Hi everyone (just joined),Doing the front brakes on my dad's '04 Vibe and noticed this (see pic). Can this be "normal"?Pads are just really worn, otherwise brakes have been great otherwise (no other issues).Unless the rotors come off easy (which I read here that they probably won't , I was just going to leave it (as again everything seems fine), it's just that I thought the rotor would normally only go on "aligned"... I haven't seen this on any of my other cars I've worked on.Any thoughts?Thanks in advance,BrianPS: Just for giggles, I priced a front brake job from the local Pontiac dealer. They wanted $189 NOT including pads -- OEM pads were $113 additional!!! That's over $300 just for the front -- does that make me the winner for highest price found?Across the street, Toyota had Matrix pads (should be the same, right?) for only $55 -- almost as cheap as Pep Boys (and a rear wiper was less than half too); is this what other's are experiencing too?
in my experiance the rotors arent hard to get off..just compress the brake pads in(caliper piston)..then use a torque bit at the rear of the brake caliper..should be 2 that hold it on..and the caliper slides off..rotor pops out and you're golden..in my opinion the hardest part for me was the compression of the caliper piston..and really it aint that hard at all
Thanks WaveAction,I guess what I meant was that a lot of people here have mentioned that their rotors were rusted/seized on incredibly tight -- and the one tool I don't have is a good deadblow mallet! (Plus, I don't want to damage the rotors as they are not being replaced.)I'll be trying it soon anyways, maybe I'll be picking up a new tool... ;-)What about the offset though, is this common?
That is perfectly normal... The rotors are "hubcentric" not "lugcentric" so they align on the ring of the hub, just like the wheels... The fact that the lug studs are offset in the holes is NOT a problem, in fact, if they were tight on the studs, you have an ever HARDER time getting them off.. In lew of this I DO see a bunch of "hot spots" on the rotor in that pic (lighter spots). You might consider having the rotors turned... I have a DIY tutorial post in one of the sections, I doubt you need it, but you might want to scroll through for grins...
Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »That is perfectly normal... The rotors are "hubcentric" not "lugcentric" so they align on the ring of the hub, just like the wheels... The fact that the lug studs are offset in the holes is NOT a problem, in fact, if they were tight on the studs, you have an ever HARDER time getting them off.. In lew of this I DO see a bunch of "hot spots" on the rotor in that pic (lighter spots). You might consider having the rotors turned... I have a DIY tutorial post in one of the sections, I doubt you need it, but you might want to scroll through for grins... Many thanks Sublimewind,I've seen many of your posts (incl. your DIY) and was hoping to hear from you!I knew nothing "bad" was going on, but I just needed someone to confirm my suspicion... I guess I've been "lucky" with what I've seen on other cars (and yeah, many of them are lugcentric).I'm going to have to wait and see concerning turning the rotors: I'm trying to save my dad a good chunk of money (plus they were working perfect); I also don't know if it would be worth the slight risk of making then worse (runout issue*, etc.) by turning them, but when I pull everything apart I may have to change that thought.* If they do need turning, any idea how much they charge to turn the rotors ON the car, vs me bringing them to a shop? (That option didn't even exist when I was a kid!)Thanks again.
No problem,as far as turning rotors ON the car, honestly, i've never even herd of doing that... I would take them somewhere though, it only takes a few hours, depending on how busy they are and WILL be cheaper overall... IIRC It cost me, like 40$ to have my rotors/drums turned, so 10$ a corner isn't bad.. if you are doing the brakes, you WILL save a HUGe chunk of money... enough for dad to make you a nice steak dinner for doing the work i'm sure... lol..
Well, here's the latest:Inner pad (driver side) was more worn than my quick glance revealed -- down to the metal on one end (see pic). Also, it looks like it ingested something which also scored the rotor :-(So... Rotor Turning Time!Passenger-side rotor was very cooperative: it practically fell off as soon as I began to loosen the 17mm's :-)Driver-side was (as feared) Stuck-On-Beyond-All-Belief.Luckily, a more tool-laden friend brought over his BAGP (Big-(removed) Gear Puller) and yeah, THIS is the way to do it! (In using it, it became pretty apparent that this thing was NOT going to come off with just a deadblow -- well, maybe a 20lb one ;-)Funny side-note: I used a little WD-40 on things overnight to see if it would help, by the morning it had created this effect that made my friend think that the rotor was WELDED ON! (See pic)Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »No problem,as far as turning rotors ON the car, honestly, i've never even herd of doing that... I would take them somewhere though, it only takes a few hours, depending on how busy they are and WILL be cheaper overall... IIRC It cost me, like 40$ to have my rotors/drums turned, so 10$ a corner isn't bad.. if you are doing the brakes, you WILL save a HUGe chunk of money... enough for dad to make you a nice steak dinner for doing the work i'm sure... lol.. Thanks for the $ reference Sublimewind; I found a place that would do it for $12 each, so off I went...Long story short: my initial reservations came true and they TRASHED the first rotor right off the bat! (See pic)It's a big chain, and everyone's been pretty cool so far, so I'm going to be EXTRA kind and not mention them for now since they agreed to do the right thing and replace the rotor with a new one...**** One question for everyone though: can anyone think of any likely reason that having one new rotor mixed with one 50,000 mile rotor (freshly turned with good life left) might cause any problems? ****RE "on-the-car" rotor turning: it IS kinda new (I never heard of it either until recently), but supposedly some new cars already require this method only!It DOES do away with dealing with any runout problems, and it costs (here) $75 for 2.Well, I hope there's no more surprises!Brian
If anyone's still reading this,They machined down the damaged rotor and tried to see if that would suffice...after much research (neutral opinions, the web), I had enough info to confirm what I thought: that -- in this case -- this was NOT a good thing to do!So (long story short), it got a little iffy for a while, then the manager I was dealing with did the right thing and just got me two new rotors. I'm omitting a lot of interesting stuff, but this went a great ways to make up for all the wasted time and aggravation, so cheers to him.In a way, there wasn't really much choice as the damaged, now over-turned rotor was just a hair from refinish, or even discard limit(!), and then the other rotor was still half "thick and meaty" (Jeff Altman anyone?).Well, off to Salt & Pepper the rotors, then to put the new pads to Bed! (Sorry.)
Wow man, what an ordeal...!!!Good thing your friend had that gear puller... although a deadblow might not be the best for breaking up the rust... I use a 3lb sledge.. lol... glad to hear the shop bit the bullet and hooked you up with a new set... Now, have you found my post about pad bedding and rotor seasoning, you should look into it, or visit the baer brakes site and read through the tech sections... the proper proceedure helps a LOT in increasing the longevity and overall performance of the brakes..
, I was just going to leave it (as again everything seems fine), it's just that I thought the rotor would normally only go on "aligned"... I haven't seen this on any of my other cars I've worked on.Any thoughts?Thanks in advance,BrianPS: Just for giggles, I priced a front brake job from the local Pontiac dealer. They wanted $189 NOT including pads -- OEM pads were $113 additional!!! That's over $300 just for the front -- does that make me the winner for highest price found?Across the street, Toyota had Matrix pads (should be the same, right?) for only $55 -- almost as cheap as Pep Boys (and a rear wiper was less than half too); is this what other's are experiencing too?