My experience has been just the opposite. My rears were shot at 35k miles, fronts still look good. '06 Z here.

 

I need to change my rears. Last time I had my car up, I couldn't remove the bolts from the rear calipers. They're difficult to take off because you've got your camber rod in the way. Any suggestions?

 

Figured it out, for the rears I only had to take off the top bolt and the caliper stays on with the other bolt. My pads were shot!

 

43k miles and I have yet to change my brake pads. Checked how much was left in the front and surprisingly had about half left. Maybe I don't do a whole lot of braking

 

Just changed the pads myself. Took 3 hours total since I had one stuck bolt.
Over all this was super easy.

My brake pads looked like they had more the 75% of the padding left when I compared to the Hawk pads I got. It was no wear close to the wear indicator. The reason I changed it was that when I was getting my oil changed the stupid tech said I had less then 5% left on my brakes and wanted me to change it right now. Total cost would be $450! I told him I would come back but never did. Saved myself $300.

 

Just coming back from the dealership. I asked them about replacing the pads since I'm going to my first track event soon. They said that you shoudn't just replace the pads without working on the rotors. He said they had to be polished and "worked on" or whatever. Is he full of sh** or is he right and you really shouldn't just change the pads without touching anything else.

I was thinking of putting Hawk HP+ for the track event and changing back to OM after. I have the OEM rotors on

Thanks for info

 

I believe you have to change your rotors only when it is too thin, uneven wear, or if there is any damage to them. From what I have researched it is new rotors every brake pad changes if you don't meet the criteria above but there are plenty of factors that can change this. I left my oem rotors and was going to change them the next time I do my brakes. It was only 2 extra bolts to get them off.

 

my case is the opposite, weird huh?
I replaced my front pads like 2 weeks before getting the rear pads.
And the rear pads go out way before the front now. I just had to change them yesterday.

 

Hi guys, im going to change my brake pads soon (31k atm) and have a question:

I heard that a thin layer of rotors have to be removed so it won't wear out the new brake pads. How do i go about doing that?

Also, what size c-clamps should i buy?

 

If you're going to be using the same rotors I've heard a few schools to it. 1: Take the rotors to a garage to get "turned" or ground by a machine which removes a small layer of metal so the rotors are completely uniform. I've heard some techs will remove too much rotor and that will affect the rest of it's life. 2: Remove the rotor and sand it down with course grit sandpaper to remove the layer left by the previous pad. This will allow the new pad to apply it's own green layer as it matches the surface of the rotor. This is assuming you still have the proper rotor thickness which you'll have to measure with a micrometer.

What I did was maybe wasteful, but I just changed all 4 rotors at 35k miles. 2 years later my pads aren't even halfway so I'm glad I changed to new rotors. Machining the rotor may cost almost as much as new rotors, plus the time and effort to bring them to a shop and back. If I was intent on reusing my rotors I'd at least sand them down. If are using the exact same pad compound maybe you could get away with just changing the pads and leaving the rotors as is.

 

wow there's a lot to it than a simple brake change...

how long do rotors last? i mean, how do i know when it's time to replace the rotors?

i plan to use the identical OEM brake pads..

how many of you just replaced the pad without turning your rotors? and how's it holding up till this day?

 

you need to pick up a micrometer to measure. How many miles are on your car. Has it seen a track/harsh driving and braking??

http://www.amazon.com/Central-Tools-.../dp/B000P6UOJQ

 

The BEST way is to use a Flex-Hone in an electric drill motor like the pros do.



This will: 1) Remove the old pad transfer layer, 2) Removes surface irregularities that are often a prime source of noise complaints, and 3) Leaves a circular-style cross-hatch pattern that helps with breaking in the new pads.

If you don't want to order one of those, use Scotch-Brite and a ton of elbow grease. Do NOT use sandpaper as it is impossible to keep the surface of the rotor flat when removing iron by hand. Neither the Flex-Hone nor Scotch-Brite remove iron.

Chris

 

i can't tell if my rotors needs replacing just by touching it or visual inspection?

My car has about 31k, never tracked but about 2 times spirited canyon runs... Otherwise, i use my brake very conservatively... Half city half highway miles.

 

Minimum thickness is one determining factor. The service limit is stamped on the rotor. The other is surface roughness. If there is more than .005 or .006" in depth, they should be lightly turned for cleanup (if there is material available). However, the best practice is to replace them as turning removes iron and lowers the effective heat capacity.

Chris

 

what size clamp did you guys use? 4", 6", 8" etc?

would this 6" clamp work?

 

I've used 6" C-clamps for any brake job I've ever done with sliding calipers. I would bet a larger one would be needed for 3/4 and 1-ton trucks, but 6" is all you need for these cars. Just remember to hook up your bleed hose and bottle to the caliper, just crack open the bleed screw, and then drive the piston back (with the caliper still on the car and old pads in place). This will expel the old fluid out of the system and not push crap back up toward the master cylinder.

Chris

 

what a great DIY.

 

Are the small metal plates the shims that you're talking about? So if my new pads don't come with new shims, i can re-use the old ones?

Also, when i use brake cleaner, is there anything i can't touch the braker cleaner with? I plan to use brake cleaner on caliper, piston, and rotors. As far as i know, the only thing i can't touch with the brake cleaners is the brake pads right?

Here's a picture of front and rear brakes. Is that metal backing plate on the rear brakes the shims?

 

^^^^ can anyone help me answer?