Who replaces pads and doesn't turn the rotors? (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Sep 16, 2005
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Ponte Vedra, Florida
If you don't have any vibration why turn the rotors? Makes them thinner, costs more to do the brakes. I have a local mechanic that says he won't do a brake job without turning the rotors. Big difference in cost between just doing pads and doing pads and turning all of the rotors. What would you guys do? I like the mechanic and use him for all of my work. I've never turned rotors on any of my other vehicles including my 95 LC, never had a problem.
 
I agree with your mechanic. Would you rebuild your engine, re-ring the pistons and skip boring and/or honing the cylinders? It doesn't make sense.

Those rotors need to be surfaced and should be crosshatched to assure the pads seat properly without glazing.... ultimately leaving you with squealing and poor brakes----that's why he won't do it.

Also, care must be taken when pushing the pistons back into the calipers.... brake dust and other junk will seep though or around the boot and can score the o-rings. I've seen calipers slowly suck air into the lines due to scored o-rings and lack of proper caliper maintenance or repair.

Why take it to a mechanic if you only want the pads changed?... that's the easy part.
 
I have to go with the mechanics opinion. I just had my rear brake pads replaced. The mechanic said I didn't need the rotors turned. Now I am putting up with squealing brakes.

Also, check the price on new rotors. Sometimes the rotors are so reasonably priced that it doesn't make sense to have them turned. Put new ones on (if the price is right).
 
FWIW, turning the rotors are not generally recommended on the 80 series, those that have had them turned report that the warp quickly, not sure how that applies to the 100 series. I would replace them if they are needed, if not, just keep using them as is, I've never had a problem with brake pad break in with used rotors.

Hawke- squealing brakes should not have anything to do with whether your rotors are turned or not, it is usually caused by vibrations between the metal backing of the pad, and the caliper. Make sure you have the anti squeal shims and/or use the rubberized anti-squeal goo on the back of the brake pad.
 
I don't turn in between pad changes.

No reason to do so, and the rotors always seem to warp soon after.

Your mechanic's advise applies to the majority of cars, just not land cruisers.
 
If the rotors are grooved from a delayed pad replacement, then I will have them turned or replace them. Otherwise I run 'em as is. Haven't had any problems thus far.

And that's on every vehicle I've worked on, not just my 80.

List includes:
'91 Pontiac Bonneville
'90 Ford Crown Victoria
'97 Toyota Camry
'99 GMC Yukon
'01 Jeep Cherokee
'95 Jeep Grand Cherokee
'94 FZJ80
 
Your mechanic will charge you some $$ for rotor turning, as getting to the front rotors requires a little more than just pulling them off.

If your brakes are fine now, but the pads are low enough to need replacement, just change the pads. If there seems to be some warping, if the rotors are grooved, or if you are going to use a different shaped brake pad, use new rotors.

I've never had a good experience with a "turned" rotor on a newer Land Cruiser.
 
Getting ready to do pads only on the rear. In the past I just replaced the pads but has anyone ever cleaned the rotors with brake cleaner?

Thanks,

uzj100
 
uzj100 said:
Getting ready to do pads only on the rear. In the past I just replaced the pads but has anyone ever cleaned the rotors with brake cleaner?

Thanks,

uzj100

You can clean the rotors but I'm not sure what good it will do. The surface that the brake pads "friction" on will be the same after a day's braking if you clean them or not.
 
If no vibration then I would not turn the rotors. Most mechanics (and brake shops) will always turn them because they don't know what the status of the brakes were when the vehicle was brought in, maybe it vibrated and you forgot to tell them, or you didn't notice it, etc, easier for them to just turn/replace all rotors as a practice.

If the rotor has grooves in it then I still would not replace it, I've had several on vans, small cars, etc, that the pad ate down into the rotor, not excessively deep, but not anywhere close to flat, however, brakes did not pulsate, so new pads is all it needed, in a few days the pads had worn to match the grooves and the brakes worked even better than normal since there is more surface area now with grooves in the rotors (I've heard that some race cars specifically groove their rotors just to get that little bit extra of surface area on the brakes), granted hard to tell how much better than normal the brakes worked, but certainly were no worse than stock.

