Everybody here told me NOT to buy drilled and slotted rotors for my WJ, but did I listen? No! This is what they look like after 20K miles and squeaking and grinding until I couldn't stand to listen to them any more! This is with ceramic pads and new calipers.

 

Just bought an 04 WJ and it came with slotted and drilled rotors all the way around. They are also squeaking slightly. That is on the list to change out. I usually go with NAPA premium rotors and Adaptive One pads.

 

Mine were a 4 wheel heavy load package made by Powerstop that I bought from Rockauto. I did that because I made the switch from Teves to Akebono and the kit was reasonably priced. The fronts are now Bendix rotors and Monroe pads. Plain rotors and semi-metallic pads. I have yet to do the rears which are still squeaking. What I find disheartening is they don't make Akebono calipers for the rear, just Teves. The ceramic pads show very little wear, but gouged up the rotors something awful! Jeep recommends semi-metallic, not ceramic anyway.

On my ZJ, I used to use organic pads, but because of the type of service I put it thru, I was replacing them at about 15K miles, but the rotors were perfect every time. I was looking to try them on my WJ, but if anybody makes them, nobody stocks them.

I've owned my WJ for over 100K miles and the only thing that really has been a continual problem is brakes!

 

What are you gonna use now?

 

I'm using Monroe semi-metallics. I only put them on yesterday, so we'll see what happens down the road.

 

Cool. Keep me updated as i will be in the market. Also why does jeep say no ceramics?

 

It doesn't. It just "recommends" semi-metallics.

 

Ceramics last longer than semi metalic, theoretically.
The ceramic wears less.
Ceramics stand up to high temperatures better.
Ceramics prone to more squeel.
However, the ceramic reduces braking ability, longer to stop.
Also ceramics will eat the rotors faster.
More "Bite" with semi metalica and less rotor wear, but more pad wear.
For me, semi metalic and standard flat rotors, no holes or slots.
That stuff is for the track, 100 laps and done, not for the street.
$0.02 in.

 

I have NAPA adaptive ones and premium rotors on my F150 and have been happy with them. Thinking of put this combo on my new rig. The adaptive ones are a little different than ceramics correct?

 

I have no idea what "adaptive" pads are, but the ones that came with my kits were supposed to be a ceramic/semi-metallic composite so I'm assuming that's what they were. Organic pads are the modern replacement for the old asbestos brake material and the semi-metallic ones are a mixture of organic material and copper/brass threads to help disperse the heat. The ceramic types are designed to keep the heat in the rotor rather than spread it to the caliper, resulting in rotor wear. There are titanium composites available now, but I can't imagine they are better.

Years ago, you could put new organic pads on heavily grooved rotors and they would mold themselves to the grooves and work fine. Now the service standard is to replace the rotors on every brake job or risk the customer complaining about the brake dust and squeal. Also, inspection standards have changed to reject rotors with grooves in them.

Standard procedure for race cars is to remove the rotor dust shields for more air flow for cooling and in extreme cases to install air hoses for ram air cooling. This is not a good idea for the street environment because of road debris.

To me, brakes are the most important system on an automobile because no matter how fast it goes, it MUST be able to STOP!

 

FWIW I've been using ceramics on all three of my DD jeeps. I put 50-60k per year spread across all three. I've been using Rock Auto: Bendix or Wagner for rotors, Centric, Bendix, Wagner & Raybestos for pads. I get about 35-40k per set (lots of section roads, moving quick) before I feel like changing them. I do all 4 at the same time w/flush. I agree w/Dave - I feel that the brakes are #1 safety item (especially w/deer roaming around at night). I could probably get another 10-15k out of them, but what the heck, it's the best $150-$200 I can spend on the car. I haven't had a dust or squeak problem, but the rotors get chewed up.

 

Charlie, I've got no problem with the brakes doing their job, and the ceramic pads show no discernible wear in 20k miles, but the low speed chirp,chirp,chirp is driving me bonkers! They also tend to growl when you're creeping in traffic riding the brake. I've never had this problem with any vehicle that had single piston calipers, but it's been constant with the WJ.

 

I sympathize. I may not be hearing the noises you describe (I'm starting to go deaf - hearing aids are in my immediate future). In any event, there has been a lot of discussion in the trade magazines as of late. Undercar Digest (https://undercardigest.com/) has spent some time on this and has a nice photo spread, as well as Motor (https://www.motor.com/magazine/#) and Brake & Front End (http://www.brakeandfrontend.com/). In general it may be an issue with QC/QA at the manufacturing level or an issue with surface conditioning on the disc or maybe installation technique with the caliper hardware. I know with my daughter's Hondas, I have had to use OEM/Honda brake parts to eliminate noise issues. At one point a few years back, the surface finish on some rotors gave me grief, that's why I switched to Wagner or Bendix rotors (or OE) in my shop. The comebacks weren't worth the lower price of the competitors. Good luck w/your brakes.