I'm with Jon in that I'm also a self-described cheapskate. I only took
rotors in to be turned once in my life, and they sent me away because
the rotors were below spec. Well, this was on my Dart, which gets
<2000 miles/year of drive time, and 5 years later I'm still using the
same rotors (and pads, which I replaced at that time). They have
plenty of meat left and are in no danger of falling apart.
Niether of my cars has ABS, and I'm not using particularly sticky
tires. So the tires' hold on the road will always be the greatest
factor in my stopping distance. If I need to stop fast and I slam the
brakes, the wheels will lock up. At that point, it doesn't matter what
shape the rotors are.
I put my current rotors on shortly before the 06 Daktoberfest. When I
got back home afterwards, I took a look and found some of the biggest
grooves I'd ever seen on my vehicles (I imagine the result of foriegn
objects. see also: stiegermud). With the "roads" I drive, if I have to
turn my rotors every time I have grooves, I'll go broke. And I should
probably keep a spare set to rotate in and limit down-time!
Don in CT
89 Dak Vert 318 NV3500 4x4
74 Dart Sport 340
On 8/12/08, jon@dakota-truck.net <jon@dakota-truck.net> wrote:
> My personal theory on rotors is that I think a lot of them get
> changed while they still have a lot of life left in them. Rotors are
> a pretty beefy part so I don't think there is a big risk of them
> blowing apart on you or anything along those lines unless you take it
> to extremes. I get my brake pads at Autozone which have a lifetime
> warranty on them, basically you buy one set of pads and as long as you
> own the vehicle, you can bring them back in and exchange them for a
> new set when they are used up. So, if a rotor is grooved up or
> something and may tend to eat pads, I don't care as much as if I had
> to pay for new pads all the time. :-) I just let the pads bed in to
> the rotor. The exception to this is if the rotor is actually warped
> and you're getting pulsation when you apply the pedal, then I'll
> replace the rotors, but as long as they are smooth and doing their
> job, I haven't really paid much attention to things like grooves or
> thickness.
>
> Keep in mind that I am a self described cheapskate and the above is
> just my personal perspective; I am certainly not advocating that you
> take the same route, I'm just throwing that out there as a data point.
> If it were me, I'd look at the rotors and make a judgement call based
> on what they look like and how they are working. Based on your
> description, I suspect that would mean running them as-is in my case,
> but if you are uncomfortable with that, the peace of mind of having
> brand new rotors installed certainly has some value as well. Wether
> it has $190 CAD worth of value is your call. :-)
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