Brake Disks and Drums

I have bought disc's made in China that were so out of balance that they would consistently roll to the heavy side down after installation. they were machined out of center on the raw casting.

Brian

Learn a bitter lesson, two years ago I replaced both my rear drums and did a regular brake job including hardware. Last year I discovered I again had to replace the rear brake shoes. I purchased the best I could, was told it was what police vehicles and taxi cabs use. A few months ago while driving I heard a snap when applying my brakes. I discovered that the bottom part of one of the rear shoes had broken off and the lining was split across in many places. Replaced the shoes. Then I discovered a short while afterwards that the drivers side brake drum was overheating. Changed all my parking brake cables and new auto adjusters, still overheating. After two weeks of dealing with this problem, I reversed the rear drums, I now had the overheating drum on the passengers side. the cause of the problem was the brake drum.

I replaced the overheating drum with a made in USA brake drum this solved my problem. New drum on drivers side and drum that was not overheating on its original passengers side. the last holiday I drove 100miles from where I live sightseeing and then back home, my daughter said that she smelt burning rubber. When I investigated I discovered that the passengers side drum I thought was OK was now overheating and replaced it with a made in USA drum.

My brake problems are now solved after about one month of dealing with this problem ruining a set of brake shoes.

The end of the story is two years ago when I originally replaced the drums from a place that no longer exists I paid $29.99 for each drum that I thought was a terrific bargain. The sad part is I now know these drums were the ones made in China. No more bamboo brake drums for me.

Denny B.

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|Okay who out there knows the difference between brake disks and drums made |in China or made in the USA. Because the only difference I see is the price! |The ones made in the US being at least 20 dollars more. |I can see the US ones costing more due to higher wages, but shipping them to |Canada certainly can't cost more than from China! |I mean really do they use some sort of better alloy in their castings or |what? Because that is the only reason I would pay more! Machining a casting |is the same if you do it in the US or in China! Or I guess if it is made |from solid stock then it would be more, but these are not. |They both come in a plain white box with little markings on them. I mean if |I was charging 20 dollars more than my competitor I would be advertising on |the box in what ways my product is superior. i.e. this product is made from |100% virgin steel and whatever alloy may be added for extra durability. |Anyway I am looking forward to hearing some of your informed opinions on |this matter.

I have asked Raybestos for a definitive technical comparison. Let's see if they respond.

Rex in Fort Worth

But the checks on quality and process on average will be far better in the USA than in China. In other words the odds of getting a badly machined rotor that was made in the USA would be significantly lower.

I work in the oil industry, and many products are beginning to be offered from China.

You really have to be careful. They CAN make what you need and do it well, but they may not do it until you get their attention and hold their feet to the fire.

The importer of these parts needs to demand quality. If they do, they can probably get excellent parts very cheaply.

But that doesn't help Americans keep their jobs so they can buy these cheap parts. A vicious circle...

|In article , Merv wrote: |> Cool, that I would like to hear. |> As for the one made in China out of balance, that should definitely be |> returned. I have machined many parts and know that this type of machining is |> done on a quick production basis, and I would think they don't check all of |> them for balance, even in the US. | |But the checks on quality and process on average will be far better in |the USA than in China. In other words the odds of getting a badly |machined rotor that was made in the USA would be significantly lower.

I suspect the metal is better, more uniform grain structure. Rex in Fort Worth

That too is a process, much like the machining.

You have to keep a close watch on them. A very close watch. Typical rutine in plastic molding was that they would set the process for the lowest cycle times and turn out bad parts fast. An engineer would go over to the vendor get the process set up right again, good parts for a couple weeks and then back to the way it was. Rinse and repeat.

I have long thought it cost more to watch over suppliers in china, deal with the quality issues etc than was saved in costs. But those two entries aren't going to be on the same ledger or are costs that cannot be separated out so it doesn't show up in the decision.

Yesterday I changed both rotor on my Montana 2002 . 17 k 20 months old. I had the choice of Wagner/guardian at 43.00 Ca each or Wagner at 93.00 Can.

I've choosed the cheap one, Why ? for the simple and good reason that the OEM rotors from GM probably made in USA last only 20 months and 17 k. They were warped, and rusted beyond the turning limit.

I cant say for now but if my new cheap rotors can last as long as the OEM from GM thats going to be quite a deal.

Today is absolutly not true that you always get for what you pay for

BTW the GM rotors didn't warped due of overtorqued wheel or because of any other reason that they are crap, and sold at big price and not backed by them .

They were charging me to get them turned first, thats fine, but when they realised that they were both scrap they wanted to charge me for new one....apparently they are not covered under the so called Bumper to bumper warranty but only for 18 months or 11000 miles. So I asked them to put them back on,I drove home and changed the rotors, Oh well live and learn...

Richard