OEM or aftermarket replacement brake parts

Sooner or later, your car will need new brake pads. If you spend a lot of mileage on your car, you will eventually have to replace your disc rotors as well.

The question then is where to go to do this? Should I buy the exact replacement parts from the manufacturer or look for a replacement brand?

When an automobile manufacturer designs and builds a car, there are a variety of conflicting considerations that influence what the final vehicle is. There is always a trade-off for building something that is reliable, stylish, and profitable for the business. There is little to be gained for the typical manufacturer if you tell your buying audience that the car brakes were made by Mr. Goodwrench (not really a manufacturing company) if you don’t give them more business. So as a rule of thumb, you have no idea where your car company’s brakes come from.

The original brakes on your car were also designed to be everything to everyone. That is why they were designed to be neither too hard nor too soft. Not wear out too fast or, on the other hand, last forever. Stopping it safely, but perhaps not as fast as possible with different pads. Resist the fading of the brakes a bit, but assume the car won’t push too hard (unless it’s a sports car). So overall, compromise after compromise was made on specs.

Now is the time to replace some of those components. If you were happy with the way they worked before, and you are not too picky, then going to a dealer and asking them to install the necessary brake parts is a safe and reasonable thing to do.

However, if you want more than just the standard brake package, you may want to consider a replacement source for your brake parts. You can choose from a wide variety of brands. And each of these brands competes with all the others. What this means is that they must build a good product or word gets out that this is not a company to buy products from. The aftermarket rotor could be thicker, made of better material, have special ventilation (ribs, grooves, or drilled holes) that would resist brake wear much better than stock rotors. The pads you choose can be designed for long wear, heat resistance, low noise, or a different feel when braking. You might want to say, “I have Brembo brakes on my car, which is what Ferrari chooses for their cars.”

You get to choose what you want, rather than agreeing to what the original automaker decided was best for the average driver.

I don’t know about you, but after I learned something about brakes, I never went back to OEM brake brands. It takes a little longer, but I can choose what best suits my needs by searching through aftermarket brake product offerings.