I had a set of rotors and pads for our Montana delivered to my door for $57. At that price there is no reason to bother with turning them.
Thoughts on turning rotors
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Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: another Todd
What I am shocked at is that you need rear brakes already with only 45K miles.
Some (most?) of the newer vehicles tend to use rearward braking bias to help prevent nose dive. With ABS they can modulate rear brakes to prevent lockup, but under light braking use mostly the rear brakes. Since the rear pads tend to be smaller, they can, under a light foot who brakes often, wear much faster than the fronts. It's counter to decades of it being opposite, but it occurs.
When I had my Jetta a common report was that the rear pads wore twice as fast as the front. That was my observation too, and that was after ensuring the pads never seized to the caliper bracket.
Exactly. And don't forget that many traction control systems will squeeze brakes to control wheelspin...
Originally Posted By: another Todd
What I am shocked at is that you need rear brakes already with only 45K miles.
Some (most?) of the newer vehicles tend to use rearward braking bias to help prevent nose dive. With ABS they can modulate rear brakes to prevent lockup, but under light braking use mostly the rear brakes. Since the rear pads tend to be smaller, they can, under a light foot who brakes often, wear much faster than the fronts. It's counter to decades of it being opposite, but it occurs.
When I had my Jetta a common report was that the rear pads wore twice as fast as the front. That was my observation too, and that was after ensuring the pads never seized to the caliper bracket.
Exactly. And don't forget that many traction control systems will squeeze brakes to control wheelspin...
My GF has a 2011 Lexus IS250. She got it with about 40K miles on it. It needed pads at all four corners. The rear pads are very small on this car. Now that it is approaching 80K miles it looks like it will needing new pads soon. The rears, again, will need to be done along with the fronts. This is new to my experience, but it is what it is.
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Can't remember that last time I had a set turned.
I just swap them out.
If the pads just need it and I have no pulsating or vibrations I may swap a set of pads in without doing rotors.
I just swap them out.
If the pads just need it and I have no pulsating or vibrations I may swap a set of pads in without doing rotors.
I thought rotors got "resurfaced" or "machined" and drums were "turned." Just a semantic issue I recall from my youth when most cars still had rear drum brakes. Unless I have an issue with pedal pulsation I never have machining done on rotors. Why reduce the lifespan if you don't have to? The ones on my 89 Accord lasted over 300,000 miles.
The manager at my local Just Brakes was very forthcoming about the brake job on my '05 Sport Trac. I got lucky that after 55,000 miles, the pads were done, (rears were the worst, which seems weird) but the rotors were still smooth as glass. He recommended a pad swap, end of sentence.
Originally Posted By: WylieCoyote
The manager at my local Just Brakes was very forthcoming about the brake job on my '05 Sport Trac. I got lucky that after 55,000 miles, the pads were done, (rears were the worst, which seems weird) but the rotors were still smooth as glass. He recommended a pad swap, end of sentence.
Surely they measured the rotor thickness and not just whether or not the rotor was smooth?
The manager at my local Just Brakes was very forthcoming about the brake job on my '05 Sport Trac. I got lucky that after 55,000 miles, the pads were done, (rears were the worst, which seems weird) but the rotors were still smooth as glass. He recommended a pad swap, end of sentence.
Surely they measured the rotor thickness and not just whether or not the rotor was smooth?
If smooth, then file off the rusted edge, clean with carb cleaner and put on new pads. If slightly grooved, I would do a light cleanup cut and put new pads on. If heavy grooved or gouged then new rotors. Ed
I'm a couple weeks late but decided to share my contrarian experience.
I will turn rotors and drums if i'm able to stay within the factory recommended specifications for minimum/maximum dimensions. The factory sets those for a reason and I have to assume they know what they are doing mechanically - the level at which the brakes are still expected to work properly, but no further, probably plus a small safety margin. I don't think paranoia about the figures is necessary - we live in a country run by lawyers. They'd say "we do not recommend turning them ever" otherwise.
