Rotors?

I have a 2005 tb 124000 miles. Replaced rear pads 2 years ago, they just machined the rotors and didn't replace them, never recommended it. Today I
replaced front brake pads at a different shop and urged me to replace the rotors and I declined. Now after the fact I am finding out all over the web that I should have. I originally went there for a different issue and they happened to discover I needed new pads and rotors or else I would have done better research. I haven't had any pulsating or shaking in the brake pedal even with the old pads. Its still a nice fluid stop. I had vehicles in the past where it was obvious the rotors were warped and had the pulsating. I didn't think you had to replace them unless you had that. I guess my question is : How bad did I screw up? Should I get all I can out of my old rotors or should I run it right back to the shop and get new rotors. I could have saved $100 in labor if I just got this all done in one stop. All the rotors are original and the new pads are my first ones. Thanks for any input.

I really dont think so. Besides, seriously, changing rotors is a peice of cake on a gm vehicle. seriously easy. If you havea fluid stop, and its strong, and it doesnt wobble or feel like it should stop faster, then your good. IF it was me, I would change them myself, like seriously its easy easy easy to do. If you do change the rotors, you can sand the old brake pads a little to smooth them out if there are groves or what ever.

I have a 2005 tb 124000 miles. Replaced rear pads 2 years ago, they just machined the rotors and didn't replace them, never recommended it. Today I
replaced front brake pads at a different shop and urged me to replace the rotors and I declined. Now after the fact I am finding out all over the web that I should have. I originally went there for a different issue and they happened to discover I needed new pads and rotors or else I would have done better research. I haven't had any pulsating or shaking in the brake pedal even with the old pads. Its still a nice fluid stop. I had vehicles in the past where it was obvious the rotors were warped and had the pulsating. I didn't think you had to replace them unless you had that. I guess my question is : How bad did I screw up? Should I get all I can out of my old rotors or should I run it right back to the shop and get new rotors. I could have saved $100 in labor if I just got this all done in one stop. All the rotors are original and the new pads are my first ones. Thanks for any input.

Did they say why you "had" to replace the rotors? Unless they are below minimum thickness, severely warped or rusted, or the brakes went metal to metal and trashed the rotors, you don't "have" to replace them. Resurfacing will take care of minor rust, pulsations and grooves.

there was a minor groove the size of a finish nail on the back side of the rotor but the front was smooth. There was alot of rust on the outside edge and the hub where the lugs go in but the contact surface where the pad goes was nice smooth bare metal. they didn't say anything about the minimum thickness. Two guys said they were junk and one guy was kind of "on the fence" about, I almost didn't get a sticker for it. I would think I would get symptoms like pulsating in the pedal when it got down below minimum thickness. I'll admit there was alot of rust growing on the thing but it was still heavy and sturdy and didn't feel like a piece was going to break off of it.

Some states grooved rotors fail state inspection, maybe that was the issue?

First, I want to congratulate you.....

Anyone that can get 124K miles out of the original rotors should be commended, especially on this vehicle....

Here in NE, with the road salt, you are lucky to make it to 50K miles, and probably would be on your second brake job, by 50K....

At 124K miles, did they "mic" the brake rotors? I find it hard to believe that it would be above spec.....did they turn the rotors? If no, I guarantee you will have uneven wear on your new pads, and possible brake noise in the future...

The rear rotors are usually the worse....the fact that they were turnable, even two years ago, is a minor miracle(rears usually rust like crazy, and are almost impossible to remove from vehicle)....

You are one lucky SOB....:biggrin:

with rotors I up here in the rust belt have had good amount of use age . my 1996 impala has the original rotors with 74,000miles , my miles. don't drive it in the snow ..

I do need to replace the rear rotors now and I am in the process of replacing them.

my 2000 silverado I replaced all the rotors 3 years ago . the brakes worked fine . the reason I had to replace the original rotors was they had rust bubbles on the braking surface about the size of a dime. after replacing the rotors no difference in braking. what did change was the parking brake worked like new. I guess the inner park brake drum was over sized due to the defective park brake hold down of the shoes..with the shoes moving into this park brake drum it must have worn down the metal..

the reason I got 10 years out of my rotors is I clean up the rotors at the tire rotation of 13,000 miles .. also I paint the rotors. use a special high temp coating.

with your vehicle replacing the rotors if rusted on the braking disk surface or distortions is a required time to replace. having a scratch on the disk surface is no big deal. you could have new pads/rotors and a small rock will do that in 1 second.

