Changing the disc brakes and not pads?

[Popinski]

The only time my car violently shakes is when I press the brakes. The rotors are very unbalanced but all 8 brake pads are over 70% life. What will happen if I just change the rotors and not the brake pads?

Lesson learned: Don't buy cheap rotors and expensive brake pads.

 

[Thax]

I think you would be ok doing that , however I personally would change the pads if the rotors were being changed. I just take no chances with the brakes in my car or the vehicles in the family fleet.

 

[wrcsixeight]

New pad's outer surface has a bedding compound which treats the rotor to work with that pad.

I put old pads with plenty of life left on New rotors.

My brakes work, but not very well. I imagine if I put new pads on the new rotors and broke them in correctly, they would grab better than they do.

 

[Burt]

I tried that with poor results. Shaking came back. I think that the pads were damaged by the warped rotors.

So you only have to replace the front 4 pads of course.

 

[961kyle]

I have also been down that road and tried just replacing the rotors. Did not work out for me. Now whether I need pads or rotors, I just do both. Better in the long run I believe. And now with a family I would rather not mess around with safety.

 

[JustinH]

I would not do this. Replace the pads, and grease the sliders up. Pads are dirt cheap, is your time worth more than the 20 bucks that pads cost?

 

[beast3300]

No harm will come from just replacing the rotors and not the pads. However it may take ~500 miles to get a nice feel with the brake pedal.

Also another note is (if) any grooves worn into pads they will show up as streaks (basically areas of the rotor that the pads don't come in contact). However after some miles the pads will even out and it will be fine.

 

[J_Sap]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
I would not do this. Replace the pads, and grease the sliders up. Pads are dirt cheap, is your time worth more than the 20 bucks that pads cost?


I agree. Pads are cheap.

 

[Jeffs2006EvoIX]

You guys may like to read this brief write up on warped rotors.

http://reviews.ebay.com/What-causes-rotor-warping_W0QQugidZ10000000005242298

I think it may not always be the rotors.

Jeff

 

[Jeffs2006EvoIX]

Beast3300 that Regal in your Sig should be pulling better than High 13's man!! what gives??

Jeff

 

[SLCraig]

I always replace everything together. I may not do the rear brakes at the same time or anything, but always rotors and pads at the same time on either all 4, or the 2 fronts.

 

[beast3300]

Originally Posted By: Jeffs2006EvoIX

Beast3300 that Regal in your Sig should be pulling better than High 13's man!! what gives??

Jeff


Man......tell me about it right. I haven't been able to break out of the 13.9x with this car. Me thinks once I get a wideband that I should be able to dial it in properly.

Forgot to mention it has 211,xxx miles on it.

 

[willix]

You will be fine re-using good pads.

 

[Cause4Alarm]

the pads won't last and it'll stop like [censored].......i'll put down lots of money on it.....if i had any

 

[The Critic]

It works, but it will take considerably longer for the pads to mate with the rotors.

 

[SteveSRT8]

here's the real deal on rotors 'warping': http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_warped_brakedisk.shtml

Written by Carroll Smith!

And how do we mate 'old' pads to new rotors?
http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

Just dress out those old pads with some 150 grit sandpaper and put them all together as per above. They'll be mated just fine.

Note that not every pad maker puts an abrasive layer on for break in. That's only on EBC and a few others.

 

[WishIhadatruck]

I had the dealer do it to me once under warranty and I've done it myself for reasons I don't remember and both times it was uneventful and never caused a problem.

 

[mechtech2]

If you don't HAVE to, then don't just replace the rotors.
Get good pads now.
Clean everything.
Grease what moves - lots of areas.

 

[onion]

Wouldn't bother me a bit. The brakes won't work as well as they should while they're breaking in... but that'll be a non-issue after a day or three.

 

[Ken2]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
here's the real deal on rotors 'warping': http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_warped_brakedisk.shtml

Written by Carroll Smith!

And how do we mate 'old' pads to new rotors?
http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

Just dress out those old pads with some 150 grit sandpaper and put them all together as per above. They'll be mated just fine.

Note that not every pad maker puts an abrasive layer on for break in. That's only on EBC and a few others.
A bit of work, but an easy way to tell if the rotors are indeed warped or if they have uneven deposits of pad material on them that cases the judder---
---Remove the rotors and sandpaper the surfaces. We don't want to remove metal, just clean the surfaces. Wipe with brake kleen and re-install. If the braking is smooth for a while, then the judder returns, you know that your pads are not adequate for the heat developed in your braking style. Buy better pads. If the judder is still there with clean rotors, buy better rotors.

Also, a stuck slider on the caliper that prevents the sliding side of the caliper to move smoothly with the rotor runout will cause the braking vehicle to jump around. There is always runout...there are no perfect rotors nor perfect mounting surfaces. Depending on the vehicle, allowable runout can be as little as 15 ten-thousanths of an inch or as much as 3 thousanths.