I am aboutto replace my front rotors.

Last summer I replaced the pads. They've got maybe 2,000 miles on them, and they still look like new.

I know thatit isrecommended to replace pads when replacing rotors, butdo you thinkit's really necessary in this case? (You know what I want to hear.)

Will I warp the new rotors if I leave the oldpads in justtotest if they're going to be OK?

Thanks for any advice.

 

it won't warp them... (it shouldn't anyway).... the biggest risk you run is that if the pads are grooved at all from the old rotors then you have the possibility of grooving the new rotors.... Personally I've always known that you should do rotors/pads at the same time but I seldom have the funds to do so.... As long as the pads look thick/smooth and in good condition I'd just re-use them.... just my opinion though....

 

Look at them & check for grooves. If so, try cleaning them up by sanding.

Seems like the biggest thing for 'warping' the new rotors is breaking them in, regardless of whether you use new pads.

 

nasty, thanks for the advice.

Can you recommend a decent brand rotor? As you may know by now, I don'tneed anything fancy or high performance - just a reliable replacement forthe Honda original, but without the Honda price.

 

I'm not sure on pricing but I think just a basic set of brembo's or Hawk shouldn't be to spendy and are good ones.....

 

Thanks, Jim.

Frankly, because there are no grooves on the rotors, I doubt if thereareany grooves on the pads, but I'll be sure to examine them closely for that, anyway. Should I find some, I have a nice set of wide furniture scrapers that I know willremove any groovesin a jiffy.

How do you properly break in brake rotors?

 

First you gotta understand that 'warped' rotors are usually not physically warped. Material from the pads gets unevenly imprinted onto the rotors, so their friction is non-uniform around the surface of the rotor.

This uneven imprinting happens more easily before the rotors get glazed by the pads. If you come to a complete stop, the rotor cools unevenly in the area that's covered by the pads.

So...
Find someplace/sometime where you can do this without being stupid & dangerous in traffic.
Test drive the brakes to see whether they pull or anything.
Brake HARD from 50 to 10but don't stop.
Drive a few minutes to let them cool.
Brake HARD again several times, cooling them inbetween.

 

So, if I understand you correctly,you're trying to get that glazed surface on the rotors as quickly as possible, right?

That sounds reasonable, so I'll do it.

How many stops in totaltodo the job properly? Should the rotors be shiny after this?

 

No, it'll take awhile before they get glazed. You're more interested intransferring pad material uniformly when the rotor surface is fresh. That transfer of pad material isn't easy to see.

If traffic forces you to stop completely & clamp down on a non-spinning rotor, that makes it worse. So if you can't get away from traffic, then switch off the testosterone & hang back so you don't have to stop.

Keeping it uniform as the pads & rotors wear down seems to be easier if you get iteven at the beginning.

 

Sounds very good.
Thanks.