Is It Better To Replace Brake Rotors, or Just Pads 

they want to replace your good rotors so they can put them in someone elses car. "pad slap it" I love that term.

Food for thought, When I worked on Mercedes back in the 90's and early 2000s we pad slapped the cars and replaced rotors if they were below the service min. There were a few warranty concerns we resurfaced a rotor for. In 13 years I never resurfaced a Mercedes Rotor. With Nissan we Resurface or Replace Rotors with every brake job using the Pro Cut on the car rotor lathe. Sucky thing about it they give us techs only 1.6 hrs to replace pads and resurface.

I understand what u say. I still will change all 4 brakes and put on new rotors homie. I want it brand new for a smooth ride.

Replaced my Passat's rotors back in 2007-2008 with a set of Brembo rotors. So far, excellent durability and brake stability. 60,000 miles later and they don't show any sign of resurfacing issues. Back then I had the opportunity to work one race weekend (Phoenix, AZ) with then Indicar Dale Coyne Racing team (2007) and after a Friday session the guys were talking about some braking issues in both cars. Before leaving the pitbox that night I asked the chief mechanic how they solved the issue and told me it was a matter of bed in. We chatted around 5 minutes and gave me some helpful advice about brakes for road cars, bed-in process, heat, materials and braking force. I have applied that info on every family car with great success, but those brembo rotors have excelled!

Good advice sir. The information you just diseminated is inline with not being a hack and honest.

There is minimum thickness recommended by the manufacturer. The rotors in my Cc are 25mm when new and 22mm is the minimum. There is a special caliper to measure this. Mine are at 23mm afther 240000km, second set of pads changed at about 180000km. Brakes are exactly as good as in my newish Golf Variant . Of course it takes more than thickness to give a rotor for good.

I just replaced my rear pads about a week ago on my MK6 GTI with ~80K. I went with StopTech street pads, and so far I absolutely love them. I did NOT resurface my rotors (I would have liked to) b/c they looked good and no lip or glazing on them. I did however bed the pads to the rotor immediately after installing (35 mph to ~5 under medium braking about 6 times and then 45 mph to ~5 mph under heavy braking (with no ABS interference) two or three times). Do Techs normally bed the pads for the customer, or is it something you tell your customers to do as soon as you return the car to them with some fresh pads?

Great question and video. It's nice that you kept it under 3 minutes, because some of your videos are lengthy and slightly verbose (which have their place, no doubt), keep them coming no matter what. Prost!

What would be your recommendation for a first mk4 golf? Best engine, most reliable etc?

Question for Charles , I have a question as a vw tech. Do u do your damage report before u get in the car or do u move car in a better light then mark all damage and scratches??? Many thanks Edwin

Just did front brake lines on my 1996 F-150. Did lines, hoses, as well as calipers and pads as the bleeders were frozen and new calipers were under 40 bucks each at Advance. I didn't replace the rotors as they are also the hub and wheel bearing assy (2WD and uses tapered roller bearings) and were plenty thick and not warped. Next front brake job I'll replace the pads, rotors, bearings and seals.

My GTI sat for a while as it needed a rebuilt transmission. While sitting, the rotors got pretty nasty. The pads are still pretty beefy, but now they don’t sweep the whole rotor and I have a good (in a bad way) amount of pulsing as I come to a stop. If I get the rotors resurfaced, should I replaced the pads as well? Or can the pads be resurface, and if so, how?

Also depends on what part of the country you are from. Here in the rust belt 95% of rotors are rusty and pitted and can’t be machined even if you would want to. I replace a lot of pads because the rotors rust out on the back side and prematurely wear the pad.

hi i have a 1991 golf mark one and want it to last a long time. The thing is it has a high milage motor (for my country standards) so i whant to only drive it on sunny days or in the summer. can i store the car some where for a long time on end say 8 monts with no problem or do i have to do sertain things for that car

Do I need to change my brake pads when I change my rotors my pads still look like new they are hawk pads?The only reason I’m changing my rotors is when my driver side heat up it sounds like it’s metal to metal and it’s not I just put brand new rotors and brakes on my car about a year ago do you have any suggestions or reasons why this might be happening I have a 2013 Chevy Cruz

Hey acura dealership recommended for my 2017 Acura ILX to replace brake pads and resurface the rotors. M I just fine the replacing brake pads or I have to get new rotors as well?

I can never find a place to resurface for me. It seems that the rotors are always "too thin for spec". I almost always change the rotors when I do brakes. Great Video +humblemechanic

Great video. If there's metal on metal would there be a deep groove?

I tend to give the customer the option to machine " if possible" or replace rotors. But I personally to me I would replace the rotors. I've seen comebacks so many times with other techs. But that's me , like you said the choice is up to the customer.

Can you do a full brake change video? That would be awesome

Good points, I tend to "pad slap" on my cars unless the rotors look bad or I have vibrations. I would rather leave partially worn top quality rotors than replace with cheap ones. I also do not want to ruin the new pads ones either. I would resurface if I had the machine. On my European cars I generally get two sets of pads per rotor without resurfacing. Also in winter areas worthwhile to knock off the rust before it gets under the surface of the rotor.

Great advice, you probably know how often that is asked.

Thanks! You're the best!

Quick question, Can you change just one break disc ? Would it cause an imbalance ? Trying to keep the cost down and my one rear break disk is warped

I always make mistakes like that! Feel ya brother

Is it better to resurface the rotors / turning the rotors while still on the vehicle or off pro's and cons with proper equipment ? Thanks Joe

You need a new surface for the pad to wear against. Resurface or replace....I don't have much luck with machining rear rotors on most vehicles though, usually more luck with bigger/older style rear rotors that are vented. Where I'm located (Eastern Canada), the rotors would be rusted to death by the time you need to put a set of pads on it. You need to beat the bejesus out of a rotor to get it off of the hub, the vent/vanes in the middle are rusted to shit etc etc

Good advice, sir, but would appreciate seeing some exhibits of brake parts while your talking, otherwise this might as well be just a blog.

