You can also put coins on the disk surfaces, measure the thickness, then put the two coins together and measure their total thickness. Subtract that from the first value, and you know how thick the brake disk is.
Speaking as a retired machinist, it’s so nice to see someone using a VERNIER caliper. I still have my first one. It’s a Helios, and it is marked “Hardened throughout, West Germany”. I still use it, although I own a digital and a dial caliper.
Great video! You make look very simple, which I actually think it is. But at the same time, you go beyond a simple measurement and take the grooves into account. Thanks for that!!
Excellent! Very descriptive and informative. One of the best professional videos I have ever seen on car maintenance. Thank you very much for your time and information. I will try and search out other videos if you have them.
Great video. Another way you can compensate for the disc lip is by using two thick coins. Measure the thickness with the coins on either side of the disc and then zero out or subtract the thickness of the two coins stacked together to get a more accurate thickness of the actual disc.
Hi, I put febi bilstein brake disks and ATE brake pads on my Suzuki Swift last year. There was nothing wrong with the measurement , there was still lots of pad and disk thickness, but it was making a slight noise every now and then, when I had them checked at the dealer , they said it was fine, but it was a little scorched looking. They said 70% pad life still left OEM. Anyway I decided to replace both. I recently flushed/ bled my brakes using your Mazda video as a reference, it made a huge difference as my brake fluid was more the 6 years old, now the car is awesome to drive. I did a full tune up. Thank you for the videos, I learn a lot.
Hi All Joy, thanks for sharing. Interesting. i have had that too when the brake piston gets stuck as the brake fluid mixed with dust becomes powdery (very old) and the piston does not retract back and almost stays pressing on the disk. Gets hot and noisy. Thanks for your comment.
Thank you man, excellent video and really good information. I had same experience, my brake works fine in most cases until I brake hard in emergency at 80 mph in the interstate from an accident ahead. It vibrate like hell but nice and smooth at regular braking.
The reason for the vibration is your car has ABS. Anti lock. In the old days if you slammed your brake son they would lock, and your wheels would skid like on a bicycle. ABS uses a high pressure pump that many many times a second triggers on and off. When you're braking hard your wheels will skid slightly, the ABS module will reduce brake pressure and allow the wheel to roll for a split second, when grip is regained it will trigger your brakes back on. This can happen over and over until you come to a stop, hence the vibration.
Best thing you can do is invest in the tools and learn how to replace pads and rotors yourself. The cost of new rotors and pads aren't very high, most times you're paying for the labour.
I found my pads starting to scrape at the weekend I reckon I'll just change the rotors as well. I just bought it recently and as I intend to keep it for a while there's no point in skimping.
Very well and pedagogically described. Can the discs be used even if they exceed the minimum size? -Yes if you don't drive advanced to pick up the kids from school or drive in the mountains like a hillbilly on meth. A thin brake disc overheats faster. Drive normally and you can probably wait a little longer for the change. It is a matter of judgement.
Hi,it is great video,i just have a question.did you measure two different disc rotor? First one was 22mm and then suddenly it went to 28 mm?is it different car? Sorry maybe i missed some clip!
On a percentage of vehicals. The rim is bolted to the hub. Not resting on lugs so my challenge and question is. Can you check the rotor thickness. Without taking off the rim?
i have not seen that but on motorbikes i have. If there is space between the spokes then i suppose you could measure, but proper inspection requires the person to feel the surface of the entire disk face and inspect it looking for surface imperfections as well so i would say take of the rim.
6:50 so 29.6mm was somewhere near the "new" state of the disc. let's say it was 30.0mm new. substracting from there the 28.4mm minimum requirement, that would mean accounting for both sides of the disc, the max wear would be something like 0.8mm per side ? that's a pretty small amount that you are allowed to wear the disc out, no? if some cars have 1.5mm lip on one side that's about double the "life" expectancy on this one that you checked 3:10 and looking back to the first set you checked, min=22.4, i guess new=25.0mm(rounding up from the 24.8 you measured). so actually the accepted wear on these is 2.6mm, 1.3mm/side. this disc is thinner but has more "life" in it than the first one?? really weird...... also, for heat dissipation purposes, just as you said, would we not actually have thicker discs on the front? in your case the thicker ones were on the back. again...weird
thanks, the thicker ones are on the front. The amount of wear is only a little but people let their discs get much more worn than the manufacturer recommend.
To be honest having worked in the motor trade I never ever once saw a disk skimmed. Flywheels all the time but never the brakes! It's so cheap to change the Disks it never worked out worth it and the biggest problem is the time and transport to a machine shop and how busy they were never out weight the costs!
I went to service and they told me to change front brake disks and all the arms because i have a vibration in the steering wheel when braking, i think they don't know where's the problem 🤷♂️🤷♂️
What you all really need is a "Vinca DRGA-0605 Electronic Digital Brake Disc Rotor Gauge Caliper measuring tool"... Worth every penny, the highest quality by a top brand and it will last you a lifetime! Is the only one with 2 external jaws (claw type) the measures your discs from the sides withing and not the edges... No more need for all these Micky Mouse tricks as its a much accuracy tool and time saver! A MUST FOR ALL BMW OWNERS that do their own sh*t...
Vernier is not build for purpose in this case. Get yourself Micrometer. It will take calculator sorcery away. Plus you do not know how correctly to use Vernier. It was exactly 0.54 mm at 4:06.
