OT- Changing Brakes

replacing rotors

John K Jordan

I haven't had any turned for a long time so I don't know if shops in this area are still turning disks but I'd sure call around. The dealer is usually the LAST place I'd look for mechanical work of any kind.

But do they even need to be turned? Unless you are having a strong vibration when when pressing on the brake pedal the rotors may be fine. Some places want to repair or replace things even when they are not needed. [gasp!]

Typically, I just put in new pads from the auto parts store and scuff up the rotor surfaces of the disks with some 80 grit sandpaper if needed. This is usually a pretty easy and quick job if you have wrenches and such.

The last time I had a rotor problem it was in my Dodge diesel truck. It was half the cost to go to the parts store and buy the rotor instead of letting a mechanic add his mark up. (Then I saved all of the labor cost since I changed it out myself which was a BIG job on that truck, but that's another story.) On lots of vehicles it is a simple matter to swap out a rotor.

JKJ

same here

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I have rarely done anything to rotors in my life time.

Me too...

John in NM

Hardly ever replace or turn rotors, only if there is a strong vibration on applying brakes and new pads doesn't correct it (usually it does). I think I've had that happen once in 30 years.

I've heard that manufacturers are making rotors thin with the idea that they are lighter and will just be replaced rather than turned. Don't know how true that is, it could just be another line to justify replacing.

Re: Me too...

Tom Norton

Rotors are quite inexpensive and when I do brakes I just tend to replace everything then I can forget about it!

Re: OT- Changing Brakes

Mark Nowicki

Take the time and find what is the minimum thickness of rotors for your car, a good mechanic will measure and replace if necessary.

Don't bother to turn them.

Single use rotors

Tom Dunlap

I had a very trusted tire/brake/exhaust shop that I dealt with for many years.

they were square shooters.

I asked them about turning or replacing rotors. I was told that in the evolution of cars from our youth to now there has been a drive for more mileage. Less weight is one are to work on. McPherson struts in the front save a lot of weight. Using disc brakes saves a lot of weight too. Making the rotors thick enough to wear out at the same time as the pads means thinner rotors than what we knew in our youth too.

Since the rotors start out thinner they don't survive warping as well as they used to.

My shop mic'd a rotor for me and showed how little rotor would be left if they did turn them. Not enough to make it through a set of pads.

One caveat though. With heavier vehicles...along the lines of 3/4 ton trucks/vans and up the discs might have enough meat on them to go for one turning. Lighter weight vehicles are considered heavy cars so the mileage/weight issue is in the flow.

Rock Auto is my go-to. Incredible prices on kits for brake jobs.

Add me to the leave rotors alone group

Dick Coers

The only time I have worked on rotors is when the kids have shown no regard to warnings about having pads changed and they go metal to metal. Just put pads on the daughter's Nissan Juke before that happened. Dealer wanted $800, I put in best pads sold at Advance Auto for $80 after a $25 coupon they offered on-line. I've found it really pays off when you still want to get them locally on the same day, to shop on-line and pay for them on-line, then just pick them up at the store. Did the same thing when I bought my last battery. Once you start shopping on-line, often a coupon pops up.

^^^This

Jason Roehl in Lafayette, IN

I've been doing my own brakes for 20+ years now. It used to be that you could get rotors turned 2-3 times depending on how bad they were. Heck, even new rotors were supposed to be turned out of the box. Now, I don't even bother, I just put new rotors on with new pads--saves me the time of hauling the rotors in and waiting for them to be turned.

Doing my own brakes has probably saved me more money over the years than I've spent on mechanics' tools (and I have a pretty solid collection).

Jason

Re: OT- Changing Brakes

Paul Leuba

I have had to to have rotors turned, or replaced, several times on autos I’ve owned over 50 years. It is almost always attributed to a tire shop not torquing the lug nuts properly. Over torquing by only 10 - 15 lbs. can warp the rotors within several days of driving afterwards. I now always check the lug nuts torque after another mechanic removes and reinstall a wheel.

Paul in Hunt Valley, MD

Price out the rotors

GolfSteve in Calgary

Price out new rotors and you might be amazed at how cheap they are. Last time I priced out brakes, the rotors were very inexpensive.

