Brake Pads Rotors Shoes Drums replacement

[stussy1035]

I have a 2000 Honda Insight, manual transmission
I have 65,000 miles on the car and need to replace the front brakes.

I would like to know if anyone replace there brakes with anything else besides the Honda components.
I am trying to fine a long life brake pad and brake rotor.

Are the brake pads in the front and rear are they ceramic, semi-metallic, organic pads?
Has anyone used ceramic or semi-metallic pads?

I am looking to see if anyone found any other pads or rotors for the car and have good results. I am trying to find a better brake pads, rotors, shoes and drums that are better then the honda brand for less price. I have no problems with stopping with honda stock brakes, I just figure that is longer life brake pads and rotors that are available.

Is there any other manufactures out that that make brake components for the honda insight.

Does anyone have any personal experience with the following companies and brake components below and can you provide your imput:
Durability
Noise
Stopping Power

I have been looking at

Front Brake System

Front Pads
Raybestos: Professional Grade (PG) Ceramic PGD256C
Satisfied Brake Pads: Pro Ceramic PR832C
Friction Master Ceramic CMX832

Front Rotors
Raybesos: Professional Grade Plus (PG) brake rotor 9891
Bendix Brake Rotor 141299
Beck/Arnley Front Brake Rotor 0832842


Rear Brake System

Rear Shoes:
Raybestos: Professional Grade Brake Shoes 755PG
Beck/Arnley Brake Shoes 0813148
Bendix Brake Shoes 755

[Leeper]

First off don't do buying pads for the rear as that would be a very difficult conversion as the rear uses drum shoes not pads. The front brakes, if driven conservatively ought to go near 80-100+K miles. Replacement of these runs @ $40 for the pads (OEM)... I got mine from eBay but Majestic and others have them VERY cheap as well. The rears ought to last well over100K miles.

On a sidenote - I bought my car @ 18 months ago in Arkansas. When I picked it up I was warned that the dealership they just got it looked at told them that the current front pads had only 500 miles or less before needing replacement. I drove the car 1500 miles home to Cal then many more miles before changing them out - once they were apart I checked and could have gone many thousand more miles before they needed to go. Moral of that story - I NEVER trust dealerships advice.

As far as "better" brakes" why? Stock things work VERY well. Sure you could go with Brembo drilled/slotted racing discs or ceramic but this isn't a race car. There is little or no gain but the costs would be high and what would you gain? Semi-metallic pads only wear the discs more quickly.

[Guillermo]

Japanese OEM brake rotors and pads provide a great balance of compromise between:
Durability
Noise
Stopping Power

Aftermarket parts can be better at stopping power but may do so with higher noise.
Pads that last longer then OEM pads will probably wear out the rotors faster.
Pads that are significantly cheaper then OEM will probably wear out faster or produce more noise.
Since you are looking for a nice balance your best bet is buying Honda OEM brake pads, anything else will be risky since you are not looking for a pad that excels in any one specific characteristic.

[bagwell]

tirerack.com has Brembo rotors for the insight - they're solid tho.....very reasonable.

I just used OEM brakepads and everything works great.

[masscommuter]

Are there any opinions on this eBay seller? : funanbrake
http://stores.ebay.com/funanbrake
Claims: slotted, drilled rotors are LIGHTER, . . .

Buy Now for : 2 Front brake rotors.(part#121-40005)
$49 + $15 shipping ( or, F + R: $98 )

buy it now on brand new Cross-Drilled and Slotted brake rotors.
Our rotors are CNC Machined and come with 90 days warranty from any defect. Rotors are OEM size so there is no Modification require.
Advantage of Drilled and Slotted rotors:
* Maximum air circulation.
* Cooler rotor for maximum braking.
* Improve braking during wet condition.
* Longer rotors life.
* Lighter the OE stock rotors.

Contact: If you have any further question please feel free to contact us at: funan148@yahoo.com

Closed listing - but he seems to be selling these regularly:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/00-06-Ho ... 240%3A1318

[Insightful Trekker]

Can't comment of this seller (there are soooo many of'em on eBay)

Drilled, grooved or slotted, the difference in weight is minimal. Improved braking effifiency Sure, under extreme conditions (best avoided and not conducive to MPG).

#1 drawback: Can't be resurfaced with conventional lathes. So their throwaways. And extreme braking conditions usually cause warped rotors, drilled or not.

My personal expereince with the OEM Honda brake pads has been disapointing. It seems the compound is too hard and contributes to premature brake rotor wear. I had to replace my rotors at 115k. I'm now proving a Nissin compound. Nissin is an OEM brake manufactured for Honda (and others). A side by side compairson seems to show that the Nissin compound is less abrasive.

We'll see.

[toctoc1980]

CRX rotor have the same spec as a Insight. So you can buy all the aftermarket rotor done for a CRX

[biododge1]

Of all the aftermarket pads I've tried EBC seem to do well. Other then that the oem pads do well. A personal worst is duralast pads from autozone. I was changeing them about every 10-20K

[Willie Williford]

Changed the front pads at 105,000...as a precaution. Replaced them with EOM pads. Now have 244,000 miles and will probably change the front pads again soon. Still have the original rotors on. No signs of grooves or scuffing. The rear shoes are original and still have about 40% thickness left. Checked them last week when I had to repair a defective valve core on one wheel. Use OEM, no complaints........Willie

[toctoc1980]

Im waiting for 1 part to do a custom 11inch front brake upgrade(Will need 15in wheel).
I will give you the procedure as soon as I know if its work