Raybestos quality?

SD-KJ · **Posted:** Sun Apr 30, 2006 11:55 pm

I am in the market for brakes, and i was thinking of putting on both raybestos rotors and ceramic pads. (my rotors are terribly warped) Can anyone testify wether they are good or bad? I would like to get a decent set to last for awhile.

Also, how good, quality wise, are the stock rotors? Would it be better to just have them turned?

-Nick

wilfredcruz · **Posted:** Mon May 01, 2006 9:32 am

I got those rotors, no good. warped quick cut them and now warped again.
get the power slots.

Eddo · **Joined:** Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1214

SD-KJ wrote:

Also, how good, quality wise, are the stock rotors? Would it be better to just have them turned?

I would just turn them and save a couple bucks. They are quite thick. I have 41K on mine and they are just fine. That includes plenty of city driving, towing and driving in the mountains.

streetKJ · **Posted:** Mon May 01, 2006 2:01 pm

A Jeep mechanic himself told me that the OEM rotors plain suck. It's really not worth having them turned, because in the end, tying a ribbon around a piece of doo doo still makes it a piece of doo doo with a ribbon.

If I were you, I would buy quality rotors, such as PowerSlots. They are manufactured from quality castings. PowerSlot is actually a subsidy of AEM, so you are definitely getting quality performance parts that last. Being a heavy vehicle, I would not settle for anything less than Powerslots again when the time comes. Its simply not worth it to go cheap and buy Raybestos or Duralast rotors. And in all actuality, *&^^&* OEM rotors...

As for pads, if you want real stopping power, get the Hawk HPS formula. It definitely squeaks a lot, which can be very annoying to you, but you will stop on a dime. Powerslot in its installation instructions actually recommends Hawk pads to be used with its rotors. 4WDhardware.com actually has a deal on the Powerslot and Hawk HPS combo. You can get you front end for $230. You will not be disappointed with your stopping power. And the HPS pads are already pre-shimmed.

A great alternative pad with far less squeaking is the EBC green stuff. Again this is a high quality brake component from an English company. It has a special top coating on the pad for breaking in properly. Excellent stuff.

I cant emphasize enough how crappy the OEM and alternative brand rotors are. Get Powerslots. Best rotors you can buy for the KJ.

streetKJ · **Posted:** Mon May 01, 2006 2:04 pm

lol, I just noticed the bad words I said are replaced automatically with "appropriate" phrases. haha

Eddo · **Joined:** Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1214

streetKJ wrote:

A Jeep mechanic himself told me that the OEM rotors plain suck. It's really not worth having them turned, because in the end, tying a ribbon around a piece of doo doo still makes it a piece of doo doo with a ribbon.

The older Jeep rotors on some of the ZJ and such where bad. They where designed to be replacable rotors. They actually ended up doing a recall on the rotors, because some people turned them a little too much and the rotor ended up completely failing. They where not designed to be turned, just replaced ever time you do breaks. However, the ones on the KJ are quite thick and if it where me I would not replace them. Mine have held up fine along with a number of other KJs I've seen. Personally, I think rotors are some of the most over replaced parts on vehicles because it is an easy money maker.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Mon May 01, 2006 4:25 pm

streetKJ wrote:

A Jeep mechanic himself told me that the OEM rotors plain suck. It's really not worth having them turned, because in the end, tying a ribbon around a piece of doo doo still makes it a piece of doo doo with a ribbon.

If I were you, I would buy quality rotors, such as PowerSlots. They are manufactured from quality castings. PowerSlot is actually a subsidy of AEM, so you are definitely getting quality performance parts that last. Being a heavy vehicle, I would not settle for anything less than Powerslots again when the time comes. Its simply not worth it to go cheap and buy Raybestos or Duralast rotors. And in all actuality, bad word OEM rotors...

As for pads, if you want real stopping power, get the Hawk HPS formula. It definitely squeaks a lot, which can be very annoying to you, but you will stop on a dime. Powerslot in its installation instructions actually recommends Hawk pads to be used with its rotors. 4WDhardware.com actually has a deal on the Powerslot and Hawk HPS combo. You can get you front end for $230. You will not be disappointed with your stopping power. And the HPS pads are already pre-shimmed.

A great alternative pad with far less squeaking is the EBC green stuff. Again this is a high quality brake component from an English company. It has a special top coating on the pad for breaking in properly. Excellent stuff.

I cant emphasize enough how crappy the OEM and alternative brand rotors are. Get Powerslots. Best rotors you can buy for the KJ.

Ive been looking at different rotors for some time now. Ive heard that the power slots also warp with time. Mine have started shaking when braking at high speeds and I really do not like it. Hopefully when I get a job this summer I will get new rotors. I may get them turned first like Eddo says and see how that goes, then move on to new ones if they warp again.