I'm also amazed at how long brakes last these days. I sold my last car (a VW Jetta) with 160,000 km on it (100,000 miles), and the original brake pads were still at 25% to 50% ! I priced out changing the front brakes - the rotors were very cheap - but ended up selling the car first.

The VW I owned before that (a VW Golf) I sold with 280,000 km. That car was strange because the rear brakes wore faster than the front brakes. The mechanical said that the car biased braking power to the rear unless emergency braking. Who knew? On this car the front brakes lasted 160,000 km and the rear brakes lasted 100,000 km between pad/rotor changes.

My old 1988 Delta 88 Oldsmobile was the worst for brakes. This was the last car I owned that had rotors that could be turned. It had tiny little brake pads and the rotors always warped so that the car surged when braking and the pad wear squeelers were always squeeling, which drove me crazy. The pads would last about 10,000 km between changes - really awful. I can't recall if it had disc brakes all-round or if there were drum brakes in the rear. The thing also sucked gas like a university student (me) guzzled beer.

Re: It's true

TomD

Completely true. You can get all you need to do the job for about 100 bucks on Amazon. My last F-150, to do the discs you had to do the bearings at the same time, and there was a drum in back, so you had to know how to do both. Current F-150 it is 4x discs, and they come off as easily as the wheels do. I think part of the reason for the changeover (weight and China factor in), is because there are so many people who do their own. It is only marginally harder than changing a tire. And then you can maintain them also, if need be.

About 10 years ago, I got into metal working, and was following the lathe ads intently. Drum lathes were all the rage. Meaning the shops were trying to sell them off. Then after about 5 years, you hardly ever see them again. So I don't think anyone is doing it much any more.

Realistically, wouldn't they get more charging labor which is all on top, than competing with Amazon on the margin on parts?

To me, the rip off play isn't on that stuff, it is on upgrading to better quality parts. You can easily spend 500 at a parts store doing just front or back on parts. They sell upgrades on everything, but when you look at the junk they put in there from the factory, that worked great for several years, it wasn't all this miracle stuff.

Re: OT- Changing Brakes

TomD

When I looked into the allowable wear on my F-150, I was surprised how little it was. Because, by the time the pads wear, you are well into the rotor. I could imagine from knowing a little about machining that you couldn't clean them up without weakening them.

One thing that has happened to rotors is they are now hollow for weight loss (rotating weight is a killer), and up here in the rust belt, by the time you need to do a pad job, the inside of the rotor is flaking away anyway. It is probably fine, but it looks bad.

Here is the kit for a Camry, I can't recommend it (I'm a cheapskate, not a car guy), but I used the same manufacturer on my F-150, and 18 months later it still looks great:

https://www.amazon.com/s/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_p_89_0?fst=as%3Aoff%2Cp90x%3A1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acamry+brake+kit%2Cp_89%3AMax+Advanced+Brakes&keywords=camry+brake+kit&ie=UTF8&qid=1543189335&rnid=2528832011

It costs just over 50 to do the front on a Camry, which is the easiest one, and the one that wears the most. When I buy the parts locally, it costs me 500+.

I looked up the allowable wear on my F-150, and came across this hilarity from 2002:

"On brake inspection the dealer originally recommended replacing the rotors because they felt that there was not enough left to machine, but backed off when I balked at the price ($542, plus fluid flush at $140??!!)."

Or you could get new rotors at 16 bucks each, and the fluid is eternal so long as it doesn't boil or leak.

I think another reason for moving to these replaceable parts, is that brakes and mufflers were a sore point with drivers. Last two vehicles I have had lasted over 20 years together, and one is still going strong, and neither has needed a muffler. But in the day you could do several in the life of one car. And brake jobs are just so expensive. It only took moving to discs to make them user easy to do, and keep people's costs down in line with the general reliability of vehicles today.

Thanks Everyone

Howie

I really learned a lot from all of your posts. Times really have changed since I owned my first car.

I do ALL wheel removal/replacing

Kneale Brownson

There's a specification for usable rotor thickness. If you're at or below that spec, replace the rotors.

Pad choices can effect rotor life. High performance pads (like you'd want if you take a vehicle to the race track) will eat up rotors faster than standard duty pads offered by the dealership for your vehicle.