The perspective with the camera tilted up keeps it interesting, as the artwork makes an appearance!

we dont have a brake lathe at the shop..actually i havent seen a shop that resurfaced rotors yet.you know it is more time consuming and we always recommand replacing the rotors cause we try to avoid comebacks.some customer will pretend that its our fault if their brakes make noise afterward... there is bad technician ,service advisor and such and theres also horrible customer

yes

Need more quick videos like this other videos are realy lengthy

The rotors on my car are twenty bucks a piece, it's cheaper to buy new ones than fool around with resurfacing. I generally just replace the pads every two or three years before they become a problem. It doesn't take me more than thirty minutes in the driveway.

How about replacing with cheap rotors? Is there really a difference from OEM vs autozone rotors? I think I bought a rotors for like $16-20 (was a 96 accord mind you)..

Can I o pay replace 1 Rotor? My right side always starts making noise, while the left stays smooth

Is it okay to scuff up the old rotors a bit with some sandpaper? Wire Wheel?

I went to the Toyota place in Massachusetts. I got a few other things done. They said I needed front brakes and rotors. It was over $400 and somebody said they never replace the rotors on their car. They only do the pads am I being ripped off or is the other person not knowing what they’re talking about they’re claiming that I wasted money getting the rotors done or not ?

Is it okay to have front pads at 10mm and rear pads at 4mm ? I just changed the front ones, that’s why I’m asking. Thank you

Hey humble mechanic. This is my situation. I have 101k on my 2006 Nissan Sentra 1.8S. I never changed the brakes, ever. I have the rotors, pads and hardware for the front, drive; the drums, pads and hardware from the rear and I plan to change the break fluids from my entire system. Question: Should I change the calipers? My auto parts distributor advised me to do so. I'm a rookie at this and just wondering if I should even bother doing changing the calipers.

I don't know what the difference between Flat Rate is, but I wouldn't want to waste my time on the brake lathe when replacing the rotor is so much faster. But I guess if the customer asked for his old rotors to be resurfaced, I'd do it for them in hopes of gaining their trust. I have seen cracked rotors on my friend's 2013 Accord though, he wasn't happy about having to buy new ones, but we both knew that they couldn't be resurfaced. (most likely due to overheating as he likes to speed everywhere)

Man, the number of times I've had to fix DIY "pad slaps" is insane. I can totally understand trying to save money, but when it comes to arguably the most critical safety system on the car, it's just not worth it! The biggest issues I've come across with just swapping pads is dissimilar materials affecting stopping power and wear. Brake pads deposit a layer of their own material on the surface of the rotor; it's this deposit that's responsible for a good deal of the friction that ultimately stops the car. If you were to put a new set of pads on without resurfacing the rotor, and those pads were a different composition than what was on there previously, it's very likely you'll have issues.

I kinda feel if you just slap pads on without resurfacing or buying new rotors that the lip on the outer edge of the rotor will grow that much more on your next brake job then it will not be optional to resurface rotors at that point you would have to buy new rotors so personally I would just resurface rotors until minimum thickness spec is met

My rotors is still shiny and it’s only 2 years old can I just replace the pads ?

The one thing that gets me is Chinese rotors that seem to have taken over the aftermarket............ The last couple of brake jobs on my personal cars I went ahead and used factory rotors and pads. Subaru (in my case) specs descent stuff from a Japanese supplier and when you pull aftermarket stuff out of the box and compare with factory it's pretty obvious OEM is the better choice! I would assume that VW's come with Deutschland über alles goodies, correct?

I think if the car is on its last legs and the brakes are grinding than you dont need to replace the rotors. Just pad slap it for a little more life of the car. If you can find some used pads that would be good. I have half worn pads saved just for when my car is dying and the pads on my car are bad.

I have been resurfacing rotors for years. Even slotted and drilled ones found on Mercedes, and BMW. If they fall within specs, I resurface them and never had an issue. That is of course unless the customer wants them replaced.

I'm from Britain, it took me longer than it should have to work out that rotors are what we call brake discs

What happens if you don’t change warped rotors and drive with vibration.

The answer is YES

The brakes on the tiguan arn't to bad. The wife's jetta are cheap as well.

Man I’m so broke can even afford to drive safe anymore

VW brakes lasting long.. euhh my 2015 GTI with 9000 miles has worn out rear brakes :(

I'm 2 seconds in and I bet the answer to the question in the title is "Depends". As per usual.

mkv that has it's brakes used slightly more aggressive than normal. (gotta hit that Apex!)

In a lot of cases, especially European cars, I generally prefer to resurface if there's life left because the quality of that rotor is better than the cheap Chinese stuff from the parts stores.

if they are 3 years old with like 40k on them why cheap out on discs your there once just do it. if you can't afford it then don't buy a car.

My total bill was $1070. Ouch.

Modern rotors are cheap enough to warrant replacement. Machining rotors especially on the front is asking for trouble. The only rotors I cut anymore are on big American made trucks. Rear rotors on a pile of crap VW can be pad slapped. What he should tell you is to steer clear of VW altogether. Junk cars. They stopped making decent cars in the 80's.

you forgot about the most important part.. what about serious glazing? what about if it's warped where it can't be machined? what about if they fall below specs and can't be machined anymore? for the most part, the average person watches your video to see if a technician is pulling one on them. just a little imput!

chrisfix ...

Thumbs up to get it off 666. Great video also! Subbed, Why Not?!

sound like a rip off to replace both when really it is unnecessary

He looks like Joe Thornton.