Maybe homogenous is a better word. Regardless, the rod is different then the other 7. I inspected pads and they are similar, and as stated they are of a similar manufacturing lot. When I started #1 and 8 were heavy, #1 being almost 25gm heavy. Pads clearly looked like they were not machined like the others. But those rods came in symmetric to the others. # 7 always was lighter overall and heaviest big end. Seen this in other rod sets too. Consensus is it happens, and replace it if you can. I was just trying to balance them, not lighten them for racing.