How often do you swap out your brake rotors when doing pads?

[Jdcline54]

There are still shops out there that resurface rotors. Giving them a fresh new surface without the high cost. If you want to try and go ultra cheap, try hitting up the shop at the local college. They will sometime do work for you at a minimum cost.

I have resurface the rotors on my 03 exp and it worked perfectly. It all really depends on the discard thickness specified by the manufacturer. And if your rotors have been over heated and warped tou will still need to replace them.

Also, always remember to break in new pads by coming to a gentle stop from 20mph about 6-7 times with no less than 30 seconds between stops. Burnishing pads will increase life and effectiveness of new brake pads

 

[TobyU]

There are still shops out there that resurface rotors. Giving them a fresh new surface without the high cost. If you want to try and go ultra cheap, try hitting up the shop at the local college. They will sometime do work for you at a minimum cost.

I have resurface the rotors on my 03 exp and it worked perfectly. It all really depends on the discard thickness specified by the manufacturer. And if your rotors have been over heated and warped tou will still need to replace them.

Also, always remember to break in new pads by coming to a gentle stop from 20mph about 6-7 times with no less than 30 seconds between stops. Burnishing pads will increase life and effectiveness of new brake pads

You will find different recommendations for manufacturers now about burnishing or seating in new pads. Some will tell you to do like you mention with several moderate but not full Panic stops and others will tell you to do nothing. I have not found it makes any difference.

 

[07navi]

I say do nothing to seat new pads into rotors. So many myths out there and it's hard to keep from laughing sometimes. Another thing I noticed is that novices are always overly cautious about everything to the point of spending more time and money needlessly, and then there are the torque happy ones.

 

[Machete]

Rather than listening to someone’s self prescribed expert opinion on bedding pads, follow manufacturers recommendations.

 

[07navi]

Rather than listening to someone’s self prescribed expert opinion on bedding pads, follow manufacturers recommendations.

And he's back with the machete...…….

 

[Fasttimes]

Started to do my rear pad replacement found I had more meat on the pads then I thought and decided to let them ride a bit more. What I don't understand is when I got the pads out I noticed that the inside pad looked like it had 80% left and the outer had 40%. Any ideas there?

 

[bobmbx]

Started to do my rear pad replacement found I had more meat on the pads then I thought and decided to let them ride a bit more. What I don't understand is when I got the pads out I noticed that the inside pad looked like it had 80% left and the outer had 40%. Any ideas there?

The caliper isn't sliding as designed. Pull the slide pins....clean the pins and the bore and lube. May as well replace the brake fluid while you're at it.

 

[TobyU]

The caliper isn't sliding as designed. Pull the slide pins....clean the pins and the bore and lube. May as well replace the brake fluid while you're at it.

You could replace the brake fluid but there's no reason to disturb the hydraulic system to clean d caliper pins Etc.
No reason why you can't have someone pump the pedal and flush some fresher fluid through t that caliber through But some people don't like to mess with the hydraulic system unless they have to.
Rear pins do seem to stick even worse than front ones.
Probably because rear pads last longer and the calipers don't get removed as often as the front so they sit in the same place for longer periods of time.

 

[07navi]

Clean and lube all your slide pins and flush all your fluid, they make little pumps for that...….easy. Most won't agree but I never turn my rotors and wait until I hear the first sign of metal to metal and I already have new pads in advance to throw in. The truck I sold yesterday had over 200k miles with original rotors, cleaned and lubed slide pins, and flushed brake fluid. Zero problems with those brakes in 12 years

 

[TobyU]

Clean and lube all your slide pins and flush all your fluid, they make little pumps for that...….easy. Most won't agree but I never turn my rotors and wait until I hear the first sign of metal to metal and I already have new pads in advance to throw in. The truck I sold yesterday had over 200k miles with original rotors, cleaned and lubed slide pins, and flushed brake fluid. Zero problems with those brakes in 12 years

Ideally, my pass will have some sort of built-in chirpers which not all do... And once they start chirping I will know I don't have much time left to replace them until a a pad backing plate hits the rotor. But if one does hit the rotor slightly and you take it straight home it's not too big of a deal.
I don't like using the vacuum pumps at all.
I would be okay with the speed bleeder idea but I haven't actually use them either.
I always have someone pump the brakes.
I rarely even bleed them when I replace pads but I will sometimes open the bleeder screw and pump the fluid that's in the caliper out when I press in the piston.
I just had a set on a very large Town Car but I could feel we're getting thin when I push the pedal. There was a slight little bit of pulsation because the rotors were quite old and had some miles on them but more than anything I could just feel a roughness from the thin pads. When I took them off, sure enough, they were down to awfully thin to where in few more days they would have probably been cracking and sliding off the backing plates.