Costco

I just wanted to get a feel for anyone's experience with certain brands/parts from any manufacturers. I need to make the right decisions as part of my job and hopefully we can all learn from each other as well. I'm more interested in bad experiences with well-known brands/sellers and common maintenance items but anything will help.

Just throwing these out there.... anyone have experience with A1 Cardone? They make a lot of remanufactured parts. I'm curious about Autozone Duralast pads and their rotors, as well as Wagner's Thermoquiet line too



Vortex "graphite metallic" brake pads
- good initial bite, dusting is eh, not too bad. No fade with spirited canyon driving, no track experience with them though


Raybestos advanced technology blank rotors
- no warpage, hats are still rust-free


Koni Yellow shocks, single adjustable
- worth every penny


Beck Arnley ignition
- supposed to be OE on certain cars, no problems


BBB remanufactured alternator
- no charging system issues


Interstate Battery
- all I know is that it has a green top, and started my car without hesitation even after not being driven for a month. No tender used either


Moog bushings
- great, though anything is probably an improvement over bushings with 150k+ on them


Goodyear and Gates belts/hoses
-


Sylvania Silverstar bulbs
- dunno why, but these seem to go out prematurely. I wear clean gloves during install and even then I avoid touching glass

hANDYcaptd

iTrader: (5)

Moog sway bar end links
-A lot beefier than OEM, and much easier to remove/install

Raybestos re-manufactured rear brake calipers
-They're holding up fine through a NE winter (about 8-9 months total if I remember right)
-The paint/coating is horrible. They have a lot more rust than my original fronts with 125k on them. I would recommend anyone buying them to paint them with a quality caliper paint before installing.

crazyasiantl

iTrader: (7)

i was running Silverstar bulbs in the fogs of my 2G. yes the output is great, but the life sucks.

for the price of the bulbs, i finally bit the bullet and bought a HID kit

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

I have A1 Cardone remanufactured calipers with Duralast gold pads on my 1G TL for 4 yrs now without a hitch... when i was researching to upgrde my brakes, i did read that Raybestos was commonly used by other members of the board, but i just couldn't source them and had to settle with the Cardones... i'm happy and they do the job very well.. so no complaints on them...

as for rotors, it seems like anything is better than the Honda/Acura oem rotors that warp if you just look at them wrong... but most of the 'made in china' rotors nowadays are cheap and will just be replaced at every brake pad change since it isn't worth the tme on the lathe to resurface them...

Beck is oem on some cars...

since discovering Costco batteries, i have never turned back to any other brand sold by autozone or advanced...

and +1 on the Gatorback belts... it must be a Toyota thing, because on the GS and Corolla, which had brand new OEM belts, developed a chatter within a few hundred miles after replacement... was annoying... fixed after switching to the gator belts...

SuperTrooper169

iTrader: (2)

I put Duralast brake drums and shoes (rear) and rotors and pads (front) on my wife's Corolla about two years ago and they've been excellent. No issues what-so-ever and they have a warranty, so thumbsup from me on those.

Legend2TL

I had the same experience with Silverstar bulbs. Oddly enough Walmart used to carry these Silverstar knockoff's in the most tacky retail packaging one could imagine, but they were ~1/3 the cost and lasted a couple years where none of my Silverstars made it past a year in my wife's Pilot.


A1 Cardone - I've used their re-manufactured calipers and they were fine, never had a problem and were priced OK.

Used Duralast pads before and they are OK in performance and costs.

AZuser

RE: Duralast pads.

A few people I know who've had to deal with premature rear brake pad wear use them on their 8th gen Accords and pretty much swear by them. They last a long time and don't dust too much either. Their life time warranty is a bonus too.


RE: Silverstar bulbs

They burn out quicker because they also burn hotter. By burning hotter, they're able to produce more visible light. It's just the way they are.


Costco batteries are made by Johnson Controls which happens to also make Optima, DieHard, and Duralast batteries. That's why they're so good.

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

Used them on my Infiniti as well and they were great. Good value and worked well. Plus I used my Autozone coupons to get them so they were priced just right.

The rear calipers on the Infiniti were replaced and the mechanic went with A1 Cardone. Only had them for about 20K miles but no issues.

OperationDarkie

iTrader: (1)

I just go by the prices on Rockauto.com I stay away from autozone/advanced auto unless I need some detailing materials.

Moog-Type-S

Always a smart choice! :wink: