I am getting a shiimy in the front when I brake. I want to cut the rotors and change the pads but when I checked the pads I still had about 1/3 of the meat left.

Can I just cut the rotors and use the old pads or should I replace the pads too?

 

When pads get low visably- they are often near the end of their life and will not heat cycle properly
Low pads make the caliper piston extend futher and that can cause a problem too

I would use quality new pads with the rotor resurface- and make sure there is enough rotor thickness when they are done too!

 

I am assuming that OEM pads from the dealer are a good way to go?

 

My dealer resurfaced my rotors and pads as well, I have never heard of brake pad resurfacing but it seems to have worked. My pads had more than 50% life however.

 

I had similar problem. I was getting a shimmy in the front with medium to heavy braking. Took to dealer and they fixed it by resurfacing the rotors. It also seemed to take care of the front end shimmy I have had the last 10k miles as well. I have an '05 with 20k on the car, I now love my car again. I thought the shimmy was my tires for so long, so glad to see it was the rotors and they fixed it too.

 

OE pads suck- most anything is better, but for a serious upgrade look at Hawk or RacingBrake pads

resurfaced the pads for you hahahahahah
took some sandpaper to them to knock the glaze of the pads so they wont make noise now
People baby these brakes- they like to be used harder
Stop and go traffic is brutal on them too

 

Wow nice attitude, anyways regarding brake pads, since my rotors were only being resurfaced and not replaced and the brake pad itself had 50% life left, for the free service of 'sandpaper' to remove glaze and potentially uneven wear on the pad itself is better than paying for brand new pads at $136 since I only had to pay for the resurfacing of the rotors. Now on the other hand if I were getting brand new rotors I would opt for new pads entirely. If you want to throw your money away go ahead.

Now to the original poster I am not sure what Acura uses for OEM brake pads since I only work on my BMW's. BMW's OEM brake pads are very good and come highly recommended on the BMW forums. Hawk brake pads are also really good, the question you have to ask yourself is if you want semi metallic brake pads which perform better and have a shorter lifespan with more dust or ceramic pads which last longer and have less dust. I prefer semi metallic for the performance reasons.

 

hawks will make some noise.

 

Most mechanics know that rotors that need resurfacing have usually got grooves- which the pad have as well
When you present 2, full contact- clean surfaces to each other- friction occurs and stopping follows

As for 50% left- who actually measures the pad thickness remaining versus looking at them and saying= yeah those are good
Different brands have different specs plus the car has its own spec

Yes bimmers have great brakes- if still the same as old days,- they use a super hard pad and soft rotors, it requires replacement of everything and the electronic low pad indicator $75, with each brake job $$$$$$$$$$

 

I do not have any noise with mine, Hawk Performance Ceramic both front & back.

I guess it all depends on how they are installed.

 

My HPS did not seem to make any noises, and the ceramics are supposed to be ultra quiet