Front brakes on the Grand Cherokee needed replacement. It’s 15 years old, I’m not paying someone to do it and it occupies my spare time.

Ordered an entire powerstop Z36 setup, calipers, rotors,pads, and hardware. I knew the calipers would be remanufactured and powder coated. The calipers were fine at first glance and shipped fully assembled. But of the 4 new chrome plated slide pins, 1 was missing the rubber bushing on the end, one had less than half a rubber bushing on the end. Two of the new (look chrome plated) caliper bolts snapped at less than 2/3 of the torque they are supposed to tightened to..ended up using the original slide pins and bolts. Not a world ender because my old ones weren’t in bad shape, but frustrating as hell that the new parts were the ones of spotty quality. Not going to bleed them til tomorrow because I ran out of daylight.

While under the Jeep I took a look around, checking general condition. And find the spring isolators I installed with new springs and struts about 3 years ago are cracked and dry rotting. They were new from Mopar, best guess is they were already old stock or crap quality.

To be honest, I’m seeing an decent increase in that in my job repairing imaging equipment as well. New parts that should last years showing up doa or failing after a few months.

How much do you want to bet those parts were made in China?

That’s a pretty fair bet. I know a lot of the work stuff is being made in China.

Powerstops are junk those drilled and slotted Z36s will start to crack in no time.

Brembo is the way to go only disappointment is they are now made in China. Though they so far are providing the usual excellent braking qualities.

Hawk are still made in the States but I had their Talon series rotors with with LTS pads and they were miserable and had to pull them at 15k miles.

EBC are made in the states or UK so they will likely be next.

Ordered GM HD trailer towing capable brake rotors pads etc. Was disappointed that they were Chicom rotors. AC Delco should be legally required to be USA products

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Powerstops are junk

I agree with this.

I really like Hawk HPS pads and EBC rotors. Used that combo for years. May be overkill but so many rotors are junk these days. Those are solid. The HPS pads would really grab when they got warm and never fadded.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
Ordered GM HD trailer towing capable brake rotors pads etc. Was disappointed that they were Chicom rotors. AC Delco should be legally required to be USA products

Delco is just a marketing organization. Years ago before the Delphi spinoff they had their own production plants. And post bankruptcy that accelerated.

Once I pulled different boxes of universal joints off the shelf post bankruptcy in the dealership I worked at. Same part number, same box, same graphics, three countries of origin,China, United States and Mexico. Slight differences between each country’s product.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Powerstops are junk those drilled and slotted Z36s will start to crack in no time.

Brembo is the way to go only disappointment is they are now made in China. Though they so far are providing the usual excellent braking qualities.

Hawk are still made in the States but I had their Talon series rotors with with LTS pads and they were miserable and had to pull them at 15k miles.

EBC are made in the states or UK so they will likely be next.

StopTech Brakes are Made in USA

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Powerstops are junk those drilled and slotted Z36s will start to crack in no time.

Brembo is the way to go only disappointment is they are now made in China. Though they so far are providing the usual excellent braking qualities.

Hawk are still made in the States but I had their Talon series rotors with with LTS pads and they were miserable and had to pull them at 15k miles.

EBC are made in the states or UK so they will likely be next.

StopTech Brakes are Made in USA

Last I checked pretty much all their production was moved to China aside from their very top end 2 piece Aerorotors.

Back around 2015, I decided to use a local Toyota dealer for a brake job on my 2006 4-Runner. It was not the dealer, where I bought the vehicle but I had moved and it was closer. They replaced both front disc's and calipers. Within 2-3 weeks, every part was covered with rust. When I went back seeking an explanation, they admitted the parts had been obtained from CarQuest. When I requested they replace the parts with genuine Toyota parts, I was told they weren't sure if CarQuest would take them back. I suggested that was not my problem. It was only after I suggested using non-Toyota parts might create a safety issue, that they became interested in replacing them.

