Brake Work

Maintenance/Repairs
21

I never machine or de-glaze. I deliberately run softer pads, on the premise that I’d sooner replace pads more often, and rotors less often. I figure warpage/runout would be noticeable/objectionable before there was a safety issue…so pad slap and replace rotors if and only if pulsing noticed. About all I do is an acetone wipe to get my greasy fingerprints off before my shakedown run. Also, I don’t have my rotors cut…when I price it out, parts store rotors are only marginally more expensive, and much less work.

Just for kicks-n-grins, I measured thickness, and I have about 0.035" excess on both rotors…

Just to reiterate, in my experience, you'll get 20-30% better braking performance by replacing the rotors, even if they are not warped or damaged
Could you clarify? I have sufficient stopping power to lock wheels on dry pavement--so I don't understand a 20-30% stopping improvement, when the tire friction is the limiting factor.
22

Like I said just in my experience but I have no data, just seems like much better braking after replacing rotors too. Plus I heard this some time ago from a mechanic quoting a publication. So suit yourself. Like I said, now I don’t use up brakes very fast so I tend to just swap everything out. In the old days I’d be doing brakes every year and tended to stretch the parts more.

23

Both my brake jobs have been around the 80,000 mark. Last time the rotors were so rusted there was no option, but at 80000 I would still figure it is time to replace the rotors.