BimmerFest BMW Forum banner

Aftermarket rotors - Centric

16K views 30 replies 18 participants last post by  TX550 
#1 ·
Does anyone here have any experience with the Centric brand brake rotors? Looks like they are out of California.
 
#2 ·
I just put Centric Cryo treated rotors on my front. With Hawk HPS pads. Feels oem, except a lot less dust. My rears are now dirtier than my fronts, so this is now my pad of choice!
The Centrics were plain, no slotting or cross drilling as it reduces the stopping surface and chews up pads faster. I got them from Tire Rack. Pads from THmotorsports.
 
#3 · (Edited)
IMHO... they are cheap crap rotors. I went through two sets on my front axle, always warped within 1500 miles. I even resurfaced once so they warped three times on me. Finally took car to dealer who said the rotors were poor quality and replaced with OEM... no more warping since. If I was gonna try them again on an e60 I would suggest the slotted version to help with heat build up. I should add that I have used these rotors more successfully on other model BMWs and I do believe the e60/e61 brake design is undersized.
 
#5 ·
That's odd. I went with the Centric rotors with E-Coating and they've been great. No warping, no rust, and seem to be an excellent value. I'd buy them again in a heartbeat.
 
#4 ·
Centric Rotors

I've put them on 3 vehicles so far:
2003 GMC Yukon XL
2001 Toyota Avalon
1994 BMW 525i

Every install I used Akebono pads, and I've had no issues, and I've been very pleased with the performance. I recommend them, especially because of the ecoating that inhibits rust as compared to other brands. Akebono Euro Pads are terrific for good braking and low dust.
 
#6 ·
Warped under light use in my daughter's 2004 X3, after about 6000 miles. Used them (Centric Premium rotors) with StopTech Street Performance pads. Had them bed in properly at install time too..I'm quite disappointed at Centric.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for all the replies. Mixed feedback which was very helpful. I did go ahead and order the Centric Rotors from Partgeek.com. I will most likely install next Saturday.

Just an FYI, when BMW did my front brakes for the first time the BMW rotors warped within about a month of installation. They replaced for free. Other than the grade of material used I think a mystery on why some rotors will warp when used under normal driving conditions. For me I think proper break-in for the first 500 miles and proper wheel lug torque are critical.

I'll bookmark this post and report back in a month or so and let you know how they are doing.
 
#9 ·
Clean the hub surface really good with a light wire brush, this is key to the rotor being fitted flush to the hub and huge factor in avoiding warpage.
 
#12 ·
Update:

Received the new Centric rotors. On a visual inpsection there is a difference in the hub section of the rotor. My BMW rotors have metal circular inserts (best I can describe) about every two inches arounf the rotor hub section. The new Centric rotors are smooth and do not have. Has anyone encountered this or know what the inserts are used for?
 
#13 ·
OK I called my local BMW parts department and they were nice enough to pull a rotor from stock and take a look. The area that I mentioned in my last post turn out to be rivets.

While I have seen aftermarket with rivets on the horizontal plane to the rotor surface, these are on the hub, which is vertical plane to the rotor. I thought maybe part of a sensing circuit for rotation etc..

The BMW parts person stated that the BMW stock rotor has a aluminum hub riveted to a cast rotor and that is what they are.

This means the Centric are 100% cast and require no rivets. I am going to do the brakes Sat. so I will give some feedback.
 
#15 ·
OK I have been driving on the new front Centric rotors and Bosch Quiet Cast pads. I have about 750 miles on them. They are doing great so far. I can not tell the difference really. I get the same stop feel I did with the BMW stock. I know early with only 750 miles but all is well so far.
 
#14 ·
I purchased the Centric Power Slot rotors, and the Centric Posi Quiet Ceramic pads. It's a disaster, and I don't know which is the culprit. The brakes are so noisy. They have always been noisy in cold weather, and even more so lately when the car has sit in wet weather. For some reason, most of the noise is always in reverse, like backing out of the drive way, or out of a parking space. Recently, normal braking while the car is in a forward motion, does not feel smooth.

