About brake pads/rotors replacement

[CabC2]

My brake light came on as the rear brakes are worn out and the sensors came on.

I am going to change the pads (for sure), following Loren's post in the DIY section. However, I'd like not to change the rotors, yes I know that I should take care of the car that is why I am asking the following:

1- All mechanics tell me I should change the rotors as well. In this forum I have seen that maybe is not needed (watch for cracks etc.) Do I have to change them for sure?

2 - What happens if, following whatever advice from point 1, it is indicated that I change them, but I don't? Does it become a question of noise, vibration, or worse?

3 - Can I drive the car AT ALL with the brake warning light on, driving carefully and using gears to reduce speed? Planning to take it to my buddy's house he has a good setup in his garage, but he's 50 miles of freeway away.

Thanks for help in advance; trying to do the minimum to keep the daily driver going, no performance track days here. Car is 99 C2 Cab.

Edited July 3, 2009 by CabC2

[Loren]

1. Check for the cracks as mentions and also check the rotor thickness. IMHO - if the rotor thickness is at below spec then you definitely need to replace the rotors.

2. If they are too thin they will overheat and braking will be less effective. If htere are cracks then they could fracture and do more damage.

3. The warning light tells you that you have worn through the sensor wire (so the sensors will need to be replaced also) and the pads are very near metal on metal.

You have a little time but the light is a call to action - for very soon.

[CabC2]

Thanks for replies Loren,

I'll take a look at the rotors the first thing.

[beauar]

any good shop would use a guage to check the thickness. How many miles do you have on the rotors? Because the rotors are cross drilled you are going to need to bring the car to a specialist who knows how to resurface them. Midas wont resurface your rotors....even though its straight forward. the sensors in the brakes go off when you are approaching replacement. They give you plenty of miles and time to get new ones. I just did my pads and got Pagid street pads. DO NOT GET RACE pads if you dont want skreeching and squealing. Get a street compound. you can drive to your buddies. In fact you can probably drive for a couple of months but I wouldn't recommend it. Another thing is if the rears are looking bad what do your fronts look like? Rears last twice as long as the fronts. If you don't change the pads you run the risk of seriously damaging the rotors with grooves and its dangerous obviously.

My brake light came on as the rear brakes are worn out and the sensors came on.

I am going to change the pads (for sure), following Loren's post in the DIY section. However, I'd like not to change the rotors, yes I know that I should take care of the car that is why I am asking the following:

1- All mechanics tell me I should change the rotors as well. In this forum I have seen that maybe is not needed (watch for cracks etc.) Do I have to change them for sure?

2 - What happens if, following whatever advice from point 1, it is indicated that I change them, but I don't? Does it become a question of noise, vibration, or worse?

3 - Can I drive the car AT ALL with the brake warning light on, driving carefully and using gears to reduce speed? Planning to take it to my buddy's house he has a good setup in his garage, but he's 50 miles of freeway away.

Thanks for help in advance; trying to do the minimum to keep the daily driver going, no performance track days here. Car is 99 C2 Cab.

[CabC2]

Yes, I am changing pads or I know that it will be bad. Fronts have life left because were changed not too long ago. And Im planning of getting some mintex pads instead of oems to save a couple of bucks. Normally I just go with OEM but not now.

So, even if you dont need to change the rotors, do you have to resurface them? Or..?

any good shop would use a guage to check the thickness. How many miles do you have on the rotors? Because the rotors are cross drilled you are going to need to bring the car to a specialist who knows how to resurface them. Midas wont resurface your rotors....even though its straight forward. the sensors in the brakes go off when you are approaching replacement. They give you plenty of miles and time to get new ones. I just did my pads and got Pagid street pads. DO NOT GET RACE pads if you dont want skreeching and squealing. Get a street compound. you can drive to your buddies. In fact you can probably drive for a couple of months but I wouldn't recommend it. Another thing is if the rears are looking bad what do your fronts look like? Rears last twice as long as the fronts. If you don't change the pads you run the risk of seriously damaging the rotors with grooves and its dangerous obviously.

My brake light came on as the rear brakes are worn out and the sensors came on.

I am going to change the pads (for sure), following Loren's post in the DIY section. However, I'd like not to change the rotors, yes I know that I should take care of the car that is why I am asking the following:

1- All mechanics tell me I should change the rotors as well. In this forum I have seen that maybe is not needed (watch for cracks etc.) Do I have to change them for sure?

2 - What happens if, following whatever advice from point 1, it is indicated that I change them, but I don't? Does it become a question of noise, vibration, or worse?

3 - Can I drive the car AT ALL with the brake warning light on, driving carefully and using gears to reduce speed? Planning to take it to my buddy's house he has a good setup in his garage, but he's 50 miles of freeway away.

Thanks for help in advance; trying to do the minimum to keep the daily driver going, no performance track days here. Car is 99 C2 Cab.

[tac27]

"So, even if you dont need to change the rotors, do you have to resurface them? Or..?"

My understanding is that you need to resurface the rotors if they have become 'uneven,' 'warped,' or gouged/grooved. I believe this is called 'runout.' I have replaced the rear pads on my 996 and determined then that the rotors did not need replacement, or even resurfacing.

Referreing to Loren's post above, if there are no cracks, the rotor is not less than the minimum thickness, and the runout is also even you don't need the added expense of replacing the rotors.

The tools you'll need to determine the continued servicability of your current rotors are a good eye to inspect for cracks (I borrowed my children's magnifying glass), a mircometer to measure the rotor thickness, and a run-out gauge to determine if the rotor's friction surfaces are still even; the latter two tools can easily be found by a google search.

Someone has previously posted what the minimimum thickness is for rotors, you'll have to search the forum as I don't remember what they are for rear rotors.

I also opted for the Mintex pads; I found through research that both Mintex and Pagid are divisions of the same company, TMD Friction. Mintex has been in the business of brake pads for a long time, 100 years according to the website. I haven't had any problems with, or complaints about, them.

One lesson I learned was that the buffers for the rear are two different sizes, 30 mm and 28 mm, two each per caliper for a total of eight (four 30 mm and four 28 mm).....nothing like getting everthing disassembled and realizing I didn't order enough parts.....