Good Luck...
 
I would recommend that you measure the rotor for taper before deciding whether to have them turned on higher milage brakes.

All disk rotor tend to wear more on the outter edges. So when you put fresh pads on, if the taper is a lot, then the pads might not be parallel with each other when viewed from the top.

Thus, this might lead to a temporary spongy brakes and lack of initial bite after a pad change.


Charleston
 
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My rotors on my car have 130,000 miles(210000kms) on them and I have never rotated them, they are smooth but are now worn down to the limit so I have just purchased new ones to replace them. I personally have never heard of anyone turning their rotors. If you do, you are swapping parts of bearings from one side to the other(unless you knock the cones out) and therefore mixing 2 different bearings which may have worn differently.
 
100 TD said:
My rotors on my car have 130,000 miles(210000kms) on them and I have never rotated them, they are smooth but are now worn down to the limit so I have just purchased new ones to replace them. I personally have never heard of anyone turning their rotors. If you do, you are swapping parts of bearings from one side to the other(unless you knock the cones out) and therefore mixing 2 different bearings which may have worn differently.

Turn rotors means taking them off and turning them in a leath (sp) to make sure they are true. This shaves off metal making them thinner, which can cause them to warp. I've also never turned mine, unless they were warped and then I would rather just replace them.
 
SWUtah said:
Turn rotors means taking them off and turning them in a leath (sp) to make sure they are true. This shaves off metal making them thinner, which can cause them to warp. I've also never turned mine, unless they were warped and then I would rather just replace them.

Thanks for that, I'm on another planet. The lights are on but nobody is home at my place today!!!!
Time to hit the sack. I still haven't had to machine (turn) mine.
 
Just a couple of things to consider:

1- 100 series rotors can be turned on the vehicle AND the turning charge is minimal. if a dealer states that this cannot be done then they do not have the machine to do it OR they are misinformed.
2- The turning of the rotor essentially has the intent of allowing more surface area for the pads to mate i.e. grooves decrease the surface area. BUT, turning means shaving which means lessening the heat dissipation factor of a rotor which means increasing the likelihood of warpage.
3- The 100 is a heavy vehicle and I am confident, due to turning rotors every 50k, that the rotors and calipers do not match up to the weight of the vehicle or are not, in design, engineered well enough.

Point being, new rotors/old rotors turned, they are going to warp if OEM is used. I have never once had an issue of using new pads on an unturned rotor that was not warped. Now this is of course not my experience with 100's due to the fact the rotors warp almost at the same time the pads have worn. If it is warped or grooved, then turn. But by grooved, I mean significant grooving created by running a pad to the point of metal to rotor contact.

Just my experience.
 
I've always replaced pads without turning the rotors on other vehicles, but I'm planning on replacing both at the same time on the cruiser. I'm at the point where I'm going to need to replace my pads and probably rotors as well soon. Given the short life of the OEM rotors and pads has anyone ventured into the aftermarket realm?
 
my toyota dealership does not turn the rotors unless warped. they said that toyota does not reccommend turing rotors, they say they replace them if out of spec.

if your mechanic won't do it with turning the rotors do it your self. Its a brain dead basic job.

just need a helper to bleed the brakes after.
 
In over 20 years of working on various models of vechicles and alot of cruisers in the past 7-8 years I have never turned a cruiser rotor or other toyota trucks rotor for just pads. I replace rotors on cruisers instead of turning if the are not true. I usually use toyota pads, use either 120 grit sand paper first to take the glase off then hit them with the red scotch brite pad, then brake parts cleaner. A ltttle extra time but not that much and this in turn give the pads a clean surface to seat in to. The only time I get sweaks are when dust is creating a problem or I do not use the synthetic brake grease. I personally do not use the red soft glue stuff any more, creates problems for the next time. Turning a rotor if it is true is a waste of money for the customer. later robbie
 
I live 1000 feet up the side of a mountain, and 150 feet down a driveway with a 35% slope. The "glazing" on my rotors is enough to warrent turning at every pad change. Just about every mechanic up here, dealership or independent, recommends turning rotors on every car and truck in the mountains.

You say "tomato" and I say "tomato" etc etc etc.

LT
 

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