its time to change rotors and pads on my 05 Pathy. last time around I bought the parts at local Napa, paying ~$85/pair for ceramic pads and ~$80 for each rotor. this time around I decided to buy the parts from the web while not paying more than I did before. so far I settled on greenstuff 6000 pads, but have not settled on rotors. then I recently came across this: http://autoshepherd.com/product/Brake-R ... 8?v=163888
drilled and slotted rotors for under $80?!!! my initial reaction is that these cannot be that good. plus I have read a few posts here advising against drilled rotors due to their tendency to crack along the hole sequence. this brand has a 3-year warranty against such cracking, but only when used with Z series pads. if these rotors are good, how would those Z pads stack up against the greenstuff ones? basically, what are my best options?

thank you!!!

I stuck with the OEM stuff and really can't complain. I'm still running factory rotors at 50k and so far see no signs of them giving up. I swapped front pads with another set of OEM at 40k. I generally have fried the factory brakes by 30k miles...so IMHO these are pretty decent right out of the box.

I can get the rotors to fade/vibrate if I'm abusing the hell out of them...but in general driving they do fine. By abusing I mean repeated hard braking from 80mph going into sharp turns. If I flog the PF on my commute...the brakes get sloppy. But this thing isn't built for that and even though I occasionally run it like a sports car...I still don't see a reason to upgrade. If anything when the brakes start to go gooey it reminds me I'm driving an oversized SUV so slow the F down! There's usually negs to the high performance stuff...many times less braking performance if you're NOT flogging it. Noise isn't uncommon. Cracks in the discs....even with a warranty that's a real PITA if you have to deal with it. The OEM discs are a little higher than your budget...but if I can get well over 50k out of a set....they're well built.

Do you have a local autozone? Reason why is they sell duralast brake pads, that the lifetime warranty includes wear. I have the C-max pads which are by duralast on my 99 Jeep and they work fantastic. The rotors they sell are a 2yr warranty. I ended up getting some drilled and slotted rotors from royaltyrotors.com. The rotors and my pads have lasted 3 years and 60k miles. Great in my book.

I'm with skinny. I have 85k miles on my original pads and rotors. Had my front rotors turned 5k miles ago due to some vibration, but I think this set of brakes will make it to 100k. I'm not willing to mess with aftermarket stuff given that kind of proven durability of OEM hardware. The OEM brakes are better than good tires can handle (Goodyear Fortera Tripletreads) before they lose traction.

I'm not sure why anyone would ever be driving a Pathfinder in a way they'd need better heat dissipation or braking power. I'm sticking with OEM when I need to change brakes.

LittleStevie wrote:I'm with skinny. I have 85k miles on my original pads and rotors. Had my front rotors turned 5k miles ago due to some vibration, but I think this set of brakes will make it to 100k. I'm not willing to mess with aftermarket stuff given that kind of proven durability of OEM hardware. The OEM brakes are better than good tires can handle (Goodyear Fortera Tripletreads) before they lose traction.

I'm not sure why anyone would ever be driving a Pathfinder in a way they'd need better heat dissipation or braking power. I'm sticking with OEM when I need to change brakes.

Have you ever towed anything heavy with your pathfinder? Coming down a hill with an extra 6000lbs behind you is no laughing matter. Yes with that much weight the trailer should have brakes too.

I always tend to stay away from the really expensive aftermarket stuff. Rather go with a mid-grade store brand part. Last time I got them for $45/side.

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If I was planning to tow upwards of 6,000# without trailer brakes...I'd be looking to upgrade a lot more than just the pads/rotors. Probably want to upgrade the entire vehicle. I've pulled 3,000# or so without brakes and it does ok. It'll drop down one very steep hill without much drama. I wouldn't want to do that several times in a row...

I've always thought drilled and slotted rotors were a novelty item except on perhaps street cars or autox then they must be mated with proper pads to be effective. I also suspect the lifespan to be much shorter since they can't be turned as far as I know.

The store brand or wagner brand are generally good and will run you $50-70 each. If you find a parts store with a few different rotors in stock ask the parts guy to pull a few for comparison.

thank you everyone for your feedbacks. in my original post i forgot to mention that i mostly drive highway/local suburb roads. i do tow a boat (3500lbs + trailer withOUT brakes) once in a while, but only on a highway. after looking over other sources, other posts on this forum, while chewing on your feedbacks, i have concluded that based on my driving it is best to get some simple rotors while putting most of the money into the pads. either greenstuff 6000 or hawk lts. but as for the rotors, what do you think of these:
front: http://www.amazon.com/Raybestos-980370- ... 028&sr=1-1
rear: http://www.amazon.com/Raybestos-980462- ... 978&sr=1-1

thank you again!

Never heard anything bad about Raybestos and I wouldn't have any issues using them. The last rotors I bought were the Oreilly house brand for my car, brake best brand. I sold the car a few months ago but the rotors held up great for 2 years.

FYI there are some great advance auto coupon codes and deals out lately so if you have one nearby you might check there too.