SD-KJ · **Posted:** Mon May 01, 2006 5:06 pm

Eddo wrote:

streetKJ wrote:

A Jeep mechanic himself told me that the OEM rotors plain suck. It's really not worth having them turned, because in the end, tying a ribbon around a piece of doo doo still makes it a piece of doo doo with a ribbon.

The older Jeep rotors on some of the ZJ and such where bad. They where designed to be replacable rotors. They actually ended up doing a recall on the rotors, because some people turned them a little too much and the rotor ended up completely failing. They where not designed to be turned, just replaced ever time you do breaks. However, the ones on the KJ are quite thick and if it where me I would not replace them. Mine have held up fine along with a number of other KJs I've seen. Personally, I think rotors are some of the most over replaced parts on vehicles because it is an easy money maker.

I agree, i just called a shop and they can turn both for around 25 bucks. For me right now thats how i am going to go, if it ends up to not work out in a couple thousand miles than i am not out much. I really cant spend that kind of money right now...

-Nick

streetKJ · **Posted:** Mon May 01, 2006 6:22 pm

Jeepjeepster wrote:

streetKJ wrote:

A Jeep mechanic himself told me that the OEM rotors plain suck. It's really not worth having them turned, because in the end, tying a ribbon around a piece of doo doo still makes it a piece of doo doo with a ribbon.

If I were you, I would buy quality rotors, such as PowerSlots. They are manufactured from quality castings. PowerSlot is actually a subsidy of AEM, so you are definitely getting quality performance parts that last. Being a heavy vehicle, I would not settle for anything less than Powerslots again when the time comes. Its simply not worth it to go cheap and buy Raybestos or Duralast rotors. And in all actuality, bad word OEM rotors...

As for pads, if you want real stopping power, get the Hawk HPS formula. It definitely squeaks a lot, which can be very annoying to you, but you will stop on a dime. Powerslot in its installation instructions actually recommends Hawk pads to be used with its rotors. 4WDhardware.com actually has a deal on the Powerslot and Hawk HPS combo. You can get you front end for $230. You will not be disappointed with your stopping power. And the HPS pads are already pre-shimmed.

A great alternative pad with far less squeaking is the EBC green stuff. Again this is a high quality brake component from an English company. It has a special top coating on the pad for breaking in properly. Excellent stuff.

I cant emphasize enough how crappy the OEM and alternative brand rotors are. Get Powerslots. Best rotors you can buy for the KJ.

Ive been looking at different rotors for some time now. Ive heard that the power slots also warp with time. Mine have started shaking when braking at high speeds and I really do not like it. Hopefully when I get a job this summer I will get new rotors. I may get them turned first like Eddo says and see how that goes, then move on to new ones if they warp again.

If you have warped Powerslot rotors, it means you didnt change them when it was necessary. Powerslots are meant to be changed when you cannot see the slots anymore, because they are machined to the minimum rotor thickness for integrity.

I have several friends who auto-x, drag race, and touge, and none of them have ever heard of Powerslots warping. Granted, any rotor will warp with time, but having warped Powerslots just means you werent doing proper brake system maintenance.

streetKJ · **Posted:** Mon May 01, 2006 6:24 pm

Eddo wrote:

streetKJ wrote:

A Jeep mechanic himself told me that the OEM rotors plain suck. It's really not worth having them turned, because in the end, tying a ribbon around a piece of doo doo still makes it a piece of doo doo with a ribbon.

The older Jeep rotors on some of the ZJ and such where bad. They where designed to be replacable rotors. They actually ended up doing a recall on the rotors, because some people turned them a little too much and the rotor ended up completely failing. They where not designed to be turned, just replaced ever time you do breaks. However, the ones on the KJ are quite thick and if it where me I would not replace them. Mine have held up fine along with a number of other KJs I've seen. Personally, I think rotors are some of the most over replaced parts on vehicles because it is an easy money maker.

The way I look at it, your life is riding on the quality of your tires and your brakes. :shock:

They are not the components to neglect when maintaining your vehicle.

Turning rotors is a far cheaper alternative than buying performance rotors, but if you think about it, you'll only go a few thousand more miles before you will either have to turn the rotor again, or replace it completely since it has worn down to the minimum thickness. The headache of going to the shop to have this done is annoying anyway, so its better to just replace a part that is widely known to be crappy anyway (look at all the posts in this forum about vibrating brakes caused by warped OEM rotors) with better performance parts.

Money will always be an issue, but lets face it, maintaining any vehicle (especially a Jeep) is expensive anyway, and it really doesnt hurt to spend more money where it counts.

KJ_Dave · **Posted:** Tue May 02, 2006 12:08 pm

I put a set of raybestos on a 2006 Dodge dualie. They work even better than stock. You can tell a difference.

Raybestos quality?

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