My friend phoned yesterday saying that his 2012 Sonic was making a terrible noise when braking.
He had already picked up new brake pads, but not rotors.
We did the passenger side first, which went well. The pads were thin (c. 3 mm (1/8")) but wearing evenly. The rotor still appeared to be in good shape.
The driver's side was another story. The inner pad had worn right out, was down to metal, and had ruined the rotor.
My friend took my van to pick up rotors, and I started taking things apart. The caliper bracket bolts were tight, and still had pinkish threadlocker on them, so I figured they had never been removed, which meant the rotor was original. Uh oh ... that's always fun in the rust belt.
The rotor did not come off easily. I did the bolts-through-the-ears-of-the-knuckle trick (turning the rotor periodically), used lots of penetrating oil, and did a lot of percussive persuasion with a 4# hammer.
After quite a bit of this, there was a sharp crack or pop, and the rotor came off fairly easily.
The new one got lots of grease on the contact surfaces, although I doubt it will ever have to come off.
We decided we will also replace the rotor on the passenger side at some point. I can't wait.
Note the dimples on the rotor from the bolts. Also, it does look like the penetrating oil got inside and helped.
He had already picked up new brake pads, but not rotors.
We did the passenger side first, which went well. The pads were thin (c. 3 mm (1/8")) but wearing evenly. The rotor still appeared to be in good shape.
The driver's side was another story. The inner pad had worn right out, was down to metal, and had ruined the rotor.
My friend took my van to pick up rotors, and I started taking things apart. The caliper bracket bolts were tight, and still had pinkish threadlocker on them, so I figured they had never been removed, which meant the rotor was original. Uh oh ... that's always fun in the rust belt.
The rotor did not come off easily. I did the bolts-through-the-ears-of-the-knuckle trick (turning the rotor periodically), used lots of penetrating oil, and did a lot of percussive persuasion with a 4# hammer.
After quite a bit of this, there was a sharp crack or pop, and the rotor came off fairly easily.
The new one got lots of grease on the contact surfaces, although I doubt it will ever have to come off.
We decided we will also replace the rotor on the passenger side at some point. I can't wait.
Note the dimples on the rotor from the bolts. Also, it does look like the penetrating oil got inside and helped.
