I've recently changed my rotors and I have a set of Gransport GS6 pads with a lot of life left in them. They were on my OEM rotors and I was pretty happy with their braking action. I have new pads in my kit but would like to use the gransports so as not to waste them. Can anyone tell me if I can or if I can't tell me why?

I read a huge thread on brake upgrades but couldn't find an answer...

 

You heard wrong. It's actually preferable to break in new pads on used rotors (if they have been used with the same pad compound) and new rotors on used pads.

Part of the pad material gets deposited onto the hot rotor. This process can go wrong. It is most likely to go wrong with new pads or new rotors. So it is preferable to not use new pads AND new rotors, because there's an even better chance that the pad deposition will be messed up.

An exception may be if you plan to change pad compounds. Some pad compounds don't play nice with others. So if you plan on switching pads anyway, you avoid the risk of incompatible pad compounds if you use the new compound on new rotors.

 

I'll take this as permission to put them back on, unless someone has a dissenting opinion...

 

what happens if something goes wrong in all of this? poor brakes?

Iv been wanting to get new pads/rotors but how do I make the switch since I want to switch from oem to a different pad, and buy new rotors?

 

Vibration under braking is the main symptom. The pads grab better in some spots on the rotor than others, so you get a judder.

It usually goes away with time, but it can sometimes make the rotors unusable.

My advice if you want to switch compounds and don't need new rotors is to go ahead and change the pads. If there is a brake shudder that won't go away after a short break-in period, then change to new rotors. Since the alternative is to just change to new rotors anyway, you haven't really lost much by trying. (This assumes you do your own labor, which I recommend for this job.)

If you want to switch to both different pads and different rotors, then just switch both at once and be careful to follow the break-in (aka "bedding") instructions.