Best bang for buck on rotors and pads?

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pws - 09 Aug 2008 02:33 GMT

It's brake service time. I plan to put rebuilt calipers on with new pads
and new rotors. I am leaning towards OEM on both but am thinking about
Hawk pads.

What'cha running for brakes, and what did the rotors and pads cost?

Also, if anyone has a set of either rotors and/or pads gathering dust, I
have a lot of parts for trade.
Long shot, but who knows. The car is a 1991 model but has the larger
brakes from a 1996 Miata installed.

Thanks!

Pat

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Lanny Chambers - 09 Aug 2008 05:05 GMT

> What'cha running for brakes, and what did the rotors and pads cost?

Mazda OEM pads, from Finish Line Performance (about $60 for both axles).
At 142k miles, I'm still on my original rotors, but NAPA rotors are
supposed to be worthy at $15 per.

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Lanny Chambers
St. Louis, MO
'94C

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pws - 09 Aug 2008 20:40 GMT

> Mazda OEM pads, from Finish Line Performance (about $60 for both axles).
> At 142k miles, I'm still on my original rotors, but NAPA rotors are
> supposed to be worthy at $15 per.

I'll probably go with the OEM pads and NAPA rotors. I might replace the
fronts only for now, the rears look great and there is pad material for
maybe 15K more miles.

The front rotors look like they could stand to be turned or replaced.

I figure that I may as well get new ones though they have never been
turned so I might do that instead if the savings in cost is enough.

It has been about 18 years since I have had rotors turned on any car.

Thanks, time to call Finishline, it has been a while, I think that I
even forgot their phone number. ;-)

Pat

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pws - 09 Aug 2008 20:50 GMT

> Mazda OEM pads, from Finish Line Performance (about $60 for both axles).
> At 142k miles, I'm still on my original rotors, but NAPA rotors are
> supposed to be worthy at $15 per.

I figured that rebuilding the calipers would be a good idea since they
are about to hit 100K miles and 13 years of age.

Have you had your's rebuilt? I am wondering if I would just be fixing
something that was not broken, but I like the idea of a completely fresh
brake system and I had a bad experience once with a sticky caliper on my
Z-car, but the seals on it were in really bad shape and about 20 years old.

Open the calipers up and inspect them? Just rebuild them? Don't worry
about it until there is a noticeable problem?

Oh yeah, I have an extra set of calipers that can be sent off for
rebuilds with no downtime while waiting for them to be worked on.

Thanks again,

Pat

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XS11E - 09 Aug 2008 21:46 GMT

> I figured that rebuilding the calipers would be a good idea since
> they are about to hit 100K miles and 13 years of age.

At the shop, we used a mobile brake service, they'd bring loaded
calipers and turn rotors, all they need is an extension cord to run the
brake lathe.

Check and see if there's anyone in your area that does that, for us it
was cheaper than having our mechanics turn rotors, rebuild calipers and
install pads.

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pws - 12 Aug 2008 15:21 GMT

>> I figured that rebuilding the calipers would be a good idea since
>> they are about to hit 100K miles and 13 years of age.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> was cheaper than having our mechanics turn rotors, rebuild calipers and
> install pads.

Thanks, I plan on doing my own labor with the rotors/calipers/pads
swap-out, but I will look into a set of loaded rebuilds and see what the
cost is compared to dropping my spares off plus buying pads.

I wonder if it is possible to get them loaded with OEM pads, time to
make some calls.

I figure that I will just replace the rotors at $15.00 apiece. Any idea
what a typical cost is for rebuilding 4 calipers?

Thanks again,

Pat

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XS11E - 12 Aug 2008 16:50 GMT

>> At the shop, we used a mobile brake service, they'd bring loaded
>> calipers and turn rotors, all they need is an extension cord to
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> I wonder if it is possible to get them loaded with OEM pads, time
> to make some calls.

