30,000 mile service costs $1,100???

Sorry, any reduction in thickness, even if the rotor is above minimums, reduces thermal mass and increases brake fade. A used, but unglazed rotor is far better than a cut-down rotor.

 

I can attest.

I had the front rotors resurfaced twice on my 2003 Honda Pilot EX (bought new July 2002 in Hawaii) before I installed new rotors.

Never had braking issues and that SUV is as heavy as my current 2021 TRD Sport.

BTW, I had the Auto Hobby Shop on USAF installations turn my rotors for like $8 a piece.

 

I sold my 08 pilot because I kept MURDERING the brakes. I was 27 at the time, I boiled calipers and absolutely distorted rotors. They were great SUV's but not designed for a heavy foot.

 

Buahahahaha!

I drove like an old lady since my lil family (wife & 2 daughters) were under my watch. I rarely had a lead foot to brake hard! lol

 

That's.... Why.... There.... Are...... Minimum..... Serviceable...... Width...... Measurements.

They are literally etched into the rotor edges.

I know you mean well, but you're wrong. Again.

And with brakes, THE most important system on a vehicle.

 

The physics of brakes are quite simple, the more metal on the rotor the greater the thermal mass; the greater the thermal mass the greater the fade resistance. The fact is, rotors over the last 20 or 30 years have gotten thinner and thinner and by the time the first brake job rolls around, grinding a rotor will often bring it down near minimum thickness, so by the time a second set of pads is worn out the rotor will most likely be below minimums. Long story short, if a rotor is in good shape after the first set of pads are worn, and if there is no apparent pulsing in the brake pedal while stopping, I would argue it is much safer to simply put new pads on than to grind the rotors.

As for glazing, here's a scenario for you; you buy a brand new Tacoma, drive it home say, 50 miles in heavy stop-and-go traffic, and by the time you get home the rotors have already glazed. Do you then rush out and buy new rotors or take it back to the dealership to have the rotors ground down? Of course not. The fact is, this glazing you keep writing about will be no different when you reach the 5,000 mile mark, the 10,000 mile mark, or hell, if you do lots of long highway trips, the 100,000 mile mark; so why to you advocate grinding the rotors and reducing fade resistance?

 

You are wrong. Plain and simple. You clearly don't work in the industry.

If you cut a rotor and you're above the minimum cut thickness, you're fine. Rotors are hardened steel. It can take a hell of a lot of heat. Yes, there is a point when they are too thin. However, that's what those marks are for. The marks. I keep talking about the minimum pad thickness and the minimum resurface thickness allowable. You would know that if you did this for a living, you don't but yet you are spreading bad information here. The unfortunate thing is there are people who don't know who ask they see posts like yours which sound good. But it turns out you're just wrong.

All OEM recommend rotor resurfacing until you hit that point. So does ASE. There is nothing wrong with resurfacing rotors, however you will absolutely get better performance out of a resurface rotor than you will out of a dirty one that you just left. We see cars come in all the time with pad slapped rotors and they wonder why they didn't get better break performance. Do the job correctly the first time. It's not a hard concept.

 

I clearly don't work in the industry??? How about five years in engineering with Mercedes-Benz North America plus another year working out of Sindelfingen, three years Volvo North America, and six years with Chrysler? You are welcome to your opinion, but it is incorrect. At this point we're going to need to agree to disagree.

 

It isn't. Your own service manuals recommend resurfacing rotors until they hit their minimum resurface diameter.

Chrysler eh? Might explain a few things....

 

Now you're just being a jerk; no call for that.

 

I don’t change the rotors unless they’re warped, plain and simple. If brakes vibrate then I’ll either turn the rotors or buy new ones next time it’s brake pad time.

 

It's known in the industry that Chrysler has the lowest quality control of any company selling cars in America. The fact that you call yourself a Chrysler engineer and have no clue how brakes work or how to service them is telling. The fact that you're in here giving out bad advice with the most important system on a car yet you don't actually do the work, is telling. You've been called out on it, you're sticking to your weird hill to die on, and the problem with brakes is we have enough people coming in the shops with bad brake jobs from other jobs or from DIY, it's down right Dangerous. You're not being high and mighty. You're not being righteous. What you are is being a self-serving ass who can't get over the fact that you have an engineering degree. Great. Maybe you design HVAC systems. Maybe you design radios. Whatever it is, I have no doubt that you're actually good at it.

What you are not good at is vehicle maintenance. And it shows by your comments in here.

 

Dude, you're really starting to piss me off; your arguments smack of an incompetent technician. I suggest you leave it before this gets ugly.

 

Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. But I think it's a stretch to call resurfacing "dangerous". Yes they might not be able to absorb the same amount of heat after removing metal but we're talking about very small differences in thickness here. If it was truly that dangerous then NO manufacturer would offer minimum thickness limits in the repair manual. They would say "replace every time".

These are the same manufacturers that install airbags, Trac control, seatbelts, etc in every vehicle for passenger safety reasons. They have office buildings full of lawyers whose entire job is to calculate risk and exposure to lawsuits from unsafe vehicles. They've crunched the numbers and decided resurfacing rotorsonce or twice isn't a safety issue

That being said, we don't even have a lathe in our shop anymore. We pad slap or replace, depending on the situation and customer preference. I do agree that modern rotors are made thinner than they used to be. Probably for weight reasons and production costs

 

We all know these trucks were designed to last 30 years in a 3rd world country. Change the oil. Put brake pads on when they are needed. If you do water crossings, suck out the old diff fluid and refill it. Change the air and cabin filter (cause we're refined). Other than that - send it.

 

Agreed, we're splitting hairs here.

 

My goodness, do it yourself. Stealership can kick rocks.

 

ok ladies. enough bickering like two school girls already. holy crap.! its pathetic already.

 

This thread has gone so far south. I started this thread a year and a half ago. It was a basic question. Yes, it was done by me last summer. Can you all just simmer down?

 

You've been here long enough...lol

I took advantage of the reminder considering I'm almost at 30K miles...even though this thread was resurrected.

Tangents abound on TW, I just hope those folks make like virtual friends and move on.