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My rotors have gotten pretty bad. i just tap the brake and my steering wheel is doing the shake rattle and roll. I would like to upgrade to the sloted or cross drilled, they are a lil bit more expensive, but are they worth the upgrade? am I really going to see any improvement? is it worth spending a extra 50-100$ on each rotor. I have about 150$ maybe 200$ to spend, and Im pretty sure Ill need new wheel bearings, cuz i dont think you can reuse the old ones. Any would be awesome just looking for some input and experience.
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You can reuse the bearings if they're good. Most rotors come with races already installed. Slotted and drilled rotors won't buy you much on a street driven car. Poor quality ones will be weaken than regular (non-slotted) ones.
I would like to upgrade to the sloted or cross drilled, they are a lil bit more expensive, but are they worth the upgrade? am I really going to see any improvement? is it worth spending a extra 50-100$ on each rotor. I have about 150$ maybe 200$ to spend, and Im pretty sure Ill need new wheel bearings, cuz i dont think you can reuse the old ones.
I'd suggest new rotors, Hawks pads, and braided steel lines. Personally, I'd buy new bearings and seals.
__________________ "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Hamlet
Upgrade for what? Looks?
Just get some normal rotors if you really need them. Often you can just have the rotor cut to fix that. I've cut 1000's of rotors and none of them were warped beyond usable and they were always fine afterwards. I'd really question if yours are trash.
Might check your suspension too, loose parts just make the problem worse. The idler arm is the first thing I'd be checking real close.
I think they are pretty trashed, but I could be wrong about pretty trashed, im sure there are worst cases. Anyways I drive up and down a huge mountain every day and for the past month the shaking gets worst and worst. I cant even tap the brakes without it shuddering violently, and I feel the pulsing in the brake pedel. Its to the point now where if i tap them i have to hold onto the wheel or it will send me spinning. This is a shock to me because less then a year ago, i picked these rotors up new from Nappa "normal not sloted/drilled"
and all new bearings.
How much does turning the rotors cost?
thanks for your so far !
My whole front end is new, only part that is not new is my steering box and pitman arm. I do have a little play between the to. When im cruising at like 10-30 mph and have my windows down i can hear the rotor bouncing my pads around also. When im coming to a stop its like my brake pedel feels like a wack a mole game.
Wow thats pretty bad. What pads, napa as well? Know which ones?
It depends on where you go but usually $10-15 each to turn rotors. Its very easy to tell once they are on the machine how bad they are. You can check yourself if you have a dial indicator.
I got the duralast gold brake pads, lifetime warrenty, pads are pretty decent, got my rotors from nappa, im not sure which ones, they were approx 70$ each, think i spent probably 180 with new bearings.
If i can turn the rotors that would be awesome, save some serious cash, but is it worth turning them if the warped that quickly. wont they just warp again?
If i can turn the rotors that would be awesome, save some serious cash, but is it worth turning them if the warped that quickly. wont they just warp again?
If all else remains the same, they'll probably warp faster.
JamesC
__________________ "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Hamlet
I got the duralast gold brake pads, lifetime warrenty, pads are pretty decent, got my rotors from nappa, im not sure which ones, they were approx 70$ each, think i spent probably 180 with new bearings.
If i can turn the rotors that would be awesome, save some serious cash, but is it worth turning them if the warped that quickly. wont they just warp again?
The rotor's metal does not warp. What you are getting is pad buildup on the rotor from a hotspot on the rotor. You have hotspotted it by stopping hard or high heat and letting the car sit for a minute on those one spots of the rotor without inching forward disipating the heat evenly. Always stop slightly short when the rotor temps are higher for either performance driving or mountain driving and leave room to inch forward every few seconds disipating the pad heat onto different parts of the rotor circumfrence.
Turning the rotor will cut the buildup off the rotor. The section that has build up does not wear whereas the other 80-85% of the rotor circumference will wear leaving wuite a wobble feel and lots of cutting of that high spot off when turned. Once a rotor is damaged, the metal characteristic (conductivity or cooling charateristics) will change and not disipate heat as well in that hot spot section. Turning it will cut some of it off making it better, but it will never completely go away and will eventually retain pad buildup there again in the future.
Just try and cut them, and practice stopping habits as I mentioned above. If it coumes back within 3 months then toss them and buy new ones. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER- turn brand new rotors! New rotors are not machined to good tolerances and are not cut for quick pad break in. You need to hone cut them for fine tuning and break in. Never dio hard stops on new rotors until you have heat cycled the metal of the rotor for about 1 weeks daily driving. The metal needs to be conditioned to disipate heat properly by heating and cooling back off many times (thus heat cycling them)
ALWAYS REMEMBER- turn brand new rotors! New rotors are not machined to good tolerances and are not cut for quick pad break in. You need to hone cut them for fine tuning and break in. Never dio hard stops on new rotors until you have heat cycled the metal of the rotor for about 1 weeks daily driving. The metal needs to be conditioned to disipate heat properly by heating and cooling back off many times (thus heat cycling them)
Dean
i never heard that b4. i thought the whole point of a brand spanking new rotor was to eliminate the need to turn the old rotor, spend the 15 bucks, and find out theyre too thin..for 15 bucks more i get a new one. then i have to spend another 15 bucks per rotor to turn them, that 60 bucks or more, on top on the $172 rotors for front and back? i dont know if thats right..anyone else agree with dean? im not calling bs, just on friday im rebuilding my brake system. new rotors, master, rebuild calipers, new pads, hoses, fluid, ya
Hold on! If you have to hold your wheel when you step on the brakes, it could be that your (probably original) rubber brake lines are toast and are not operating properly. Please consider replacing them w/ S/S ones or at least replace them w/ new rubber ones. They (new rubber ones) are inexpensive and this may just fix the majority of your problem. If the pedal is pulsating, it is due to rotors but having to hold onto the steering while braking problem is due to the old brake lines.
__________________ 92RealSwift-All stock except for these mods: Hooker 2460 coated shorties-(non air), Hooker y-pipe modified for a 3" exhaust system, cat delete, Flowmaster muffler w/ dual outlets. Hypertech cool fan switch.
92Z-28-Edelbrock headers-3" system w/cat to Dynomax S/S muffler w/ dual outlets, K&N air filters.
If all else remains the same, they'll probably warp faster.
JamesC
The only thing that you should need to do when you take a rotor out of the box is clean the protective coating off with brake cleaner.You shouldn't have to turn a brand new rotor.
Typically people turn rotors that are expensive to save money and to true up a warped rotor. The only problem with that is now the rotor is thinner and will warp easier once heated up again under hard braking conditions.
It depends on where the rotors came from in the first place and how they machined it. The Chinese stuff is just junk, turn them first or do not use them. The others are hit and miss, mostly related to how they machine them and how their maintenance is. Brake lathes surface both sides at the same time so if the machine is not worn out, the two surfaces will be parallel and 90 to the axle. Many manufacturers cut the surface with a stone cutter, and at least one does one surface at a time introducing a problem with surfaces being parallel (or not) out of the box. Usually the good rotors are within a few thousands and a light cleanup cut is all that is needed and has little effect on the minimum thickness. Way more is worn off in use. The store I worked at we did that for free with new rotors, if the customer wanted it done.
would be awesome just looking for some input and experience. 