I do not recommend any cutting.. many times they cut too much and you are with a bad rotor in a short amount of time.

new rotors made today are mostly chinese junk.. soft metal that will wear out at the pad wear rate.. you can see this easy with a basic measuring tool .

cheap brake pads will also make the rotors wear even faster. the more expensive pads brake better and wear out the rotor less. I use good quality pads and that may also be why my rotors did not wear that much ..with rust in the rust belt you will in time loose ...however. also lots of city driving will greatly reduce rotor life..I do little city driving.

many repair shops will make you replace the rotors up here ! when I used to roam the scrap yards I was amazed at how many rust bucket vehicles had brand new rotors/calipers / pads/shoes...scrap yards now only have stripped frames .

I replaced front brake pads at a different shop and urged me to replace the rotors and I declined. Now after the fact I am finding out all over the web that I should have.
Did they cut the rotors, or did they put new pads on the worn rotors? Did they measure the rotors for excess wear?

There is nothing wrong with cutting rotors IF IT'S DONE RIGHT. There is a certain amount of skill and judgement involved; and nobody wants to trust the skill and judgement of minimum-wage bozos often hired to do brake work. Shop owners seem to like to hire fresh-out-of-trade-school newbies to do brakes, oil changes, and wiper blades. By contrast, there's just as much--or more--profit margin, and nearly zero liability in removing the old rotors in favor of installing shitty Communist Chinese junk rotors.

In short, if the original rotors were cut properly, or so nearly-perfect that you didn't need to have them cut--GREAT. Leave 'em the hell alone now. If the rotors were scored but re-used, the pad life will be shortened. Leave 'em the hell alone now unless they were worn beyond the Federal-legal "cut" limit. (But if they were that worn, the shop should never have done the brake job without your agreement to replace the rotors.) Deal with the shortened pad life in a few years time. Your brakes don't pulsate, don't pull, stop smoothly...you're golden. Leave 'em the hell alone now.









MY Trailblazer is an '03, just shy of 150K miles. Still has the original pads and rotors, and the pads look like new all around. The only brake problem I have is with the park brake, which doesn't hold very well, and acts like the cable is loose--although I wouldn't bet against the park brake shoes and drums as j cAT described above. I have no idea why the brake pads haven't worn out yet, but the vehicle does get a lot of highway miles.

Here in NE, where road salt is prevalent, brake pads and rotors just do not last......getting 100K miles or more on original pads/rotors just does not happen here......

Methinks the newer cars have rotors that are made with that Chinese metal, because they just don't last.......I have seen cars come in, all makes/models, with under 20K miles, and rotors, especially rears, that have rust on them, real bad.....

So you tell the customer he needs new pads, because the old pads, while thick, are "grooved" by the rust ridges on the rotors.......under 20K, sure you can turn them......until you try....you take minimum cuts.....and the rust is still there....take another cut, and the rust is still there......next thing you know, you are at or below min spec.....now you have to go out to the customer and tell him he needs new rotors.......by experience, you recognize this, and don't even try to turn them.....which ones do you think he wants? OEM costing over $100 a piece, or those cheap Chinese rotors at $20-$40? He chooses the cheap ones, and if he is lucky, may get a year out of them before they start pulsating.....

They didn't cut the rotors. They just put new pads on the worn rotors. Kinda regret not putting on new rotors as a preventative thing and only getting zapped on the labor once.
I stop and slow down nice and smoothly almost like new. With no symptoms like pulsating, pulling to one side or squeeling, I can't justify bringing it back in. Glad to hear that you got the same service out of your pads and rotors. I think I'll leave them the hell alone for now.

Methinks the newer cars have rotors that are made with that Chinese metal, because they just don't last...
Far as I'm concerned, the "big change" happened in 1979/1980; with the Citation (X-body) front-wheel drive vehicles. Prior to that, rotors had "meat" and quality metal. After that, rotors were undersize, under-width, and made of "sacrificial" iron. The aftermarket brake seminars told us the wear-prone, soft iron was to help prevent brake noise.

Then the OEMs install semi-metallic pads on shitty rotors. Yes, the rotors wore as fast as the pads did--or faster.

We'd take a brake micrometer and prove to the customer that the rotor was beyond the cut limit; (they were typically well beyond the legal wear limit, never mind the "cut limit"!!!) and nearly always got approval for new rotors. If the rotors were beyond the legal limit, and the customer refused to replace them, we refused to work on the vehicle.


