Bosch rotors - China or Italy? (2 year update)

Replaced my front brakes this weekend and ordered rotors from Amazon. They arrived in two different size boxes but didn't think much of it. Put the driver side on and noticed a machined surface, a lot of packing oil on the rotor and that it didn't quite look like the picture on the box. Didn't think much of it and installed it.
Finished the drivers brakes and moved on to passenger. Pulled out the second rotor and it looked completely different...just like the picture, with the full consistent finish on the brakes. I was baffled that they looked so different so I checked part numbers on the boxes. Same part number. Checked numbers on the rotors, same part number. Then I saw the difference: the "nice" looking one was made in Italy, the oily looking one was made in China.
Not my pics, but sort of shows the difference I saw:
Bosch QuietCast from Italy:


Chinese one (just imagine some packing oil all over it):

Have any of you noticed something like this? I'm assuming I'm ok with the variation since they are same part number. Just a little annoyed as I'm not a fan of Chinese metal. Time will tell I guess. I suppose that's what I get for ordering online instead of being able to see them before purchase.

Interesting
The top one appears to be better quality and I would expect the metal composition to be different. Zn coating on upper one will inhibit corrosion.

truman said:

Interesting
The top one appears to be better quality and I would expect the metal composition to be different. Zn coating on upper one will inhibit corrosion.

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Yeah, that's my thought. I'll continue to monitor. For science!

I would probably do the same in the interest of science.

truman said:

Interesting
... Zn coating on upper one will inhibit corrosion.

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Yeah, for 10 or 15 days at least.

I haven't seen that the flash zinc they put on rotors has any lasting power worth mentioning. Good for advertising I guess. Or maybe for the desert southwest, but in the rest of the planet, it just doesn't do much of anything.

Cheers,

PH

Powder Hound said:

...Or maybe for the desert southwest...

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So you're saying there's a chance ...

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Yeah, well....

My brake parts (rotors, especially, and then pads) don't last more than 2 years. With the amount I'm driving now, that means I get about 5k miles out of a set. Sheesh. All due to salt and sitting too much. The plated rotors I tried didn't last, but for you, maybe so.

Good luck!

PH

Bosch has multiple grades of brake parts. Is the same manufacturer number on the box? They may be different. And both Bosch and Zimmermann tend to package some rotors individually, often with different packaging. Annoying.

Odds are both were cast in China. One may have been finished elsewhere. I'm betting they will perform the same.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

Bosch has multiple grades of brake parts. Is the same manufacturer number on the box? They may be different. And both Bosch and Zimmermann tend to package some rotors individually, often with different packaging. Annoying.

Odds are both were cast in China. One may have been finished elsewhere. I'm betting they will perform the same.

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Exact same numbers on both. Both QuietCast. Only difference is the "Made in..." on the boxes.

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So a year in and results are as you might expect. Chinese one is covered in rust, hub area and all through open space in middle. Italian one still has coating on middle and around hub area. I assume they will perform the same but it's annoying.

Edit to post pictures:

The vast majority of brake rotors available in North America are cast in China. Some are finished there as well, others in other locations: Mexico, Italy, Germany, etc. So the may look different because of the coating one has and the other doesn't, but they may also perform the same over time, as the coating only affects appearance.

And this forum does host photos: See the media link at the top of the page.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

The vast majority of brake rotors available in North America are cast in China. Some are finished there as well, others in other locations: Mexico, Italy, Germany, etc. So the may look different because of the coating one has and the other doesn't, but they may also perform the same over time, as the coating only affects appearance.

And this forum does host photos: See the media link at the top of the page.

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Fred dropped me a note with link. Guess I'm spoiled by all the forums who sold out to the big companies. Guess all things considered I still prefer this...

Pictures posted old fashioned way though

are those ceramic pads as theres no wear lip.
and pads look full.
typical ceramic characteristics.

Almost all the brake rotors we get anymore come from China. Sad. There is a wide variation of initial quality, though. Some have some really bad castings, lots of bumps and pits. Some the casting is very nice and uniform.

Couple years ago I replaced all the brakes on my dad's '99 Ford Ranger. Aside from the pads on the front, everything was original and not in the greatest of shape. I got all new Motorcraft parts from one of our local OEM wholesalers. This included: rotors and pads for the front, shoes, hardware, drums, and wheel cylinders for the back. All of it was made in China, except the wheel cylinders which were from Mexico. And this truck used all Bosch brakes as OEM (master cylinder, booster, everything, was Bosch). Everything looked and fit fine, some of it even had Bosch on it. But it was still Chinese.

I think the real issue is, what level of Chinesium is used. It sucks that ANY of it is made there, to be honest, but when you have no choice, I suppose the Chinese factories that are stewarded by the OEMs themselves (Bosch, Textar, Ate, Sanden, Luk, Hitachi, Denso, etc.) are going to be better than the plain label white box prothe-level junk. But one thing I have noticed is that they make awful bearings, and it shows. We see this a lot now, in parts that never had problems years ago. Like Denso alternator bearings. These NEVER failed in the '80s and '90s. Now we see them all the time roaring and if left long enough they'll come apart. If you take them out, you see 'CHINA' on the failed bearings. Same for all the short lived INA one-way alternator pulleys that Valeo puts on many of their alternators as used as OEM on US-assembled Hyundai-Kia products. They look just like the ones we have on our TDIs, but ours are German, and generally last thrice as long. And the Chinese electronics that are in SO MANY new cars now... sheesh. No GM product could leave the factory floor without them.

oilhammer said:

I suppose the Chinese factories that are stewarded by the OEMs themselves (Bosch, Textar, Ate, Sanden, Luk, Hitachi, Denso, etc.) are going to be better than the plain label white box prothe-level junk.

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I've been explaining this to customers for years. If, for example, you want to replace A/C components on your MKIV TDI, you can buy Behr or Sanden, who were OE suppliers to VW for those cars, and the parts will be made in China. Same with some MANN filters. And a lot of steering and suspension components, including ones branded TRW or Febi. Most Pierburg branded electrical items (like N75 valves) are made in China. We just imported two pallets of Pierburg stuff from Germany and had to pay China tariffs on a portion of them. They seem to perform fine, and who knows for how long they've been made there.

We do buy brake rotors from Fremax in Brazil. We just received a container of them last week. We've had great luck with their products. I've been using them on my TDIs for years, and our warranty claims for warping for them is lower than Zimmermann rotors which are cast in China and finished elsewhere.

benshaw said:

are those ceramic pads as theres no wear lip.
and pads look full.
typical ceramic characteristics.

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Yes.

And I updated the thread title...this is TWO years of use. Man how time flies...brain just hasn't caught up.

I’ve had good results with powerstop rotors. The euro coated and sport kits appear to be good quality. Can’t say anything bad about their pads, haven’t been on very long so longevity is unknown but performance is excellent.

Drewser said:

Yes.

And I updated the thread title...this is TWO years of use. Man how time flies...brain just hasn't caught up.

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Lol I was about to say... 2019 was TWO years ago. 2020 feels like it didn't count.

if theres a quality difference in them i would weigh each disk.