I've been researching & researching online, but w/o fruition about Honda's rotors.

If what I've read is true, Akebono is making the brake pads & I already have a set of Pro-Act pads for both axles.

Now I'd like to buy from the OEM supplier for rotors, but not from Honda.

ATM I've got Raybestos front & Power Stop rear in my cart, but I'm holding off on buying those, still have about 3k miles to go before I really should change them.

Also, does anyone know if those spring-wire retainers are used on a Honda Accord (2014)?



There are the wires I'm referring to in the bottom of the photo.

 

why does it matter?

what you get from the retailer may not be the same they sell to OE anyway.

 

Brembo blanks with the UV coating. Fantastic rotors at a good price.

 

I use Bosch blank rotors and NISSIN pads. Works fine for what I have....

 

Akebono, Nissin, and Brembo are the suppliers for Honda's OE brake components. If you're trying to get a white label version of what Honda sells, you will be disappointed to find out that what they use is not really available for retail sale outside of Honda's parts channels. If you compare the OE Honda pads against Akebono's retail offerings, for example, you'll notice that they are visibly a different compound and construction.

Some of the OEM suppliers don't even have retail versions of the parts they make for manufacturers. For example, Showa has made the OEM dampers for a large number of Honda vehicles since the 80's. But unless you buy from the dealer, you literally can't get a Showa-built replacement shock for your car. Similarly, Akebono makes a lot of rotors, but they don't sell any of them to the public in retail packaging.

Fortunately the reputable OEM-supplying brands have no issues making parts that perform so closely to the OEM parts that they make no practical difference. You can use any blank rotor from a Bosch, Centric, Brembo, or the like and not feel any difference in wear or performance.

As far as the anti-squeal springs, the 2014 Accords have them in the rears but not the fronts. You can verify this by checking the diagrams on Honda OEM parts sites. They have pictures out of the factory service manual which shows all of the parts that come with the car from the factory.

 

From a manufacturing standpoint, it makes zero sense to change any processes, materials, tooling, or anything else used in the mfg. of a part from one customer to the next. From my experience in mfg. when we have two different customers, for example, an in-house customer (our company under a different name) and the public, or another business reselling our product, we will just change the label or send them blanks and they will re-package under their logo when they get them.
The b2b customer essentially hires us and our equipment to make some parts for them.
A company such as AISIN for example (or any other Honda supplier) will make water pumps for Honda, and include a Honda logo on the water pump itself.
But if you purchase a water pump for your Honda directly from Aisin, you can literally see where the Honda logo was filled in on the aluminum cast to give the retail customer THE SAME EXACT PUMP without Honda's logo.
The suppliers obviously have some contractual agreement with Honda that they cannot use their logo if they decide to be an aftermarket seller to the public after an initial non-compete period or something like that.

 

I'd imagine some level of tolerance/quality control metrics also drive some of the cost delta between branded and non-branded versions. It might not matter, but still, probably a reason.