The setup was not cheap, so I don't want to replace rotors and pads again, when I just did so last year, and have like 40,000 miles left on them. The rotors look in ok condition. There is some rusting look in the slots, but the surface looks and feels fine. Maybe the rust from the slots is trasferring to the pads. Any ideas. Not sure how I should move forward?
 
#16 ·
I purchased the Centric Power Slot rotors, and the Centric Posi Quiet Ceramic pads. It's a disaster, and I don't know which is the culprit. The brakes are so noisy. They have always been noisy in cold weather, and even more so lately when the car has sit in wet weather. For some reason, most of the noise is always in reverse, like backing out of the drive way, or out of a parking space. Recently, normal braking while the car is in a forward motion, does not feel smooth.

The setup was not cheap, so I don't want to replace rotors and pads again, when I just did so last year, and have like 40,000 miles left on them. The rotors look in ok condition. There is some rusting look in the slots, but the surface looks and feels fine. Maybe the rust from the slots is trasferring to the pads. Any ideas. Not sure how I should move forward?
I have those PosiQuiet pads on my car now and, yes, they were super noisy when they were new. Since I've run them in, they've quieted down a good bit, but they still squeel like a scalded pig in reverse if they are wet. I really enjoy the lack of dust, but once my rotors are done, I'm switching to Akebono.
 
#17 ·
Noisy brakes are almost 95% installation. Were the brakes thoroughly greased? Are the caliper slide pins greased or otherwise working properly? Etc.

Then bed-in and whether or not they were installed on used rotors, which sometimes the grooves on the new rotors and the surface on the fresh brake pads create harmonics.

...

I've used centric rotors several times with outstanding results. In many worlds, they are considered an outstanding OE-style rotor. It is very rare for rotors to warp under normal driving conditions. If they are off-set to the hub, if the wheel lugnuts are way over-torqued, or if the calipers are not evenly applying the brake pad....those things will all warp a rotor quickly....and yet the rotor will often get the blame as crap.

Just to be clear, I've used cheap chinese $25 rotors that don't warp when installed properly, with good hub centricity, working calipers, and torqued lug nuts. Centric is far from a cheap chinese rotor.At the very least, they are an appropriately priced chinese rotor :)
 
#18 ·
Noisy brakes are almost 95% installation. Were the brakes thoroughly greased? Are the caliper slide pins greased or otherwise working properly? Etc.

Then bed-in and whether or not they were installed on used rotors, which sometimes the grooves on the new rotors and the surface on the fresh brake pads create harmonics.

...

I've used centric rotors several times with outstanding results. In many worlds, they are considered an outstanding OE-style rotor. It is very rare for rotors to warp under normal driving conditions. If they are off-set to the hub, if the wheel lugnuts are way over-torqued, or if the calipers are not evenly applying the brake pad....those things will all warp a rotor quickly....and yet the rotor will often get the blame as crap.

Just to be clear, I've used cheap chinese $25 rotors that don't warp when installed properly, with good hub centricity, working calipers, and torqued lug nuts. Centric is far from a cheap chinese rotor.At the very least, they are an appropriately priced chinese rotor :)
Great post and mostly true in my case as I didn't replace my rotors since they only had about 5k miles on them. I made sure i greased every point of movement I could which explains the lack of noise going forward. They only squeal if the pads are wet going in reverse (like after washing the car)..once dry they are perfectly quiet.
 
#19 ·
Good to know, so it's my pads. I have a lot of wear left on these rotors, and not sure I can take the squealing for that long. These squeal in reverse when wet, and also in reverse when cold. I'm in Michigan, so it's cold, and I always back out of the driveway. This equals a loud loud loud squeal every day of Winter.

So no complaints like this on the Akebono's? I was thinking of going with these or stock pads, and keeping the Centric Power Slot rotors.

