Like others who have shopped for replacement rotors, I too have been
appalled at the $40 price tag for Avid replacement rotors. Hayes rotors
are much more realistic at ~$25, but the Aztec rotors at $15 looked like
they were worth a try. I have directly compared Avid, Hayes and now
Aztec rotors. Hayes and Avid rotors appear very similar. The width of
the braking surface is identical, so other differences are just a matter
of cosmetics and design choices that probably don't have much
performance effect. Like the Hayes and Avid rotors, the Aztec rotors are
stainless steel and 2mm thick. Some have said that the Aztec rotors are
thicker than others, but this was not true according to my dial
calipers. Okay, they were infinitesimally thicker, but the spec was 2mm
for all of these rotors and that is more or less exactly what they
measure. I didn't weigh any Avid rotors, but the two Aztec rotors
weighed 226 and 230 grams while a new Hayes rotor weighed 212 grams. I
attribute the difference to the Aztec having a very slightly wider
braking surface, possibly not a bad thing. The finish and general
cosmetics of the Aztec rotors are good, but I think the name brand
rotors have an edge there. The Aztec rotors came with mounting bolts
with that blue thread lock gunk on them and a torx wrench. Curiously,
the Aztec bolts had a regular allen head, so I assume the torx wrench
was for removing your old bolts. I don't think Hayes or Avid rotors come
with mounting bolts, but I could be wrong.
So what is the drawback? I found one: both of the Aztec rotors are ever
so slightly warped. It is so small that it is barely annoying, but a
little extra set-up time was needed to eliminate rub. But the amount of
warp is so small that it really isn't a performance issue and I got a
lever throw that is as good as I had with Avid rotors. The warping may
be fixable with judiciously trying to bend them back in shape. I did
this once with one of my Avid rotors and it worked that time. But in
reality, the warp on the Aztecs isn't enough for me to worry about. So I
think these are a good alternative if you are on a budget, but I think
you do get a little extra quality with the brand rotors. Then the
question becomes why buy an Avid rotor when you can buy a Hayes for 40%
less?