Time for brakes need some info

[Andrew Tollison 3]

My wife drove the Sport Trac this morning to work and is complaining about the brakes squeking and said it is not stopping like it use to. Last time I had them checked was about 10,000 miles ago. I have 45,000 miles on my 04 now. If I need new brakes, what would be best to replace them with?

Thanks

Andrew

 

[Jenn D]

I just replaced mine (55,000 miles - '03) with semi-metal Bendix pads from Discount Auto. Cost me $122 for fronts and backs. I would have prefered ceramic (and only would have been about $30 more), but they were out of stock and I had no time to waste. Regardless. With ceramic, you get less brake dust. With the semi-metalic you will still get less brake dust but run the risk of squeaky brakes. If you go the semi-metal route, make sure to get some of the lube they have for brake pads and some cleaner. Using both of these I haven't had any squealing at all since I replaced my brakes.

 

[JohnnyB]

I use Wagner Thermo Quite semi-metallic pads. Good life and no noise. Are you cutting or replacing the rotors?

 

[Andrew Tollison 3]

dont know, was not planning on doing anything with the rotors. Was just gonna do the pads. Dont know anything about brakes, how do I tell if I need to cut or replace the rotors?

 

[peter barone03]

RULE OF THUMB IS CUT DRUMS AND ROTORS WHEN YOU CHANGE OUT YOUR PADS AND SHOES.

However I have found that if you donot have any scoring or ridges you can probabily get away with not cutting them.



If your hear the brakes grinding chances are you waited too long and need to cut the rotors.

 

[Andrew Tollison 3]

How do you cut the rotors?

 

[troy malone]

you take them to a machine shop and have them turned true... they maesure the thickness first to ensure they can be milled... our local napa auto store has a machine shop and turns rotors and drums...



troy

 

[Richard L]

An old rule is, If your rotors do not have any grooves deaper than the thickness of a business card, you can usually just replace the pads.



In my 40 years experience doing brakes, I have found that it is always cheaper in the long run to turn or replace rotors everytime you change pads. If you got 45K miles with no vibration on the original set of pads (about what I get) it is not likely that your rotors are warped or tore up too bad so having them turned is your best money spent to insure a long lasting brake job.



I usually go one step further and have the calipers replaced with remanufactured units. Since they are fairly cheap at most auto parts stores like Pep Boys, and AutoZone and they usually come with 50K mile to Lifetime warranties. I have purchased some remanufactured calipers for as little as $19.99 and if I change them before they hit 50K miles I can get replacements free....Just keep your receipts.



One last word of caution. Do not push the caliper pistons back in without opening the bleeder nut. You will then need to bleed the brakes but if you do not open the bleeder nut you will be pushing old contaminated brake fluid back up into your ABS unit and that can be very expensive.



...Rich