FAQ: Brake Rotors and Pads

AA,

I did all my brake and suspension upgrade at the same time so there was a huge difference in braking but I don't know how much the Brembo's contributed by themselves.

I also use Hawk pads with great success. I only have 10-15k on my setup but have seen little to no wear on either the pads or rotors.

One of the reasons I put alot of money into the suspensin and braking is that I want to take it on the auto cross track this summer. My cousin races in several SCCA events and he is my way in. Nothing competitive just want to see what it can do on open track days.

I used a set of Hawk ceramics. Not bad, but they made noise sometimes. I got about 30k out of them, which I thought was premature, but I liked how well they stopped the car:

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/suspension-handling-f6/hawk-ceramic-pads--t1054.htm

To me, noise is a huge issue. I'd rather have the quietest pad than the cleanest, or the best performing.

I'm not planning to race the car in autocross, but it would be nice to not have to worry about judder during stops from 80-90 mph. I'd blame the pads, but this didn't always happen, and seems to get progressively worse over time.

high performance scratches????

i changed these 8 months ago with ceramic pads .. WISH I DID ROTORS than too

sorry to see that. summit racing has rotors on sale 39 bucks

Yep, and your pads will look like this:



You must've been doing some heavy braking. Doesn't it sound cool?

Please tell us-did you disassemble, clean and lube the calipers when you changed pads? Did you lube the pad guides? Did you replace the stainless shims with the ones that (shoulda) came wth the new pads? Did you check caliper hardware (might not be obvious how the pins come out or how to get the rubber boots they slide into out of the calipers)

Depending on your answers I think I can tell you what happened.

Albertj

AA wrote:

You must've been doing some heavy braking. Doesn't it sound cool?

did you REALLY think that it sounded cool??

I only say that because I've done the same thing. I went a bit longer than 8 months, though.

Please tell us-did you disassemble, clean and lube the calipers when you changed pads?
i guess i used caliper cleaner...... and brake cleaner!

Did you lube the pad guides?
NO

Did you replace the stainless shims with the ones that (shoulda) came wth the new pads? YES.............

Did you check caliper hardware (might not be obvious how the pins come out or how to get the rubber boots they slide into out of the calipers) yup

Depending on your answers I think I can tell you what happened.
i hope so

AA wrote:

I only say that because I've done the same thing. I went a bit longer than 8 months, though.

im thinking its just that fact that the rotors are just really CRAPPY and killed my new pads sounds like a train trying to stop!

palermocorey90 wrote:

sorry to see that. summit racing has rotors on sale 39 bucks

checkers 27.99
autozone 28.56
napa 43.49

You may want to look into some good rotors. That's what I'm doing. Tired of buying new ones every 35k.

summit racing has drilled and slotted rotors starting at 39 bucks

Now that I have seen your answers I think I know what happened.

Short answer is the calipers stuck such that the scraping brake pad was held against the rotor, and the nonscraping pad held away from the rotor, so as to wear out unevenly. I bet the wheels pulled to one side a bit when you braked, too.. Due to caliper being stuck, the amount of stopping done by the non-worn pad was minimal.

1) Caliper cleaner and brake cleaner get enough of the surface dirt off so you can work. You then really have to remove, disassemble and clean the calipers. You will need I think a 17 mm socket for the caliper bolts. They should have yellow loc-tite on them so they should not be that easy to remove.You may need a breaker bar, and you *will* need a torque wrench to reassemble.

Before you remove the calipers, you may want to loosen (not remove) the caliper pins - that way it will be easier to disassemble the calipers to lube them.

You might save hassle by getting remanufactured calipers. You *must* keep your mounting brackets, as in my experience the ones with have the wrong brackets anyway. If you get reman calipers you probly ought to disassemble them anyway (I would leave the piston pucks alone) and make sure they are lubed right.

Do you need instructions on rrbuilding calipers and what not?

Albertj

albertj wrote:

Now that I have seen your answers I think I know what happened.

Short answer is the calipers stuck such that the scraping brake pad was held against the rotor, and the nonscraping pad held away from the rotor, so as to wear out unevenly. I bet the wheels pulled to one side a bit when you braked, too.. Due to caliper being stuck, the amount of stopping done by the non-worn pad was minimal.

if your talking about the pads shown those are AA's after a brake job

albertj wrote:

1) Caliper cleaner and brake cleaner get enough of the surface dirt off so you can work. You then really have to remove, disassemble and clean the calipers. You will need I think a 17 mm socket for the caliper bolts. They should have yellow loc-tite on them so they should not be that easy to remove.You may need a breaker bar, and you *will* need a torque wrench to reassemble.

Before you remove the calipers, you may want to loosen (not remove) the caliper pins - that way it will be easier to disassemble the calipers to lube them.

You might save hassle by getting remanufactured calipers. You *must* keep your mounting brackets, as in my experience the ones with have the wrong brackets anyway. If you get reman calipers you probly ought to disassemble them anyway (I would leave the piston pucks alone) and make sure they are lubed right.

Do you need instructions on rrbuilding calipers and what not?

Albertj

im just going to replace the rotors and pads.... i can do a brake job!... haha thats what i do in school

98riviera98 wrote:

im just going to replace the rotors and pads.... i can do a brake job!... haha thats what i do in school

i wont say it. its my gross humor. but a brake job isnt to hard. you should paint ur calipers when ur doing it

palermocorey90 wrote:

98riviera98 wrote:

im just going to replace the rotors and pads.... i can do a brake job!... haha thats what i do in school

i wont say it. its my gross humor. but a brake job isnt to hard. you should paint ur calipers when ur doing it

haha i can sense your HUMOR.......... lol i did a speech on how to do a BJ (brake job) they are painted!!!!!!!!!!!!! but peeling......... gotta repaint..

those little stress cracks are from heat.... mor common though in a drilled rotor....

TType_Riviera wrote:

those little stress cracks are from heat.... mor common though in a drilled rotor....

not trying to argue but wont the drilled holes get rid of the heat

drilled rotors may disipate some heat but there drilled mainly for the gasses the pad create during braking...the holes alllow for the gasses to escape..... its more common in drilled rotors for those cracks to gather around the holes...

if your worried about heat get a carbon pad....with a drilled or slotted rotor...the more heat the better!! i use the hawk ferro carbon compund... with a good set of drilled powerstops....

Rob, what's the noise level on your set-up?

honestly ive never heard any noise.... except the rears when there cold but thats for a split second after its sat all night...

follow the required burnishing procedure in they should work great..

LINK

those are the rotors im buying.

congrats they look nice

those REAR rotors are a bear to get off........... but i have everything off and cant go any further until i have the rotors......... i will take pics of the rotors and painted calipers