Can't hurt to ask. The mobile service we used used brand name stuff
but not OEM.

> I figure that I will just replace the rotors at $15.00 apiece. Any
> idea what a typical cost is for rebuilding 4 calipers?

Are you asking in dollars, quarts of blood, new swear words learned,
what?

If you do it yourself it's just the cost of the seals unless you find a
problem such as corrosion in one or more calipers, then it can get
costly because you'll have to take them to a shop or exchange them or
get new ones. The possibility of finding calipers that can't be
rebuilt is one reason to consider swapping for rebuilts (if they're
available.) That possibility increases with the number of years you
haven't flushed the system....

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Ken Lyons - 15 Aug 2008 01:00 GMT

Pat,

In 2001 I bought rebuilt front calipers for the '90 at Autozone for $41
each. Time and brake size may affect that price. Keep in mind, I only
bought them because the originals were leaking. Probably had been for months
before I found them while doing a brake job.

BTW, competing with Lanny, I've put 400 miles on my '97 since January 12. I
ride my bike to work, drive the Subie to the cabin and spend way too much
time working on an old house on weekends rather than going for fun drives.

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Ken Lyons '97 Brilliant Black/'90 Classic Red
Inside the Beltway

>>> I figured that rebuilding the calipers would be a good idea since
>>> they are about to hit 100K miles and 13 years of age.
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>
> Pat

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Lanny Chambers - 09 Aug 2008 23:31 GMT

> I figured that rebuilding the calipers would be a good idea since they
> are about to hit 100K miles and 13 years of age.
>
> Have you had your's rebuilt?

Nope. My car's all original, except pads, battery, radiator, maintenance
items, and the stuff I've upgraded. Still has the original clutch and
top.

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Lanny Chambers
St. Louis, MO
'94C

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pws - 12 Aug 2008 15:27 GMT

> Nope. My car's all original, except pads, battery, radiator, maintenance
> items, and the stuff I've upgraded. Still has the original clutch and
> top.

Are you comfortable with your brake calipers at 14 to 15 years of age
and 142,000 miles?

How many years and how many miles would you go before you started
thinking about rebuilding them, or would you wait until they showed
signs of a problem even if it was 25 years and 250,000 miles?

Also, didn't your car hit 140,000 miles like 3 years ago? Don't you
drive that thing anymore? ;-)

Pat

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Lanny Chambers - 12 Aug 2008 15:49 GMT

> How many years and how many miles would you go before you started
> thinking about rebuilding them, or would you wait until they showed
> signs of a problem even if it was 25 years and 250,000 miles?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Calipers are unlikely to fail
catastrophically with no warning.

> Also, didn't your car hit 140,000 miles like 3 years ago? Don't you
> drive that thing anymore? ;-)

Guilty as charged, Pat. When we got the 3, the Miata was retired from
road trip duty. As I type this, the Miata hasn't been out of the garage
for a month. The top hasn't been up since May 2007.

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Lanny Chambers
St. Louis, MO
'94C

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Lanny Chambers - 12 Aug 2008 19:30 GMT

> > Also, didn't your car hit 140,000 miles like 3 years ago? Don't you
> > drive that thing anymore? ;-)

Update: I just checked, and the current mileage is 142,900.

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Lanny Chambers
St. Louis, MO
'94C

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Chris D'Agnolo - 14 Aug 2008 00:21 GMT

Well Lanny, it IS going to last forever then! I'd love to greatly reduce the
# of miles I put on my 99, limiting it to the fun stuff because frankly, I
would love for this thing to last forever for me! Unfortunately, at >20k /
yr and over 90k now, that probably won't happen. Having just done the major
service, I guess I'm in for a few more good years (hopefully).

Chris
99BBB

>> > Also, didn't your car hit 140,000 miles like 3 years ago? Don't you
>> > drive that thing anymore? ;-)
>
> Update: I just checked, and the current mileage is 142,900.

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