Hey, got a question for you guys. Not to good on the brakes so i dont know much. My front brake on my driver side is squeling like hell. I have my music up pretty high with the windows up and i can still hear the damn brakes. I was thinking of getting new rotors and pads, question is can i just buy front brakes or do i have to do the back ones as well. Kinda tight on money right now so i wanna lower the cost abit. thx for your help!

 

you can buy just fronts, hell you can buy just one side,but i wouldn't recommend it.

 

thats good. nah i wouldnt go just one side....most kits come with 2 rotors anyways. Any idea what the problem could be. i brought it to the dealership they said the fronts looked fine and the back rotors had abit of rust on them and had 2mm left on the pads. He made it sound like the back brakes were worse off but i know the sound is coming from the front. Should i just replace all 4 pads and thats it or should i get rotors as well?

 

you need to always get new pads and rotors at the same time.

 

lovely. i was just reading that on a old post...lol thx for the help.

 

you're welcome man, good luck, don't skimp on brakes, they are probably the most important part of your car, and yet people feel the need to neglect them go figure.

 

yea i was just thinking that. I got a stage 2 kit that i want to get installed and i was going to do it this up coming pay but then i thought "which is more important, S2 or brakes....well i need brakes to stop so yea..."

 

If the pads still have plenty of life in them the noise is most likely caused by one of three things:
1. something caught in the groove of the pads or somewhere else and rubbing on the rotor.
2. plain old dust buildup, spray em down with brake kleen, or take them off, lightly sand pads just till they arent shiny anymore and treat with antisqueal compound(graphite type)
3. dirt/dust buildup and lack of lubrication on the pads guides. remove pads, clean and lube guides. Ive never seen a brake squeal caused by a rotor.

No you dont. You only need to replace your rotors if they are worn below specification or will become below spec when machined, or if they are cracked or otherwise damaged.

You dont even need to machine your rotors if they arent rusty, and dont have grooves over .050" deep if you arent changing brake pad compoubds.

You do need to machine(cut) or replace your rotors if you change brake pad compunds. Stock to Hawks, Hawks to EBC, EBC Green to EBC Red, etc....

 

ok, i know what you mean, but i say that as a rule of thumb. because the pads get worn to the rotor and visa versa.

 

I hear ya, but thats an expensive and wasteful rule of thumb

The reason you need to replace or machine when swapping compounds isnt actually because of the wear pattern(theyll wea to each on their own relatively quickly so long as you keep in mind the .050" rule) You need to do this when switching compounds because brakes dont work solely through mechanical friction, they also rely on a layer of buildup pad on the rotor as a "chemical" friction, you may hear the term "transfer layer" used(you may not lol) You need to make sure you get a nice layer of pad built up on the rotor before the brakes work there best, if youve got different compounds fighting for the same metal, it will take longer, if it all, to get op performance from the new pads.

 

I prefer to replace the pads if I need to replace the rotors. Might as well do the pads if you have to pull the rotors. If I just needed pads, thats all I would buy.

 

ive been having this exact same problem. im ordering my new brakes this week, but im just ordering a front set. i have never installed brakes before, but i have heard it is pretty easy. Normally i wouldn't want to mess something this important up and i would just take them to get installed, but I was told it woud be $175 for the install!!

 

Thats sounds about right. Standard labor time to install brake pads and rotors is 2.0 hours.

So take your favorite shops hourly rate and multiply by 2.0, this should be pretty close to what they tell you for labor for a front brake job, if its more(say more than like 2.3) you need to ask them exactly what they are doing.

$175/2.0 hours=$87.50/hour Thats about average for shops in my area.

And of course there will likely be sales tax, and shop charges(for chemicals, rags,disposal etc)

 

2 hours for a front brake install? damn, who writes these manuals? what a ******* scam.

 

Its just industry standard, whether it be written by Chilton, Motor/AllData, RealTime, etc.....

The thing you have to keep in mind is that 2.0 hours isnt just for a pad/rotor swap.

That time is so the tech can inspect, measure, disassemble, machine rotors, clean, lube, reassemble, measure again, and road test/burnish

OBVIOUSLY that doesnt get done every time. I usually do the whole procedure UNLESS, the rotors are so rusty that its obvious they cant be saved by machining then I wont measure the first time. And I dont measure the second time unless its warranty(its a required piece of data) or I notice a problem on the road test. I always clean, lube, and road test.
But Ive known and worked with many techs who never measure, dont clean anything, dont lube anything(this is why your brand new brake job squeaks), and dont road test.


Where I work,(and most shops) we charge the same to replace rotors as we do to cut them.