honestly for street brakes and how cheap they are for the Swift, I would just grab the centrics and call it a day. Bosch is decent too for the price. 

I generally choose Bendix or Wagner. Just my preference after a lot of years and a lot of brake jobs.

For my work truck, daily driver types I often get whatever has a lifetime warranty at one of my local chain auto parts stores

I have had great luck with Centric discs, and if available, OEM pads.  Alternative brand pads that I hav3 had good luck with are both Bosch and Akebono.

I chose whatever rotors are cheapest but will spend an extra $5 bucks on Centric discs if available for cheap. Pads, not sure I have any other input as I am usually only buying track pads. Cant remember the last time I bought a set of street pads but may be nearing that time with the ole Armada. 

I've had good luck with Centric rotors and Akebono pads. Here in the land of rust, I always pay extra for coated or painted rotors.

Depends what they're used for...for street use only, even bargain-bin parts can work, but I'll give a +1 to Centric rotors and Akebono pads.

I've been using Power Stop with good results.

For daily drivers: 

Rotors: Centric if available, otherwise, I'll dig deeper as to what is available. 

Pads: Porterfield R4-S if available. Otherwise EBC Green. 

DocRob said:

For daily drivers: 

Rotors: Centric if available, otherwise, I'll dig deeper as to what is available. 

Pads: Porterfield R4-S if available. Otherwise EBC Green. 

 

R4 was my fave for racing after the DS-11 ran out and I run R4-S on my Z4MC today and use  EBC Red on my other aggressively driven street car.

In reply to wspohn :

Concur, the R4-S is a great street compound, particularly for cars <3500 pounds. Doesn't take much temperature, really has plenty of grab, low noise and low dust for a more performance oriented pad.

Currently running them on the wife's Mazda2, with R4-S compound brake shoes on the back. Ran them on my four previous cars too.

I'm using EBC Red "Extra Duty" on my FJ (because no Porterfield options).

And both vehicles running are using Centric rotors. 

Either powerstop rotors or flaps and whatever non ceramic pads I feel like.

As has been mentioned a dozen times, I always go straight to PowerStop or Centric rotors.

I'm terrible at choosing pads.  Don't take my advice on pads.

I've never had an issue with Centric rotors.  Come to think of it, I've never had an issue with NAPA rotors either.

I used to swear by the Ferodo DS 11 pads because you could not fade them no matter what you did, at least not on a c. 2000 lb. race car, but they did have one issue - they did not work well until they attained race temps, so you had to do the pace lap  dragging the brakes a bit with your left foot so that you had them warm enough that you'd be able to stop on the first race lap.  I've found that the modern compounds work better, cooler than the old compounds did.

There is an interesting article on it here  https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/november-2001/51/ferodo-ds11/

I just went through this with the CRX, which needs new street pads. I ended up with the R4S because it just works and they're not really that much more expensive than Centric/Power Stop etc in my application.

I consider rotors to be the least important part, especially for a street application. They just need to be dimensionally accurate for that.

Don't have any input on rotors other than I am happy with the R1 Concept rotors that I have, they do rotor things. For pads, I like Hawk and I really like a set of HPS for street use. They modulate and bite quite well for the street. 

I'm seeing a lot of love for Centric here, what about Raybestos? They have always been my go-to for both rotors and pads, so I'm surprised to see they haven't been mentioned yet.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

I've had good luck with Centric rotors and Akebono pads. Here in the land of rust, I always pay extra for coated or painted rotors.

This is the way.

stroker said:

I think the discs on my '99 Swift have warped and I'm thinking about swapping them myself.  OEM is prolly NLA so how do I choose a decent mfg...?

I'd probably order some Centric rotors and Akebono pads from tirerack if they have them for your car. 
Warped rotors are usually pad deposits that melted onto the rotors - not the actual rotors warping.  Usually - not always 

Centric or Wagner have always worked for me. Step up to the coated rotors especially if you are clamping a aluminum wheel to it. Helps to prevent them from sticking to the rotor with corrosion.  All my FB RX7s wheels did this until I started using coated rotors.