I find many O'Rielly's parts stores seem to have turning machines and charge $10 apiece from them - I can't get rotors or drums anywhere for any vehicle for that price. Or older smaller out of the way shops that have been there for decades.
"But they wont last as long" - entirely possible! Depends on the vehicle and how much you turned out of them, depends on the driving conditions that made you turn them in the first place and what the driving conditions will be after (intermittent or minimal use for awhile). Sometimes you just need to freshen a surface because you have plenty of pad or shoe left, but maybe the car sat for awhile (months) in the rain or snow. Maybe like me maybe just one of them is sticking and the other isn't and you'd rather salvage the one so you can replace everything in the future instead of one at a time. Even the pads can look a little gritty from rust yet turning the rotors/drums provides a fresh surface, and pads normally are the ones to wear notably faster and match the metal surface they bond to. (perhaps real hard racing ones wont)
That said if it's time to replace both i've got no problem replacing both at the same time - actually doing that the first time (if you bought the car used, or just seeing how long the factory brakes last) will give you an idea if the pads go faster than the braking surface or the other way around. If i've genuinely put alot of miles on I tend to just replace - if my reason is rough surfaces due to the car sitting I tend to turn all four corners if strong stopping doesn't clear the scrapey sounds and rust. (my recent Ford Taurus experience with pictures being about the worst rain-rust i've had to fix from a vehicle)
Also vehicles that get a "ridge" inside the brake drum can be turned preemptively to stop it from preventing the drum coming off later - if the surface is still good barely any will come off that surface, but you can carve down all the rusty [censored] halfway through the drum's life so that it wont stick at the end of it's life creating weeks long "stuck" scenarios like others i've posted about. I'm going to start doing this for everything I think from now on.
Hope this is useful to somebody.
I will turn rotors and drums if i'm able to stay within the factory recommended specifications for minimum/maximum dimensions. The factory sets those for a reason and I have to assume they know what they are doing mechanically - the level at which the brakes are still expected to work properly, but no further, probably plus a small safety margin. I don't think paranoia about the figures is necessary - we live in a country run by lawyers. They'd say "we do not recommend turning them ever" otherwise.
I find many O'Rielly's parts stores seem to have turning machines and charge $10 apiece from them - I can't get rotors or drums anywhere for any vehicle for that price. Or older smaller out of the way shops that have been there for decades.
"But they wont last as long" - entirely possible! Depends on the vehicle and how much you turned out of them, depends on the driving conditions that made you turn them in the first place and what the driving conditions will be after (intermittent or minimal use for awhile). Sometimes you just need to freshen a surface because you have plenty of pad or shoe left, but maybe the car sat for awhile (months) in the rain or snow. Maybe like me maybe just one of them is sticking and the other isn't and you'd rather salvage the one so you can replace everything in the future instead of one at a time. Even the pads can look a little gritty from rust yet turning the rotors/drums provides a fresh surface, and pads normally are the ones to wear notably faster and match the metal surface they bond to. (perhaps real hard racing ones wont)
That said if it's time to replace both i've got no problem replacing both at the same time - actually doing that the first time (if you bought the car used, or just seeing how long the factory brakes last) will give you an idea if the pads go faster than the braking surface or the other way around. If i've genuinely put alot of miles on I tend to just replace - if my reason is rough surfaces due to the car sitting I tend to turn all four corners if strong stopping doesn't clear the scrapey sounds and rust. (my recent Ford Taurus experience with pictures being about the worst rain-rust i've had to fix from a vehicle)
Also vehicles that get a "ridge" inside the brake drum can be turned preemptively to stop it from preventing the drum coming off later - if the surface is still good barely any will come off that surface, but you can carve down all the rusty [censored] halfway through the drum's life so that it wont stick at the end of it's life creating weeks long "stuck" scenarios like others i've posted about. I'm going to start doing this for everything I think from now on.
Hope this is useful to somebody.
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