For install, I did one wheel myself, and took it to the dealer for the rest, because I could not get the caliper bolts loose. I assume they did it right, and they checked my work, and said it was good also. I did the brakes all the way around on my previous E39, so quite familiar with the process.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Bimmer App
 
#20 ·
Just and update on Rotors and Pads.

The rotors are doing fine. I have several thousand on them now and no issues. They did not have the zinc coat on the hub so they starting to rust a little. For this reason alone I would go with zinc coated in the future.

The Bosch Quiet Cast pads are doing very well. I am also pleased that they are not putting out the black brake dust that the BMW OEMs did.
 
#22 · (Edited)
I've used Centric rotors in my installs and not have had or have any issues. They are an OEM manufacturer for other car makes. There is a post in this or another forum (I can't recall), but he installed R1 rotors and Hawk pads and was warped in 1200 miles. The company replaced the rotors with Cryo rotors if the person added another $50.
 
#23 ·
I'll be installing my Centric rotors and Hawk pads on Saturday. I'll report back on how they perform in the future.
 
#24 · (Edited)
I had Stoptech drilled/slotted rotors and Stoptech Street Performance pads. Rotors warped in under 2 months. Modbargians worked the warranty for me directly with Centric, who replaced the rotors and pads at no charge, but sent me Stoptech Posiquiet pads instead. Centric advised that since I wasn't tracking the car I should not be using the Street Performance pads. I've had this setup of Stoptech Posiquiet pads and Stoptech drilled/slotted rotors now for about 10,000 miles and, other than squealing at temps under 40f until they warm up, I have no complaints. The squeal is usually just backing out of the driveway. By the time I'm exiting my parking lot at work the squeal is gone. Temps over 40f no squealing at all. OEM performance but the brake pedal feels softer now, which is fine for me as tapping the pedal with the OEM setup would cause the brakes to bite hard - had to be very gentle before.

Big thanks to Frank at Modbargains who stepped in for me and arranged all replacement parts with the manufacturer.
 
#25 ·
I installed Centric non-cryo rotors about 2months ago with Hawk HPS pads. The feel and stopping power are awesome and I have almost unnoticeable dust. However, I am now concerned about my rotors being warped...I'm going to have to check with a runout gauge and maybe contact Centric. I am aware that other issues can present similar brake pulsing feel, so before I claim anything with Centric I will verify. I am not particularly hard on the brakes...lots of highway miles, with just an occasional sprited backroad jaunt. Has anyone else had depositing issues with HPS pads?
 
#26 ·
I haven't used Centric rotors, but I have used R1 rotors with Hawk HPS pads. The pads were great, the key is proper break in and cleaning of the rotors prior to installation. I think a lot of the problems listed here stem from shops not cleaning the rotors thoroughly with brake parts cleaner prior to installing, also not lubing all the pins and back of the pads with a generous amount of copper grease, and finally - people rarely properly bed in the brake pads. If you simply install and go for a normal drive the coatings will build up wherever the rotor stopped and this will give you the pulsing that will feel like a warped rotor.

Here is how I bed in my pads and I have never had an issue:

Find either a deserted parking lot or side street. Do 10-12 runs going from 10 MPH to 60 MPH to 10 MPH braking hard - DO NOT come to a complete stop!!! Keep doing these runs until you can smell the brakes and when you slow down you can see smoke coming from the brakes. Once this is done the brakes are bedded properly and you can drive normally. People rarely do this procedure and then wonder why their brakes don't perform well or feel warped. :thumbup:
 
#28 ·
Centric rotors - uneven thickness - outer and inner plates

Just got myself 4 centric rotors for my 2008 X5. Although review was mixed, I felt confident that the product is good and proper bed-in will keep it performing well. However, upon visual inspection I noticed the thickness of outer/inner plates are not quite uniform/consistent.





It almost looks like the vent fin layer(?) is slanted inside the rotor. Is this a concern at all? Both front rotors are pretty much the same, and the rear ones have this as well but not as obvious as the fronts.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top