Should you replace rotors with every break job

[Octane]

What is a "break job"?

Thats what a mechanic does when he screws up your repair?

 

[indept]

What is a "break job"?

That's a job where you get paid to drink coffee of course...

 

[GRN69CHV]

When we do replace rotors it’s usually due to rust/corrosion,pitting, hot spots, or grooves. Not to many because they’re under min spec. Most rotors, especially truck rotors have tons of meat on them and can be machined at least a few times before getting anywhere near min spec.

When you start getting into trucks, especially HD and duallies, rotors can cost quite a lot. That’s when it makes sense to machine.

Good caveat to the general discussion. On a 1500 (talking doing your own brake job at home and not having a brake lathe, and using standard OEM style rotors ) it's just more effective to replace the rotors.

 

[Murphy Slaw]

I've never changed, or had changed, or had rotors "turned".

I always just put new pads on and called it a day. Never had an issue.

My wife's Patriot pads were about gone last year at 96,000 miles.

I would think pads wearing out at 40/50 K quite premature. My 2016 is at 47,000, haven't even thought about brakes until seeing this thread.

 

[Sherman Bird]

There are different philosophies about your question regarding rotor replacement. I'll share with you my little bit of insight, influenced by one of my old customers who is a metallurgy engineer. New rotors are ****** casting. The metallurgy of the rotor hasn't begun to delineate. Over time, the "grain" or molecular structure degrades as temp cycles begin to add up. Turning, pad slapping, or deglazing a rotor fails to address this fact of life. When a brake job is done with new rotors, and the proper bedding in of the pads is done, there is generally a better modulation of the brakes, and less tendency to fade under high stress braking, such as a panic stop.

Since I do so many brake jobs per year in my automotive repair business, I can say that the long term integrity of the brake job is much better with new rotors as opposed to other options. e.g. Less pulsation issues, less squealing, in short: Fewer comebacks and performance complaints. I hope this helps!

 

[Andrew Alvarez]

Depends on the condition of the rotors. If they are fine, why would you replace them? Seems like a waste of money. Now if they are damaged or badly grooved, then definitely, replacing them makes more sense. Why would you replace them unless you are upgrading?

 

[mtwofeathers]

Approaching 40k miles and I suppose I should consider changing the pads, I’ve heard mixed opinions saying resurfacing isn’t ideal and you should just replace to Rotors and start from scratch with a fresh set of pads, what would you do?

I have found that even new rotors will have imperfections in them. I'm on my second set of rotors at 215,000.

As far as I have been able to find out, You can no longer buy aftermarket Brake Rotors or Drums Made In USA. Even if it says made in the USA they are getting slugs from china and machining them here.

In knowing that, even buying rotors can cause issues. I put the new ones I purchased a long time ago on my lather and true to form there was run out on both, not much mind you but being a perfectionist I trued them up anyway

 

[Mikes578514]

Hey it’s your money, but it the old days the rotors would (should) have been turned/trued now a days rotors are lightened for federal fuel economy reasons. Hence the recommendation to change rotors & pads sat the same time. Rotors will glaze over or warp making the marriage between the pads & rotors a sometimes difficult one.

but again it’s your choice

Mike

Approaching 40k miles and I suppose I should consider changing the pads, I’ve heard mixed opinions saying resurfacing isn’t ideal and you should just replace to Rotors and start from scratch with a fresh set of pads, what would you do?

 

[62Blazer]

The above post is a good point about quality of new rotors. I'm always hesitant to get "new" rotors at a parts store because of questionable quality....as mentioned before I don't change rotors often but have had a few cases of "new" rotors having pulsations or other issues.

I will also say that while I don't have my rotors turned and don't replace them if nothing is obvious wrong, it's probably not a bad idea to have them lightly turned or trued up when doing pads. The key is finding a shop who can do this and not some kid 3 months out of high school that slaps rotors on the lathe and grinds them down. Not on my car, but I have seen inexperienced mechanics get the rotor setup off center and basically machine a pulsation into a set of rotors before.

 

[Tach_tech]

Hey it’s your money, but it the old days the rotors would (should) have been turned/trued now a days rotors are lightened for federal fuel economy reasons. Hence the recommendation to change rotors & pads sat the same time. Rotors will glaze over or warp making the marriage between the pads & rotors a sometimes difficult one.

but again it’s your choice

Mike

I always hear people say rotors are made so thin there’s no room to machine them but honestly I’ve never found that to be the case. For example a 1500 rotor starts at about 28mm, minimum spec is 26.4mm. So you’ve got 1.4mm to play with which works out to about 60 thou total that can be machined before it’s junk. So even if you did a bigger cut at 4-5 thou per side. You could still do that 5 more times before it’s at minimum spec.

I completely understand replacing rotors if it’s cheaper than machining, but a lot of the times the rotors that are that cheap are questionable quality. Either way lots of ways to skin a cat. Replace or machine don’t really matter, as long as it’s done correctly.