Too many companies have figured out planned obsolescence.

Long gone are the days of the $35 starters/alternators/name-your-part that lasted forever, and if they didn't it was dirt cheap to replace them.

Lots of people seem to use them, but I thought my powerstops were garbage. I guess it's a case of you get what you pay for. I got them because they were well reviewed and seemed economical, but they just didn't perform.

Thanks for the info on Powerstop. I was actually looking into some Powerstop pads for my BMW M front brakes. I'll look at Hawk or stick with OEM. Trying to find something less dusty.

When you need the very best

Probably not from here.

The Harbor Freight of Auto Parts.

quote:

Originally posted by Perception:
Lots of people seem to use them, but I thought my powerstops were garbage. I guess it's a case of you get what you pay for. I got them because they were well reviewed and seemed economical, but they just didn't perform.

It’s marketing. Just because lots of folks use them does not mean they are good.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
Thanks for the info on Powerstop. I was actually looking into some Powerstop pads for my BMW M front brakes. I'll look at Hawk or stick with OEM. Trying to find something less dusty.

Hawks dust like crazy.
Powder coat your wheels gunmetal. When I had my Audi I could not find a pad that did not dust like crazy.

I think I ended up settling on PBR pads back then for the Audi which are Australian or were.
They were all I ran on my Mustang GT back then.
They were the OEM provider for Mustang Cobra brakes at the time.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Too many companies have figured out planned obsolescence.

Long gone are the days of the $35 starters/alternators/name-your-part that lasted forever, and if they didn't it was dirt cheap to replace them.

And every town had a starter/alternator repair shop that fixed them. I remember when your GM alternator needed repair, they repaired or replaced the parts including the Diode Trio, I think it was called.

And of course, every town had a shop that did radiator repairs. Back in the day they were all metal, no plastic, and if you had a leaker or an overheater they'd put it in the vat, rod it out, fix it, and possibly add another row.

Yeah, today is planned obsolesce. Take the part off, throw it away, buy a cheap piece of crap from china or vietam or malaysia or....many other places.

Brake rotors were turned, not tossed in the landfill.

I've always thought it to be ironic that so much goes to the landfill while the enviro greenie-weenies look the other way, cuz it's THEIR vehicle that they drive every darn day, so that's different.
.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:

I really like Hawk HPS pads and EBC rotors. Used that combo for years. May be overkill but so many rotors are junk these days.
Those are solid.
The HPS pads would really grab when they got warm and never faded.

YES!
Although I use Frozen Rotors for my Titan Big Brake upgrade with Hawk Pads ~ I did use the EBC and Hawk on my wife's Xterra.
Great solid products.

I've grumbled about the price of OEM Honda stuff, but I've found their pads and rotors to be better than aftermarket stuff. I don't go through brakes quickly and with the money I save on installing them myself, it's not that big of a deal.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:

]And of course, every town had a shop that did radiator repairs. Back in the day they were all metal, no plastic, and if you had a leaker or an overheater they'd put it in the vat, rod it out, fix it, and possibly add another row.

I lived and worked in Phoenix from 2005-08. There was a radiator shop that did full service on plastic radiators. They could rod them out and tell me the percentage of restriction, replace tanks and everything. But that's the only place I've ever seen that did it. There is a starter & alternator repair shop locally, but no personal experience with them.

I get to see my share of faulty parts (often "remanufactured") in my business, most recently a reman electronic throttle body that didn't even make it here from Alabama (where they had the first one done). I also cannot find an aftermarket CV axle ("half shaft") that will work on 2013-16 Ford Escapes. (OEM from the dealer is backordered.)

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
I've grumbled about the price of OEM Honda stuff, but I've found their pads and rotors to be better than aftermarket stuff. I don't go through brakes quickly and with the money I save on installing them myself, it's not that big of a deal.

I've come to this realization myself, both with my Toyota Camry and with my Dodge Ram 3500.