jlukja

Q: Do you have to turn the rotors with every brake pad change?

I took my wife's Civic in for its 45,000mi service to our local Honda dealer. They call me midday to tell me the front brake pads need to be replaced and it will cost $169. (mind you that the wear sensor on the brakes was NOT making any noise). These are still the original brake pads so I tell them I have a coupon (from this same dealership) for $109 but they tell me that the $109 coupon does not include turning the rotors. I ask them if the rotors need turning and they tell me they "recommend" turning the rotors with every brake replacement to prevent the rotors from warping. I told them not to turn the rotors unless the pads were totally gone and there was metal to metal contact. They went ahead and only replaced the pads for $109 and noted on the service paperwork that I refused to have the rotors turned and that they couldn't guarranty that the brakes wouldn't squeak. I think I am right but they got me thinking. Should the rotors be turned with every brake pad replacement? The brakes weren't squeaking and there was no shimmy while braking so the rotors weren't warped. I need validation. Help me out.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

As long as the technicians seated the brakes correctly (i.e. wore the brakes down to match the grooving of the rotors) then you should be fine. Turning or resurfacing the rotors would just guarantee an easier time to mating the two surfaces. Just to be safe, I recommend seating the brakes yourself. Warm up the car and tires. Find an empty stretch of road and get the car up to about 40 miles an hour then firmly press down on the brake pedal and bring the car to a stop. Repeat this about 5 times. This should get the pad and rotor surface to match and should prevent warping.

biker

You were right in your initial assesment. Unless the pads damaged the rotor no need to turn them. You can't prevent rotor warp by turning them - that's the dumbest thing I heard about rotors. The Civic is a light car and easy on brakes. The rears will probably need replacing around 70K.

biker

jlukja

Thanks for your responses. I feel better. Intuitively I thought I was right but the service manager was pretty persistant and made me feel like I was an idiot for not having them turned. Thanks guys.

JTso

iTrader: (2)

Personally, I've never turned the rotors when replacing brake pads on my other cars. However, when I replaced the OEM pads with high performance pads on the original rotors, I did some light sanding to the rotors before installing the pads. I also followed the instructions from the performance pads to seat the pads correctly.

One analogy is changing oil with the filter. Do you replace the filter when changing oil? I'd bet $100 the filter will be fine to last another oil change but most people will change them out at the same time. If you have the money to resurface the rotor when replacing pads, then do it to have the peace of mind. If not, I don't think you will have any problems.