 

[Cmsharp]

I’ve always replaced rotors with pads. Price is close to the same if paying a shop to resurface them.

 

[RamalamaDave]

I'm very new to the world of Ram Trucks but I can't imagine that you would need to do a brake job at this low mileage unless you are very hard on your brakes. My last truck was a Chevy Avalanche. I never had to do a brake job on that vehicle and when I sold it, it had 147k on it and still had some thickness on the brake pads. Half of the mileage was freeway miles though. Are Ram trucks less formidable in the brakes department? Do they not last that long? I did once own a Ford Ranger that needed new brakes every 40K.

 

[John KIOhio]

I put Power Stops drilled and slotted all the way around at 43K on my 16 Megacab SRW. Best brakes I ever had. These 3500's rear brakes start making noise around 18K. This one will too. I will plan all doing all brakes early this time I like the PowerStops so much. I tow and even stabbing the brakes on the highway when someone cuts you off, the PowerStops never overheated.

 

[jr27236]

Heres the real deal about rotors
1. YES they warp / glaze or otherwise come out of true.
2. YES they can be machined/resurfaced

Now as for people saying you can ONLY replace well your wrong. Thr reason prople state that, in this thread or mechanic shop is because of what was stated earlier..CHINESEIUM. So you take you better quality rotors and toss them and put on a pair of garbage, but that garbage was affordale. Thats the game we were driven into playing.
Rotors warp from the hat because some einstein just cranked the lug nuts unevenly or it can be ccaused by excessive heat. BUT YES they can be resurfaced multiple times (till minimum thickness determined by a simple caliper), maybe you younger guys dont know this because you live in a disposable world. Plus shops have gotten rid of their lathes because they make more money selling you a new set of garbage. SO to the OP keep your oem's if they are not chattering or pulsating (both of which can also be caused by a stuck caliper slide pin) leave them alone and spend your money on something else.

 

[jr27236]

I put Power Stops drilled and slotted all the way around at 43K on my 16 Megacab SRW. Best brakes I ever had. These 3500's rear brakes start making noise around 18K. This one will too. I will plan all doing all brakes early this time I like the PowerStops so much. I tow and even stabbing the brakes on the highway when someone cuts you off, the PowerStops never overheated.

When are you ever gonna over heat brakes on a 3500 unless your dragging them down from MT Everest. And if you do towing then it must be a brakeless trailer or the trailer isn't set to brake correctly

 

[Octane]

I'm very new to the world of Ram Trucks but I can't imagine that you would need to do a brake job at this low mileage unless you are very hard on your brakes. My last truck was a Chevy Avalanche. I never had to do a brake job on that vehicle and when I sold it, it had 147k on it and still had some thickness on the brake pads. Half of the mileage was freeway miles though. Are Ram trucks less formidable in the brakes department? Do they not last that long? I did once own a Ford Ranger that needed new brakes every 40K.

I have a 77 chevy 4x4 with 145k on it with original rotors and brake drums and they are still within spec.I never buy pads or shoes that are supposed to last high miles as to me that means that they are hard and are going to wear the rotors away faster.So a softer pad is the way to go.I rather replace many sets of pads than replace highr dollar brake parts

 

[Supercoupe1]

The original brakes and rotors on my 2012 Ram 1500 were amazing. I towed a trailer and commuted in heavy traffic in the DC-NY areas. The first time I had to replace the brake pads was at 108,000 miles. The original rotors were still good and are still on the truck today with 191,000 miles.

 

[John KIOhio]

When are you ever gonna over heat brakes on a 3500 unless your dragging them down from MT Everest. And if you do towing then it must be a brakeless trailer or the trailer isn't set to brake correctly

Highway speeds towing 9K pounds and someone cuts you off on highway. You know, the people that cut off truck drivers cut us off too. That is exactly how it happened.I have driven across this country more times than many people have probably driven to their work. I am not new to towing.

 

[Cwils80]

Bought my truck with 30k miles on it. About 5k miles later replaced oem front pads and rotors for peace of mind. About 500 miles later had to replace the rear pads. I just bought the power stop pads and took them to the shop and for $100 they re surfaced the rear rotors and replaced pads. Not bad in my opinion.

From having both done. UNLESS rotors are warped I would say just get them resurfaced. They will say if they're safe or not and it's like 10x less expensive... And of you have a second car (wife's in my case) you can just take the rotors themselves to budget brakes and they'll do it for it $20 or so.

 

[DKRGoods]

Look at how you drive. Stock rotors and pads are good. You can usually just change the pads and move on the first or even second time without touching the rotors. But.... why not look at an upgrade? Brakes are something you don't skimp on and there are some great upgrades for a few bucks more than stock. If you're keeping her/truck a long time, I'd really consider an upgrade that matches your driving style. Just do yourself a favor, don't put on cheap pads if your going that way. Keep the quality. Your life and everyone around you will thank you.