Brake disc quality

[Loni-gxwyf]

Is there are difference in the quality of standard brake discs between the different brands? Looking to replace the front discs on my ford focus it is a 1.6 petrol.
I can get Eicher Premium or Drivemaster ones for about £45 for a set. Alternatively for about £60-65 per set I can get Bosch, Pagid or Brembo. Is it worth spending the extra £20~? I have already brought some Brembo pads if that makes any difference.
Thanks.

[paintman]

Fitted Apec brand discs & pads to all our family cars - and my van - for years.
Never had a problem.

[Cornwall1]

Brembo discs are fitted to a lot of the well known sports cars, so more likely to be worth the extra money.

[The Surveyor]

I'd think on a 1.6 Focus, it won't matter.

New disks from any manufacturer are going to perform much better than the old ones so if it was me, I'd be going for the cheapest ones available from Eurospares.

[Demelitia]

Loni-gxwyf said:

Is there are difference in the quality of standard brake discs between the different brands? Looking to replace the front discs on my ford focus it is a 1.6 petrol.
I can get Eicher Premium or Drivemaster ones for about £45 for a set. Alternatively for about £60-65 per set I can get Bosch, Pagid or Brembo. Is it worth spending the extra £20~? I have already brought some Brembo pads if that makes any difference.
Thanks.

From what I’ve read a few times, on here and elsewhere, the Eicher brand stuff is just ecp’s way of rebranding cheap Chinese gear. I’ve seen a couple of people having issues with them, so for the sake of £20 I’d say go with a more recognised brand.

[stevieturbo]

It's a mundane car....I wouldnt worry too much.

Just buy something with a recognisable brand name

[E-bmw]

As others have said Eicher are proper cheap, go for Pagid or similar, worth the difference in the long run.

[Ewicc]

Thanks all

[Gatallica]

Funny this should come up. I was having a similar conversation with my Audi specialist today and he was saying that Brembo are owned by Euro Car Parts and the quality is not what it was. Not sure how true that is...

[SlimJim16v]

Not sure if that's true, but the last pair of Brembo discs I bought, were so bad I sent them back.
If you can picture it, the vent was diagonal, so the solid parts on opposite ends were so thin they were below the minimum thickness.

[GreenV8S]

SlimJim16v said:

the vent was diagonal, so the solid parts on opposite ends were so thin they were below the minimum thickness.

[Piersman2]

I recently refitted a full set of front and rear discs/pads to my range rover as the discs and pads combo I'd fitted over the previous year was dreadful for a variety of shakes and noises. I had fitted pagids front, cheapies rear and EBC pads.

I asked a mate of mine who runs a car part warehouse factors who were the best current 'brand' to replace with, he recommended Apec. They actually seem to do two ranges, Apec is the premium OEM quality, and another cheaper sub-brand without all the rust proof coatings etc...

Anyways, replaced everything, perfect, and has been for months now so I would heartily recommend them as I lost faith in most fo the other brands who seem to have gone down quality in a race for cheapness.

[CoolHands]

I always use pagid. Seem good.

[Piersman2]

CoolHands said:

I always use pagid. Seem good.

I used to, but there are rumours (correct or not) that the stuff they sell via Eurocarparts is manafactured to eurocarparts prices.

That set I fitted on the front of the RR were ok, but they made some strange graunching sounds when driving around town. And after about a year they started to wobble randomly/sporadically when braking at motorway speeds.

[AllyBassman]

Gatallica said:

Funny this should come up. I was having a similar conversation with my Audi specialist today and he was saying that Brembo are owned by Euro Car Parts and the quality is not what it was. Not sure how true that is...

I believe the brembo products you buy from ECP are still Brembo, but a range of products for ECP to stock....so probably not the best.

I've also seen heard similar stories of poor quality.

Pagid / ATE are ok.

[Scrump]

Had a few issues with pagid discs on Mrs Scrump's Nissan. Fitted Brembo discs (from ECP) and they have been fine (fitted a few years ago).

Fitted Brembo discs to my 911 a few years ago and again seem to have lasted better than the previous discs (cant remember what make they were)

[coilspring mk2]

AllyBassman said:

I believe the brembo products you buy from ECP are still Brembo, but a range of products for ECP to stock....so probably not the best.

I've also seen heard similar stories of poor quality.

Pagid / ATE are ok.

Agree about the Brembo comment.

But I think you will find exactly the same about Pagid too.

Neither of these are of brilliant quality because of this, in my opinion, and experience.

Why does anybody think that cheapest will be good ? There is a difference between price and value, and it is often overlooked.

Anybody that comes to me and wants the cheapest parts fitted, goes to somebody else. Cheapest are very rarely value for money, or even cheapest in the long run, taking into account time spent sorting issues etc.

Value does often depend on the car/type of car, but well known mid range brands are not often much dearer in comparison. Why fight to save pennies for the costs it might incur?

[stevemcs]

I wouldn't touch drivemaster and i wouldn't touch APEC on anything bigger than a Fiesta unless you have too. Pagid, Brembo or OEM. Anthing Land Rover we only fit genuine or Brembo,

Most of the major manufacturers are after a piece of the aftermarket pie, for example we now fit genuine Ford discs but pagid pads as we can buy the discs cheaper than pagid discs.

[Sheepshanks]

Are there any noted as being good for resisting rust?

I noticed in the US that some OEMs are fitting treated discs as customers complained about standard ones rusting.

[E-bmw]

And then as soon as you brake you remove the anti-rust coating, not worth the money/effort.