OEM costing over $100 a piece, or those cheap Chinese rotors at $20-$40? He chooses the cheap ones, and if he is lucky, may get a year out of them before they start pulsating.....
We certainly get more than a year out of rotors--depending on how the vehicle is driven, of course. While GM and the rest of the OEMs went to "sacrificial rotors" decades ago, it took the Communists to put 'em in a white box and sell them for practically nothing. And, predictably, if you aren't DAMNED CAREFUL, you'll get a truly horrible rotor now. There's no American or North American competition any more; Communist crap is all there is. I bet the OEM rotors are now Chinese--but sold at Made in North America prices.


The outside mirrors on my Lumina say "Made in Canada". When I needed a replacement, I went to the local Chevy dealer, paid North American price for the thing ($160 ten years ago) but the box says "Made in China" on it. Within six months, the original mirror on the passenger side looked better than the "new" mirror on the driver's side. The Communists and their American collaborators can utterly screw up anything.

The big rape-job now is taking a white-box Chinese rotor, throwing it across a mill, cutting some grooves or holes or whatever pattern on the braking surface, and then putting it in a premium cardboard box, and selling it for ten times the white box price. The grooved rotors don't stop any better than the plain ones.

Far as I'm concerned, the "big change" happened in 1979/1980; with the Citation (X-body) front-wheel drive vehicles. Prior to that, rotors had "meat" and quality metal. After that, rotors were undersize, under-width, and made of "sacrificial" iron. The aftermarket brake seminars told us the wear-prone, soft iron was to help prevent brake noise.

Then the OEMs install semi-metallic pads on shitty rotors. Yes, the rotors wore as fast as the pads did--or faster.

We'd take a brake micrometer and prove to the customer that the rotor was beyond the cut limit; (they were typically well beyond the legal wear limit, never mind the "cut limit"!!!) and nearly always got approval for new rotors. If the rotors were beyond the legal limit, and the customer refused to replace them, we refused to work on the vehicle.



We certainly get more than a year out of rotors--depending on how the vehicle is driven, of course. While GM and the rest of the OEMs went to "sacrificial rotors" decades ago, it took the Communists to put 'em in a white box and sell them for practically nothing. And, predictably, if you aren't DAMNED CAREFUL, you'll get a truly horrible rotor now. There's no American or North American competition any more; Communist crap is all there is. I bet the OEM rotors are now Chinese--but sold at Made in North America prices.


The outside mirrors on my Lumina say "Made in Canada". When I needed a replacement, I went to the local Chevy dealer, paid North American price for the thing ($160 ten years ago) but the box says "Made in China" on it. Within six months, the original mirror on the passenger side looked better than the "new" mirror on the driver's side. The Communists and their American collaborators can utterly screw up anything.

The big rape-job now is taking a white-box Chinese rotor, throwing it across a mill, cutting some grooves or holes or whatever pattern on the braking surface, and then putting it in a premium cardboard box, and selling it for ten times the white box price. The grooved rotors don't stop any better than the plain ones.
Rotors don't last as long as they used to because asbestos was banned in the USA
If a caliper locked up I used to go to a scrap yard get a used one sand the rust off and it would last the life of the car.
My brake costs have tripled with the new brake pads. I've talked to maintenance men in the industrial plants and brake costs for overhead cranes also tripled.

They didn't cut the rotors. They just put new pads on the worn rotors. Kinda regret not putting on new rotors as a preventative thing and only getting zapped on the labor once.
I stop and slow down nice and smoothly almost like new. With no symptoms like pulsating, pulling to one side or squeeling, I can't justify bringing it back in. Glad to hear that you got the same service out of your pads and rotors. I think I'll leave them the hell alone for now.

some times owners do not have the cash to replace rotors that the pads worn down to the metal backing plate ate into the rotor. I have replaced pads for these people and told them to come back next month with the cash to finish the job correctly. with smoothing the rotor surface down from the burrs installing new pads I could not believe how well the brakes worked and the small wear of the pads ..

replacing the rotors is how you should have done the brake job but remember when the pads get 50% worn get the brakes done with the rotors replaced next time. with the new rotors use the better pads as these will wear the rotor less.

the reason back in the 80's the brakes lasted longer with less metal wear is because of asbestos ...glad however we no longer have this product used..I know of a few walking around in there last days with an oxygen tank.

gm uses chinese rotors on the new vehicles ...its GM china now not GM USA.