I need some suggestions about Ceramic Brake pads and Rotors for my 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 Off-Road Pkg. 5.9L truck. I like to do my own repairs, if possible. I'm no mechanic, but a buddy of mine can take apart and rebuild an engine with no problem. I went to a couple of repair shops to get estimates on a front end brake job and it ranged from $400 to $512. OUCH! That is new ceramic pads, new rotors, and change the brake fluid included. My regular mechanic said I should use Ultra Premium rotors for my kind of truck ($100+ each). Again, OUCH! And my regular mechanic also uses NAPA parts. Given the high estimates, I want do the job myself (with my buddy's help, of course). I checked out NAPA and see a range from Premium rotors (about $50) all the way to Ultra Premium (about $94). Ceramic pads ranging from $60 for premium pads to $95.99 for ultra premium pads. What is the real deal here? Do I really need Ultra premium pads and rotors for my type of truck? Or is it the usual "up selling" from the repair shops? I'm sure there are various opinions, but I thought I would check here before buying parts. Also is NAPA, AutoZone or some other place the better way to go for parts? Thanks for any help!

 

I never had to replace rotors in the time I had my Dodge, But I did replace the pads twice. I used the cheap crap from Autozone and didn't have any issues. That was in roughly 4 years and 50,000 miles of plowing, overweight towing, overweight hauling, etc.

 

Rockauto. I got ceramic pads and two rotors for 115 shipped.

Putting them on is easy as pie.

 

I appreciate the info kejobe. Yeah, I'm figuring that they just want to replace rotors to make money. I'll check with my buddy and see what he thinks about the condition before buying new rotors. I replaced one rotor last brake job, so I found it fishy that they said both needed to be replaced as if both were too worn to resurface. (Yeah right)...

Anyway, thanks for the help!

 

Thanks Ham Bone. That sounds much more reasonable than NAPA. I'll check RockAuto. So it sounds like the rotors don't need to be Ultra Premium for my kind of truck (like my regular mechanic mentioned)? Or is it just that the premium one's last longer?

Thanks again!

 

as far as im concerned a rotor is a rotor on these trucks. Others may think differently. I bought cheap 50 dollar a rotor. Not the cheapest but far from the most expensive.

 

Just get the cheap stuff. Not like your racing. And I'm pretty sure your suppose to replace both rotors at the same time.

 

Not really a requirement... but, they both live in the same environment.... so if one goes bad, the other usually isn't far behind.

Rotors are rotors. No need to spend big dollars on slotted, crossdrilled, whathave you. Buy the best pads you can afford though. They DO make a difference.

 

GO TO ROCKAUTO.

Get the wagner brake pads, part number MX758. They are on wholesaler closeout right now for $17.80. These are some of the best pads you can buy. Rotors don't make one bit of difference on trucks...just get some of the $25 ones on there. So there ya go. Brakes and rotors for 70 bucks. Use the 5% discount code to save on shipping...

 

rockauto.com just put new rotor sand brakes on my truck last week. Easy job to do. Like others said use the code and save some change.