Increase in pad slaps

If you live where the roads are salted - and are an aggressive driver in the summer - you might need rotors more than me …
I just changed pads on the 2017 Tahoe and the rotors were smooth enough to not worry about …
Brakes are outstanding …
 
I pad slap all the time. If the rotors are even with smooth surface and within thickness spec why not? On the Sportwagen I swap track pads with my street pads frequently. Just drive a few days to mate up and then re-bed to get the transfer layer of the new compound applied and send it - the rotor rings are $1K so no thanks on having mutiple sets (one for street and one for track) even though some will say thats a netter way to go. Did a pad slap front and rear on my W8 Passat with rotors that are 10+ years old without issue. I remember when I posted someone saying it looked unsafe because the rears were rusty...folks here are way over-the-top on some of this stuff. I however get why shops recommended doing rotors to have the best outcome for the customer and to avoid noises and vibration etc. on a new brake job. Doing rotors and pads on my wife's Atlas today actually because of pad deposits and want to go back to the OEM semi-metallic pads vs. ceramic I've been running on that vehicle.
 
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TiGeo said:
I pad slap all the time. If the rotors are even with smooth surface and within thickness spec why not? On the Sportwagen I swap track pads with my street pads frequently. Just drive a few days to mate up and then re-bed to get the transfer layer of the new compound applied and send it - the rotor rings are $1K so no thanks on having mutiple sets (one for street and one for track) even though some will say thats a netter way to go. Did a pad slap front and rear on my W8 Passat with rotors that are 10+ years old without issue. I remember when I posted someone saying it looked unsafe because the rears were rusty...folks here are way over-the-top on some of this stuff. I however get why shops recommended doing rotors to have the best outcome for the customer and to avoid noises and vibration etc. on a new brake job. Doing rotors and pads on my wife's Atlas today actually becuase of pad deposits and want to go back to the OEM semi-metallic pads vs. ceramic I've been running on that vehicle.
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Deposits and layers - uhuh 🧐
 
TiGeo said:
I pad slap all the time. If the rotors are even with smooth surface and within thickness spec why not? On the Sportwagen I swap track pads with my street pads frequently. Just drive a few days to mate up and then re-bed to get the transfer layer of the new compound applied and send it - the rotor rings are $1K so no thanks on having mutiple sets (one for street and one for track) even though some will say thats a netter way to go. Did a pad slap front and rear on my W8 Passat with rotors that are 10+ years old without issue. I remember when I posted someone saying it looked unsafe because the rears were rusty...folks here are way over-the-top on some of this stuff. I however get why shops recommended doing rotors to have the best outcome for the customer and to avoid noises and vibration etc. on a new brake job. Doing rotors and pads on my wife's Atlas today actually becuase of pad deposits and want to go back to the OEM semi-metallic pads vs. ceramic I've been running on that vehicle.
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funny you bring up the Atlas (same with the 2nd gen Tiguan) we see where the rotors up front on those are worn out far before the pads - bad pulsations, massive lips, and grooving. rears are typically fine though, still eat through pads. I personally really like the OE type semi metallic - Textar/ATE/etc but for a lot of people that don’t care about bite the ceramics work well.
 
Andyd95 said:
We see

funny you bring up the Atlas (same with the 2nd gen Tiguan) we see where the rotors up front on those are worn out far before the pads - bad pulsations, massive lips, and grooving. rears are typically fine though, still eat through pads. I personally really like the OE type semi metallic - Textar/ATE/etc but for a lot of people that don’t care about bite the ceramics work well.
Click to expand...
At 66K miles/7 years, I've done rotors now 3 times. About once/every 20K. It's a mainly around-town vehicle, heavy, and stop/go driving which will often create deposits as you sit stopped with hot pads against the rotors. Every larger family vehicle we've owned has done the same...Honda Odyssey, Ford Explorer, my XJ Cherokee when I did No. VA commuting in it...this. I just have determined new rotors are the simplest thing to do vs. trying to resurface plus free now through FCP Euro so I'll send this current set back for a $250 refund to store credit. I just like the bite of the VW OEM pads, the ceramics (Centric Posi-Quiet) are great for low dust and they do feel ok but figured I want the most heat-resistant pads here. I've had some luck re-bedding them...70 to 15 or so slows on the highway...about 4-5 of them then let them cool but they always come back...
 
i pad slap personal and fleet trucks. if the rotors aren’t warped and didn’t go metal to metal, new pads and down the road. i have trucks nearing 250k with OE rotors.
 
I pad slapped the front of the Jeep, OE rotors are almost $2K/each, even the online discounted one are over $1,300/piece:
1744989589988.webp


OE rotors looked fine (only had 25,000km on them; 15,500 miles) , had no issues after putting on the Hawk HPS pads.
 
I’ve done many pad-only jobs because the rotors were in excellent condition.

When the rotors are worn a lot or just unevenly, I replace with premium ductile iron when possible.
 
Hirev said:
Done it many times over the decades. If you know what you are doing and check and measure what would be the issue?

I check the rotor runout with a dial indicator on mag base, measure rotor thickness with a micrometer if it passes I than prep the surface with brown scotch brite. Just because you buy new rotors does not mean they will not have more runout than what you took off. Without getting into metallurgy or induction hardening issues of some non OEM parts. Not all new parts are better than what you started with. Just because it is new does not automatically make it better. How many people that slap new rotors on actually check rotor runout with a dial indicator. I bet the percent is very small
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You’re being quite charitable. The less charitable characterization is that new rotors, in the extreme, can be junk quality castings riddled with porosity and residual stress. The worst new aftermarket from who-knows-where can absolutely be worse than the “old” parts already on the car.
 
I have pad slapped every family vehicle we have ever owned for 45 years. If it looks like normal rotor wear then pad slap it. I even pad slap the Porsche and tow vehicles. You can tell no difference with new rotors unless the rotor is obviously not normal. Drilled rotors crack so don’t buy them unless you are in a type of racing that turns them cherry red. If you want better breaking out of a rotor, then get the grooved rotors. They reduce brake fade by letting gas escape on tow vehicles or on long, hard stops. For normal use solid rotors are best. I bought 6 rotors my entire life and never a drum.
 
21 X5 here for rear pad slap. Genuine BMW pads/sensor and it will be on its way. Got another X5 for tomorrow - customer supplied ATE pads.
 
Jetronic said:
I worked on euro cars exclusively.

If nothing else was wrong, like a binding caliper or stuck pads, the rotors were usually fine to receive new pads. In the area I live in, the pads last about 40k miles, though some people struggle to do 10k and a few can do more than 40k. When I was young, I could wear a set of pads down in 2k miles, these days I do 80k.
Click to expand...
Pittsburgh or san fran?
 
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