Rotors: resurface or purchase new ones?
 

Sup Guys,

I own a 06 sedan with 35k miles. I notice when braking at high speeds my car steering wheel tends to shudders lightly almost pulsating. I believe it may be due to the front rotors and or brakes. I ordered some honda brake pads with the intention of getting my brake pads replaced, resurfacing the rotors and getting a wheel alignment which i also need. However my mechanic informed me that he cannot guarantee that resurfacing the rotors will eliminate the shudder/pulsating feel i get from the steering wheel when i brake at high speeds. So instead of taking the chance i figured i asked me fellow accord drivers whether they have had the same problem and had their rotors resurfaced and if that fixed the problem?

BTW, i did do a seach on both rotors and brakes but it wasnt yielding to much info on resurfaced rotors.

Thanks for your feedback.

On my 2003 the rotor minimum thickness is 21.0mm. If yours is a 4-cyl I bet it's the same. You can measure thickness & if there's enough material (>22mm??) then resurfacing should be OK. In any case, the minimum thickness should be stamped into the rotor somewhere.

What most people call "warped" rotors is usually not really warped. It's usually uneven friction properties around the surface of the rotor. Material from the brake pad gets imprinted into the surface of the rotor. It can get imprinted un-evenly, especially by clamping down on really hot brakes at a red light after a hard stop.

Prevent this by bedding-in the rotors like this:
Find someplace where you can do all this without being stupid in traffic.
1) Brake HARD from 30 to 10. DO NOT COMPLETELY STOP!
2) Drive around a few minutes & let them cool off.
3) Repeat 1 & 2 a few times.
4) Brake REAL REAL HARD from 50 to 10. DO NOT COMPLETELY STOP!
5) Drive around a few minutes (longer than step 2).
6) Repeat 4 & 5 a bunch of times.

For some reason I don't understand, the brakes seem to tolerate normal clamping in traffic better after you've done this.

Hi Jim
 

|Good answer to the question and also good description on how to do it..

See ya later, Good Morning by the way :)

WheelBrokerAng

Let's face it, unless you drive your Accord for what it was intended for, (family going to grocery store, etc), then the stock brakes really suck if you go any type of spirited driving like myself.

I have the same problem in my Accord, and that problem has been around since I bought the car. Pretty much the dealer told me that I will get the "vibration" with the type of braking I'm doing as the rotors and pads heat up too quickly. I've decided to just step up the whole game and get frozen rotors with Hawk pads. Had that set up on my BMW and they worked great, so that is what I'm going with. It's big bucks, but I rather have a piece of mind.

Cliffnotes: If you do any type of spirited driving, get performance pads and rotors. Resurfaced rotors are great for your everyday boring driver that doesn't know what the redline is, means, or how to get there! :)