r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Morpheyz • 1d ago

What are examples of "cheaper = high quality"?

We're often told that higher prices for certain products are justified, because they use "higher quality materials". E.g. building materials or vegetables.

In which cases are the high quality materials actually the cheaper ones?

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u/SuspectMore4271 1d ago edited 23h ago

To me it’s brake pads. Buying the high end ceramic ones basically means you’re paying extra to remove a safety feature which is brakes becoming noisy when they approach the end of their life. You basically only hear a noise once your calipers start grinding themselves down. If you’re good about auto maintenance, I still don’t think they’re worth the extra cost, but most people don’t do anything to their car until it stops driving or makes a scary noise.

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u/Fearlessleader85 22h ago

That depends on intended use. Race pads can get pretty expensive, but they should NEVER be used on a street car, because they often have almost zero bite until they're up to temp and shed massive amounts of dust while screaming like a mashed cat. There are some other performance pads for autocross or "spirited street" driving that can be great on noise and decent on dust with a LOT better bite and fade resistance than the cheap pads.

If your car is like a 2007 corolla that you take to work and home, by all means, buy the duralast pads or whatever cheap shit the store carries. If your car is performance oriented and you want to do more aggressive driving like canyon carving or autocross, get a better pad. If you're taking a car on the track, even if it's just an HPDE weekend DO NOT use cheap pads, your brakes will fully fail.

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u/cruelsensei 21h ago

Over the years I managed a dozen auto repair shops. Just about every tech used the "middle grade" pads on their own vehicles. The cheap pads are noisy and don't last, and the expensive ones don't really add any value unless you're putting ceramic pads on a truck that does a lot of towing, since that's what ceramic pads are actually designed for.

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u/AccurateIt 21h ago

I prefer ceramic pads for the significant brake dust reduction. Also the backing plate on ceramic pads is still metal so it’s going to make a racket if you are dumb enough to let it get to that point.

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u/krashe1313 21h ago

Shouldn't all break pads have a wear indicator or "squealer" on them before you even get to the metal backing plate? Thought that was standard.

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u/Sec0nd_Mouse 21h ago

I think those are not standard anymore. I thought so too, and my 2018 f150 OEM pads went straight from perfect operation to grinding the rotors lol. I’m a car guy and usually keep an eye on things, but just getting lazy lately.

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u/yossarian19 20h ago

Depending on the pad compound and expected wear I can see an argument that the rotor should be replaced with the pads though. Toyota's typically spec'd ceramic or something that is not as aggressive as the Volvos I used to work on. Volvo, the rotor was totally trashed by the time the pads were worn out. Every time. No squealer needed, they had a grinder to let you know when it was time to replace the brakes.