$42 Rotors on RockAuto?

[Richbot]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

there is a lot of clutter around "this car vs that car" and a "pound here vs a pound there." i don't think anyone running a $42 rotor is even thinking about increasing performance via a one or two pound difference of unsprung weight. the train of thought isn't even on the same planet.

Exactly my point. They are literally an order of magnitude cheaper than the stock rotors and it comes at a price in performance most people are probably willing to pay (hell I've spend thousands on various parts aimed in large part at lightweighting my car but went to square 220M's for my street wheels this year for no good performance related reason at all, costing me 36lb compared to my 17" apexes, but I knew what I was getting into)

I have a rear Bendix $45 rotor in my garage because I was curious. It's a perfectly fine replacement part and I would have no reservations about driving a car with these on them etc. On a street car for most people buying a secondhand M3, they'll only change brakes maybe once or twice on one or two axles they're so big they never get really hot on the street unless you're hooning like crazy, and even these "cheapo" rotors will probably last the 2-3 years most people hold a secondhand car. I'm glad they exist because it frees up money for people to keep the engines in better shape, brakes are easy fixes if parts dry up there are myriad options but there's only the 70k or so S65 blocks out there and that's all the supply there ever will be. Wish they were blanks instead of drilled that'd look really cool, like polished silver dinner plates

but let's not pretend these rotors aren't making the car worse just because it's a "minor" change. Make enough minor changes and pretty soon you have a car that is a lot better than it was when it left the factory, but it can go the other way too, and people should be realistic about their expectations and have their eyes open. "I don't notice a difference" is non-information really. There's a difference. Humans aren't dynos

I'm so stoked for $10,000 running 2008 M3 sedans with rockauto rotors on them though. COME ON DEPRECIATION TRAIN WOO WOOO i need an entire car to keep my other car running and in good shape

[SDPLV]

Originally Posted by Richbot

many people also vape

great if it stops you from smoking

bunch of smelly vapor clouds are not exactly an improvement on a human otherwise

I may have heavier Potenza SO4s (well currently Sottozeros) and heavier Rock Auto rotors...but my car is smoke-free.

[SDPLV]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

A 265/40/18 PS2 weighs 27 lbs. Same size S04 weighs 32 lbs. Why don’t people give S04 buyers a hard time for adding unsprung weight?

If you want to keep the same weight, you could buy the heavier and cheaper rotors and put the price difference towards a set of Apex ARC8 wheels. Would those complaining about the heavier aftermarket rotors complain then?

I run lighter ARC8 and light tires like PSS or EC Sport and also stock rotors, but I don’t trash those who don’t. Again, few here would notice any difference.

I bought SO4s and RockAuto rotors to lower my center of gravity.

[Richbot]

lol funny you mention it that's why I put all the wheel weights on the part of the wheel that's closest to the pavement. It's a PITA but you get used to removing them and putting back quickly after a while.

[RedScytheM3]

Originally Posted by WingZeroX5

I ran mine at the White Mountains with these

How are the rotors holding up?

Originally Posted by SDPLV

I'm liking it.

Did you figure out that wear pattern?

[WingZeroX5]

Originally Posted by RedScytheM3

How are the rotors holding up?

Did you figure out that wear pattern?

Holds up fine, smooth braking and driving. Drove to Miami with no probs either, though much of it was highway. I'll have about 15k miles on these upon returning from FL

[SDPLV]

Originally Posted by RedScytheM3

How are the rotors holding up?

Did you figure out that wear pattern?

It was just a pic from early on. Had not yet bedded them.

[Z K]

I'd think solid rotors are fine if you're not tracking the car. The floating rotor design is good for heat dissipation... high temps you'll never see on the street.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by SDPLV

I'm liking it.

So did your pads eventually make more than 3/4" of contact?

[Richbot]

Floating is to prevent the friction ring cracking because it’s not allowed to expand, and keep dimensions consistent . Floating rotors don’t necessarily pump air any better than a normal vented disc unless they are designed to, most oem two piece designs don’t do a great job of leaving the inner radius clear for airflow

[jakkuh]

Originally Posted by WingZeroX5

Just wanted to provide an update to everyone. My shipment came early, because fedex decided to split one up and delayed until Tues.

But anyway, I couldn't do any work on it because I have incomplete sets, I was hoping the package contains full front or full rears.

Here's how they look like in the pics.

How are these rotors holding up?

[WingZeroX5]

Originally Posted by jakkuh

How are these rotors holding up?

I don't have the car anymore. But other than the fact that it's slightly heavier, rotors held up perfectly fine since I had it with no abnormal wears.

[rbryantaz]

This is an old thread but it seems like the best place to post an experience with cheap rotors and Rockauto...

I recently was getting some dynamic friction brake rotors. They have an OE spec version that uses alloy hats and the same softer high carbon iron as the OEM rotors (our OE rotors are soft to get more bite hence the wear and lips that develop).

Rockauto had what seemed like a killer deal based on the pictures that showed alloy hatted rotors BUT they were actually the all iron version that is much like the Bendix brakes.

I even called DF to ask if their cheaper rotors had alloy hats and apparently got a junior tech who incorrectly said that all of their M3 rotors would be (which was wrong, the 92xxxDA rotors are alloy, the 62xxD rotors are all iron) The fronts were listed as closeout with 1 each remaining so I just bought the fronts based on the pictures to see how good they were... BIG mistake to trust Rockauto's pictures and return policy...

I was aware that they were probably a cheaper iron than OE, etc but I was really more concerned about the weight than if the iron in the rotor was a high carbon version or not. The soft OE rotors are somewhat annoying for daily driver use because pads wear them out. For the street I would rather change pads than $200 rotors...

The rear iron rotors weigh 30% more on these so it is a non starter.

Now the real ugliness....

I setup a return and had free return labels printed based on the incorrect pictures and made the HUGE mistake of sending Rockauto an email about it to try and fix it for the next customer.... They then claimed that the rotors were the same and that the pictures they have match what I got! Worse they voided my labels and made me pay return shipping... I even showed that their pictures were wrong and they said "Oh no these are the same rotors." This is clearly a case of willfully ignoring legitimate claims in order to try and maximize profits!

Received:


incorrect picture (that Rockauto claims is the same as above):


Return Policy that wasn't followed (note "due to our mistake"):


Throughout the support emails Rockauto customer service agents were just jerks (I have other words but I will keep it clean). The notion of voiding my existing free labels and then willfully ignoring that these pictures are or different rotors was really just terrible.

So I would avoid buying heavy things from Rockauto (or at least return them stating that they are blatantly wrong and NEVER contact their customer service via email)

I am returning them today and then once they give the partial refund I will do a credit card dispute for the rest!

But with all of that the 92xxxxDA rotors from dynamic friction would be a viable option for the right price just not the 62xxxxD rotors..

-Rich

[egebhardt]

Originally Posted by deansbimmer

Having operated a shop here for years, I can without a doubt certify that a significant percentage of BMW owners are among the cheapest of car owners, many being in it only for the "fame".

I'm betting a Hyundai or KIA shop is worse. Finding correct parts for my Tacoma is VERY difficult let alone some Tacoma YouTube repair videos.

[rbryantaz]

Originally Posted by glanmit

Sorry you had such a bad experience with Rockauto. I was probably just lucky, but never had any issues with them.

I never had a problem with rockauto either but I also had never actually contacted customer service to say there is a problem. I recommend always using the automated method and being sure that you say the part is bad and is wrong. It got much worse once actual humans were involved which is sad.

Ultimately discover card ruled in my favor on the dispute. So that covered the shipping in both directions that was rockauto's mistake. Of course rockauto still hasn't fixed the incorrect pictures in the item description.

-Rich

[rbryantaz]

Originally Posted by rbryantaz

I never had a problem with rockauto either but I also had never actually contacted customer service to say there is a problem. I recommend always using the automated method and being sure that you say the part is bad and is wrong. It got much worse once actual humans were involved which is sad.

Ultimately discover card ruled in my favor on the dispute. So that covered the shipping in both directions that was rockauto's mistake. Of course rockauto still hasn't fixed the incorrect pictures in the item description.

-Rich

Rockauto continues to be difficult about this and the dispute swung back into their favor after they simply said "The customer agreed to our policy and we don't offer free shipping unless it is our mistake."

I have re-appealed the dispute again so we will see what happens... There is nothing worse than a company that won't admit its mistakes... We will see if discovercard actually looks at the photographic evidence instead of making this a "they said, they said" or takes the side of the retailer over the consumer.

Having incorrect pictures is a mistake that should constitute free returns. Rockauto continues to lose points in my book over this.

-Rich

[rbryantaz]

I have a dispute open on this and ordered an e70 blower motor anyway assuming it will resolve

I then got an email that they were cancelling my order because I have an open dispute on another order! They apparently won't do business while there is a dispute open. Crazy!

Rockauto is being so petty and bad over this.

They continue to act badly and disappoint. I really never post about retailer issues but this seems like something worth pointing out just how petty they are.

-Rich

[GeorgeA]

Still surprises me that some people drive M3’s but are too cheap to buy proper rotors for it. Craziness..

[PYE46M3]

Originally Posted by GeorgeA

Still surprises me that some people drive M3’s but are too cheap to buy proper rotors for it. Craziness..

what is a cheap rotor?

lol leave it to BMW guys who think a $50 OEM rotor marked up to $250 because of a BMW box is really THAT much more premium than a $30 rotor being sold for $50 wholesale

[rbryantaz]

Originally Posted by GeorgeA

Still surprises me that some people drive M3’s but are too cheap to buy proper rotors for it. Craziness..

Sometimes there are closeout deals that are good products and a deal is a deal.

The alloy center dynamic friction rotors are a good quality product where they essentially copied the OEM rotors.

The all iron ones are fine for the street but...

I agree that I am not going to use all iron rotors due to the extra rotating unsprung mass.

-Rich

[GeorgeA]

Originally Posted by PYE46M3

what is a cheap rotor?

lol leave it to BMW guys who think a $50 OEM rotor marked up to $250 because of a BMW box is really THAT much more premium than a $30 rotor being sold for $50 wholesale

Leave it to a non-BMW guy to not noticed the difference between a semi-two piece OEM quality rotor and a single piece one where 10% of the rotor surface isn't aligned to the pad.

Simply buy Zimmerman or any respectable OE replacement if you don't want OEM.

[rbryantaz]

Originally Posted by GeorgeA

Leave it to a non-BMW guy to not noticed the difference between a semi-two piece OEM quality rotor and a single piece one where 10% of the rotor surface isn't aligned to the pad.

Simply buy Zimmerman or any respectable OE replacement if you don't want OEM.

Heh not sure where this back and forth came from.

It is possible for lots of companies to make a decent rotor. My point was just that rockauto had incorrect pictures and then was petty with their return process. If they had been alloy and low quality then I would have also evaluated that and stopped using them.

The "OEM only" idea gives some guarantee of quality but isn't always best. There are better pads than OEM and there are non OEM rotors that are just as good as OEM.. It just turned out that I got a lower end rotor when it was shown as a higher end alloy rotor... I posted to make sure that Boone else bought them and then had to return them.