My 2002 has around 29k miles and the front brakes have finally started squealing in the last week or so. I'm about to order a new set of OEM pads from hardtopguy and change them out myself.

My question is about the rotors. I've never been a fan of 'turning' rotors and removing material on any car, and I think the rotors are fine on my car. The brakes are smooth as can be, and have been from day one. Is it ok for me to just slap some new pads on there and call it a day? I know a lot of you track guys swap pads regularly, but curious what you think for a daily driver.

 

Oh, one more question, when I order "front brake pads" from hardtopguy for $45, that's a full set, right? There's no description given, but I assume QTY: 1 gets me pads for both sides, and I don't need 2?

 

never bought oem but i bought hawks hps full set (front and rear) for 140. that is about 70 for the fronts, seems right. and damn 29K miles on a MY02, damn it i have almost 40K on my MY06. well i also had to change my rotors too. also you are goin to need a special tool to compress the brakes to get the out.

 

Turning rotors IMHO is a huge waste of money compared to just buying new decent rotors. The one exception being some of the better race compound pad transfer issue that can be cleared up with just a light cut.

I look at a rotor and replace if there is a discernable lip on the outer edge of the disk. If it is worn smoothly and there is a dip at the hub side, but it is within spec, I just reuse them with street pads.

 

My front pads are shot at 24k miles. Squeeks so bad now

 

I strongly recommend on cutting your rotors because new pads and a unfinished rotor is a bad combination because smooth pads wont engage proper and will be worse than before. If you get new pads then cut the rotors too.

Good luck

 

^ i agree. just take you rotors off yourself and take them to a place that will machine them. it shouldnt be any more than 15 bucks a piece. and it will save you money, time, a poor performance shortly down the road

 

IMO dealer prices sometimes are not that bad on brake servicing. I called 3 local dealers and got quotes of $249-$199.

For $199, they took the calipers apart, lubed the pins and cleaned everything. Replaced the OEM front pads and lightly resurfaced the rotors. Done in less than an hour. To me, it was worth the $199.

I also questioned the need to resurface the rotors and decided to go with their recommendation to do it. There were very fine grooves you could feel with a fingernail, and a very slight lip on the edge. After, it was absolutely glass smooth with no lip. If the rotors are not warped (of course turning is pointless then, just replace) the tech said the OEM rotors can usually go through 2-3 sets of OEM pads with resurfacing at every change before they get too thin.

I absolutely believe resurfacing helped as the ABS kicked in much easier after the brake job.

 

Meh...you can hit them with a bit of sand paper to scuff the rotors up if they aren't warped or don't have grooves.

 

as long as there isnt any grooves in the rotor u"ll be fine, everytime i slapped pads on my rotors are got 50k miles from each brake job.