I have put my first couple of hundred miles on my new front brakes and thought I'd share my opinion on them.

After much research on the topic (and many varied opinions on slotted/drilled vs. solid rotors) I decided to go with Centric premium solid rotors. They were relatively inexpensive compared to quality slotted/drilled rotors, and had the features I wanted.

For about $45 a piece I got a pair of rotors that have all of the non-contact surfaces powdercoated in gloss black, a non-directional finish on the contact surface and supposedly is balanced to within 2oz/inch. There was no need to turn them out of the box, which is also a nice touch. I pulled off the stock rotor and immediately noticed a difference in quality. The Centric was a nice rotor and seemed to have a much better overall look and construction than the stock rotor.

In keeping with consistency, I purchased a set of Centric posiquiet ceramic pads to match up to the new rotors. I pondered EBC or Hawk but after reading up on some other forums it seems that the posiquiet pads were more than adequate for daily use and spending the big$$ was a waste if I wasn't racing.

I pulled off the stock pads and looked them over and compared them to the Centrics. They were near identical as far as shims and mounting brackets, but again the overall quality of the pads and the general construction was superior to the stock ones. Another nice touch is that the Centrics were "pre-scorched" which they claim is the same as bedding in and eliminated the need to traditional breaking in.

All went together without a hitch, and the nice gloss black on the rotors looks sharp behind the wheels. I took the car out for a slow and easy run around the block and was impressed that the pads had great bite immediately. The scorching apparently works. I cautiously went a bit further and was able to bring the car up to speed and then back down, gaging the new brakes before giving them a bit more stress. All in all through the first few runs around at different speeds and braking power I can't say that I ever felt the brakes were off in any way.

Now with a couple of hundred miles behind me, I can say the brakes have just gotten better. For about $120 worth of parts and a morning with the car on jack stands, I think you could do much worse. Of course, this is for a daily driver so I can't vouch for using these parts under high-stress racing conditions... But for the rest of us I would highly recommend going with Centric parts.

Just my two cents

 

Thanks for the input. When I get to the point that I need new brakes I will definitely consider these. Did you have issues or was it just time and what was your mileage and year of your HHR? Thanks again.

 

I have a 2006 2LT.

No, I didn't have any issues. I changed out at about 65k miles and the pads were pretty much gone. As a side note, I didn't hit any squealers, which is how I usually gauge when to change the brakes. Anyway, the pads were pretty much worn out and the rotors were pretty badly warped. Figured it was time to bite the bullet and change the whole thing :)

 

Great - thanks for the follow-up info. Where did you get them and how much total cost including installation?

 

Following up to my question I found the rotors for $41.08 each and the pads for $35.50 each at Discountbrakes.com - $163.16 total including shipping.