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Which would you choose? Box store brakes

Which brand?

  • NAPA

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Brake Best (Oreilly)

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Trash! Order OEM from a dealer and wait for it

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    1

Detective D

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In my area I have NAPA, and Oreilly Auto.
So, NAPA rotors/pads, or "Brake Best"(Oreilly house brand)
Cost seems to be a non-factor. Availability either, at least for commuter vehicles.

Which would you choose? I have not bought box store brakes in almost 20 years, so I am at a loss. I have no particular loyalty to either store, one town has nice folks at a NAPA and another has some nice folks at an Orielly.
I attempted a poll!
Keep in mind this is not classic car related, I looked in that section and the threads all looked pretty specific. I am looking more for general brand opinions for fairly newer vehicles.
 
Go to Rock Auto, select a brand and grade you trust then use that part number & do an internet search for the vest price & availability... Make your choices & roll the dice...

NAPA use to be very good quality.... Since everyone seems to buy the cheapest they can find NAPA had to source cheaper products in order to be competitive..

Oriely's was Kragens and Kragens was part of what got us to this point... i try to not reward them for their efforts..
 
I wish I knew. Most everything is made in Asia now and I’ve not been especially impressed with any brake parts I’ve bought in recent years.
I‘ve been using Centric, it’s probably as good as anything today. I think when the time comes for my new Ram to need brakes I’ll splurge for OEM though.
 
I buy oem as much as possible including rotors, I get very good discounts at the dealer and I am very happy with oem parts. They are TRW pads in a mopar box
 
For both my "modern era" Mopars, I will accept nothing but factory stuff - and I replace the rotors every
time I do pads as well. The aftermarket in my experience only leads to increased chances of warpage and
aggravation...
Ma actually has "kits" for this purpose that come with rotors, pads and hardware all together for just this
purpose - and they're not bad in price in comparison, actually.
 
What car? I would choose Napa over O'Reilly. But if it wasn't a rush, I prefer the selection at Rock Auto.
 
What car? I would choose Napa over O'Reilly. But if it wasn't a rush, I prefer the selection at Rock Auto.
Most recent, front rotors/pads for 98 Dakota.
My '13 Charger should get a full job also.

I bought Delco for the tow rig, oem. that was the last job I had to do, 2 years back now.

Otherwise, I was buying Stop Tech cryo treated rotors and hawk ceramic pads for stuff.
Then Hawk lost some quality, so i looked for alternatives.
Then Stop Tech went from 100% made in Canada to a guessing game, with Canadian and Chinese rotors costing the same and them not saying where they come from until you get the box. Plus the price went absurd, especially for chinese rotors.
I would buy OEM for my Charger, but after digging online I found OEM is made in Japan, and new OEM is made in Italy. Likely has something to do with the whole ownership movement in the mid-teens. My understanding is the original Japan OEM is excellent(must be, I have almost 80k on factory brakes) and italy stuff is about as good as anything else on the market from a box store, and prices sort of align with that. You really have to dig to see the minute change in part number, find out when it happened, and then why.

The oreilly in the one town has 3 guys employed that (gasp!) actually know somethig about cars and where stuff is in the store and want to keep learning about stuff. they are in their mid 20's.
The NAPA in the other town was opened by 2 guys that worked in the NAPA there that closed because the city is run by idiots. These guys are running the store on long hours 6 days a week just the two of them and busting ***. Now, the oreilly in this town with the NAPA has one ok guy that is nice but clueless and 2 ultra pretentious types that were so aggravating i stopped going there for that reason alone. My last interaction there was enough to make me still ornery about it. So I go to the other town with the nice guys.

So I have no issue supporting either of those two local stores. Mind you, I live surrounded by towns of 3000 people or less and they are all 20 miles apart. I do not like the idea of all the stores closing and being forced into a long drive or online.
I mean if people have bought this stuff in the last two years and the brake parts self destructed or insta-warped or corroded faster then the grass grows then I want to hear about it, I don;t want to buy pure trash. But the little truck and my Charger both will see few miles a year and I am easy on brakes(not so much on the go pedal) so I am not looking for ultimate premium performance either.
 
Most recent, front rotors/pads for 98 Dakota.
My '13 Charger should get a full job also.

I bought Delco for the tow rig, oem. that was the last job I had to do, 2 years back now.

Otherwise, I was buying Stop Tech cryo treated rotors and hawk ceramic pads for stuff.
Then Hawk lost some quality, so i looked for alternatives.
Then Stop Tech went from 100% made in Canada to a guessing game, with Canadian and Chinese rotors costing the same and them not saying where they come from until you get the box. Plus the price went absurd, especially for chinese rotors.
I would buy OEM for my Charger, but after digging online I found OEM is made in Japan, and new OEM is made in Italy. Likely has something to do with the whole ownership movement in the mid-teens. My understanding is the original Japan OEM is excellent(must be, I have almost 80k on factory brakes) and italy stuff is about as good as anything else on the market from a box store, and prices sort of align with that. You really have to dig to see the minute change in part number, find out when it happened, and then why.

The oreilly in the one town has 3 guys employed that (gasp!) actually know somethig about cars and where stuff is in the store and want to keep learning about stuff. they are in their mid 20's.
The NAPA in the other town was opened by 2 guys that worked in the NAPA there that closed because the city is run by idiots. These guys are running the store on long hours 6 days a week just the two of them and busting ***. Now, the oreilly in this town with the NAPA has one ok guy that is nice but clueless and 2 ultra pretentious types that were so aggravating i stopped going there for that reason alone. My last interaction there was enough to make me still ornery about it. So I go to the other town with the nice guys.

So I have no issue supporting either of those two local stores. Mind you, I live surrounded by towns of 3000 people or less and they are all 20 miles apart. I do not like the idea of all the stores closing and being forced into a long drive or online.
I mean if people have bought this stuff in the last two years and the brake parts self destructed or insta-warped or corroded faster then the grass grows then I want to hear about it, I don;t want to buy pure trash. But the little truck and my Charger both will see few miles a year and I am easy on brakes(not so much on the go pedal) so I am not looking for ultimate premium performance either.
I usually get Akebono for my newer cars but most of the heavy duty name brands will be of good quality. Like ACDelco, Wagner, Bendix. OEM would be a solid choice too.. The country of origin is a crap shoot nowadays. Just don't get the economy version and don't get suckered into the house brand with the warranty.
 
This depends on who is driving the car.
My wife, daughter, grand daughter I'm buying the cheap soft ones and mabey just mabey the rotors will survive a couple cycles.
Those gals drive like they are entering turn 2 at Bristol.
 
My daily has been getting Bosch via RockAuto.

I must say the quality has been REAL GOOD, and the rotors are even coated to prevent rusting on the areas that don't get pad contact.
(Unlike OEM Mopar that rusted tight to the hubs.)

Everything is wrapped in moisture absorbent paper and usually there's a silica pack as well.
 
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