I've got quite a collection of magnets from RockAuto. I ordered an evaporative canister from them (for a Camry), and a flimsy piece broke off when I was installing. (No fault of mine.) They accepted back with no problem. They have a wide a wide selection of qualities and prices, so you need to know, and you get what you pay for.

 

I've ordered several items over the years from Rock Auto-- no problems to date, and they are on the list of vendors I would check with first for non-OEM parts.

I have had the Akebono ProActs on my 5AT TL for a few years, and at least one autocross, to date.
They are very good street pads, have a pretty soft initial bite and worked really well in autocross and enthusiastic driving.

 

How did your rotors hold out? What rotors did you use?

 

Still on the OEM rotors-- I've only replaced the brake pads once on the TL, IIRC, but am on the 4th set of tires.

 

For the record - I posted this info on the 4G forum, but the info about rotor-not-warping is apparently correct. I installed some semi-metallic pads on some rotors that had previously used ceramic pads and were acting "warped". After about a day, the pulsing was gone. From what I understand, the semi-metallic pads scored off the ceramic pad material from the rotor exposing the now flat surface.

I'm a bit puzzled why the shop told me my rotors were warped. But it makes a bit more sense considering the pad material can result in excessive runout if distributed unevenly.

Semi-met pads for me from now on.

 

Mainly ignorance.. Pad deposit is often misdiagnosed as "warping"

 

GREAT!! Spread the word.
Most shops still use the tern warped, don't know why, but it might be easier to tell the customer that the rotor is warped, rather than trying to explain rotor run out tolerance has been compromised because of the transfer of pad material onto the rotor surface unequally at various areas.

 

Yup. The only problem is that ceramic pads have a reputation for being quiet and low dusting while semi-mets are exactly the opposite. So folks that know anything about brakes might steer clear of them. I'm sure ceramics work really well on some vehicles but I pretend the TL is a racecar which results in some pretty hard braking. In my situation, semi-met's are holding up better.

Thing is, I did everything right with the install when using ceramics. Full maintenance job and lube on the calipers (pins, guides, pistons, etc), torqued everything to spec, cleaned the hub, followed bed-in to a T, etc., etc. And with previous vehicles, ceramic pads like the Akebono PreAct and Duralast Gold have worked great. Got some Akebono's and Raybestos rotors on the Pilot right now and they're butter smooth after 40k miles. And ceramics worked fine on the 3G. It's just the 4G that's been so damn finicky

For the 3G, the best combo I ever used were Brembo blanks with Duralast Gold ceramics. Quiet, lasted forever and pretty decent stopping power. Although if I still had my 3, I'd probably use semi-mets just for the better cold and wet stopping power. They eat rotors faster but the near instant response is pretty valuable in Utah where we get plenty of cold and snow. And rotors are cheap