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Tired of Chinese brake pads.

4K views 30 replies 14 participants last post by  MouseFink 
#1 ·
The wife's 2008 Nissan Altima needed new front brake pads. I started looking at all the obvious place, local NAPA, AutoZone, Orielly and such. Every single one of them had Chinese brake pads, even their premium line are Chinese. I then got online and searched for alternatives to Chinese brake pads. I ran across another forum and a discussion on Chinese brake pads. One post mentioned a company named Akebono. Turns out Akebono is an OEM supplier of brake pads and shoes to just about all the auto makers. Found a site that handles Akebono brake pads and shoes Auto Parts Warehouse | Car Parts & Accessories, Truck Parts, Discount Auto Body Parts Online and Akebone pads are made in the USA. Ordered a set last week and got them a few minutes ago:thumbup:

Vince
 
#3 ·
I work part time driving for NAPA....Noticed the other day that some premium pads we are getting in are made in India too......

Vince, you are implying that OEM parts are better. I wouldnt be so sure of that. My sister in law just did her brakes on her new this year 2012 Dodge van......at 22,000km (13,000 miles)...Sure, warrenty covered it, but really..........:confused:
 
#4 ·
I had a similar problem with my then brand new Chevy crewcab dually. Factory pads lasted 7,000 mi (yeah, I'm hard on brakes, but not THAT hard). After much complaining, the dealership replaced them with identical factory pads - those lasted EXACTLY 7,000 miles again. :eek:

At that point I just started doing the brakes myself with NAPA severe duty pads and the mileage is SIGNIFICANTLY better. The problem is that the factory pads are purposely designed to be soft to avoid complaints about brake squeaks.
 
#5 ·
By the way, I've had a much bigger problem with Chinesium brake drums. On two different vehicles I installed brand new, out of the box rear drums as part of a brake job and on both vehicles the drums were out of round. This caused the self adjusters to exercise as the shoes were moved back and forth on the backing plate, eventually causing the rear brakes to drag and lock up. In both cases, turning these brand new drums fixed the problem, but WTF! :pain:
 
#6 ·
Not making excuses, but it may have to to with how they are shipped and stored. A Brake drum or rotor should always be laid flat, not on edge.

I would also think that they (especially drums) shouldn't be stacked any more than about 6 boxes deep.
 
#16 ·
Is that a concern that they are chinese, If they work. The made n usa pads perform about the same. They are a wear item. My pads are soft organic and do not dig into the rotors if at all. Can go 2 pads to a rotor life. 25000 miles on a set of fronts is not great, but still okay. Disc set ups are not 4 wheel drum that last 100k. Unless the car is a really light econo box, the front pads are low after 30k usa made or other.

Are Ebc green stuff made in usa, someone told me .
 
#20 ·
05 Ranger---in for brakes 3x before 30k-----turned out to be bad calipers and that I had suggested this on the firts trip in. The dealer suggested it was my driving habits.


79 Chev C-10

owned 34 years
over 400,000miles
on it's second set of brakes and still has original rotors.---------and Ford thought worn brakes was my driving habits.
 
#18 ·
Several years ago, when they first got on the "good, better, best" bandwagon ... we sold 3 kinds of brake pads

AE (Application Engineered) which were the premium line.
SS (Sure Stop) Less expensive, but still decent.
Verdic (Later re-branded as True Stop)

I had some wiseacre come in, looking at the counter mat, who remarked:
"Hmmm. They should call these...
Will Stop,
Should Stop,
and
Might Stop!" :D
 
#28 ·
brakes

i have had very good luck with achebono brake pads.not only quiet they also wear well. on another note we had a brass plant in our town and there was a rumor that they got a tax break to move out. i have no proof of that being true but i have heard that story happening to other plants.can only hope it is just rumors.
 
#30 ·
A comment on tax breaks. While this term is thrown around a lot it is often misinterpreted to mean that a company pays less tax to move operations overseas. From a corporate view this is somewhat true, but only in the sense that they move their profit center overseas to avoid paying higher US corporate tax rates. It goes something like this.

I'm selling widgets for $1000 and it costs me $500 to make and distribute, therefore I pay tax on $500 profit. But by building a plant overseas with a new company (which I own). I can sell the product from my new company to my old company for $800, after mfg and shipping my cost is $400 (lower wage and tax costs), and my new company pays tax on the $400 profit at a lower overseas tax rate. My old company adds $100 cost for distribution, sells the widget for $1000 and I only have to pay the higher US tax rate on $100 profit. I've still made my $500 profit before tax, but because of the lower rate overseas I get to keep more of it.

This is grossly oversimplified, but I'm just making the point that our tax laws are working against us. Keep in mind that we pay income tax, SS, Medicare, state, and local taxes, while the employer pays a match on SS, unemployment, workman's comp, etc, before they get to paying tax on profit. The more tax we pay, the harder it is to compete.
 
#31 ·
I examined the box containing my ACDelco brake parts kit and it was "Made in China".

I examined the box containing my Raybestos ceramic pads and there was no indication where they were made.

"Made in U.S.A." is not a good selling point anymore unless you are purchasing the product for patriotic reasons.
 
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