Brake rotor life ?

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Half a Bee, Jul 5, 2004.

  1. Half a Bee

    Half a Bee Guest

    Hi

    Looking at my '99 V70 (70,000 km), I noticed that the front brake rotors
    have quite a bit of wear (1 to 2 mm thinner, or thereabouts) and it's
    quite noticeable when comparing them to the rears (hardly worn at all).

    How long are they supposed to last, and how much more will they take?
    Is it a regular (i.e. 5 or 6 year) wear part, or do they last much longer ?

    Cheers

    Chris
     
    Half a Bee, Jul 5, 2004
    #1
  2. Half a Bee

    Bonnet Lock Guest

    In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
    If you take the wheel off, you will see the minimum thickness stamped on the
    central part of the disc (rotor). As long as they exceed this, and are not
    unduly scored or warped, stick with them!
     
    Bonnet Lock, Jul 5, 2004
    #2
  3. Half a Bee

    Me Guest

    I typically get 2 sets of pads to one rotor both front and rear .... front
    rotors go 35k to 70k miles on my 850's depending on ratio of city to highway
    driving and rear rotors go 50k to 90k.
     
    Me, Jul 7, 2004
    #3
  4. Half a Bee

    Me Guest

    Make that 35k to 50k for PADS, and 50k to 90k for PADS (sorry for the goof
    where I said rotor instead of the PADS that I meant).
     
    Me, Jul 7, 2004
    #4
  5. Half a Bee

    Jim Carriere Guest

    Pretty much the same for me (S70, same brakes as the 850). Rear pads lasted
    55k miles, original fronts still on there just past 90k.

    I downshift when I brake (heel-and-toe... manual transmission... yay!), and
    this helps the brakes last longer. Also, almost half of my mileage so far
    is highway.

    I know the rotors will last two or three sets of pads, but I like to replace
    them with the pads anyway, since they're scored and rusty at five or more
    years old. That's just my preference, and it isn't too much more expensive
    since I do my own work.
     
    Jim Carriere, Jul 7, 2004
    #5
  6. Half a Bee

    Rob Guenther Guest

    We've got 150K Kms on the original front rotors on our 1993 960, on its
    second or third set of pads. I think the rotors are getting a little thin
    now, probably will have to change them soon enough, maybe when we do the
    suspension. No warps, no pits/grooves/etc...
     
    Rob Guenther, Jul 7, 2004
    #6
  7. When I had taxis I used to heat up the discs if they had warped and then let
    them cool down slowly as often drivers had punished the brakes then stopped
    and switched off while they were extremely hot,so they warped.When I needed
    to have the rotors machined (which was very rarely) again I would hot them
    up cool them down slowly then have them machined as this removed the grain
    effect ,otherwise as soon as newly machined rotors heated up they would warp
    if cooled down slowly back to their old grain or shape ,or just buckle again
    if left hot .When buckled the machined took off the highs making all level
    but the lows became highs when heated up again .Hope this make sense as it
    saved me many dollars from sometimes greedy mechanics .ALWAYS USE QUALITY
    BRANDED PADS AS CHEAP PADS COST and are not as safe ..And change your brake
    fluid to at least a quality branded type every 2 years or so ..
     
    John Robertson, Jul 10, 2004
    #7
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