I just had my 12 TL SH AWD serviced and was advised that my rear brakes were at 3mm. They suggested new pads and having a rotors resurfaced. My question for you is, is this necessary or the dealer feeding me a line of bs? Thanks in advance for advice.

 

Yes if replacing pads and you don't want to replace rotors hen you need to resurface them

 

If you plan to drive the car for more than 10K miles, then replace the rotors.

If you plan to trade it soon, just resurface them.

 

Check the price difference between new rotors and cost of resurface. Resurfacing rotors today is hardly worth it if you are keeping the car for a while because you will have to replace it soon enough and it is another labor charge.

 

I second KarKraze's post... I'd take it a step further and say to get some good quality aftermarket brake pads and rotors and just go to the dealership or a local indy shop for the labor.

 

I would second CTNYC on the aftermarket pads and rotors. Just make sure they are better than what you have already and have some good history of reviews. Most of the time you can come out with a better price on aftermarket than OEM, especially from a dealer.

 

Question it is why you need to resurface? IS you braking shimmy, or there is rust on braking surface? If not, don't touch your rotors.....

 

Sometimes if you have a slightly off-balance hub the only way to get rid of vibrations is to resurface. The resurfacing gets your rotor perfectly balanced to your hub.
Having said that, I would always go with resurfacing if it is not overly expensive and if the rotor has sufficient thickness. Problem is that resurfacing often costs more than an aftermarket rotor.

 

Resurfacing rotors is the proper and complete thing to. It cleans any rust, brake dust, and any film, and deposits left from the old brake pads. This ensures a good surface for the new brake pads to work on. High performance brakes need a "bed-in" process, and mechanics simplify that advice for regular drivers by saying be easy on the brakes for the first 500 miles.

DIY guys typically don't have the equipment to turn the rotors, and for the most part, wiping down the rotors with brake cleaner and changing the pads work, but that isn't ideal. But DIY guys do it for fun and to save money. I see the OP is in Baltimore. I'm in NY. With winter snow and salt, I'd go for the resurfacing.

 

for most drivers it is not needed on the first brake pad change unless you get a vibration while braking. If the rotors are nearing the thickness limit, you can buy blank rotors online for 1/2 the price of getting the old ones resurfaced.

 

+1
Aside from the cost issues, these Honda rotors are prone to warpage. Cutting them down even thinner makes sets you up for a pulsing in your pedal.

 

Yup - All 4 rotors on my TL that I bought used were resurfaced ~60k miles according to service records... It was fine until around 110k, but now at 115k, I'm definitely getting more pulsating... I figure that I'll need a brake job soon - Will probably just replace both rotors and pads on a day off...

 

another vote to just replacing them. Now the cost of labor has increased and the product manufacturing cost decreased. So of course its easier to replace than just service.

 

If you're keeping the car a long time, get a high end set of rotors and pads all the way around. The stock rotors are ok but IMO, they're not worth resurfacing.